Lawyers

• Britain's Blair says 2003 Iraq invasion played role in Islamic State rise

  Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged the 2003 invasion of Iraq played a part in the rise of the Islamic State militant group, and apologized for some mistakes in planning the war, in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

• Yemen's ex-president in talks to resolve war-party official

  Representatives of Yemen's ex-leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, are in talks with diplomats from the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates to help end four months of war in the impoverished country, a member of his party said.

• Egypt court sentences Mubarak, sons to three years in jail

  An Egyptian court sentenced former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to three years in jail without parole on Saturday in the retrial of a corruption case.

• French, Syrian intelligence agents in contact: Assad on French TV

  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told French television the intelligence services of his country are in contact with their counterparts in France, which has severed diplomatic ties with Assad and insists he must leave power.

• Obama, Tunisia's Essebsi to meet in wake of attack, elections

  U.S President Barack Obama and Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi will meet in Washington next month to discuss security and economic issues, including the situation in neighboring Libya, the White House said in a statement on Monday.

• Arab summit agrees on unified military force for crises

  Arab leaders at a summit in Egypt announced the formation of a unified military force to counter growing security threats from Yemen to Libya, and as regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran engage in sectarian proxy wars.

• Kuwait court hands down two years jail sentence for insulting emir

  A Kuwaiti appeals court on Sunday sentenced an opposition politician to two years in jail for insulting the country's ruler, local media reported.

• Japan's Abe pledges support for Mideast countries battling IS

  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned on Saturday that the world would suffer an "immeasurable loss" if terrorism spreads in the Middle East and pledged about $200 million in non-military assistance for countries battling Islamic State.

• Mubarak verdict fuels protests, mockery in Egypt

  Protests erupted at universities across Egypt on Sunday, condemning a court decision to drop criminal charges against Hosni Mubarak, the president whose ouster in the 2011 uprising raised hopes of a new era of political openness.

• Assad's warnings start to ring true in Turkey

  When Sunni rebels rose up against Syria's Bashar al-Assad in 2011, Turkey reclassified its protégé as a pariah, expecting him to lose power within months and join the autocrats of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen on the scrap heap of the "Arab Spring".