Rights Groups Slam Renewed U.S. Military Aid to Egypt

The U.S. State Department announced on Friday that military aid to Egypt will resume, citing a national security waiver that was included in the most resent appropriations legislation on foreign assistance.

U.S. Urged to Leverage Security Cooperation with Bahrain

As government crackdowns continue, Bahrain is attracting more international visitors than just those coming in preparation for next month's Forumla One Grand Prix.

French Muslims Fear Stigmatisation After Killings

"The murderer is gone, and now it’s us who will have to live with the consequences." That’s how a Muslim shopkeeper summed up for IPS the death and legacy of the man suspected of murdering seven people in three separate attacks in France.

Bahrainis Demand More Than Cosmetic Reforms

Months after an independent commission presented damning evidence of the Bahraini government's crackdown on pro- democracy demonstrators, thousands press on with a reinvigorated protest movement for genuine reform.

Palestinian Children Learn the Brazilian Way

Standing under a canopy just inside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, a group of 20 Palestinian children are banging drums, clapping their hands and singing in Portuguese. This is capoeira, the traditional Afro-Brazilian sport that mixes dance, music and martial arts, and it is sweeping through the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

What the Egyptian Summer Might Bring

More than 800 Egyptians of varied backgrounds and political orientations have officially registered their candidacies for the country's first post- Mubarak presidential election. Although more candidates are expected to emerge before the registration process ends Apr. 8, most local analysts say the contest - slated for late May - will be dominated by a small handful of high-profile contenders.

Poll Shows Little U.S. Support for Syria Intervention

Despite strenuous efforts by prominent neo-conservatives and other hawks, a war-weary U.S. public is clearly very leery of any armed intervention in what many experts believe is rapidly becoming a civil war in Syria, according to recent polls.

Libyan Air Strike Victims Still Waiting for Redress

Amnesty International (AI) released a scathing report late last week calling for an investigation into civilian deaths from air strikes during the 2011 NATO-led military intervention in Libya, which began one year ago Monday.

New Threat Looms Over South Sudan Refugees

Thousands of African refugees in Israel face expulsion to dangerous conditions in their countries of origin as Israel hardens its policies. The refugees are increasingly turning to protest.

No Settlement in Sight as Syria Violence Intensifies

As Western governments reexamine their options for ending the ongoing violence in Syria, Kofi Annan, U.N.-Arab League special envoy to Syria, briefed diplomats Friday at the U.N. Security Council, who remain divided over whether a negotiated ceasefire or direct intervention will be necessary, or even feasible.

Those Bodies in Baghdad Are of Gay Men

Dozens of bodies bludgeoned to death pop up in Baghdad’s dusty streets like the remains of a wreckage on a beach. They are the corpses of homosexuals and followers of the ‘emo’ fashion who dare to break with the strict canons of the Shia orthodoxy in power.

‘Green Morocco Plan’ Fails to Confront Climate Change

An unprecedented cold spell that struck Morocco in February and continues to linger well into March has raised serious questions about the country's national agricultural development programme, which will fail to achieve its desired results if climate change continues to be mismanaged.

Xenophobia Rises from Ashes of Greek Economy

Last January, several pupils coming out of a high school in Kallithea, a central residential neigbourhood in Athens, attacked a Pakistani passer-by.

Frustrated by the Euro, Greece Turns to Alternative Currencies

"Watch out! The caustic soda is dangerous," shouts Rea Pigiaki, while she blends the soda with lavender to prepare her scented soaps, which are very famous in Ierapetra, a small town in Southeast Crete.

Palestinian Rights Retreat to Backburner

The latest tit-for-tat confrontation which earlier this week pitted Israel against Islamist factions operating from the Gaza Strip follows a conditioning pattern which highlights the marginalisation in the international arena of the Palestinian aspirations to freedom and independence.

Libyan Youth Yearn for Normalcy

Young men and women socialise together at Tripoli University’s ‘campus B’ tarmac parking lot as they prepare to sit for examinations during this tumultuous school year.

Syria Mines Border Escape Routes, Rights Group Charges

The Syrian military has placed anti-personnel mines along its borders with Turkey and Lebanon, which have provided asylum for a large number of civilians fleeing the crackdown on year- long pro-democracy uprisings there, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Q&A: Cultural Sensitivity Key to Reaching Rural Women

Empowering rural women in the Iraqi marshlands, who mostly remain off the radar of international support, must involve local languages and dialects as well as local women trainers, says Mishkat Al Moumin, founder of the Iraqi group Women and the Environment Network (WATEO).

‘Sons of Iraq’ Orphaned

"We have not been paid since the Americans left Iraq last December. If nothing changes, I will abandon this checkpoint," Saif Ahmed tells IPS. He is one of the militiamen who claim to have defeated Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Israel Faces an Army of the Ultra-Orthodox

The High Court of Justice in Israel has annulled the 2002 Tal Law that had allowed Yeshiva students - scholars of Jewish religious texts - to avoid an otherwise mandatory service in the Israeli army. While politicians on the left and right welcome the court’s decision, the Haredim community considers it an assault on their way of life.

Palestinian Children Inherit Political Separation

For Taiseer Khatib and his wife Lana, the most difficult aspect of Israel’s policy of forced family separation is the impact it is having on their children. "Our children are paying the price psychologically. We are trying to protect them, but they have a good sense of what’s going on and they understand that there’s something wrong," Khatib, who has two children under the age of five, Adnan and Yosra, tells IPS.