The chorus of Pays-Basques singers which greeted Saudi King Abdullah at a Riyadh fair would have been unremarkable elsewhere, but was a whiff of change for the conservative Muslim kingdom. In Saudi Arabia, where Islamic clerics severely repress public music, film and other modern arts, it represented the wedge of domestic reformers and a key thrust of French diplomacy. Abdullah ...

A young Canadian Muslim recruited to fight for the creation of an Islamic state has died in combat in Somalia, the Somalia-based hardline Shebab militia said Thursday in a Youtube posting. The video shows a man described as Mohamed al-Muhajiri at a historic site in Saudi Arabia, and claims "our dear brother Mohamed was (a) mountain and in battle he ...

Shiite rebels in north Yemen freed on Tuesday the 178 prisoners they were holding, a mediator announced, and said they were complying with a ceasefire that ended six months of fighting on February 12. Rebels led by Abdul Malek al-Huthi "turned over 178 prisoners to us in (the northern city of) Saada -- officers, soldiers and civilians -- who will be taken ...

Shiite rebels in north Yemen pledged on Tuesday to free soldiers they are holding within two days, and said they are complying with a ceasefire that ended six months of fighting on February 12. "The prisoners of war will be freed within 48 hours and we expect our prisoners to be freed in return," rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam told ...