U.N. Says Syria Death Toll Above 4,000

The United Nations says the death toll in Syria’s nine-month-old uprising has reached "much more" than 4000, characterising the situation as a civil war.

EGYPT: Muslim Brotherhood Looks Beyond Tahrir

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood came under fire from various political quarters for its decision to stay out of last week's clashes in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square. But as Egyptians vote in the country's first post-Mubarak parliamentary polls, many local analysts believe the controversial decision may have ended up paying political dividends.

Syrian Leader Survives on Unrelenting Russian-Chinese Support

Bashar al-Assad, Syria's beleaguered president, has openly defied the Western world, succeeded in splitting the United Nations Security Council and fractured the League of Arab States - even as it imposed unprecedented economic sanctions against his embattled country.

EGYPT: ‘Army On Its Way Out’

Egyptians in Cairo and Alexandria went to the polls on Monday in the first parliamentary elections since the January 25 protest movement drove former president Hosni Mubarak from a 30-year grip on power.

ISRAEL: Eritreans Flee From Dictatorship to Detention

Standing across the street from the American embassy in Tel Aviv, more than 200 Eritrean asylum seekers chanted "Yes to justice! Yes to humanity!", and demanded international intervention to stop torture camps in the Egyptian Sinai. Protests by African asylum seekers in Israel are growing, in the face of increasingly tough policies by the Israelis.

Global Fund for Education Gathers Momentum

If the international community can successfully raise billions of dollars to fight deadly diseases, why not a similar fund to promote education, asks Gordon Brown, former British prime minister.

Egyptians Cast Ballots in Post-Mubarak Polls

Egyptians have started casting their ballots in the first parliamentary elections since former president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising earlier this year.

Arab Women Seek a Place in the Spring

As several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) elect bodies to write new constitutions, women are looking to expand their rights through legislation.

MIDEAST: Guarding Aggressors Against Victims

Ahmed Qaraeen walks with a limp, more than two years after he was shot twice, in the hip and left knee, by an Israeli settler near his home in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan.

ISRAEL: Not When Desert Is Home

"Anyone who lives sees, but he who moves sees more," a local Bedouin proverb has it. Caught in a web of roads and fences, electric cables and pylons, closed military training grounds and trails of Air Force jets, Bedouin Israelis have long been reduced to a half-hearted life of immobility.

LIBYA: The Making of a Ghost Town

Embarka Omar crumbles when she sees the pictures of the Libyan city where she was born and lived until two months ago. "We will be back in Tawargha one day," the 25-year-old repeats to herself. The images say otherwise.

EGYPT: Military More Repressive Than Mubarak

Egyptians hoping for greater freedoms and less police brutality after the fall of president Hosni Mubarak say the military council that has ruled in his place has carried on the ex-dictator's brutal legacy, and in some cases exceeded it.

EGYPT: Former PM to Set Up New Cabinet

Egypt's ruling military council has reportedly asked a former prime minister, Kamal al-Ganzouri, to form a new cabinet. But there are no signs of a let-up in the anti-military demonstrations.

TURKEY: Erdogan Apologises to Kurds for Mass Killing

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued the first official apology for a bloody military campaign that killed thousands of Kurds in southeast Turkey in the late 1930s.

US-BAHRAIN: Obama Praises Report as Groups Urge Arms Delay

The administration of President Barack Obama has praised a damning report issued Wednesday in Manama on Bahrain's crackdown on the democracy movement earlier this year, as human rights groups called on Washington to further delay delivery of a pending 53-million-dollar arms package to the kingdom.

Bahrain Rights Report Released Amid Clashes

The head of a special commission in Bahrain has said authorities used torture and excessive force against detainees arrested in a crackdown earlier this year.

EGYPT: It’s January Again in Tahrir Square

Days of clashes between protesters and security forces culminated on Tuesday evening in what was estimated to be a million-man rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand an end to military rule. The new political crisis has prompted fears that Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliamentary polls, slated to begin only five days from now, could be called off.

MOROCCO: Believe or Leave

When he decided to publicly express his views about Islam, Kacem El Ghazzali had no idea that he was going to be beaten up and his life threatened. In spite of this, he continues his fight from his country of asylum for the freedom of faith in the Islamic kingdom of Morocco.

MIDEAST: Erdogan Most Popular Leader By Far Among Arabs

Despite repeated expressions of support by President Barack Obama for democratic change during the "Arab Spring", the United States remains widely distrusted in the region, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries released here Monday.

Cairo Clashes Cast Doubts over Egypt Vote

Protesters calling for Egypt's military to hand over power have beaten back a new raid by security forces to evict them from Cairo's Tahrir Square after more than 48 hours of violence in the heart of the Egyptian capital.

Egyptians Launch New Battle for Minimum Wage

Mohamed El-Abyad's employer has agreed to increase his salary by 20 percent, but the factory worker still cannot afford to send his children to school. After paying his apartment rent and utilities, El-Abyad will have the equivalent of 20 dollars left over each month to put food on his family's table. And while education is mandatory, he pulled both his sons out of school to help cover the shortfall.