IRAQ: The Hospitals Need Treatment

The killing of 68 people in Iraq Wednesday, and the injuries to hundreds brought yet more strain on hospitals in desperate need of supplies and equipment.

MIDEAST: Think of the Bedouin Too

Going south deep into the heart of Israel's Negev desert, small Bedouin villages sprout in the distance. They seem peaceful and majestic in the desert heat, cut into the landscape dotted with shacks for living quarters and tents constructed with burlap and wooden sticks not far from the 52 active military zones in the Negev.

IRAQ: Allawi Looks for a Good Neighbour

After years of hostility and recent tension over foreign fighters sneaking into Iraq, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi ended a visit to Syria with a declaration that diplomatic relations between the two countries would be restored soon.

IRAQ: Kidnapping Becomes a Lethal Weapon

Kidnapping has become a weapon that is bringing increasing pressure on countries supporting the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

MIDEAST: Conflict Spreads Within Fatah

A bullet hole in the curtain of the television room at Palestinian opposition figure Nabil Amr's luxurious villa still attests to the shooting last Wednesday in which he was heavily wounded. Amr survived and is in hospital in Jordan, but Palestinian politics may be in a terminal crisis.

MIDEAST: Conflict Spreads Within Fatah

A bullet hole in the curtain of the television room at Palestinian opposition figure Nabil Amr's luxurious villa still attests to the shooting last Wednesday in which he was heavily wounded. Amr survived and is in hospital in Jordan, but Palestinian politics may be in a terminal crisis.

SAUDI ARABIA: Asian Workers Face ‘Slave-Like’ Conditions – Report

Asian workers in Saudi Arabia sometimes toil in slave-like conditions, while those who end up in the kingdom's legal system are often held in prolonged incommunicado detention and tortured in order to extract confessions, says a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

IRAQ: With Love From Saddam to the British

Saddam Hussein looks set to hand over to the British the one thing they love most - a palace coup.

MIDEAST: Another Jihad On the Rise

More than 200 people have been killed in clashes between Islamic rebels and government forces using warplanes and tanks; this is not Iraq, but the picture of new developments in Yemen.

ENVIRONMENT: Lakes Become a National Toilet

Egypt has always been identified with the Nile River, which may explain why its sizeable northern lakes have been sorely neglected.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Walled In, And Walled Out

The security wall Israel is building around Jerusalem is raising concerns among Palestinians about their future and where they belong.

IRAQ: Saddam Dragged to His Past

On what was to have been the day of the handover of sovereignty back to the Iraqi government, another symbolic handover took place. The U.S. army formally transferred Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein to the legal custody of the new government.

IRAQ: Handover, Yes, But to What?

Iraq's new minister of the interior Falah al-Nakib and his staff were so taken by surprise by the unexpected handover of sovereignty by the U.S.-led occupation Monday that they failed to make it to the brief ceremony.

IRAQ: Some Hope Rises Amidst the Violence

The daily mortar attacks on Camp War Eagle of the U.S. First Cavalry at the edge of the seething Shia Muslim Sadr City tapered off over the weekend. Just a few dry pops of exploding mortar grenades could be heard in the late afternoons. During the week the attacks had been so intense that two soldiers were seriously wounded and evacuated to Germany.

ECONOMY: Israeli Pullout From Gaza Won’t Ease Crisis, Bank Warns

A new World Bank report says that the Palestinian economy has suffered one of the worst recessions in modern history under Israel's policy of closing borders and restricting the population's movement, and warns that a new Israeli plan to forfeit some settlements and withdraw from Gaza is not enough to improve the situation.

MEDIA: The Price of Surfing Can Be Prison

When he downloaded some material on Syria and emailed it to his friends, Abdel Rahman al-Shaghouri did not think he would end up in prison.

IRAQ: A Wreck Will Be Hard to Drive

The authorisation was in writing. Brigadier-General Amer Ali, the second most senior officer of the Iraqi Police had given IPS permission to interview officers inside the Asha'ab police station in Baghdad.

MIDEAST: Mubarak’s Aches Bring Succession Anxiety

Rumours that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is suffering a serious health crisis have sparked fresh concerns about a possible successor.

MEDIA-MIDEAST: Yemeni Journalists Fight for Rights

The Eastern Court in Yemeni capital Sana'a suspended publication of the al-Shamoa weekly for three months last week and sentenced its editor Abdulbasit al-Shameeri to imprisonment for that period. He was also fined a half million Yemeni Riyals (2,800 dollars).

IRAQ: The West May Go On Trial with Saddam

A year after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the mountains and plains of Northern Iraq are still covered in landmines planted by the former Iraqi dictator's regime during the 1980s. That is when he fought a decade-long war with Iran and many battles with Kurdish guerrillas.

REFUGEE DAY: A Third Time Homeless

Standing amid the rubble of their homes demolished during the latest fighting last month, they said it was the third time they had been made homeless by the conflict.