Middle East

World News

High Court Sides With White House On Jerusalem Passport Dispute

12:19pm June 09, 2015

by Nina Totenberg

Supporters of Israel were critical of Monday's Supreme Court ruling that struck down a law allowing U.S. citizens to list Israel as their birthplace if they were born in Jerusalem.

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Jerusalem Passport Law

5:53am June 09, 2015

by Nina Totenberg

The Supreme Court has struck down a law that allowed American citizens born in Jerusalem to list Israel as their country of birth on passports or other documents.

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Patient one: A businessman brought the Middle East respiratory syndrome to South Korea in early May. Since then, he has likely spread the virus to more than 20 other people. Several of those have passed the virus onto others.

Viral Superspreader? How One Man Triggered A Deadly MERS Outbreak

10:02pm June 08, 2015

by Michaeleen Doucleff

In the past week, cases of the Middle East respiratory syndrome have more than tripled in South Korea. Researchers now have a clue to why the outbreak has grown so large, so quickly.

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World News

Afghan Women Climbers Face Challenges Beyond Scaling Summit

9:59pm June 08, 2015

by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

It's been a difficult two months of intense training in secret for a dozen Afghan girls and women who are preparing for an unprecedented climb to Afghanistan's highest peak.

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Ari Zivotofsky (right) with his son, Menachem, outside the Supreme Court in 2011. Menachem, now 12, was born in Jerusalem, but the court ruled Israel cannot be noted as the birthplace on his passport.

Court Sides With President Over Congress In 'Jerusalem' Passport Dispute

7:23pm June 08, 2015

by Nina Totenberg

In a 6-3 decision, the high court sided with the White House over Congress on the thorny foreign policy issue.

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World News

Officials Estimate Nearly Half A Million Migrants Await The Journey To Europe

6:56pm June 08, 2015

by Lauren Frayer

Nearly 6,000 migrants were rescued after attempting to make it to Europe from North Africa. A British naval officer says there are indications that as many as 500,000 migrants could be waiting in Libya for the means to make the crossing.

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Turkish President's Ruling Party Loses Majority In Parliament

6:56pm June 08, 2015

by Peter Kenyon

In Turkey, the ruling party allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lost its majority in parliament this weekend. The results of the election will hamper the president's ambition to rewrite the constitution and give himself more powers. NPR assesses the fallout from this weekend's historic elections.

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Kurdish Party Wins Record Number Of Seats In Turkish Parliament

6:56pm June 08, 2015

NPR's Robert Siegel interviews Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute, about the rise of the Kurds in Turkey and the recent elections.

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World News

Syrian Mother Sends Children Across Mediterranean With Smugglers

6:56pm June 08, 2015

by Leila Fadel

A Syrian family in Egypt describes how they arrange to send their children with smugglers across the sea to Europe.

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Saudi Supreme Court Upholds Blogger's Prison And Lashing Sentence

6:21pm June 07, 2015

The sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes has drawn international condemnation but remains in place for Raif Badawi, a blogger who had earlier been found guilty of "insulting" Islam. NPR's Arun Rath speaks with correspondent Deborah Amos in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

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