Middle East

World News

U.S. Response To Syria's Humanitarian Crisis Criticized

7:43am February 26, 2014

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson describes the response to the Syrian crisis as "strategic despair." He and Michael Abramowitz of the Holocaust museum, tell Renee Montagne about what they saw.

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U.N. Calls On Syria To Allow Access To Humanitarian Aid

7:18pm February 22, 2014

The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Saturday to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria. More than 9 million people need food, water and medicine, according to the U.N.

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Life In Syria's Capital: A 'Bubble' Squeezed By Violence

12:10pm February 20, 2014

Reporter Anne Barnard writes about Damascus in the March issue of National Geographic. She tells NPR's Arun Rath there's a lot to learn from life in the capital about the future of the Syrian state.

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Uncertainty Reigns At Start Of Iran Nuclear Talks

8:02pm February 19, 2014

by Peter Kenyon

Talks in Vienna about Iran's nuclear program kick off what could be a year of negotiations. Negotiators are seeking a deal to follow the temporary agreement now limiting Iran's nuclear program.

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Syria Peace Talks Appear Near Collapse

1:38pm February 14, 2014

by Alice Fordham

The Syrian peace talks in Geneva are in deep trouble. Representatives of the opposition met a delegation from Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime several times this week. But the two sides can't agree on an agenda.

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Iranians hold pictures of Iran's current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the 35th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday.

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Iran's President Marks Revolution With Call For Negotiations

9:58pm February 11, 2014

by Peter Kenyon

In a major address, Hassan Rouhani mocked U.S. military threats. But he also used the 35th anniversary of the Islamic revolution to say that negotiations with the U.S. and others offers the best path for Iran.

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Iranians Look Back On 35 Years Since The Revolution

7:45am February 10, 2014

by Peter Kenyon

Tuesday marks the 35 anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution. For more than three decades, relations between the U.S. and Iran have been frozen. But hope for a thaw began to emerge with last summer's election of Hassan Rouhani as president.

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Scarlett Johansson recently became SodaStream's spokeswoman and appeared at an event at the Gramercy Park Hotel on Jan. 10 in New York City. The actress soon found herself engulfed in controversy because of her affiliation with a company that has a factor

World News

Scarlett Johansson's Middle East Flap ... Over Soda

9:55am February 01, 2014

by Emily Harris

The American actress has stepped down as a goodwill representative for Oxfam International. She came in for criticism after agreeing to serve as a spokeswoman, and appear in a Super Bowl ad, for an Israeli company that produces at-home soda-makers in the occupied West Bank.

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'Return To Homs' Follows Cycle Of Syrian Demonstrations

7:58am January 31, 2014

A new documentary about the war in Syria follows the transformation of peaceful demonstrators into insurgents. Steve Inskeep talks to Orwa Nyrabia, the producer of the film, about the toll of the Syrian civil war on the besieged city of Homs.

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Abdel Hamid el-Rajoub, a Palestinian, became an informant for Israel while serving time in an Israeli prison. Palestinian informants play a key role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though both sides can be reluctant to speak about it. Rajoub, who now

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A Palestinian Explains Why He Worked As An Israeli Informant

11:00am January 30, 2014

by Emily Harris

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict includes a shadow war in which Israel turns to Palestinian informants to gather intelligence. Palestinian Abed Hamed el-Rajoub was imprisoned for fighting against Israel, but while in jail, he secretly gathered information from fellow Palestinian prisoners.

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