RIGHTS-IRAN: Reformists Hail Nobel Prize Win, Others Frown

''Look, an Iranian lady has won the Nobel Peace Prize! Unbelievable, another nail in the coffin of the Islamic regime, '' Narges Khordadi, a 23-year-old student at Tehran university, said upon hearing the news of Shirin Ebadi's victory.

/PEOPLES’ UNITED NATIONS/ IRAQ: The Continuing Costs of War

International corporations are committing ''economic crimes'' in Iraq and are depriving local firms of business opportunities, according to Eman Ahmed Khammas, an Iraqi journalist and co-director of the International Occupation Watch Centre.

POLITICS: U.S. Livid at U.N. Resistance to Iraq Resolution

At a closed-door meeting of the 15-member Security Council last week, a visibly frustrated Western diplomat expressed his anger at Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to virtually reject a new U.S.-sponsored resolution on Iraq because it fell short of expectations.

MIDEAST: Israel Looks Set On Confrontation Course with Syria

Israel will almost certainly strike again at Syria, possibly already in about a fortnight's time, a senior defence official indicated.

POLITICS-ISRAEL: Strike into Syria Lacks Conviction

A perilous move born of intense frustration over the inability to extinguish Palestinian suicide attacks, and one which could lead to a wider regional conflagration. Or, an overdue strike against a country that sponsors terror groups and is in any case too weak to retaliate.

IRAQ: Turkish Troops Face Uncertain Reception

Turkey will send about 10,000 peacekeeping troops to Iraq in the face of strong public opposition to the move.

POLITICS: Bush Stance on Syria Hit Shows Neo-Cons Still Hold Sway

The neo-conservatives in and around the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush may be on the defensive, but Washington's reaction to the Israeli attack on Syria Sunday show that they remain in the driver's seat at the White House.

POLITICS-SYRIA: Restraint Is the Only Option

Israel is risking a wider Middle East conflict in taking its battle against Palestinian militants to Syria for the first time in decades, analysts say. But a Syrian military response does not seem an option.

POLITICS: U.S. Headaches Grow, Two Years after War on Afghanistan

On Oct. 7, 2001, when the United States fired the opening shots in what increasingly looks like an unwinnable war without end against terrorism in Afghanistan, the commander of the first squadron to bomb that country had an interesting rationale for the military strike.

DEVELOPMENT: Donors Asked for Billions to Rebuild Iraq

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations said Friday that Iraq will need some 36 billion dollars for reconstruction and infrastructure over the coming four years, some of which is expected to come from sales of Iraqi oil.

IRAQ: Women’s Rights Put on Hold

Six months after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi women are waiting on the sidelines to see if and how they can achieve the rights they were deprived of under 35 years of dictatorship.

MEDIA-U.S.: TV News Bad for Truth About Iraq

The more commercial television news you watch, the more wrong you are likely to be about key elements of the Iraq War and its aftermath, according to a major new study released here Thursday.

POLITICS: Israel Stronger but Still Shaky

The war in Iraq and the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime have left Israel in a position of unprecedented strategic strength in the Middle East.

POLITICS-U.S.: It’s the Policy, Stupid

A blue-ribbon panel on U.S. public diplomacy is calling on President George W Bush not only to sharply increase funding to more effectively explain U.S. policy to an increasingly hostile Islamic world, but also to narrow the gap between U.S. values and what Washington actually does in the region.

MIDDLE EAST: Violence Fatigue Among Palestinians, Israelis Alike

The Palestinian uprising against Israel has entered its fourth year, making it clear that the bloody conflict in the Middle East cannot be resolved by force, as the loss of more than 3,200 lives since the Intifadah began three years ago proves.

EGYPT: U.S. Mideast Policy Backfires Inside Ally – Report

The U.S. occupation of Iraq and the administration's backing of Israel have undercut Washington's self-styled goal of promoting democracy in the Middle East, says a new study of Egypt, the Arab world's largest country.

POLITICS: U.S. Condemnation of Israel’s Fence ‘Empty’ – Experts

Israel's decision to construct a controversial ''security fence'' deep inside the occupied territory of the West Bank has sparked strong condemnation from U.S. academics, Middle East experts and a U.N. human rights investigator.

REFUGEES-IRAQ: Instability Impedes Return

Plans to assist millions of Iraqi refugees to return home have been put on hold due to the military and political insecurity that persists after six months of U.S. occupation, according to the organisations involved in humanitarian operations.

RIGHTS: EU Asked to Get Tough over Guantanamo Prisoners

A group of Members of the European Parliament is demanding strong European Union pressure on the United States to ensure fair treatment of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Blood Starts to Flow

To say that there's blood in the water and the sharks are circling around the Bush administration's Iraq policy would be understatement at this point.

POLITICS-U.S.: Cheney as Extremist

In the 2000 elections he was the thoughtful, grey-haired Washington veteran who reassured nervous voters that candidate George W. Bush would indeed have adult supervision if he became president of the United States.