Russia says it "categorically rejects" accusations of war crimes over the bombing of hospitals in Syria.

American foreign policy is not what it used to be, at least when it comes to the Middle East.

Rebel groups in Syria have told the BBC they will not stop fighting because they do not believe that Russia will end its bombing campaign in support of the government.

Pakistan's supreme court lifts a ban on the hunting of a rare bird, the Houbara bustard.

Iran says new US curbs on the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile programme were illegitimate, vowing to continue developing its conventional military deterrent.

The Arab Spring had deeply destabilised the Middle East. A new dimension was added to the existing instability on January 4, 2016, when the (Sunni) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) severed diplomatic ties with (Shia) Iran.

Aid including one month's worth of food and medicine can reach for 40,000 people trapped in Madaya, a besieged Syrian village as early as Sunday morning, the World Food Programme says.

Saudi Arabia's execution of Shia cleric Nimr-al-Nimr, alongside 46 others, mostly al Qaeda members, has sparked a crisis with Iran.

Though Egypt joins the Saudi-led 34-nation Islamic Military Coalition against terrorism and violent extremism, it will not join any military action, says its envoy in Bangladesh.

Kuwait says it is recalling its ambassador to Iran as a regional row over the execution of a Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia deepens.

US expresses concern that Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr could further exacerbate sectarian rivalry in the Middle East.

Israel's Interior Minister Silvan Shalom has resigned after a series of sexual harassment allegations.

Expatriates living in Middle East will not be affected by Islamic State (IS) because of Bangladesh’s allegiance to Saudi’s Islamic military coalition, commented Nurul Islam, minister for expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment.

Late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Hannibal has been freed after being briefly kidnapped by an armed group in Lebanon, security sources say.

Temperatures across the globe are likely to break records in 2015 with readings running "well above" any previous year, scientists say.

Australia's immigration minister rejects a call by an MP to close its borders to refugees from the Middle East, in the wake of the Paris attacks

Populist leaders around Europe rushed to demand an end to an influx of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa on Saturday after a wave of deadly attacks in Paris claimed by Islamic State militants.

Forget principles and morality. Forget, or try to forget, the quarter-million deaths for which Bashar al-Assad is responsible, directly or indirectly, since choosing to respond with violence to a peaceful uprising of the Syrian people.

At least 45 people have been killed in Russian air strikes on a rebel-held area of north-western Syria, a monitoring group says.

Eight senior figures from Islamic State were killed in an air strike while meeting in a town in western Iraq, but the group's reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi did not appear to be among them.