Greater Middle East

Egypt: first FGM trial ends in acquittals

Two men in Egypt were acquitted on charges relating to female genital mutilation, in the only case brought to trial since the law banning FGM was toughened in 2008.

Palestine

ISIS targets Jordan —and vice versa

Militants declared for ISIS in Jordan's restive city of Maan. France has supplied Jordan with new warplanes, and the kingdom is reported to already have troops in Iraq.

Greater Middle East

Peshmerga come to aid of Kobani: strings attached?

Peshmerga fighters have joined the battle for Kobani, with Turkish acquiescence. But will Ankara and the West wrest a political price for this aid from Syria's Kurdish resistance?

Central Asia

Uighur leaders to al-Qaeda: No, thanks

Uighur exile leaders were quick to disavow an article in al-Qaeda's media service portraying harsh oppression of Muslims in "East Turkistan," or Xinjiang.

Greater Middle East

Saudi Arabia sentences Shi’ite cleric to death

Sh'iite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was convicted of sedition and other charges in Saudi Arabia and sentenced to death—posing greater sectarian tensions in the Gulf states.

South Asia

Pakistan court upholds death for blasphemy

Pakistan's Lahore High Court upheld the death sentence for Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of "blasphemy" in a case emerging from an argument among farm workers.

North Africa

Libya: Sufis under attack —again

With Islamist-led militia in nearly complete control of the Libyan capital, the historic Othman Pasha Madrassa in Tripoli's Old City was vandalized by a crowd of gunmen.