: A Saudi court has sentenced a human rights activist to eight years in prison for sedition after his group campaigned for a constitutional monarchy and elections in the kingdom. Abdulkarim Al Khader co-founded the

US authorities blocked the sale of a Pablo Picasso painting following a request from Italy after the $11.5 million work of art's owners were charged with embezzlement and fraud, the US government said yesterday. The

The Israeli army on Wednesday reopened the two crossings into the Gaza Strip which were closed as a punitive measure after militants fired five rockets over the border, a statement said. "Kerem Shalom and Erez

President Vladimir Putin confirmed yesterday a former US spy agency contractor sought by the US was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him over to Washington, dismissing US

Saudi Arabia said yesterday the Syrian government's attempts to suppress a rebellion amounted to "genocide" and called for rebels to get military aid to defend themselves, in a sharp escalation of rhetoric over the

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called Qatar's young new emir and voiced hope for further cooperation with the increasingly active nation, an official said Wednesday. Kerry, who is on a regional tour aimed

Egypt’s army stepped in to a mounting political crisis yesterday to demand that the Islamist government and its opponents settle their differences and warned that it would act to stop violence spinning out

The emir of gas-rich Qatar, a major player on the world's diplomatic scene, is poised to announce his abdication in favor of his son or name him prime minister, officials and diplomats said on

By Harriet Sherwood and Hazem Balousha For once, Palestinians had something to celebrate. When the golden boy from Gaza was announced as winner of Arab Idol, the West Bank and Gaza erupted in fireworks,

Tourists look at the rising ‘super moon’ from the elevated skywalk of the Supertrees Grove at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, yesterday. The largest full moon of the year, called the