A coordinated wave of seven car bombs have torn through bustling commercial streets in Shiite areas of Baghdad, part of a relentless wave of violence that killed at least 46 inside and outside the capital.

The head of Egypt's military, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, sat with a polite smile in the front row listening to President Mohammed Morsi give a 2 1/2-hour speech defending his year in office.

As millions of Muslim pilgrims prepare to converge on holy sites in Saudi Arabia this [northern] autumn, the global health community is anxiously monitoring an outbreak of a respiratory virus known as Mers.

Fresh from toppling the country's first democratically elected leader, Egypt's military risked further outrage from the Muslim Brotherhood by arresting the group's Supreme Guide as he was staying in a resort by the Mediterranean coast.

Thanks to blockbuster movies and intrepid travel programmes, New Zealanders are broadening their holiday horizons.

More than half a million people fled Syria's civil war last year, and the UN says that number could double by the end of 2013.

Visit Israel and you swiftly adjust to the solemnity with which its people honours its history, as Kevin Pilley found.