EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (Left) talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday, January 13, 2011. The P-5+1 talks with Iran will resume January 21-22. For those not tuned into the obscure jargon of the diplomatic world, these are the talks between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the United States, Britain, France, China and... 

Itzhak Abergil, center, is escorted by Israeli forces at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv. Israel extradited five top criminals to the United States Wednesday for trial on murder, money laundering and other charges, officials said. Underworld king-pins Meir Abergil and his brother Yitzhak were taken to Ben Gurion International Airport where U.S. federal agents and air marshals escorted them on a direct... 

In this photo taken Saturday, Dec. 25, 2010, Christians attend the Christmas mass at the St. Grigor Armenian Catholic church in Tehran, Iran. Iran has arrested about 70 Christians since Christmas in a crackdown that demonstrates the limits of religious tolerance by Islamic leaders who often boast they provide room for other faiths. Iran has arrested about 70 Christians since Christmas in a crackdown... 

Erdogan calls monument to Armenia-Turkey friendship “monstrous” During his visit to Kars, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called a monument dedicated to the Armenian-Turkish friendship monstrous and subject to demolition. Former Mayor of Kars Naif Alibeyoglu and the famous sculpture of the monument Mehmed Askol responded to the Turkish Premier’s statement. In an interview with Turkish... 

A classified State Department cable released yesterday confirmed that it has for years been official Israeli policy to allow so little aid into the Gaza Strip as to keep it forever on the brink of collapse. A cable leaked today has revealed corruption made the situation even worse. The new cable, dated from 2006, reports that a number of American companies were complaining to the State Department... 

A Coptic protester in Alexandria hurls an object at riot police who opened fire outside The Saints church, after an attack outside the church that killed 21 people and wounded 79. Egypt said a suicide bomber killed 21 people and wounded 79 outside a Coptic Christian church, in an attack President Hosni Mubarak said was the work of “foreign hands.” Growing numbers of Christians were continuing... 

Authorities inspect the site of a car bomb that targeted midnight Christian worshippers outside the Al-Qiddissine (The Saints) church in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria this morning. A car bombing outside a church killed 21 people in Egypt’s northern city of Alexandria as worshippers gathered to mark the New Year. The Interior Ministry said 24 people were also wounded in the bombing, which... 

Israel destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor in an air raid just weeks before it went online in 2007, said a US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks and published on Friday in an Israeli daily. “On September 6, 2007, Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor built by Syria secretly, apparently with North Korea’s help,” then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice wrote in the cable published... 

Anti-Arab demonstration in Bat Yam, December 20, 2010 Rabbi Gilad Kariv condemns letter by 30 rabbis’ wives calling on Jewish girls to stay away from Arab men. The head of Israel’s Reform Judaism movement on Tuesday harshly criticized a letter by 30 rabbis’ wives calling on Jewish girls not to date Arabs, work with them or perform national service in the same places where they work. “Israeli... 

The United States-dominated defense sales in the Persian Gulf in 2005-09 and delivered 54 percent of the Middle East’s military hardware, including advanced systems that had been denied Arab states because of Israeli objections, analysts say. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which monitors global arms sales, said in a recent study that the United Arab Emirates was the largest... 

Guilty: Moshe Katsav, who was president of Israel from 2000 to 2007, has been convicted of rape in a Tel Aviv court ‘Riddled with lies’: Former Israel president Moshe Katsav facing four years behind bars after being found guilty of rape. The former president of Israel has been found guilty of two charges of rape this morning. Moshe Katsav, who was in charge of Israel for seven years from... 

Israel's Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev Desert A newly released British document confirms that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for more than three decades. Secret files released by Britain’s National Archives said on Wednesday that British officials feared Tel Aviv would use its nuclear weapons in case of another war with Arab countries in the region. Israel, which is considered as... 

Professor Avi Gopher, a researcher from Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology, holds a pre-historic tooth at Qesem cave, an excavation site near the town of Rosh Ha'ayin Scientists could be forced to re-write the history of the evolution of modern man after the discovery of 400,000-year-old human remains. Until now, researchers believed that homo sapiens, the direct descendants of... 

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal carries the statuette of baby Jesus during the midnight Mass ceremony which marks the beginning of Christmas Day at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Largest amount of pilgrims in a decade visit Bethlehem for Christmas. The largest number of pilgrims in a decade gathered in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas, with tens of thousands... 

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, has ordered a range of measures in a bid to improve Israel's image in Europe. ‘Allies and friends’ will promote government policy to press and public meetings as part of fresh PR drive. Israel has instructed its embassies in 10 European countries, including the UK, each to recruit 1,000 members of the public to act as advocates for its...