Middle East News

President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement he felt "immense relief" after learning of the release of Edouard Elias, Didier Francois, Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres - all said to be in good health despite "very trying conditions" of their captivity.

Canada has a new development partner in the Arab world, and the foreign-aid minister says it could help the Harper government navigate the complex Middle East in the fight against poverty.

For some of the scientists and doctors who helped the world battle the 2003 SARS outbreak, the recent rapid rise in human infections in several Middle Eastern countries caused by a cousin virus is creating a sense of sharp unease.

President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday aimed at blocking Iran's chosen ambassador to the United Nations because of his ties to the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

A Syrian man carrying on his back his daughter makes his way amid rubble following reported air strikes by government forces in the Aleppo district of Ansari, in the southwest of the city, on April 15, 2014.

A woman walks with her child through the aftermath of a car bomb attack in the crowded commercial area of Karrada, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, April 18, 2014.

BAGHDAD: Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed at least 30 people around Iraq yesterday, including 12 soldiers in an assault on a remote army base in the north, deepening insecurity with a national election just two weeks away.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets members of parliament from his ruling Justice and Development Party during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara on April 8, 2014.

The Western-allied Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council said Thursday the bloc has agreed on the mechanisms to implement a security pact, marking a possible first step toward bridging deep rifts among its six energy-rich states.

The U.S government says its criminal case against a former Blackwater security guard is in jeopardy as a June 11 trial looms on charges stemming from the shootings of dozens of Iraqi citizens in an incident in Baghdad nearly seven years ago.

More than 20 people, many of them health-care workers, have been reported infected with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in two distinct clusters - one in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - likely involving human-to-human transmission since early last week.

Iran's state TV says a magnitude 5.3 earthquake has jolted a sparsely populated district in the south of the country.

Israeli soldiers leave after an operation near the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah October 22, 2013.

This bustling center of Palestinian life is just a 20-minute drive from Jerusalem, but for Israelis it might as well be on the other side of the world.

Activists say Waleed Abu al-Khair was taken into custody on Tuesday after attending a court hearing in Riyadh where he faces charges that include inciting public opinion.

A Lebanese security official says a longtime ally of former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi detained in Lebanon has been moved to a Beirut hospital after falling ill.

A combo picture of three Al-Manar TV journalists, cameraman Mohammed Mantash, left, reporter Hamza al-Haj Hassan, center, and technician Halim Allaw, right, who were killed while covering the battle between the Syrian government forces and rebels, in the Syrian town of Maaloula, Syria, Monday, April 14, 2014.

Philippine officials say a Filipino health worker who tested positive for the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus has arrived home from the United Arab Emirates .

In this Friday, April 11, 2014 photo, masked anti-government gunmen hold their weapons in combat position in Fallujah, 65 kilometers west of Baghdad, Iraq.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says Palestinian rioters hurled stones and firecrackers on Wednesday from atop the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.