Iran will begin large-scale air defense war games on Sunday to help protect its nuclear facilities against any attack, a senior commander said.

Al-Qaida gunmen have seized a Japanese engineer from his tribal kidnappers in Yemen, a tribal source who has been seeking to negotiate his release said on Saturday.

A rocket hit outside the luxury Serena Hotel in Afghanistan's capital late Saturday, wounding at least two, the Interior Ministry said.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck an Afghan town on Friday, killing 12 people in the deadliest attack since President Hamid Karzai got down to the business of a second term.

Showing impatience with Iranian foot-dragging, President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and its allies are discussing possible new penalties against Iran for defying international attempts to halt its contested nuclear program.

Israeli aircraft struck a weapons-manufacturing facility and two smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, in response to recent rocket attacks on Israel, the military said.

An Iranian doctor who treated victims of torture at Tehran's most feared prison has died, amid conflicting reports of a heart attack, a car accident or suicide -- raising opposition accusations that the 26-year-old was killed.

Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president Wednesday said he had vetoed part of an election law over the allocation of seats to displaced Iraqis, throwing fresh doubt over plans for general elections in January.

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed U.S. anger at Israel's approval for new homes in a settlement near Jerusalem, saying it was part of a routine building programme.

Sadiya Khadem Rashid just needed a stamp. One stamp from Baghdad's city hall so she could receive $850 in compensation given to displaced Iraqis who return home. But before she could get there, the building was blown up.