Middle East
Latest stories
Iran Rejects Interference Accusations by Gulf States

Iran on Wednesday rejected as "baseless" allegations by Gulf Arab states that Tehran is interfering in their internal affairs, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Shifting the regional states' responsibility in regards to their domestic problems is to escape realities on the ground," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

W140 Full Story
Syrian Observatory: More Than 45,000 Killed in Syria

More than 45,000 people have been killed in Syria since the outbreak in March 2011 of an anti-regime revolt that became a bloody insurgency after a brutal crackdown on dissent, a watchdog said Wednesday.

"In all we have documented the deaths of 45,048 people," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France Presse.

W140 Full Story
FM: UAE Supports 'Non-Sectarian' Change in Syria

The UAE supports a "non-sectarian" change in power in war-hit Syria, the WAM official news agency quoted the Gulf state's foreign minister as saying after he met with a top Syrian opposition leader.

"The United Arab Emirates supports a non-sectarian future change of government in Syria," Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said late Tuesday after he met with the opposition National Coalition's chief, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib in Abu Dhabi.

W140 Full Story
Damascus' Yarmuk Camp Hit by Fresh Fighting

Fresh clashes erupted in the Palestinian Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus during the night, a watchdog said on Wednesday, a week after major fighting there sent some 100,000 refugees fleeing for safety.

The latest violence came despite an agreement between rebels and pro-regime Palestinian fighters that they would withdraw from the camp, which houses some 150,000 people.

W140 Full Story
U.S. Calls on Egypt's Morsi to 'Bridge Divisions'

The United States on Tuesday called on Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to work to "bridge divisions," after Egyptian officials confirmed voters backed a controversial Islamist-backed constitution.

"The future of Egypt's democracy depends on forging a broader consensus behind its new democratic rules and institutions," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement.

W140 Full Story
Egypt Electoral Commission: Constitution Passed with 63.8% Support

Egypt's constitution was passed with 63.8 percent voter support in the two-stage referendum that ended last weekend, the national electoral commission said on Tuesday.

Turnout was 32.9 percent of Egypt's total 52 million voters, the president of the commission, Samir Abul Maati, told a news conference in Cairo.

W140 Full Story
Jobless Tunisian Kills Himself in Uprising Town

A young unemployed teenager has killed himself in Sidi Bouzid, the marginalized town in central Tunisia where the country's revolution erupted two years ago, witnesses said on Tuesday.

Wissem Hani, 17, died on Sunday from a massive electric shock after clinging to an electric pylon in protest at his bleak circumstances, the witnesses told an AFP journalist.

W140 Full Story
Bahrain Policeman Held over 'Slap' Video

A policeman in Bahrain has been arrested after a video showing him hitting a resident of a Shiite village was posted online, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

"The video shows the policeman slapping a citizen in Aali, a local village, on December 23rd, 2012," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the officer was detained on Monday.

W140 Full Story
Reports: Iran Begins Naval War Games

Iran on Tuesday launched naval maneuvers in the Gulf, and announced plans for another exercise in the strategic Strait of Hormuz later this week, media reports said.

Revolutionary Guards naval units began a four-day exercise inside Iranian waters at South Pars, a joint gas field between Iran and Qatar, a Guards spokesman was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

W140 Full Story
Tehran Police Say More Than 100 'Thugs' Arrested

Police in Tehran said on Tuesday they had arrested more than 100 "thugs" as part of an operation to curb violent crime after the brutal assault of a man was captured on a surveillance camera.

"This (Tuesday) morning we apprehended over 100 thugs, some of whom had (criminal) records," the commander of Tehran metropolitan police, Hossein Sajedinia, said on state television.

W140 Full Story