The Middle East is a historical and cultural subregion of Africa-Eurasia traditionally held to be countries or regions in Southwest Asia together with Egypt. In other contexts, the region can include other parts of North Africa and/or Central Asia.

Characteristics

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In the Western world, the Middle East is generally thought of as a predominantly Islamic Arabic community defined by frequent war. However the area encompasses many distinct cultural and ethnic groups, including the Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Azeris, Berbers, Chaldeans, Druze, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, Maronites, Persians and Turks. The main language groups include: Arabic, Armenian, Assyrian (also known as Aramaic and Syriac), Hebrew, Persian, Kurdish and Turkish. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner.

Most Western definitions of the "Middle East" — in both established reference books and common usage — define the region as 'nations in Southwest Asia, from Iran (Persia) to Egypt'. Egypt, with its Sinai Peninsula in Asia, is often considered part of the 'Middle East', although most of the country lies geographically in North Africa. North African nations without Asian links, such as Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, are increasingly being called North African — as opposed to Middle Eastern (Iran (Persia) to Egypt-Asia) — by international media outlets.

One widely used definition of "Middle East" is that of the airline industry, maintained by the IATA standards organization. This definition — as of early 2006 — includes Bahrain, Egypt, Iran (Persia), Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinian Territory, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. ^* This definition is used in world-wide airfare and tax calculations for passengers and cargo.

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[Middle East News] Iran questioned http://bit.ly/3q9XwQ
MidEastNews (Middle East News) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:00:59 -0000
[Middle East News] Iran questioned http://bit.ly/3q9XwQ
[Middle East News] Abbas 'pushed' to stand down http://bit.ly/rOaxJ
MidEastNews (Middle East News) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:00:52 -0000
[Middle East News] Abbas 'pushed' to stand down http://bit.ly/rOaxJ
[Middle East News] Norway dismisses Israel war crimes complaint http://bit.ly/24AEbA
MidEastNews (Middle East News) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:00:40 -0000
[Middle East News] Norway dismisses Israel war crimes complaint http://bit.ly/24AEbA
Jeremy Corbyn's on the trail of human suffering still going on in the Middle East http://twurl.nl/xokdio
labourlist (Labour List) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:59:15 -0000
Jeremy Corbyn's on the trail of human suffering still going on in the Middle East http://twurl.nl/xokdio
I need Daims, hvnt eat it in like many many months, its hard to find in middle east.. ;-(
whoisainz (Ain Amira) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:53:01 -0000
I need Daims, hvnt eat it in like many many months, its hard to find in middle east.. ;-(
Reading bignews: Iceland Global Water: Drinking Water for Asia & Middle East Available http://bit.ly/2L8L34
Glacierproducts (Iceland Glacier) Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:51:51 -0000
Reading bignews: Iceland Global Water: Drinking Water for Asia & Middle East Available http://bit.ly/2L8L34

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