Saudi Arabia

A Libyan renegade general has called on all Turks and Qataris to leave volatile eastern Libya, accusing the two countries of supporting “terrorism,” his spokesman said June 22.

Baghdad asked Washington June 18 to carry out air strikes on militants who attacked Iraq's main oil refinery and seized more territory in the north, amid warnings the country's future was at stake.

Turkey has updated its travel warning for Iraq, increasing the number of Iraqi provinces where Turkish citizens may face security problems, from seven to 15.

Anbar, Baghdad, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Kirkuk and Salahaddin were already listed by the Foreign Ministry as provinces that Turkish citizens should avoid travelling through.

Iraq's Shiite rulers defied Western calls on June 17 to reach out to Sunnis to defuse the uprising in the north of the country, declaring a boycott of Iraq's main Sunni political bloc and accusing Sunni power Saudi Arabia of promoting 'genocide.'

Bulgaria is to open new trade offices in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, in northern Iraq  at Erbil, Algiers, Tunisia, Ghana, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, in the US in Chicago, Hungary and in Cyprus.

Bulgaria will open trade missions in 20 countries by end-2014, according to a media statement of the government.

The new trade representations are to be opened in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, northern Iraq (Erbil), Algiers, Tunisia, Ghana, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, US (Chicago), Hungary and Cyprus.

It seems “the pragmatism of Islamists” has defeated “the Western pragmatism,” at the end of the day.

Researchers said June 4 they have found the first direct evidence that the potentially deadly Middle East respiratory virus, or MERS, jumps directly from camels to humans.

The virus has hit Saudi Arabia the hardest, killing 282 people out of 688 infected, according to the latest figures.

Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was declared Egypt's president-elect June 3, winning 96.9 percent of the vote in an election nearly a year after he toppled president Mohamed Morsi, whose Islamist allies boycotted the polls.

In an unprecedented, three-year cyber espionage campaign, Iranian hackers created false social networking accounts and a fake news website to spy on military and political leaders in the United States, Israel and other countries, a cyber intelligence firm said on Thursday.