YEMEN: Doubts Arise Over Voter Lists

Doubts have been raised over the voter lists being prepared ahead of elections due September.

MIDEAST: Hamas Faces a Presidential Revolution

Mahmoud Abbas does not fall into the category of outgoing, charismatic leaders with a penchant for bold political initiatives. Gray, circumspect and technocratic are the adjectives often chosen to describe him.

IRAQ: Badr Groups Move from Troubled Past to Uncertain Future

It could be instructive to recall that the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and its armed wing, the Badr Corps, arose from a conference of Iraqi opposition parties called in Iran in 1982.

IRAQ: Guns Becoming as Important as Food

Guns have come to be seen in Iraq as a need second only to food.

IRAQ: Basra Begins to Fall Apart

Basra in the south of Iraq is beginning to splinter under increasing violence and sectarian divisions.

MOROCCO: New Fears over Rise of Islamists

Fierce debates have arisen in Morocco over a public opinion poll by a U.S. group suggesting that Islamist parties may gain 47 percent of the vote in elections due next year.

IRAQ: Divided Government Begins to Take Shape

Major differences continue to divide Shias, Sunnis and Kurds in their move to form a national unity government. Thorny issues are being dealt with simply by putting them aside.

MIDEAST: Bank Tightens the Squeeze

In yet another blow to the internationally-cornered, cash-strapped Hamas-led Palestinian government, a leading Israeli bank announced this week that it is severing ties with Palestinian banks in the wake of the Islamic movement's rise to power. The move, however, could also deal a blow to many small Israeli businesses and the widespread business-to-business cooperation between the two peoples.

IRAQ: A Word from the Islamic Army

Call them terrorists, call them resistance fighters. A significant member of one such group spoke to IPS about why he joined.

IRAQ: Kurds Overtake the Rest

Kurds had long waited for the day when the new prime minister walked into the parliament hall with his deputy and cabinet members.

MIDDLE EAST: Keep Hamas in Power, Israeli Leader Demands

"We need to warn against any attempt to bring about the collapse of the Hamas government," says former Israeli minister Shlomo Ben-Ami.

EGYPT: Opposition Fights Martial Law Extension

Opposition groups and rights activists condemned a government decision this week to extend the emergency law - already in place for a quarter century - by another two years.

RIGHTS: Assyrians Face Escalating Abuses in “New Iraq”

The longstanding persecution of ethnic minorities in Iraq is quietly writing the end chapter to Iraqi Assyrian history: if the world doesn't wake up to the plight of this people, they will soon be shoved through the door of extinction, warn patrons and human rights defenders.

MIDEAST: Internal Feuds Develop Among Palestinians

The often unruly Gaza Strip has become a hot zone of Palestinian frustration over the inability of the recently sworn in Hamas government to pay civil servants.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY-IRAQ: What Can You Believe?

There is so much more media around now; the problem is that Iraqis do not know what to believe anymore.

DEATH PENALTY: First War Crimes Trial Exposes Weak Afghan System

Afghanistan's intelligence chief in the pro-Communist era has been sentenced to death for extra-judicial killings, raising troubling questions about the current judicial system and its capacity to investigate and prosecute violations of human rights in a fair manner.

MIDEAST: Unease Grows Over Israeli Restraint

The Israeli government promised restraint in the wake of the bombing of a Tel Aviv falafel snack stand this month that was described as the worst suicide attack in almost two years, and which the Hamas government condoned. But the Israeli promise has not calmed fears of an attack.

EGYPT: Sinai Bombings Could Become a Trend

Bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort town of Dahab earlier this week have again raised the spectre of domestic terrorism, and devastation of the tourism industry.

EGYPT: Attacks Raise Fear of Religious Discord

Seemingly random attacks on Coptic churches in the port city of Alexandria last week followed by violent clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims have again raised the spectre of sectarian conflict.

IRAQ: Baghdad Slipping Into Civil War

The new clashes between Shia militiamen dressed in Iraqi military and police uniforms and resistance fighters and residents from the Sunni Adhamiya district of Baghdad have convinced many that what Baghdad is witnessing is no less than a civil war.

IRAQ: Baghdad Morgue Overflowing Daily

As sectarian killings continue to rise in Iraq, the central morgue in Baghdad is unable to keep up with the daily influx of bodies.