Security officials say five Yemeni prisoners have been killed in clashes after riots in a prison south of the capital as some tried to flee.

Every day, rockets and mortars fired by regime forces rattle the streets of Homs. Armed rebels ambush government military checkpoints. Hatreds brew on either side of the avenues that divide the bloodstained Syrian city.

Libya has finalized a law to govern an election to choose a national assembly to draft a new constitution - a first step to setting up a new government after the ouster of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

There's a Persian saying used to describe an under-the-radar political effort: "Driving at night with the lights off." Allies of embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be doing just that as they campaign in Iran's hinterlands in hopes of scoring a comeback in next month's parliamentary elections.

There's a Persian saying used to describe an under-the-radar political effort: "Driving at night with the lights off." Allies of embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be doing just that as they campaign in Iran's hinterlands in hopes of scoring a comeback in next month's parliamentary elections.

Syrian forces fired mortars and rockets that killed scores of people Thursday in the rebellious city of Homs, activists said, the latest strike in a weeklong assault as President Bashar Assad's regime tries to crush increasingly militarized pockets of dissent.

The Hamas parliamentary bloc in the Gaza Strip has come out against the latest reconciliation deal with rival Fatah, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel's president reached out to the Iranian people with a message of peace Wednesday, as the West tightened sanctions over Iran's nuclear program, and a former Israeli spymaster said Israel is not in mortal danger.

Iran's state media say kidnappers have released 11 Iranian pilgrims who were recently abducted in Syria.

Younes al-Yousef rarely goes outside in Cairo, fearful that even here someone will recognize him and word will get back to Damascus. He stays in a simple, rented apartment with his wife and children, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and watching TV for the latest from the homeland he fled, Syria.

Iran will not ask Lebanon's Hezbollah to retaliate if Israel attacks Iran's nuclear facilities, the leader of the militant group said Tuesday.

Egypt refused to back down Wednesday in a dispute with the U.S. over Cairo's crackdown on nonprofit groups despite Washington's threats to cut aid, while the military deployed troops to the nation's streets after a surge in violence and protests against its rule.

The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group says if Israel attacks Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran will not order his group to retaliate.

Lifting a half-century veil of secrecy, Israel's Mossad spy agency is opening its archive this week to reveal the story behind the legendary 1960 capture of Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann.

Algeria will witness a "social explosion" if the May legislative election is marred by fraud, an Islamist leader warned Tuesday.

The European Union will impose harsher sanctions on Syria, a senior EU official said Wednesday, as Russia tried to broker talks between the vice president and the opposition to calm violence. Activists reported at least 50 killed in military assaults targeting government opponents.

While Israeli leaders are increasingly sounding belligerent warnings of a potential military strike against Iran's nuclear installations, a group of Iranian-Israelis are transmitting a different message.

Iran's parliament on Tuesday decided to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning over a long list of accusations, including that he mismanaged the nation's economy.

Vandals attacked a monastery in Jerusalem and a prominent school with a mixed Jewish-Arab student body on Tuesday, and police said they suspected Jewish extremists were behind the violence.

Israeli defense officials say they are increasingly concerned that Lebanese militants could get their hands on weapons from violence-wracked Syria.

Iran on Tuesday dismissed the new U.S. sanctions, saying they are part of a "psychological war" meant to sow discontent among Iranians and insisting the measures would not halt the country's nuclear program.

Americans facing trial in Egypt over activities of their pro-democracy groups have been caught in a dispute between the U.S. government and Egypt over aid, a lawyer representing the Americans said Tuesday.

An Israeli official says the country's prime minister has told his Cabinet to quit the "chitchat" about Iran.

Gaza's ruling Islamic militant Hamas is ready to cede power to an interim unity government led by its longtime rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a spokesman said Tuesday, but problems loomed over government policy and international recognition.

Syrian forces renewed their assault on the flashpoint city of Homs on Tuesday as Russia's foreign minister held talks in Damascus with President Bashar Assad about the country's escalating violence.

Iranian authorities have arrested several people over alleged links to the British Broadcasting Corporation's Farsi-language service, Iran's semiofficial Mehr news agency reported Monday.

A Libyan prosecutor says 40 suspects have appeared before a military tribunal in the country's first trial of Moammar Gadhafi loyalists since the dictator's overthrow.

Ministers from Iraq's Sunni-backed bloc ended their boycott of the Cabinet on Tuesday, a move that could restore some stability to the war-ravaged nation that has been mired in a security and political crisis since the U.S. completed its military withdrawal from the country.

Iran's state TV reports that the country's navy has opened fire on pirates to foil an attack on an Iranian oil tanker near the Gulf of Aden.

An Iranian government-affiliated agency has banned dolls of the Simpsons cartoon characters, who join Barbie and others on a toy blacklist, an independent newspaper reported on Monday.

A state-run Yemeni newspaper's office is being occupied by armed men who kicked out the paper's editors and journalists in order to reinstate the outgoing president's picture on the front page.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday took a decisive step toward reconciliation with the Islamic militant Hamas, agreeing to head an interim unity government that would prepare for elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Egypt's top election official says voting for a new president will be brought forward from June, in line with demands by protesters. That could mean a new Egyptian constitution would be drawn up under a civilian government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says he will visit the U.S. next month for the annual conference of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby.

Israel's military has picked a new air force chief at a time of growing tension with Iran.

Moroccan police have arrested three suspects accused of planning to carry out attacks on the security of the state.

Iran will target any country where an attack against it is staged, a senior Guard commander warned Sunday, the latest Iranian threat tied to growing tensions over its nuclear program and Western sanctions.

The Palestinian president and the head of rival Hamas resumed talks Sunday over efforts to move along a reconciliation pact that remains stalled after nearly a year.

Government forces shelled the central Syrian city of Homs on Monday, striking a makeshift medical clinic and residential areas and killing at least 17 people in the third day of a new assault on the epicenter of the country's uprising, activists said.

Kuwait's caretaker prime minister has stepped down to clear the way for a new government after parliamentary elections dominated by hard-line Islamists and other opposition groups.