Gunmen shot five officials dead in the middle of a southeastern Yemeni town Wednesday, while one soldier was killed in a car bomb attack on a military checkpoint, security officials said.

The head of a Tunisian newspaper and two of its editors were arrested Wednesday for violating public morals, the Justice Ministry said, after the publishing of a photo of a sports figure with a nude woman.

One of the first trials for thousands of Libyans detained on suspicion of links to the ousted regime of Moammar Gadhafi is turning into a prime example of how unequipped the country's justice system is to handle the cases.

Tunisia's defense minister has called for increased cooperation with the United States to help guard his country's borders.

As Syrian forces stepped up their assault Wednesday on rebellious cities, President Bashar Assad ordered a referendum on a new constitution that would create a multiparty system in a country that has been ruled by his autocratic family dynasty for 40 years.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday threw its weight behind the country's military-backed government in an escalating dispute with the U.S. over the funding of pro-democracy groups.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is facing a 10 percent funding cut next year but top officials said Wednesday it will still be one of America's largest diplomatic missions in the world.

He's considered to be one of the greatest scientists of all time. But Sir Isaac Newton was also an influential theologian who applied a scientific approach to the study of scripture, Hebrew and Jewish mysticism.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is throwing its weight behind the country's military-backed government in an escalating dispute with the U.S. over pro-democracy groups Egypt accuses of seeking to foment protests against the country's military rulers.

Palestinian energy officials say fuel shortages have forced them to shutter the Gaza Strip's lone power plant, causing blackouts in the impoverished territory.