KUWAIT — Kuwaiti women competing for the first time in a general election are shattering social taboos and campaigning in the uncharted territory of the all-male “diwaniya”, the Gulf Arab state’s version of a gentlemen’s club.

DUBAI — Construction worker B. Lal arrived in the affluent Gulf Arab city of Dubai more than a year ago, hoping to end the grinding poverty of his family in India.

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian judges rejected Friday a bill on the judiciary, with their elected body saying it does not ensure judicial independence and allows the state to retain too much power.

SULEIMANIYAH — This year’s Iraqi cup final is to be played in the autonomous Kurdish north for the first time amid safety fears around a tie that threatens to fan sectarian passions.

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — A new constitution proposed by Mauritania’s military junta with the aim of bolstering democracy will be put to the test Sunday when the country votes in a referendum.

WASHINGTON — Libya’s top diplomat in Washington on Friday expressed frustration at the pace of renewed relations with the United States following the restoration of diplomatic ties.

SANAA(AFP)  — Veteran Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power since 1978, announced Saturday that he would seek a new seven-year term after all, at a mass rally in the capital of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula republic.

Sunnis outraged by arrest of religious leader in TikritBAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki was expected to present a national reconciliation plan to parliament on Sunday to defuse a Sunni insurgency and tackle sectarian violence, political sources said.

RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi security forces have detained 43 suspected militants, including two Somalis, an Ethiopian and an Iraqi, the interior ministry said Saturday after a deadly gunbattle in the capital.

Israel seizes two activists in first raid into Gaza Strip since withdrawal GAZA CITY (AFP) — A planned meeting between rival Palestinian factions was cancelled at the last minute on Saturday at the request of President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, an official said.