Syrian election vote counting begins

President Bashar al-Assad set to win an overwhelming victory in poll called a charade by the opposition. Election officials have started counting votes in a Syrian presidential election expected to deliver an... Read more »

Palestinians announce unity government

Officials sworn in after Hamas and Fatah conclude negotiations for consensus administration. Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Fatah and Hamas have unveiled a government of national consensus that will pave the way for... Read more »

27 killed in Aleppo violence

At least 27 people have been killed in a shelling carried out by militants in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. Some 80 more people were also injured on Monday after the militants... Read more »

Turkey-Israel move towards normalising ties

Diplomatic steps go ahead despite Turkish court ruling to issue arrest warrants for Israelis involved in flotilla raid. Jerusalem – A ruling issued by an Istanbul court earlier this week seemed at first... Read more »

Egypt elections: Sisi campaign delcares victory

Egypt’s former military chief Abdel Fattah al Sisi has won the majority of the votes in the country’s presidential election, according to results announced by his campaign. Sisi’s campaign said early Thursday that... Read more »

Egypt voting extended amid poor turnout

Officials blame hot weather but analysts say boycott and apathy are responsible for low voter numbers. Egyptians have been given an extra day to cast their ballots in the country’s presidential election,... Read more »

Bahrain criticizes damning U.S report on violence & human rights

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry criticized a U.S. State Department report about the general situation in the country as “lacking neutrality and objectivity,” refuting a total of 42 U.S. claims in detail. Bahrain witnessed... Read more »

Several killed in Baghdad mosque bomb attack

At least 14 people were killed from a suicide bomb attack in Iraq’s capital Tuesday Iraqi officials told AFP that a suicide bomber detonated himself outside of a Shiite mosque in the downtown... Read more »

Lebanon’s parliament fails to elect president

The presidential election session failed once again Thursday over lack of quorum, as Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated that Parliament would remain in open session until the end of the week to vote for a... Read more »

Pope to visit Holy Land amid tensions

Trip comes at a time of stalled peace talks and an increase in anti-Christian ‘price tag’ attacks by Jewish extremists. Beit Jala, West Bank – Pope Francis’ trip to the Holy Land this week... Read more »

Kuwait’s emir to visit Iran for first time at end of May

Kuwait’s top ruler will visit Iran for the first time at the end of this month, representing the latest sign that relations between Tehran and its Arab neighbors truly are thawing. Iran’s... Read more »

Egypt’s Salafi party faces growing isolation

The future of the Salafi al-Nour is fraught with uncertainty. When Egypt’s military intervened last summer to oust Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president, al-Nour party was widely seen as... Read more »

Syrian warplanes airstrike Lebanon border village

Syrian warplanes raided Wednesday the outskirts of the eastern Lebanon border village of Arsal where rebels are believed to be hiding, security sources said. The sources told The Daily Star Syrian jets fired a number... Read more »

Bahraini police firebombed in Shiite village

A Bahraini police post in a small Shiite village near the capital was attacked by assailants throwing Molotov cocktails overnight, an interior ministry official said Tuesday. State security forces “repulsed the terrorist attack... Read more »

UN nuclear weapons inspectors arrive in Iran

A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is in Tehran to discuss with Iranian officials a safeguards approach for the country’s Arak heavy water plant in line with an agreement reached between... Read more »

Qatar Airways to increase flights to Saudi

Qatar Airways will double the number of weekly flights to Gassim from four to eight from May 15, while Madinah flights were recently increased from five to seven per week.The airline has also... Read more »

Iran bans popular messaging service WhatsApp

Iran’s Committee on Internet Crimes says the Facebook co- founder Mark Zuckerberg is a Zionist and banned his recently acquired messaging system WhatsApp. Iran’s criminalization of WhatsApp on Friday. According to the... Read more »

Egypt court gives 102 Morsi supporters 10 year jail term

Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Saturday 102 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison, and two others to seven years, on charges of murder and rioting. The defendants were arrested... Read more »

Jordan opens new refugee camp for Syrians

With no end in sight for Syria’s war, a new camp was set up to accommodate the increasing numbers of Syrian refugees. Azraq refugee camp, Jordan – A group of Syrian children flock... Read more »

Over 1,000 Iraqis killed in attacks last month

Official figures show more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed and nearly 1,400 others wounded in violent attacks across Iraq last month. According to the latest figures released by the Iraqi... Read more »

Nine killed in Syrian government airstrike on school

Activists on the ground say that a government airstrike has hit a school in Aleppo. The strike killed at least nine people, including three children, (AP). The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says there was... Read more »

Bombings near Baghdad kill 10

At least 10 people have been killed when twin bombings struck a town northeast of the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad, a day before the country’s parliamentary elections. Security and medical officials said... Read more »

UAE Telecom Etisalat signs multi-currency deal

Etisalat, the leading telecommunications operator in the UAE, said it has signed a multi-currency club deal worth 3.15 billion euros ($4.35 billion) with a group of seventeen international, regional and local banks.The move is aimed... Read more »

Egypt court sentences 683 Muslim to death

Amid crackdown on opposition, judge also confirms death sentences for 37 alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters. The Egyptian court that previously sentenced 529 Muslim Brotherhood members to death has sentenced an additional 683... Read more »