YEMEN: U.S. Sentence Provokes Fury

Yemen has reacted strongly against the United States after the sentencing of a cleric to 75 years imprisonment by a U.S. court.

LEBANON: Another Dubious Step Towards Reconciliation

Notorious Christian former warlord Samir Geagea was released from prison earlier this week, in what politicians and media alike hailed as a milestone in Lebanon's fledgling national reconciliation process.

MIDEAST: Gaza Will Be ‘Vacated But Still Occupied’

A growing number of Palestinians are beginning to believe that Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip will not mean the end of occupation.

EGYPT: Tourism Industry Braces for Fallout

The local tourism industry is scrambling to assess the economic fallout in the wake of the triple bomb attacks that wrecked the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh July 23, killing more than 80 people including a number of foreign tourists.

LEBANON: It Takes a Long Time to Undo Destruction

This is a city marked by a civil war and moulded by divisions that still run deep within the country and through the fabric of society. With typical Lebanese gusto much has been done over the past 15 years to repair the physical damage, but much more has been done to gloss over the problems that gave rise to the conflict in the first place.

MIDEAST: Where Homeland Means Humiliation

"Before the 2000 Al-Aqsa Intifadah I was very optimistic. I was ambitious and strong, but now I do not feel strong any more. We are all frustrated in our small prison," says Sawsan Aishe, a 24-year-old graduate from An Najah National University in Nablus in the West Bank.

YEMEN: World Bank Policy, As Seen by the Deprived

That overnight hike in fuel price was more than any poor person could have taken in this impoverished country.

MEDIA-EGYPT: By Law, Some Editors Retire At Last

In what has been called the biggest shake-up to Egypt's state-run print media in recent history, the Higher Press Council in early July appointed a host of new chairmen to the biggest government-owned publishing houses, and replaced longstanding editors-in-chief of the most widely distributed national newspapers.

IRAQ: No, This Certainly Is Not Switzerland

It should have been a little more than an hour's drive south from Baghdad. But it took an hour just to exit the checkpoints, with U.S. military hummers intermittently veering into oncoming traffic.

LEBANON: That Civil War Feeling Again

Lebanon has not really had the occasion yet to enjoy the departure of Syrian troops and the victory of anti-Syrian groups in the parliamentary elections last month. The country is facing a period of political and economic upheaval almost unparalleled since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

/ARTS WEEKLY/-IRAQ: Book Checks Hearts and Minds, Won or Lost

When journalist Aaron Glantz drove into Iraq from Jordan in a battered orange and white checkered taxi on Apr. 29, 2003, he was surprised to find most of the civilian neighbourhoods in Baghdad relatively unscathed by the U.S.-led bombing campaign.

RIGHTS-AFGHANISTAN: Calls Mount to Prosecute Past Atrocities

As an unexpected resurgence of fighting by Taliban and allied forces against the U.S.-backed government of Pres. Hamid Karzai is raising new concerns over Afghanistan's stability, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has repeated its call for the prosecution of past atrocities by key warlords, a number of whom continue to hold senior posts under Karzai.

RIGHTS-EGYPT: NGOs Stifled By Heavy Gov’t Hand, HRW Says

Non-governmental organisations in Egypt are being strangled by a law severely restricting their activities and by the "extra-legal role" of the country's Security Services, a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) charges.

EGYPT: Gas Deal Cements Rapprochement With Israel

A recent deal to sell Egyptian natural gas to Israel, while unpopular with the general public here, marks steadily improving diplomatic relations between the historical antagonists.

MEDIA-YEMEN: Editors Report Threats From MP

A Yemeni newspaper says that a local ruling party politician, Sheikh Mohammad Ahmad Mansour, came to its offices last week with a group of armed followers and threatened the editors with violence if they did not stop publishing critical articles.

IRAQ: More Evidence Indicts U.S.

New evidence on U.S. war crimes and violations of international law was presented at the concluding session of the World Tribunal on Iraq at hearings in Istanbul Sunday.

MIDEAST: Disputes Arise Over Passage to Peace

Less than two months before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Cairo and Tel Aviv are still hashing out security arrangements that will govern the so-called 'Philadelphi Corridor', the 13km long border road between Egypt and Israel.

SOCIETY-YEMEN: Time To End Tourism Marriages

Sixty-three-year-old Hassan al-Hutami was happy enough when his daughter married a visiting Saudi. The happiness evaporated rapidly when he had a call from Yemeni border guards soon after the daughter had left home.

RIGHTS-MIDEAST: Israeli Soldiers “Getting Away With Murder” – HRW

Israeli soldiers have killed an average of more than one Palestinian civilian per day since the current intifada uprising began in 2000, but only a handful of cases have even been investigated, according to a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.

IRAQ: The Democratic Engine Is Just Not Starting

Now that Sunni Arabs have been included, Iraq's parliamentary committee that is drafting the new constitution is the closest to an elected, representative body that the country has ever seen. In the two months that the committee now has to come up with the draft and in the referendum that will follow in October, it will become clear if that is enough to stabilise the country and reduce the violence.

MIDEAST: Now Vacated Homes Become a Problem

It might have been expected that Israel, not wanting to have pictures broadcast of Palestinians triumphantly entering the evacuated homes of settlers in the Gaza Strip, would want to demolish those homes. It might equally have been expected that the Palestinians, wanting to be seen marching into the homes of their retreating occupiers, would want the houses to remain intact.