Iraq's general elections are likely to be postponed after Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi (pictured) and the parliament failed to agree on the terms of a crucial electoral law over sectarian representation.
At least 19 people have died in three bomb attacks in Ramadi, capital of the mostly Sunni province of Anbar. Two of the bombs exploded near a government building, and the other at a hospital.
In Cairo, the authorities allegedly target Shiite groups, who themselves stand accused of being linked to Iran and of trying to destabilise Egyptian society. The Shiites claim they are just trying to follow their branch of Islam.
Shia politicians and Iraq's leading Sunni insurgency group are trading mutual accusations over the massive truck bombings that killed 95 people in Baghdad on Wednesday in what was the country's bloodiest single day in 18 months.
Eight gunmen were killed in overnight clashes in northern Yemen between Zaidi Shiite rebels and hardliner Sunni tribesmen amid ongoing tensions between the rebels and the authorities, local sources said Saturday.
Saad al-Hariri, the son of slain former Premier Rafik al-Hariri and the leader of a parliamentary majority, has been named prime minister-designate and charged with forming a new national unity government.
Harith al-Ubaidi, a prominent Sunni MP and deputy chairman of parliament's human rights committee, was assassinated as he left a mosque in west Baghdad, in a move that threatens to undermine reconciliation efforts in the country.
On June 7, Lebanese citizens went to the polls to elect their parliamentary representatives in a high stakes election with far-reaching domestic and international geopolitical implications.
Iranian authorities have closed the Khosravi checkpoint on the border with Iraq in response to recent bombings in Baghdad and Diyala in which several Shia pilgrims, including many Iranians, were killed.
At least nine people were killed on Saturday when a suicide bomber targeted Sunni Arab militiamen, or Sahwas, at their headquarters, south of Baghdad. The US-allied patrolmen have been playing a crucial role in cutting down violence in Iraq.
