ISRAEL: Women Push Back Into Public Space

They're looking at you "uncensored". Posters of women by women have recently multiplied on the holy city walls. "Women on billboards are back in Jerusalem," they proclaim defiantly.

Raids in Syria as Pressure Mounts on Assad

Syrian activists say troops have made sweeping arrests in the flashpoint province of Hama as President Bashar al-Assad faces a growing challenge to his rule.

Crowds Vandalise Arab Embassies in Syria

Crowds supporting President Bashar al-Assad have vandalised at least two Arab embassies in the Syrian capital Damascus as Arab League foreign ministers gathered in Rabat to discuss formalising their suspension of Syria from the league.

LIBYA: Headed for Some Sort of Sharia

The announced introduction of Islamic law in post-Gaddafi Libya has drawn strong opposition from women, the non-religious and the Amazigh minority.

SYRIA: Beginning of the End for Assad?

Actions by the Arab League this week have given a regional seal of approval to Syrian opposition forces and could mark the beginning of the end of the Assad family dictatorship that has ruled Syria for more than 40 years.

Indonesian Migrants Facing Death Get Legal Aid from Home

With 221 Indonesian migrant workers facing death sentences in China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, the government of Indonesia has approved a legal aid budget to assist these workers, who often do not have access to such assistance otherwise.

TUNISIA: Women Fearful of Islamists’ Rise

Tunisian women poured into the streets armed with the vote, their latest weapon, when the country voted in its first democratic election since a popular uprising unseated former president Zine Abidine Ben Ali, ending his 27-year- long stronghold on the country.

SYRIA: Rights Group Details Brutal Ongoing Crackdown in Homs

At least 587 civilians in Homs were killed by Syrian government forces between mid-April and August, the highest number of casualties for any single governorate, reveals a report released by Human Rights Watch Friday.

MIDEAST: Israeli Military Fires Up the Creative Side

War brings economic development, we're told at times. Like the cliché or not, in their case, Israelis have become a successful start-up nation by building a powerful start-up military.

U.S.: “Israel’s Advocate” to Leave White House for Pro-Israel Think Tank

Dennis Ross, President Barack Obama's top Middle East aide who has attracted criticism for his allegedly strong pro-Israel sympathies, will leave his post at the end of this month, the White House announced here Thursday.

MIDEAST: Jailed Activists Get Little Help

As a number of international activists remain in an Israeli prison following the take-over of two Gaza-bound aid ships late last week, the activists have condemned their respective governments for failing to apply pressure on Israel to release the detainees and to respect international law.

Palestine Pushes On at United Nations

Palestine plans to continue its bid to become a full member at the United Nations, even with the odds stacked against the Palestinians receiving the requisite nine votes from the Security Council.

MIDEAST: Festive Season Highlights Deprivation

Crowds of women waving coupons worth two kilograms of beef line the stairwell to Secours Islamique France’s Gaza City office several hours before the aid agency begins its meat distribution for Eid. Aid workers struggle to climb the stairs, hauling large bags of fresh meat to assist impoverished families in Gaza this holiday season.

“Who Lost Iraq” Debate Fails to Get Traction

Two weeks after President Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of all remaining U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of next month, a familiar clutch of neo-conservative hawks and prominent Republicans are blaming the president for "losing" the Middle Eastern country to its neighbour and long-time Washington nemesis, Iran.

ISRAEL: To Strike Iran or Not, With the US or Not

Preceding the UN atomic watchdog's report on Iran's nuclear quest, a flurry of reports about Israel increasingly tilting towards preventive military action against Iran highlights U.S. military support of Israel, but tests its influence over its ally.

Cornered in Free Libya

"We’ve walked all the way here to tell everybody that we are being treated like dogs," said 23-year old Hamuda Bubakar, among a couple of hundred black refugees protesting at Martyrs Square in Tripoli. "I’d rather be killed here. I wouldn’t be the first, or the last."

TURKEY: A Rising Influence Among Arab Nations

Assurances to women by the winners of the Tunisian elections that they will be free not to wear the Muslim veil has come as music to the ears of Turkish secularists. It was another signpost confirming Turkey’s growing position and influence among Arab countries.

As Arab Spring Turns to Winter, Women Fear Pushback

For the women who participated in the political and social revolutions during the Arab Spring in 2011, there is a significant opportunity to enact real change for women's roles and relationships in the region - and also the possibility things could go the other way.

At G20 Summit, Civil Society Demands ‘People First, Not Finances’

While the 20 heads of state of the Group of 20 (G20) industrialised and emerging countries gather in southern France to deliberate on the future of the global economy – particularly the crises unfolding in the Eurozone – pockets of activists are amassing around the summit to make their voices heard.

Twenty Years After Madrid, Israel-Palestinian Peace Prospects Bleak

Veteran U.S. diplomats and scholars who have worked for decades on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have grown increasingly pessimistic about the continued viability of the U.S.- sponsored "peace process" and the two-state solution that was presumed to be its goal.

Syria Agrees to Arab League Plan

The Syrian government has accepted several measures suggested by the Arab League aimed at halting the violence in the country, including the removal of tanks and armoured vehicles from the streets.