Middle East News

SEPTEMBER 21: A statue is adorned with flowers for the visit of a casket containing relics of Saint Therese of Lisieux at The Sacred Heart and Saint Theresa Church on September 21, 2009 in Coleshill, England.

House Speaker John Boehner said Monday that support for Israel must be the United States' main focus and not peace mediation in a subtle jab at the Obama administration.

After more than six weeks of sometimes testy talks, House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a compromise plan to fix a veterans health program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records... A bipartisan deal to improve veterans health care would authorize at least $15 billion in emergency spending to fix a veterans health ... (more)

This image obtained by the Associated Press, defendants' Trial Exhibit DX2414, shows eight spent shell casings from the scene of the shootings of 14 Iraqis in Nisoor Square in Baghdad in 2007.

Khaled Meshaal said in an interview broadcast Monday that he believes the world hasn't taken an even-handed view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

There is no electricity 21 hours a day because power lines have been hit. Water taps have run dry because there's no power to their fuel pumps and tens of thousands of displaced sleep on the floors of schools and hospitals.

Syrian President Bashar Assad prayed at a Damascus mosque at the start of a major Muslim holiday on Monday amid reports of an unprecedented high death toll among his troops battling Islamic extremists.

The attorneys say the suppressed evidence consists of photographs of eight spent shell casings that would fit an AK-47 - the weapon of choice used by insurgents and Iraqi authorities.

The woes of a second term are nothing new, but for President Obama they seem to have started sooner and struck harder than for his predecessors.

Discarded belongings are left behind at a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, July 24. Discarded belongings are left behind at a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, July 24. Israel acknowledged Sunday that troops fired a mortar shell that hit the courtyard of a U.N. school in Gaza last ... (more)

The White House says Obama and Netanyahu spoke Sunday about the ongoing violence in the region and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.

They spoke anonymously to The Associated Press for fear of reprisal. The Islamic State group launched an aggressive offensive through western and northern Iraq beginning late last year and took over Mosul in June.

Mohammad Shtayyeh says people under siege will react to defend themselves and that is what is happening in Gaza.

A British man held hostage in Yemen for the past five months has been released safely, the Foreign Office said.

In this December 20, 2008, file photo, masked Palestinian militants from Islamic Jihad place homemade rockets before later firing them into Israel on the outskirts of Gaza City.

A secret ritual, wild alibis and a trail of friendships torn apart by suspicion: The disturbing case of the Florida cops outed as members of the Ku Klux Klan 'No blood, no drugs, no weapons': Mystery surrounds the death of couple found in each others arms in Hilton hotel room after apparent double suicide How popular vacation flights run risk of ... (more)

A 12-hour cease-fire between Israel and Hamas ended on Saturday, and despite efforts to negotiate an extension, no deal was reached.

There is an "absolute humanitarian necessity" to see the 12-hour ceasefire currently taking place in Gaza extended, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.

In a strongly-worded statement, the ministry said it summoned the Turkish charge d' affaires, the highest-ranking Turkish official in the country, over the comments.

Foreign Ministers from seven nations are calling for an extension of the 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.