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Middle East

Palestinians predict historic UN vote on statehood
The Palestinians predicted a historic U.N. vote recognizing their statehood this week, praising important new support from France on Tuesday and ...
With Egypt's Morsi, US facing a familiar dilemma
The United States has been here before, praising an Egyptian leader for championing Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts while expressing concern over ...
France to recognize Palestinian state at UN
France announced Tuesday that it plans to vote in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly this week. With the ...
Israeli PM Netanyahu suddenly seems vulnerable
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appeared to be cruising to re-election a few weeks ago, suddenly appears vulnerable as the country ...
UN nuclear agency reports being hacked
The International Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged Tuesday that one of its servers had been hacked after a previously unknown group critical of ...
Insurgent attacks kill 30, wound dozens in Iraq
Insurgents launched attacks against security forces and civilians in central and northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding ...
Syrian warplanes bomb olive oil factory; 20 killed
Syrian warplanes bombed an olive oil factory packed with farmers Tuesday, killing at least 20 people in the latest regime strike to rip through a ...
Libya integrity body approves foreign minister
Libya's independent body tasked with vetting top officials has approved a new foreign minister and two other Cabinet members. The new Cabinet was ...
Syrian rebels, civilians brace for long civil war
Before the civil war, Ramiz Moussa was a middle class civil servant who processed fines for littering, illegal construction and disturbing the peace ...
UN climate scientist: Sandy no coincidence
Though it's tricky to link a single weather event to climate change, Hurricane Sandy was "probably not a coincidence" but an example of the extreme ...
Arafat grave dug up for probe of poison suspicion
Eight years after Yasser Arafat's mysterious death, his political heirs opened his grave Tuesday and let forensics experts take samples from his ...
Yemeni man sets himself on fire outside Cabinet
Medical officials say a Yemeni man set himself on fire outside the Cabinet building in the capital Sanaa. The officials say Abdel-Hakim Hamoud Qasim ...
AP Exclusive: Graph suggests Iran working on bomb
Iranian scientists have run computer simulations for a nuclear weapon that would produce more than triple the explosive force of the World War II bomb ...
Iraq to help Jordan with free crude oil
Iraq says it is giving neighboring Jordan 100,000 barrels of oil as a gift to help overcome its economic difficulties. The decision by the Cabinet ...
Israeli billionaire questioned on alleged fraud
Israeli regulators say one of the country's wealthiest businessmen has been questioned on suspicion of securities fraud. IDB Holding Corp.
Correction: Egypt story
In a story Nov. 25 about Egypt, The Associated Press misidentified reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei as a former director of the U.S. nuclear agency.
UN to vote Thursday on raising Palestinian status
The Palestinians said the U.N. General Assembly will vote Thursday afternoon on a resolution raising their status at the United Nations from an ...
Rice's star rises as congressional opposition dims
With congressional opposition softening, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice could find her name in contention as early as this week to succeed Hillary Rodham ...
Egypt's president stands by his decrees
Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi struck an uncompromising stand Monday over his seizure of near absolute powers, refusing in a meeting with top ...
Saudi-backed religious center opens in Austria
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged Israel and Hamas to respect their cease-fire but said only mutual recognition of Israel's right to ...
Ehud Barak says he's quitting Israeli politics
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak abruptly quit politics Monday, potentially robbing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a key ally who enabled his ...
Oil prices fall as Israel-Hamas truce holds
Oil fell below $88 per barrel on Monday after a slow day of trading. Analysts gave two reasons for the decline. One was that the truce between Israel ...
US defends 'enormous' climate efforts at UN talks
Anticipating an onslaught of criticism from poor nations, the United States claimed "enormous" strides in reducing greenhouse emissions at the opening ...
Buzz kill: US won't send Andrew W.K. to Bahrain
Andrew W.K. won't be taking his party to Bahrain after all. The American performer announced on his website that he had been named a cultural ...
What's your QELRO? Fast guide to UN climate lingo
Every time U.N. negotiators meet for their annual climate talks, they come up with a new set of unintuitive acronyms, as if to make sure that people ...