President Barack Obama used a holiday season visit to a U.S. military base on Monday to issue a tough warning to Islamic State militants, saying a U.S.-led coalition will permit no safe haven to the group and will destroy it eventually.
A Palestinian minister died on Wednesday shortly after an Israeli border policeman shoved and grabbed him by the throat during a protest in the West Bank, an incident Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described as barbaric.
Jordan arrested the deputy head of the country's Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday for criticizing the UAE's move to designate the Islamist political movement and its local affiliates a terrorist group, official sources said.
President Barack Obama, who has ordered a comprehensive review of U.S. policy governing efforts to free American hostages, still opposes the payment of ransoms, the White House said on Tuesday.
