Middle-East
Israel boosts forces near Gaza amid escalating tension
Israel's army deployed artillery near the Gaza Strip border on Wednesday morning, in the second day of escalating tension between the country and Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
Israel-Gaza violence "could take time": Israeli PM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the fighting with Gaza's Islamic Jihad group "could take time" in the second day of escalating tension in the region.
Israel says working with Egypt to calm Israel-Gaza violence
Israel said Wednesday it was working with Egyptian officials to de-escalate a spate of violence between Israel and Gaza's Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
Top Shiite leader backs UN plan to resolve Iraqi crisis
Iraq's most powerful Shiite religious leader said Monday he backs a U.N. roadmap aimed at meeting the demands of anti-government protesters who have been rallying in recent weeks despite a bloody crackdown by security forces, but he expressed concern that political parties would not carry them out.
Israeli airstrike kills Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza home
The Israeli military says it has killed an Islamic Jihad commander in an airstrike at his Gaza City home.
Lebanon's Central Bank tries to calm nerves amid crisis
The governor of Lebanon's Central Bank sought to calm nerves on Monday amid a worsening economic and financial crisis, pledging to work on safeguarding the stability of the national currency and protecting bank deposits.
Netanyahu appoints new Israeli defense minister
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Naftali Bennett, one of the leaders of the New Right party, as the minister of defense.
Iranian media say injuries jump to 520 in Friday quake
Iran's state TV is saying the number of injured people from a magnitude 5.9 earthquake on Friday has jumped to 520 from more than 300.
Hopes of young Lebanese to escape sectarianism put to test
Singer Tania Saleh grew up amid a civil war that robbed her of her childhood, of her friends and neighbors and of the Lebanon she so loved. For years, she has sung the pains of sectarian schisms.
Iran says case open on ex-FBI agent missing there on CIA job
Iran is acknowledging for the first time it has an open case before its Revolutionary Court over the 2007 disappearance of a former FBI agent on an unauthorized CIA mission to the country, renewing questions over what happened to him.