EGYPT: Torture Ruling Boosts Rights

Anti-torture activists in Egypt scored a rare win Monday when an Egyptian judge handed down three-year prison sentences in a high-profile case to two police officers filmed last year abusing and sodomising a man in custody with a broomstick.

MIDEAST: High Stakes for Annapolis Peace Meet

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas joined U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah Monday to express optimism that progress towards a Palestinian state could be made in the upcoming talks sponsored by the George W. Bush administration between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Annapolis, Maryland.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Get Some Medical Care

After packing the ambulance with medical equipment and bags full of medicine, Dr. Jameel Mashny, Dr. Rami Habash and their nurse, Maysa Youseff, all from the Palestine Medical Relief Society (PMRS), prepare themselves for the long day ahead.

MIDEAST: Egypt Challenges Israeli Smuggling Claims

Throughout October, Israeli officials reiterated longstanding claims that Egyptian authorities were failing to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the Gaza Strip, which has been governed by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas since June. According to many local commentators, however, the Israeli accusations are chiefly intended to achieve broader political ends.

MIDEAST: Replying to Rockets, Israel Chokes Gaza Some More

Israel has begun limiting fuel supplies to Gaza as part of punitive measures it is implementing in an attempt to stem the firing of rockets by militants from the coastal strip into Israel. But Palestinian leaders and human rights groups are warning the move could spark a humanitarian crisis.

POLITICS: Desmond Tutu Likens Israeli Actions to Apartheid

South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu compared conditions in Palestine to those of South Africa under apartheid, and called on Israelis to try and change them, while speaking in Boston Saturday at historic Old South Church.

LEBANON: Palestinian Refugees Face Systematic Discrimination

Denied access to social services, education, adequate housing and employment, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon continue to suffer discrimination and marginalisation.

EGYPT: Journalists Get Jail Sentences in New Crackdown

The government has stepped up its campaign against the independent and opposition press, with criminal courts delivering prison sentences to 11 prominent journalists within the last two months. While state prosecutors accuse the writers of "publishing false news", spokesmen for the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate have described the latest crackdown as a "war" on press freedom.

Q&A: "If You Are Poor, You Are Out"

Miloon Kothari, the U.N. special rapporteur for housing, recently visited Canada on a fact-finding mission to look at homelessness, aboriginal and women's housing issues, and the impact of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

EGYPT: Strikes Sound a New Warning

A week-long sit-in strike last month achieved limited gains for employees of the state-owned Mahala Company for Spinning and Weaving in Egypt's Nile Delta region. Although government spokesmen have accused opposition movements of standing behind a recent spate of workers' strikes, independent critics attribute the labour unrest to the widening gap between public salaries and the rising cost of living.

POLITICS-US: More Hegemony, Less Imperialism, Urges Clinton

In her most comprehensive - if characteristically cautious - foreign policy pronouncement to date, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton stressed a clear preference for diplomacy and "soft power" in pursuing U.S. interests abroad, but added she would not hesitate to use military force unilaterally if she deemed it necessary.

POLITICS: Another Mideast Envoy Fed Up With Quartet

The United Nations has come under strong criticism from one of its own top human rights officials for failing to take effective action to check the ongoing Israeli abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Prepare to Stand Up for What Matters

While the international community concentrates on final status negotiations between the Palestinian government and Israel, the Palestinian people plan to stand up Oct. 17 to show the world what really matters to them.

LEBANON: What A 'Safe' Cluster Bomb Did

The explosion ripped through the tiny garden in rural south Lebanon, hurling Naemah Ghazi to the ground. The shrapnel from the bomb sliced through her legs, and she rapidly lost consciousness. "There was a lot of blood," her mother Khadija recalls. "All her body was bleeding."

Q&A: &#39EU Needs to Do More for Palestinians&#39

The European Union has definite responsibilities in the Palestine crisis, and must now carry them out, says Luisa Morgantini, Vice-President of the European Parliament.

EGYPT: After Summer Shortages, Promise of Water Runs Dry

This summer saw a spate of severe water shortages throughout the country, leading to numerous protests by frustrated - and thirsty - citizens. Egypt has seen its share of political demonstrations in recent years, but the latest water protests are the first time that ordinary people have taken to the streets to demand a basic service.

MIDEAST: November Talks Must Be Inclusive, Urge U.S. Graybeards

To succeed, next month's Israeli-Palestinian conference here should establish and endorse the contours of a permanent peace accord and secure the participation of Arab states that do not currently recognise Israel, including Syria, according to a letter sent Wednesday to President George W. Bush from a bipartisan group of eight former top U.S. policy-makers.

MIDEAST: EU Quiet over Israeli Moves

Representatives of the European Union's two most powerful institutions remained silent this week on new efforts by Israel to expropriate Palestinian villages, triggering accusations that the bloc's Middle East policy suffers from double standards.

LEBANON: "Not Going to School Is Like Being Put Back in Time"

High costs for private education following displacement has caused major gaps in provision of assistance to Iraqi refugees living in Lebanon, especially in the area of education.

POLITICS: Mideast Meet Has Ambiguous Agenda

As the George W. Bush administration prepares to host its much-publicised Middle East conference, Israeli experts gathered on Capitol Hill Tuesday to discuss whether Washington's latest diplomatic attempts would pave the way for a solution to the long-moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

POLITICS: The Man Behind the Iran Curtain

He called for more "research" into the unequivocal facts of the Holocaust, said Iranian women were among the freest in the world, and declared that homosexuality did not exist in his country.