EGYPT: Opposition Slams Gas Sale to Israel

On Monday, Egypt began pumping natural gas to Israel in accordance with an energy accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv. While the government defends the move as being in the country's best interest, opposition figures decry the notion of economic cooperation with Israel, especially in light of the latter's ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip.

LEBANON: No One Helps the Fisherman

On the afternoon of his grandfather's funeral, Ismael waded out to the sea rocks near the old Tyre lighthouse and looked out over the choppy water. He greeted his friends passing by in a fluka -- a small, handcrafted wooden fishing vessel - and lit the dynamite fuse in his hand.

LEBANON: Children Look At The Brighter Picture

On the outskirts of Beirut, narrow alleyways cut through the Chatila Palestinian refugee camp. A maze of electricity cables connect one concrete block and another. Sewage pours continuously through a small grey construction, filling the street with nauseating stench.

MIDEAST: Gaza Border In Political Limbo

One month after throngs of Palestinians flooded into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip, the flashpoint Rafah border crossing remains tightly shut. But according to some opposition figures, the breach - viewed by many as a victory for Palestinian resistance faction Hamas - signalled the need for new border protocols consistent with shifting political realities.

RIGHTS-EGYPT: EU Criticism Finds Some Unofficial Welcome

The European Parliament adopted a resolution last month censuring Egypt's human rights record, and urging Cairo to embrace substantial political reforms. But while Egyptian officialdom responded angrily to the criticism, reactions among independent political figures have been more ambivalent.

EUROPE: Heading for a New Security Deal with Israel

The European Union is considering new steps to deepen its cooperation on scientific research with Israel, despite admitting that previous funds earmarked for that purpose have gone to firms operating illegally in the Palestinian territories.

LEBANON: This Assassination Could Change the Region

For many in the Middle East, politics is essentially a matter of converging interests - and the life and death of Imad Fares Moughnieh is no exception. His assassination in Syria has resonated across the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

EGYPT: Border Breach Raises Fundamental Questions

Authorities sealed the border with the Gaza Strip earlier this month after more than a half million Palestinians flooded into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in late January. But while most have since returned home, the episode served to highlight Egypt's tenuous control over its border with the troubled territory next door.

POLITICS: Security Council Deadlocked Over Kosovo

When the United States and some of the members of the European Union (EU) expressed admiration for Kosovo’s "patience" in its longstanding quest for a new nation state in the Balkans, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin dismissed their "naivety" with a degree of political sarcasm.

MIDEAST: Many Die With Targeted Leader

Human remains mix with debris following the latest Israeli assault Friday on Bureij Camp in Gaza Strip. Early reports listed nine dead and more than 50 injured.

MIDEAST: No Lovers Got These Flowers

After generations of occupation, Valentine's Day has meant little in the Gaza Strip. But the flowers that lovers presented in Europe have.

MIDEAST: For the World, Gaza Is Reality TV

"We are being starved, killed, tortured, and besieged - and all this while the world just watches," says Abu Wael at the funeral of the latest group of Gazans killed by Israeli forces.

EGYPT: In spite of U.S., Cairo Welcomes Iranian Overtures

In recent months, Washington has tried hard to convince Arab leaders of the threat to the Middle East posed by Iranian regional ambitions. Nevertheless, several recent visits to Egypt by top-level Iranian officials suggest that Cairo, despite U.S. objections, may be close to restoring diplomatic ties - severed for almost 30 years - with Tehran.

LEBANON: A New Struggle for Life After War

The solemn black-clad crowd rallied in Tyre's downtown for the Muslim commemoration of Ashoura, which marks the battlefield death of Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, and an enduring symbol of resistance for the Shia in Lebanon. The population here is mostly Shia Muslims.

LEBANON: Internal Conflict in Chilling Rise

The year 2000 heralded the end of Israel's occupation of Lebanon, with the exception of the much disputed enclave of the Shebaa Farms, located at the country's southern western tip between Israel and Syria. Since then, concern over Hezbollah's new role has been in the political spotlight, leading to a continuous rise in tensions, especially following the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

MIDEAST: Will Netanyahu Surge Oust Olmert?

One day after the Jan. 30 release of the Winograd Commission report, which in part detailed some of the failures of the Israeli government and the military during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.

MIDEAST: Annapolis Hopes Withered by Gaza Crisis

As President George W. Bush returned from his visit last month to Israel to reinvigorate the Annapolis process, the international media was dominated by reports of Palestinian militants firing rockets into Gaza, and Israel's response - an unprecedented blockade of the territory to effectively squeeze the population to turn against the Islamist group Hamas.

LEBANON: Survived, Now Let the Show Go On

A bomb tears through the bustling Chevrolet area on the outskirts of Beirut. Bad news travels fast: Captain Wissam Eid from the Internal Security Forces has been killed in the blast. This is a typical day for Lebanese citizens.

MIDEAST: Garlic For My Mother

Fourteen-year-old Ahmed Salah is not sure when he can give his mother a surprise like that again.

"Where have you been?" his mother said to him after he disappeared from home the first time when the Gazan border with Egypt was breached late last month. What he brought back said just where. "See what I got you. Garlic, washing powder...and there is smoked fish!"

ISRAEL/LEBANON: Probe of 2006 War Ignored Civilian Deaths

A leading international human rights group is calling into question the findings of an Israeli inquiry into the Jewish state's war with Lebanon in 2006.

EGYPT: Opposition Turns Up Heat in Parliament

Ever since the hotly contested 2005 legislative elections, the opposition in Egypt's parliament has become increasingly assertive. This year, opposition and independent MPs have hurled a record number of interpellations - inquiries that must be answered by the government - at the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Hosni Mubarak.