Leila Fadel

Saudi Arabia announced a major down-scaling of its airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen Tuesday, which occurred for nearly four weeks.

Much of the world is skeptical about the wisdom of the bombing raids in Yemen. But Saudis are rallying around their new king, Salman, and his son, the defense minister.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia, with U.S. support, has been carrying out airstrikes in Yemen against rebels. At the same time, the rebels, called Houthis, are battling their opponents in the streets.

Egypt lost thousands of troops in Yemen in the 1960s, but now it is taking a prominent role in the new Saudi-led coalition there — even offering up ground troops again. But some in Egypt worry it's going too far.

Saudi-led airstrikes continue in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. And as usual, there was no warning. Residents worry that soon the battle will move from the sky to Yemen's soil.

Saudi Arabia shares an 1,100-mile border with Yemen, a country quickly falling into anarchy. The Saudis have led airstrikes against rebel Houthi forces, but ground forces might not be far behind.

With record numbers fleeing the Middle East and Africa in overcrowded boats, the Catrambone family is conducting private rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

Health insurer Premera Blue Cross says hackers may have compromised 11 million of its customer accounts. Such attacks are worrying companies, and they're increasingly turning to cyber insurance.

Tunisia is reeling after a deadly attack on the Bardo National Museum left at least 20 foreign tourists dead. The gunmen took hostages before police shot two of the militants and caught at least one.

At least 21 people, including 17 tourists, were killed in Tunis Wednesday when gunmen stormed a museum, Prime Minister Habib Essid says.

One of the self-proclaimed Islamic State's biggest weapons has been its terrifying propaganda. Highly-produced videos of brute violence are its hallmark: a man being burned alive in a cage; Christians being beheaded on a beach in Libya; a child being used to execute a suspected traitor.

But in Egypt and ...

An Egyptian blogger who was an emblem of the democracy movement was sentenced Monday to five years in prison as the government cracks down on opposition.

A Cairo criminal court has sentenced prominent Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah to five years in jail for violating a controversial law that bans unlicensed protests.

Another activist, Ahmed Abdul Rahman, was also sentenced to five years on Monday. Eighteen other people were given three years, and several tried in ...

The small hamlet of el-Aour is reeling from the massacre of 13 of its men in Libya, where they worked. A lack of jobs in Egypt means laborers still head to neighboring Libya, despite the danger.

Libya is a country divided. We hear from the defense ministers for the rival governments at war with each other. Extremism is thriving in the security vacuum.

Egypt is conducting airstrikes on positions held by the self-declared Islamic State in Libya, in response to a video apparently showing the militants' beheading of Egyptians on the Libyan coast.

A video from the so-called Islamic State purports to show a mass beheading of Coptic Christians from Egypt. The 21 Egyptians were kidnapped in Libya in December and January.

Mohamed Fahmy, one of the Al-Jazeera journalists just freed from Egyptian custody, recounts what he calls the nightmare of the last 14 months and talks about what comes next.

An Egyptian court released Al-Jazeera journalists Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy on bail, but their case hasn't been dismissed. For more details, David Greene speaks with NPR's Leila Fadel in Cairo.