Latest from Middle East

US knows it can do little to rein in Saudi repression

Saga of many families

Simon Sebag Montefiore tells Stephen Jewell about writing ‘the greatest story ever told’ and why the history of Jerusalem is the story of the world.

Oil shock

Higher fuel prices are likely to mean lower profit margins and lower real wages.

Crowds fired on to crush 'Day of Rage'

Mark Lister: How to cut the risks from higher oil prices

Middle East tension poses a threat to the delicate global recovery.

British mission to help rebels ends in embarrassment

Instability prompts focus on weakening of oil habit

Damned for madness and murder

Libyan city falls to anti-goverment forces - reports

Libya's second largest city, Benghazi, has fallen to anti-government forces after a crack army unit defected to the opposition and clashes spread to the capital, Tripoli, residents and news reports say.

Gaddafi's son warns of civil war

The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has appeared on that country's state-owned television to make a statement denouncing the current civil unrest.

Middle East unrest doesn't equal revolution - professor

The wave of protests across the Middle East and North Africa don't yet constitute revolution and real democratic change may be decades away, Auckland University associate professor Stephen Hoadley says.

Dubai love trio deny sex charges

A high-flying banker from NZ has denied having sex with two women caught in a love triangle that went violently wrong.

Power of brutality and its limits

Lessons from an extraordinary uprising - for protesters and police alike.

Gaddafi sweats as protest fever reaches Libya

Clashes between protesters and security forces left dozens of people injured in Libya today.

Tony Blair coming to NZ on speaking tour

Iraq veto changes Qantas flight path