An Egyptian appeals court on Thursday reduced and suspended the prison sentence of author Fatima Naoot who was convicted on charges of insulting religion, a judicial official said.

Death threats left at a liberal synagogue in Israel appear to have been the work of people opposed to mixed prayers at one of Judaism's holiest sites, police said Thursday.

Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient Egyptian city and graveyard dating back to around 5300 BC, the antiquities ministry said on Wednesday.

An Istanbul court on Wednesday ordered prominent Turkish novelist Asli Erdogan and linguist Necmiye Alpay to remain in jail on controversial terror charges, disappointing supporters after earlier reports they were to be released.

A Turkish parliamentary committee on Wednesday threw out a bill that could have pardoned men convicted of child-sex assault, sealing the end of a controversy that led to a huge public outcry and protests.

A Pakistani anti-terror court sentenced five people to death Wednesday over the killing of a Christian couple who were lynched and burned in a kiln after being falsely accused of blasphemy.

Prosecutors in Dubai said they have dropped the case against a British woman who had faced possible charges of extramarital sex after accusing two compatriots of rape.

The U.N. Information Center in Beirut (UNIC Beirut), in collaboration with UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States, World Youth Alliance-Middle East (WYAME) non-governmental organization and Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO (LNCU), has launched an outreach activity in Lebanon on the work and priorities of the U.N., entitled “U.N. Aware” certificate.

This initiative, which aims at educating high-school students on the work and priorities of the U.N., will be implemented as a pilot project in the current academic year 2016-2017. It includes lectures, field activities and fundraising campaigns.

The subject of abortion burst onto the stage of France's rightwing presidential primary Tuesday with the frontrunner Francois Fillon fending off accusations of being ambiguous on the right of women to terminate a pregnancy.

An HIV-positive Malawian man who said he slept with at least 100 girls and women in traditional cleansing rituals was to be sentenced Tuesday after being convicted of "engaging in harmful practices."