Middle East

World News

Outpouring Of Grief For Iranian Pop Star Catches Regime Off Guard

9:59pm November 17, 2014

Melissa Block speaks with New York Times Tehran bureau chief Thomas Erdbrink about the massive public gatherings in Iran following the death of a young pop star that have caught the regime off guard.

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Russia's Plans In Iran Could Make Waves In Nuclear Talks

9:59pm November 17, 2014

Russian plans to build nuclear plants in Iran. Robert Siegel talks with Ariane Tabatabai, columnist for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, about how that might affect the nuclear talks resuming on Tuesday.

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Peter Kassig, who changed his first name to Abdul-Rahman when he converted to Islam, is shown with a truck filled with aid supplies for Syrian refugees.

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Slain Aid Worker Shows 'One Person Can Make A Difference,' Parents Say

5:01pm November 17, 2014

by Krishnadev Calamur

In a statement, Paula and Ed Kassig remembered their 26-year-old son, Peter Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig, as both a realist and an idealist. Kassig was killed by the Islamic State group.

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American Kassig Is 5th Westerner ISIS Claims To Have Beheaded

3:24pm November 17, 2014

by Alice Fordham

President Obama has confirmed the death of U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig, an ex-Army Ranger. He was captured by militants of the so-called Islamic State while delivering medical supplies in Syria.

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In Recruitment Efforts, ISIS Seeks To Evoke Deep Sympathies From Muslims

9:00pm November 16, 2014

In spite of the brutality on display, ISIS is not having trouble attracting fighters to their cause. NPR's Arun Rath talks to Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institution about how ISIS uses and appropriates religious terms.

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Sultan Qaboos bin Said, 73, salutes during a military parade in the capital Muscat on Oman's national day in November 2013. Qaboos, who has ruled for 44 years, has maintained friendly relations with everyone from the U.S. to Iran. However, he has been abr

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In Oman, The Man Who Has Defined The Country Is Now Rarely Seen

5:15pm November 16, 2014

by Peter Kenyon

Sultan Qaboos has dominated Oman for 44 years and managed to maintain good relations with everyone from the U.S. to Iran. But now he's ailing and it's not clear who would succeed him.

Iraqi Kurdish soldiers, or peshmerga, patrol an area in the recently recaptured town of Zumar, near Mosul in northern Iraq on Oct. 29. When the Islamic State captured the town in August, the Kurds fled. Now that the Kurds are in control, the Arabs are all

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In A Back-And-Forth Battle, An Iraqi Town Splits On Ethnic Lines

12:25pm November 16, 2014

by Leila Fadel

When the Islamic State seized the town of Zumar, the Kurds fled. Now Kurdish fighters have taken control, and it's the Arabs who have been driven out. Is this the future of Iraq?

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Palestinian men shout slogans next to Israeli police as they await permission to enter what Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call the Nobel Sanctuary, on Nov. 5, in Jerusalem, Israel. On Friday, Israel dropped age restrictions on men attending Frida

At A Tense Jerusalem Holy Site, Palestinians Stand Watch

4:09pm November 15, 2014

by Emily Harris

With tensions rising over a sacred hilltop in Jerusalem, Muslims "defenders" say they are protecting the holy site against Jewish activists. But critics say this is just contributing to the friction.

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U.N.'s Truce Plan For Aleppo Draws Skepticism

10:52am November 15, 2014

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said a U.N. proposal for a ceasefire in Aleppo was "worth studying." NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim about the prospects.

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Have ISIS And Al-Qaida Stopped Fighting, Started Cooperating?

6:34pm November 14, 2014

by Dina Temple-Raston

For more than a year, the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaida have viewed each other as rivals. Now, reports out of Syria suggest the two may have worked out a truce.

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