Iran

Movies by female directors from around the Middle East and North Africa will be the focus of this year's MENAR Festival, the organizers have said.

Between January 14 and 31, the festival will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, with films to be screened at Cinema House, Europe Cinema, G8 Cultural Center, the Czech Center, Pancho Vladigerov Museum and the Cervantes Institute.

Iran's foreign minister has complained to the United Nations about Saudi Arabia's "provocations" towards Tehran, as a diplomatic crisis between the region's two major powers entered its second week. 

With tensions growing between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the sectarian conflict in the Middle East is approaching the boiling point. The second American intervention in Iraq altered the long-established balance in our region, and created an environment where sectarianism came to the surface. The Arab awakening shattered whatever checks remained.

The region is going through its worst sectarian crisis in the last three decades. This conflict, which will certainly have a long life span, had cast its shadows long before.

Major complications in Turkey's foreign policy, particularly due to escalated tension with its neighbors Iran, Iraq and Russia stemming from the Syrian conflict, will be on the agenda of a regular convention of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Still, plans for a transition from the current parliamentary system to a presidential system, as strongly favored by their founding leader

The Saudi-led coalition and Yemen's foreign ministry denied Iran's accusation that Saudi warplanes had hit its embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

Iran on Jan. 7 said the warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen's capital on Jan. 6 night, an accusation that exacerbated tension between the major Shi'ite and Sunni powers in the region. 

Turkey has asked Iran's ambassador for an end to Iranian media reports linking the execution of a Shiite cleric by Saudi Arabia with last week's visit to Riyadh by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. 

Turkey has summoned Iran's ambassador to demand a halt to Iranian media reports linking the execution of a Shiite cleric by Saudi Arabia with last week's visit to Riyadh by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. 

Rather than jumping onboard in haste, Turkey should have thought twice before joining the Saudi-led Riyadh-based alliance against dangerous or not-so-welcome elements in the Muslim world. Would it be a Sunni alliance? Would it include Iran?

Tens of thousands of Iranians head for the operating table every year in a rush for a nose job or other plastic surgery. South American and Turkish soap operas have helped boost the trendLying on an operating table in northern Tehran, Nazanine says she wants it all: a third nose job, her eyebrows tattooed and liposuction on her thighs to "fix" her figure.