EGYPT: Military Rulers Clamp Down on Civil Society

Raids on the Cairo offices of civil society organisations accused of receiving unauthorised foreign funds are part of a wider campaign by Egypt’s ruling military council to silence its critics, say rights groups.

Syria Claims U.S. Aims to “Rekindle Violence”

Damascus has accused Washington of interfering in the work of the Arab League after a U.S. official travelled to Cairo for talks with the bloc about the protest crackdown in Syria.

MIDEAST: Unwilling, Unable, Yet Talking

After a 15-month collapse, Palestinians and Israelis have met only to agree on sitting down face-to-face publicly once more on Friday. So far there is no breakdown, but no breakthrough either.

IRAN: Obama Seeks to Distance U.S. from Israeli Attack

President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are engaged in intense maneuvering over Netanyahu's aim of entangling the United States in an Israeli war against Iran.

EGYPT: Islamist Parliament Inevitable ‘But Not Worrying’

Following another Islamist landslide in the second round of legislative polling, Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliament will likely see Islamist parties - especially the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) - calling the shots. While high-profile secular figures warn of looming "theocracy", many local analysts believe an Islamist-led parliament won't make any radical legislative changes.

KAZAKHSTAN: Give Them Bread, But Not So Much

Kazakhstan, intent on diversifying its economy away from oil and mining, has extended its cereal acreage by a third in the past ten years, doubled the value of its grain harvest. It has eradicated rural poverty in the north, the country's breadbasket.

ISRAEL: Triggering Tourism

Commandos embedded in a pristine touristic resort bordering Egypt and Jordan sounds unreal? Though theirs are borders of peace, it appears Israel’s best defence against would-be Islamist militants isn’t just a good fence. Crack fighters might help make better neighbours. And, better tourism.

Despite Initial Euphoria, Palestine Remains Grounded at U.N.

When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the 193- member General Assembly in September, the rapturous welcome he received implicitly indicated the vibrant support for U.N. recognition of Palestine - if not in the Security Council, at least in the organisation's highest policy making body.

Arab Monitors in Syria Flashpoint Towns

Arab League observers are to visit three key protest hubs in Syria as world powers have urged Damascus to give full access to monitor if the country is implementing a plan to end a crackdown on protests.

SYRIA: Mass Protests in Homs as Arab Monitors Visit

Tens of thousands of Syrians have reportedly taken to the streets of Homs, as Arab League monitors finished their first day of observation in the city that has been the centre of the anti-government protest movement.

ISRAEL: Exercising the Right to Torture

In a case that has highlighted Israel’s abuse of Palestinian detainees, an Israeli military court recently acquitted a Palestinian man after it became clear that Israeli interrogators used excessive physical and psychological abuse as a way to coerce a confession from him.

OP-ED: This Spring Breeze Did Not Arise in the West

So here I am, an Arab journalist in Silicon Valley, where four out of every four people I meet believe Facebook invented the Arab Spring. Three more weeks here and I may start to hallucinate that Mark Zuckerberg was a Cairo-slums native named Hassouna El-Fatatri, who rotted in a Mubarak prison for advocating personal privacy rights.

MIDEAST: Some Comfort Fails to End Agony

Yousef walks barefoot into a children's room with four beds and points to a snoopy-blanketed bed by the window. "That's where I sleep," he says. A red remote-controlled toy racecar sits atop a new mini-laptop. The closet is full of clothes, a pot of soup simmering on the gas range in the spacious kitchen, and the wooden dining table is piled with seasonal fruit.

Security Council Remains Grounded by Political Manipulation

When Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin briefed reporters recently, he offered some biting criticisms of the growing political manipulation of the most powerful body at the United Nations: the 15-member Security Council.

Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms

The Barack Obama administration and the United Nations are struggling to convince the leadership of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group with cult-like characteristics, to vacate a camp in Iraq and allow residents to move to another location in the country or risk the lives of as many as 3,200 people.

Deadly Gas Enters the Arab Spring

Activists across the Middle East are reporting a mysterious toxin, possibly a banned nerve agent, in the thick clouds of tear gas used by security forces to suppress anti-government protests in recent months.

U.S.: Hundreds Rally in Support of Accused WikiLeaks Source

Hundreds of people gathered today outside a U.S. military base where evidence against Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking classified information to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, is being presented before a military judge for the first time since Manning's arrest.

How Maliki and Iran Outsmarted the U.S. on Troop Withdrawal

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's suggestion that the end of the U.S. troop presence in Iraq is part of a U.S. military success story ignores the fact that the George W. Bush administration and the U.S. military had planned to maintain a semi-permanent military presence in Iraq.

U.S.: Iraq Intervention Ends with Scarcely a Whimper

When the United States formally ended its eight-and-a-half year military adventure in Iraq on Thursday with a flag-lowering ceremony presided over by Defence Secretary Leon Panetta Baghdad, hardly anyone here seemed to notice, let alone mark the occasion in a special manner.

Syrian Troops ‘Ordered to Shoot to Kill’

More than 70 Syrian army commanders and officials have been named by former soldiers as having ordered attacks on unarmed protesters in that country, says the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.

Iran Hedges Its Bets on Syria

Iran is courting the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, seeking to maintain a crucial alliance in the event that Assad falls.