LEBANON: Lucky to be Just ‘Ugly’ and Slapped

"My maid is extremely ugly, I can't fight the urge to slap her when I see her early in the morning," boasts a Lebanese trader from Ain Anoub village just outside Beirut. He laughs.

EGYPT: Anger Approaches Boiling Point

Public disaffection with the government appears to have reached an all-time high.

LEBANON: In an Uneasy Togetherness with Syria

Small countries right next to one another, Syria and Lebanon seem light years apart. The two countries have shared a rocky relationship for decades, characterised mainly by Syrian dominance. Once again this relationship appears to be put to test as reports of Syrian deployment on Lebanon's borders abound.

RIGHTS: Torture 'Routine' in Jordanian Prisons

A new report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses the Jordanian authorities of routine and widespread torture of prisoners throughout the country, and calls for an end to the abuses.

ISRAEL: Up Against the Red Light on Attacking Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will travel to Moscow next week for talks that will focus largely on Iran's nuclear programme at a time when there seem to be growing signs that the U.S. is unenthusiastic about the idea of an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

MIDEAST: Breaking the Silence

An Israeli police commander has called them "provocateurs", "militants", and, "lawbreakers". Earlier in the year the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) decided that their presence in the city of Hebron, 30km south of Jerusalem in the Palestinian West Bank, constituted a security threat and banned them from the city, stating that any member of the organisation caught there would be expelled forthwith.

ISRAEL: A Second Woman PM On Her Way

Just a week after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was charged with forming a new government, it looks as if the new leader of the ruling Kadima party is on the way to cobbling together a new ruling coalition.

LEBANON: At the Palestinian Camp, Bombing Is a Way of Life

A bomb blast at the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp as this IPS correspondent was visiting, comes as yet another reminder of the precarious peace in these places.

IRAQ: The Biggest Hospitals Become Sick

Not even the elevators work now at Baghdad Medical City, built once as the centre for some of the best medical care.

LEBANON: ‘Incoherent’ Agreement Spells the Way Forward

The Lebanese unity government has finally came to terms with its ministerial declaration after weeks of political haggling. What promises and threats does the incoherent declaration hold for Lebanon in a polarised local and regional context?

MIDEAST: Everyone Loses in the War of Silencing

So much is missing as you walk down the street along the shops of Gaza. Food and medicines kept out by the blockade enforced by Israel; but also newspapers once a part of the street landscape.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Politics on the Road to Nowhere

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks appear to have hit a dead-end, while efforts to bridge the yawning chasm which divides Hamas and Fatah politically and ideologically appear to be going nowhere.

MIDEAST: Children Play with Death and Dispossession

Palestinian children continue to be victims of disproportionate and indiscriminate violence from the both the Israeli occupation and internal Palestinian infighting in the occupied Palestinian territories.

MIDEAST: Teachers Trapped Between Fatah and Hamas

A strike call has trapped thousands of teachers between Fatah unions and a Hamas government.

MIDEAST: Israel Moves to Judaise East Jerusalem

The Israeli government is attempting to Judaise Palestinian East Jerusalem, and maintain a Jewish majority against the demographic threat of a higher Palestinian birth rate.

LEBANON: Belligerence on the Rise Again

Except for the Western looking houses along the horizon on the northern side of the blue line that separates Lebanon from Israel, little seems to separate Lebanon from Israel. Away from the picturesque landscape, however, whether in Israel or Dahiyeh - a Beirut suburb and Hezbollah's headquarters - belligerent talk is on the rise.

ISRAEL: Olmert Has a Last Go at a Legacy

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may have announced that he will resign as soon as his ruling Kadima party has chosen a new leader next month, but that doesn't mean the prime minister has given up hope of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians or the Syrians.

IRAQ: Kidnappings Now Become ‘Unofficial’

Residents of Baquba deny police claims that kidnappings are now a matter of the past.

ISRAEL: Where the Slave Trade Heads

Israel continues to be a favourite destination for the trafficking of women for the sex industry, also known as the white slave trade, and for a form of modern day slavery where migrant labourers from developing countries are exploited.

LEBANON: ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’ Looks for Revival

Lebanon was long dubbed the 'Switzerland of the Middle East' for its advanced banking sector. It lost its status 23 years ago at the dawn of the 1975 civil war, which lasted 15 years. The country has since been unable to regain the title, in spite of the brief economic revival witnessed in the 1990s.

MIDEAST: Israel Pushes Ahead with Settlement Expansion

Israel has published tenders for the construction of 1,761 illegal housing units for Israeli settlers in occupied east Jerusalem alone, according to the Israeli rights group Peace Now.