Tzipi Livni, Israel's former opposition leader who crashed out of politics this year after losing her party's leadership contest, is poised to make a political comeback as head of a new party ahead of early elections in January.

Eleven Jordanian militants, accused of an ambitious plot to blow up multiple targets in Amman, had been planning since June the operation that would have been the worst terror attack in the Middle Eastern kingdom in years.

Gilad Shalit's fate transfixed the nation. A year after release he talks of chess games with his captors

Meir Dagan, the former head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, has been forced to seek a liver transplant in Belarus, Europe’s most autocratic state, after European and American surgeons reportedly refused to treat him. He is said to be in critical condition.

To an outsider, it is one of the more bizarre aspects of Judaism: the annual selection of the etrog, a lumpy-looking citrus fruit that is required for Jewish rituals.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has accused Ehud Barak, his Defence Minister and closest ally on dealing with Iran, of exacerbating fraught relations with the US to position himself as a moderate "saviour", Israel's Channel 2 television has reported.

Mobs brand Ahmadinejad a 'traitor' as rial loses 40 per cent of its value in just seven days

Nearly half of those who contributed to the hawkish Israeli premier’s political campaigns also gave money to presidential candidate Mitt Romney or to the Republican Party, underscoring the shared common ground between the two men.

Tehran said it will respond with “full force” to any attack on its nuclear facilities after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged global action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Saudi Arabia is embarking on two ambitious projects in Islam's holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, including plans to build one of the world's largest mosques.