Iran's Guardian Council announced the list of approved candidates for Iran's June presidential election. The council approved eight candidates, six of which are "ultraconservatives" loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The approved candidates include Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear ...

Algeria and its president Abdelaziz Bouteflika have weathered the storm of Arab Spring revolutions that toppled governments in many surrounding countries. The Atlantic Council's Karim Mezran writes, however, that the country "may be teetering on the brink of a crisis, with the ...

Morocco's second largest political party, Istiqlal, is withdrawing from the coalition government. Istiqlal spokesman Adil Benhamza said, “The party can never remain in a government that continues to pursue policies targeting the buying power of the citizens by raising prices ...

Candidate registration for Iran's upcoming presidential election closed Saturday as two controversial figures, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, registered to appear on the ballot in June. Mashaei, a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  and Rafsanjani, ...

Results of Iraq's provincial elections, which took place two weeks ago, were released on Saturday. The results indicate that the Shia-dominated coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki received the most votes in seven of twelve districts. However, ...

Iranian politicians and clerics have increased their vocal criticism of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a continuation of recent public infighting. In a variety of media outlets, they have blamed Ahmadinejad rather than international sanctions for the poor state ...

The office of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced that the president suffered a small stroke, revealing the reason for the president being airlifted to a French military hospital outside of Paris on Saturday.  The public statement, a first from ...

A gun battle broke out at a Sunni protest camp north of Baghdad early Tuesday. Officials have reported that at least 20 people died and dozens injured. The clash occurred after government security forces entered the camp to make arrests, but ...

In its annual report on the status of human rights in Iran, the State Department determined that the country's most egregious rights violations were "the government’s severe limitations on citizens’ right to peacefully change their government through free ...

Iraq held its first elections since the withdrawal of U.S. troops Saturday. Voting took place in 12 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Elections in the Kurdish region will occur in September, and elections in the largely Sunni ...

The State Department released the 2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. These reports provide detailed assessments of the status of human rights around the world. Uzra Zeya, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,

Iraq will hold Governorate Council Elections in 12 of its 18 provinces on Saturday despite increased violence and a wave of assassinations. On Monday, approximately 20 separate attacks across the country killed nearly 50 and wounded more than 200. In recent months, ...

Tammam Salam has been nominated to become Prime Minister of Lebanon. Salam received 124 out of 128 votes in Parliament, receiving support from across the political spectrum. His first challenge will be forming a ...

In the New York Times, Thomas Erdbrink describes a presidential power struggle as Iran prepares for elections this summer. Tensions are rising between outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters and a traditionalist coalition that includes members of ...