Middle East News

TEHRAN, Iran - A 5.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the northeast Iranian city of Torbat-e Heydariyeh on Friday, injuring at least 110 people. Full Story »

BEIRUT - The leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia, once bitter rivals, made an unprecedented show of cooperation Friday, traveling together to Lebanon in hopes of preventing any violence if members of a militant group are indicted in the 2005 assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister. Full Story »

BAGHDAD - Iraqi police say a roadside bomb north of Baghdad has killed five members of a family, including a 4-year-old girl. Full Story »

TEHRAN, Iran - An Iranian official says cigarettes smuggled into Iran have been tainted with pig blood and nuclear material as part of a Western conspiracy. Full Story »

JERUSALEM - Gaza militants fired a rocket into the Israeli city of Ashkelon early Friday, the military said, a rare strike in a period of relative quiet. Full Story »

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria on Thursday warned the United States to stop trying to interfere as Arab leaders try to defuse heightened tensions in the Middle East. Full Story »

JERUSALEM - Thousands of Israelis marched calmly Thursday in Jerusalem's longest gay pride parade despite opposition from anti-gay demonstrators. Full Story »

CAIRO - Arab nations on Thursday backed the Palestinian president's refusal to immediately restart direct talks with Israel despite heavy U.S. pressure. Full Story »

JERUSALEM - The men behind a unique six-hour eating marathon in Jerusalem want diners to know two things about locusts: First, they taste great stir-fried, and second, they're kosher. Full Story »

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Investigators in the UAE are looking into whether a Japanese tanker damaged at the mouth of the Persian Gulf was involved in a collision, backing away from an earlier theory that natural causes were to blame, the top port official where the vessel is moored said Thursday. Full Story »

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - Israeli warplanes fired missiles at several targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing one person and wounding eight people, witnesses and medics said after a rocket fired from the strip hit a southern Israeli city. Full Story »

PINE CITY, Minn. - Cindy Hickey was sitting in her home office last summer, preparing a receipt for a client of her animal physical therapy business when the phone rang. She picked up, then nearly hung up, thinking it was a sales call. Full Story »

TEHRAN (AFP) - A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck Iran's northeast on Friday, injuring at least 110 people, damaging villages and disrupting communications, media reports said citing officials. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday called on Iran to immediately release three Americans who were detained a year ago after straying across the border while hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq. Full Story »

BEIRUT (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah on Friday urged Lebanon's rival factions to avoid violence, on an unprecedented joint trip to Beirut aiming to defuse political tensions. Full Story »

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said on Friday it was ready for immediate talks with the United States, Russia and France over an exchange of nuclear fuel and added that it was also against stockpiling higher enriched uranium. Full Story »

LONDON - An Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning was lifted earlier this month says she's grateful for the international support she's received, but remains heartbroken at the separation from her children and tormented by the fear she could still be executed, a rights activist said Friday. Full Story »

AMMAN (AFP) - Saudi King Abdullah and his Jordanian counterpart Abdullah II discussed on Friday developments in Lebanon and called for stability and security to be strengthened in the country. Full Story »