Middle East

World News

Iran is suspended from the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women

4:38pm December 14, 2022

by Michele Kelemen

Iran has been suspended from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. This came as a reaction by the U.S. and other countries to Iran's crackdown on women's rights protesters.

World News

Lebanese people are staging robberies and sit-ins to access their bank accounts

4:48pm December 12, 2022

by Ruth Sherlock

At the start of the economic crisis in Lebanon, banks froze people out of their accounts. After struggling to make ends meet, some people have taken extreme measures to access their savings.

4 people are charged with corruption in a bribery inquiry linked to Qatar

7:25am December 12, 2022

by Teri Schultz

A high-ranking European Union lawmaker is one of several people snared in a corruption probe by Belgian officials for allegedly taking bribes from a Gulf state.

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A locator map for Iran with its capital, Tehran.

Second Iranian detainee is executed over alleged protest crime

12:42am December 12, 2022

by The Associated Press

The execution comes less than a month after the man allegedly carried out the fatal stabbings of two security officials during one of the demonstrations the government is trying to put an end to.

A Palestinian excavation team works in a newly discovered Roman-era cemetery in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Authorities in Gaza announced the discovery of over 60 tombs in the ancient burial site.

More than 60 ancient Roman-era graves were discovered in Gaza

7:22pm December 11, 2022

by The Associated Press

Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip announced the discovery of over 60 tombs in an ancient burial site dating back to the Roman era.

Visitors, including Dead Sea researcher Yael Kiro from Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science (second from left), examine salt formations on the shore of the Dead Sea in Israel on Nov. 5.

The Dead Sea is dying. These beautiful, ominous photos show the impact

6:00am December 11, 2022

Its water level is dropping. Big sinkholes are swallowing up whole tracts of land around it. Here is why a disaster is unfolding at the Middle East's iconic salt lake.

What Iran's execution of a prisoner linked to recent protests means for demonstrators

5:00am December 09, 2022

This week, Iran executed a man linked to nationwide protests that have been going on for months after what human rights groups call a "sham trial." Will it cause anti-regime protesters to back down?

China's leader Xi Jinping (center) walks with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman (right), following an official welcoming ceremony at the Palace of Yamamah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday.

World News

China's Xi Jinping visits Saudi Arabia to assert power and rival U.S. influence

3:26pm December 08, 2022

by Aya Batrawy

China is looking to deepen ties with Saudi Arabia and meeting other Arab leaders months after President Biden visited the kingdom — and had rocky results.

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Saudi Arabia will host Xi Jinping in a milestone moment for China-Saudi relations

5:02am December 08, 2022

by Jackie Northam

Saudi Arabia hosts Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a regional summit that echoes the trip President Biden made there in July and highlights the competition for influence in the Gulf.

What's at stake for Xi Jinping's trip to Saudi Arabia

5:02am December 08, 2022

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Yu Jie, who studies China's relationships with Middle East and Gulf states, about Chinese president Xi's trip to Saudi Arabia and China's influence in the region.