Middle East news and stories by mail.com

Middle East

Official: Battery in 787 swollen from overheating
The main battery beneath the cockpit of the Boeing 787 forced to make an emergency landing in Japan was swollen from overheating, a safety official ...
Polls give hard-line bloc edge in Israel elections
Polls give hawkish and religious parties led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a comfortable edge over their center-left rivals ahead of ...
Israel takes down anti-settlement tent camp
A spokesman says Israeli police have taken down a West Bank tent camp pitched by Palestinians to protest Israeli plans to build a large Jewish ...
Obama, Netanyahu seem headed for US-Israel clash
Israel's premier on Wednesday dismissed President Barack Obama's reported displeasure with his hard-line policies toward the Palestinians, a sisgn ...
Egypt's Morsi tries to defuse flap over Jews slur
Egypt's Islamist president sought Wednesday to defuse Washington's anger over his past remarks urging hatred of Jews and calling Zionists "pigs" and ...
Jordan: 7-member Syrian family killed in fire
A fire in a center for refugees who fled the Syrian civil war killed seven members of a family, a civil defense spokesman said Wednesday, the latest ...
AP Interview: Israel's Lapid won't be 'fig leaf'
Little known outside Israel, political newcomer Yair Lapid could soon become the moderate face to the world of an otherwise hard-line government after ...
Syrian army intensifies offensive against rebels
Syrian troops stepped up an offensive against rebels in the north on Wednesday, following explosions targeting security forces and a university campus ...
Collapse of apartment building in Egypt kills 25
An eight-story apartment building collapsed Wednesday in the port city of Alexandria, killing at least 25 people in the second deadly accident to hit ...
Egypt's Mubarak pays back $3 million for gifts
Ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his family will pay back around $3 million for gifts they received from a state newspaper while he was still in ...
UN experts, Iran open talks on nuclear probe
Senior U.N. investigators opened a new round of talks Wednesday with Iranian officials in Tehran in hopes of restarting a probe into allegations that ...
Its allies reluctant, France goes it alone in Mali
France's allies have offered vocal support for the country's military operation in Mali, but when it comes to sending troops or weapons, they are ...
Agency: Son of Iran opposition leader sentenced
An Iranian news agency reports the son of a leading Iranian opposition figure has been sentenced to a suspended six-month jail term for interviews ...
Iran president: Sanctions fight requires oil shift
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday Iran must move away from dependence on oil revenue to overcome Western sanctions that have slowed the ...
String of attacks across Iraq kill at least 33
A suicide bomber driving a vehicle packed with explosives blew himself up outside the offices of a major Kurdish party in northern Iraq early ...
European leaders headlining annual forum in Davos
Promoting measures to get the global economy out of its crisis mode will be the focal point of next week's annual gathering of world leaders and power ...
Senior Yemeni police official assassinated
A Yemeni security official says gunmen on a motorcycle killed a senior police official in a drive-by shooting south of the capital city of Sanaa. Col.
Israeli company: Anti-missile system passes tests
An Israeli defense technology company says it has successfully tested an anti-missile system designed to protect commercial passenger jets.
Turkish painter Burhan Dogancay dead at 83
Turkish painter Burhan Dogancay, whose work has been exhibited in some 70 museums worldwide, including New York's Metropolitan Art Museum and the ...
Pentagon chief Panetta meets Pope Benedict
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the leader of the world's largest military, met Pope Benedict XVI, the world's best known advocate for peace, at ...
Sudan: 4 Chinese abducted in Darfur are released
Sudan's official news agency says four Chinese workers abducted last week in the North Darfur region have been released. SUNA says the four men were ...
Israeli watchdog rips Netanyahu over settlements
A review of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's settlement policies shows a clear intent to prevent the creation of a viable Palestinian state by ...
Correction: Egypt-Encroaching on Antiquities story
In a story Jan. 14 about illegal construction near a pharaonic temple and pyramids in Egypt, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of the ...
Jerusalem barrier spurs illicit building boom
Dozens of apartment towers sprouting up illicitly in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem are creating a fraught new dynamic in the struggle for control ...
US condemns comments from Egypt's Morsi
The Obama administration on Tuesday gave a blistering review of remarks that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi made almost three years ago about Jews ...