As Saudi women hail the news they will be able to drive their own cars from next June, they still face a web of restrictions in the conservative Islamic kingdom. 

Saudi Arabia is condoning hate speech against its Shiite minority from the upper echelons of its religious establishment, schoolbooks and social media, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

A Saudi education official has been sacked over a schoolbook that accidentally included a doctored photograph of a former ruler sitting next to a "Star Wars" character, triggering online ridicule.

At least six people have been arrested in Egypt after raising the rainbow flag of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at a Cairo concert of the popular Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila, security and judicial sources said.

Israel's culture minister asked the attorney general Sunday to order the investigation of a prominent Arab Israeli filmmaker who spoke out against Israel during a visit to Lebanon.

Back in Syria, friends gave Malakeh Jazmati the nickname "Miss Spaghetti" because cooking up tasty traditional regional dishes wasn't exactly her thing.

Every time Mohammed al-Ghoraifi visits Najaf he returns with another precious stone on his finger. Like for many pilgrims visiting the Iraqi Shiite holy city, buying a gemstone ring is part and parcel of the experience.

They should have vanished a century ago after Russia's October Revolution, melted down with the rest of a solid silver tableware set by Faberge, Imperial Russia's legendary jeweller.

Israeli film "Foxtrot," which Culture Minister Miri Regev has castigated as an insult to the military, has won the country's best film award, making it a candidate for the Oscars.

Billboards featuring a glamorous image of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and the caption: "Just imagine how far you can go with a little bit of English" were supposed to attract students to a language school in Croatia.