MIDEAST: Hamas Offered a Bullet to Bite

Israel's outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert is risking a crisis of confidence with Egypt by insisting that a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas precede any Egyptian-mediated ceasefire arrangement to end the Gaza war.

CHINA: Clinton Trip Raises Hopes and Fears

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's upcoming maiden trip to China this week has raised both expectations and apprehensions in Beijing.

PAKISTAN/INDIA: Taliban As Common Enemy

Since being elected to office five months ago, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has often declared that Pakistan's single biggest challenge stems from ‘religious' militants.

POLITICS-US: Democrats Divided Over "Reckoning" for Bush

With growing public support for a public investigation of crimes that may have been committed by the administration of former president George W. Bush in waging its "global war on terror", policy makers and legal experts are deeply divided on how to proceed - and President Barack Obama seems ambivalent about whether to proceed at all.

MIDEAST: Waiting to See Who Blinks First

An indiscreet whisper following a hastily scribbled note around the Israeli cabinet table exposed the deepening political stand-off in the wake of last week's inconclusive elections.

MIDEAST: Egypt’s Star Rising in Regional Politics

Back in mid-December, many Middle Easterners were daring to hope that, with the imminent end of George Bush's presidency, their own deeply U.S.-influenced region might see a new day of peacemaking and inclusiveness in place of the recent years of war, confrontation, discrimination and distrust.

ECONOMY: EU Divided Over Regulation

The global recession has exposed the ideological fissures at the highest level of officialdom in the European Union.

ISRAEL: Call Livni or Netanyahu? Go With Peres

Who wins a tie? That was U.S. President Barack Obama's dilemma Wednesday on whom to congratulate as the winner of Israel's general election.

INDIA: Awaiting Pakistan’s Official Response to Mumbai Attacks

Five weeks after India handed over a dossier to Islamabad containing detailed evidence on the Nov. 26-29 Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan has finally promised an official response, based on investigations by its Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

ISRAEL: Wary Netanyahu in Driving Seat

Israel's foreign minister Tzipi Livni clung precariously to a narrow lead over her right-wing rival Benjamin Netanyahu as vote counting neared conclusion from Israel's Tuesday general election. Both would-be prime ministers continue to claim victory: "I won," read the headline of the country's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronot, alongside the photos of the two.

PAKISTAN: Opening the A. Q. Khan Can of Worms

The release of Pakistani rogue nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, underlines major issues confronting Pakistan -and indeed the world - ranging from nuclear proliferation to governance, corruption, hypocrisy, and how public opinion is shaped by falsehoods.

ISRAEL: Advantage Netanyahu After Uncertain Poll

Israeli voters went into their polling booths Tuesday uncertain about the government they wanted to lead them over the next four years, only to emerge from their vote even more uncertain about their country's future.

POLITICS-US: Petraeus Leaked Misleading Story on Pullout Plans

The political maneuvering between President Barack Obama and his top field commanders over withdrawal from Iraq has taken a sudden new turn with the leak by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus - and a firm denial by a White House official - of an account of the Jan. 21 White House meeting suggesting that Obama had requested three different combat troop withdrawal plans with their respective associated risks, including one of 23 months.

ISRAEL: Many Candidates, No Leaders

Along the ironic lines of "Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum", the old Broadway musical about democracy in ancient times, something "funny" happened to Israelis on their way to the polling stations.

MIDEAST: A Truce Too Big to Fail?

The tandem un-negotiated ceasefires that Israel and Hamas announced Jan. 18 across the Gaza-Israel front line remain fragile. Local and international efforts to consolidate the truce have stalled, and officials and analysts around the world warn of a high risk of further escalation.

MIDEAST: Hamas Is Not Going Away

Despite intensive efforts by Israel, the international community and a number of Arab leaders to weaken and destroy Hamas through economic, punitive and military action, the Islamist organisation continues to be a force to reckon with.

MIDEAST: Israel Heads Right

And then there were four.

U.S.-IRAN: The More Things Change…

"We are not satisfied with [U.S. President Barack] Obama's actions since they have not been in line with claims of change - although we are not without hope either."

TURKEY: Long Friendship with Israel in Peril

For decades, isolated Israel could count on Turkey as its only Muslim friend, if not ally, in the tumultuous Middle East. After Israel's assault on Gaza, that friendship is in doubt.

U.S.: More Troops, More Worries, Less Consensus on Afghanistan

Even as U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to deploy more military forces to Afghanistan - what he has called "the central front" in former President George W. Bush's "global war on terror" - a consensus on overall U.S. strategy there remains elusive.

MIDEAST: Politically, Hamas May Have Won

Despite declarations of victory by Israel, the military assault on the Gaza Strip failed to achieve its stated aims, many analysts say. The assault, and even its exceptional brutality, may only have vindicated the notion of resistance among the Arab public.