Middle East | featured news

Donor nations meeting at a conference on aid to Afghanistan here Sunday pledged $16 billion over the next four years for civilian projects from roads to schools to strengthening rule of law, in exchange for pledges from the Afghan government to combat corruption.

Police in Sudan fired teargas at university student protesters in Khartoum on Sunday after authorities arrested an opposition politician the day before, in the latest crackdown on public dissent against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Denounced by some as propaganda and hailed by others as art, the anthology of poems by militants in Afghanistan reveals at times a surprisingly emotional tone. War is an ageless poetic wellspring, yielding wrenching odes to the white heat of combat, the longing for lost loved ones, the dust of graveyards.

The U.S. designation Saturday of Afghanistan as its newest "major non-NATO ally" amounts to a political statement of support for the country's long-term stability and solidifies close defense cooperation after American combat troops withdraw in 2014....

Iran has reached agreements with European refiners to sell some of its oil through a private consortium, an official said on Saturday, a move designed to circumvent sanctions intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt its disputed nuclear program.

The bloodiest massacre of protesters since Tianamen Square turned Uzbekistan into a pariah state. Now, the United States needs its help over Afghanistan - and has launched a flurry of overtures while putting aside concerns over human rights....

The United States and its international allies called Friday for new, global sanctions against President Bashar Assad's regime, seeking to step up the pressure after the defection of a top general dealt a major blow to the Syrian leader....

Iran's daily oil exports in July could fall below half the average shipped in 2011 before tough new Western sanctions stemmed the flow.

The secret-spilling group WikiLeaks said Thursday it was in the process of publishing material from 2.4 million Syrian emails -- many of which it said came from official government accounts.

The Syrian army pressed its offensive against rebels, bombarding the city of Douma near Damascus, and Turkey said it had scrambled warplanes after Syrian helicopters flew near its border.