Middle East

In a 2013 photo, visitors leave St. Catherine's Monastery, a major religious tourism site in southern Sinai. Gunmen attacked a checkpoint near the monastery Tuesday, killing one security officer and wounding four.

World News

Gunmen Attack Popular Religious Tourism Site In Sinai

8:36pm April 18, 2017

by Jane Arraf

Egyptian authorities say no tourists were involved but one security officer was killed and four others injured. The ancient monastery is about 130 miles from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.

Syrian refugees are seen at Elbeyli accommodation facility in Kilis, Turkey.

Tech Is Dominating Efforts To Educate Syrian Refugees

2:24pm April 18, 2017

by Anya Kamenetz

Half of private donors to Syrian students are funding educational technology, a report says. It's not necessarily what schools need, one co-author says, considering they may lack reliable electricity.

World News

Egypt Clears Aid Worker Of Abuse And Trafficking Allegations

6:59am April 18, 2017

by Jane Arraf

After three years in detention, Egypt has cleared Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American aid worker accused of child abuse and human trafficking. The case was emblematic of Egypt's crackdown on aid groups.

Protesters hold up portraits of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails during a demonstration in Gaza City to show support to the prisoners who launched a hunger strike on Monday.

World News

More Than 1,000 Palestinians In Israeli Prisons Go On Hunger Strike

1:24pm April 17, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

Imprisoned Palestinians are staging a mass open-ended hunger strike to protest their conditions. It's being led by prominent Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti.

World News

Turkish Voters Grant More Power To The President In Historic Referendum

7:04am April 17, 2017

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a referendum granting him sweeping new powers. Steve Inskeep talks to Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute about what it means for U.S. relations with Turkey.

Morning News Brief: North Korea Missile Test, Turkish Vote, Ohio Manhunt

6:25am April 17, 2017

North Korea launched a failed missile test. Turkish voters granted the president sweeping new powers. Authorities in Cleveland search for a man who they say posted a video of a murder on Facebook.

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A picture taken on April 16, 2017, shows the damage a day after a suicide car bombing attack in Rashidin, west of Aleppo, targeted buses carrying Syrians evacuated from two besieged government-held towns of Fuaa and Kafraya.

World News

Suicide Attack On Syrian Evacuees Leaves More Than 100 Dead

5:42pm April 16, 2017

by Alison Meuse

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says most of the victims were families evacuating from two Shiite villages, Fuaa and Kefraya, long besieged by rebels. No group has claimed responsibility.

Egyptian-American aid worker Aya Hijazi was held for nearly three years without a verdict, in what human rights groups have called an "arbitrary detention."

Cairo Court Drops Child Abuse Charges Against Egyptian-American Woman

11:08am April 16, 2017

by Maggie Penman

Egyptian-American aid worker Aya Hijazi was acquitted Sunday after being held for nearly three years without a verdict in Cairo. Human Rights Watch has called her case a "travesty of justice."

At least 39 were killed following a car bomb attack on buses carrying evacuees from government-held towns in Syria. An evacuation deal had stalled and the buses were stranded for some 30 hours prior to the attack.

World News

In Syria, At Least 39 Killed In Explosion As Evacuations Stall

2:06pm April 15, 2017

by Jason Slotkin

The car bomb struck a convoy near Aleppo. The convoy was part of a deal to allow thousands to relocate from both government and rebel-held areas.

Buses carry Syrians as they leave on Friday from Madaya, an opposition-held town near Damascus, Syria.

World News

Four Besieged Syrian Towns Are Being Evacuated In Reciprocal Swap

5:00pm April 14, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

In northern Syria, residents of Shia minority villages, long besieged by rebels, are leaving. Hundreds of miles away, two towns besieged by Syrian troops and their allies have started evacuating.