MIDEAST: Hezbollah Steps Onto Palestinian Stage

Israel completed the latest stage of its complex exchange of prisoners - or their remains - with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement Friday morning.

MIDEAST: Resistance Rises to Recruitment of Suicide Bombers

Abir al-Masri looks pale and drawn. She lost two of her four sons earlier this month. The first, Amjad, was killed by an Israeli bullet, and the second, Iyad, died a week later in a botched suicide attack.

IRAQ-INDIA: Anti-U.S. Feeling Runs High in Kerala State

Iraqi flags and signs proclaiming the virtues of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein line the streets of this coastal hamlet in southern Kerala state's Muslim-majority Malappuram district, where residents remain agitated by U.S. forces' capture of the former dictator.

POLITICS-U.S.: Chaos Under Heaven, and More to Come

Retired Gen Anthony Zinni began warning that ousting Saddam Hussein, let alone invading Iraq, risked destabilising the entire Middle East back in 1998, when he led U.S. Central Command and testified against the Iraq Liberation Act that made ''regime change'' official U.S. policy.

DAVOS FORUM: ‘A World Beyond Iraq Also Needs Reconstruction’

Leaders of the developed countries, gathered for the World Economic Forum in Davos, are being asked to look beyond themselves - and beyond Iraq - to rebuild a new world.

POLITICS-ISRAEL: Sharon Stands Tough Under Siege

Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom mounted an uncharacteristically robust defence this week of Israel's separation barrier. He sounded angry and combative, even picking fights with members of the foreign press.

IRAQ: Norwegian Link to Suicide Attacks Probed

Investigations into several suicide bombings in Iraq now centre on a man held in detention in Norway.

IRAQ: ICC to Get Evidence of ‘Illegality’ of War

A strong case arguing the illegality of the invasion of Iraq will be handed soon to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

IRAQ: U.N. Agrees to Assess Early Elections

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed Monday to send a team of experts to Baghdad to assess the feasibility of holding direct elections in Iraq this year, an idea the United States has already rejected as impracticable.

POLITICS: U.S. Wants U.N. in Iraq to Back Election Plan – Experts

In a bygone era, whenever the United States was hip-deep in military trouble overseas, the resounding battle cry in the nation's capital was: ''Send in the Marines!''

IRAQ: Another Son Rises in the West

The son of a former Iraq prime minister plans to return to Iraq next week to offer his share of leadership.

IRAQ: Saddam Captured, So What?

Over the past month the capture of Saddam Hussein has become the stuff of dinner party conversations, café debates and drunken speculation across the Middle East. Within Iraq and outside, fascination with the deposed dictator remains strong.

IRAQ: Kurds Head Towards Separation Up North

Recent developments in Northern Iraq may lead to the division of post-Saddam Iraq along ethnic lines.

POLITICS: U.S. Must Curb Abuses in Iraq, Say Activists

As charges of human rights violations by U.S. and other coalition soldiers in Iraq grow, a rising chorus of voices is demanding urgent international action on these alleged abuses.

MIDEAST: Talk About Talks Raises New Doubts

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon does not believe Syrian President Bashar Assad when he says he wants to renew peace talks with Israel. He does not appear willing to pay the territorial price of a comprehensive settlement, and does not believe his people are either.

POLITICS: More Allegations That Bush Lied About Reasons for War

A flurry of recent reports and statements supports accusations that the Bush administration misrepresented evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to go to war in Iraq.

IRAQ: The Story Behind Saddam’s Arrest

U.S. accounts have portrayed Saddam's capture as a triumph of their high-tech innovation and old-fashioned ingenuity, but reports in the Middle East and off-the-record interviews reveal a version of events decidedly different from those already known.

POLITICS: Report Rebuts U.S.’ Pre-War WMD Claims

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush ''systematically misrepresented'' the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD), three non-proliferation experts from a prominent think tank charged Thursday.

MIDEAST: Nuclear Spotlight Shifts from Libya to Israel

The decision last month by Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi to relinquish his weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles will have enhanced the sense among Israeli leaders that their regional strategic position, already improved by the toppling of Saddam Hussein, was far better at the start of 2004 than it had been at the start of the previous year.

POLITICS: Squeezed Japan Threatens Cuts to U.N. Agencies

Faced with an increase in its mandatory contributions to the 2004-05 U.N. budget, Japan plans to cut voluntary contributions to more than a dozen U.N. development agencies and international humanitarian organisations worldwide.

IRAQ: New Contract for Controversial Bechtel Worth Billions

The United States awarded a 1.8-billion-dollar reconstruction contract to U.S. engineering giant Bechtel on Tuesday despite charges from watchdog groups that the company is too close to the U.S. administration and that such deals exclude many Iraqis.