All Middle East
FocusObama arrives in a Middle East upended since his 2009 visitPresident Obama arrived in Israel today for a regional visit in which he will have to juggle three rapidly ticking time bombs: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria's war, and Iran's nuclear program.
Nuclear talks: Iran unmoved by world powers' latest proposalWorld powers and Iran met in Istanbul yesterday to follow up on last month's talks in Kazakhstan. Despite high hopes, the two sides didn't find enough common ground.
In Iraq, a tyrant was toppled - and then no one was in chargeThe road to victory in Baghdad that began 10 years ago today was swift. But Monitor journalist Andy Nelson recalls the disquieting collapse of central authority, setting the stage for the war after the war.
Iraq 10 years on: The blast that changed a reporter's view of warIraq was a somewhat safe place filled with large dangerous pockets. Then one day in in 2005, the danger seemed to be everywhere.
The latest hot language among Palestinians in Gaza? HebrewStudents are flocking to a fledgling Hebrew program sponsored by Gaza's Hamas-run government, encouraged by their parents who learned Hebrew through years of working in Israel.
- Can Iran, world powers build on recent progress in nuclear talks?
Tomorrow's 'technical-level' meeting in Istanbul will give a quieter, closed-door venue for six world powers and Iran to try to turn diplomatic progress into concrete measures.
Two years on, aid efforts struggle to keep up with a shattered SyriaEmbattled aid workers in Syria say they can only do so much to counter the effects of the spiraling conflict, which is now entering its third year and shows little movement toward a political solution.
Will unlikely coalition partners force new path for Israel?In forming new government, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has had to concede to two parties with little in common other than their desire to end exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox.
Egypt's reviled police plead for understanding, supportEgypt's police, besieged by criticism for helping the government crack down on protesters, say they have been put in an unfair position and need protection.
Syria's children: even their first words are now shaped by warA Save the Children report released today states that children, some 2 million of them, are the 'forgotten victims' of Syria's war.
Tunisians invoke Macbeth to warn against a return of toil and troubleA Tunisian playwright has adapted the Shakespeare tragedy – in which Macbeth's drive for power brings moral decline and war – to warn that political infighting could bring back darker days.
FocusIraq war: The day the conflict changedTen years after the Iraq invasion, reporter Scott Peterson recalls the day a suicide attack threw him out of bed in a formerly quiet Baghdad neighborhood – and blew a hole in any sense that the war was keeping its distance.
- FocusIraq war: On the road to Baghdad for 17 days
Andy Nelson, who photographed the US invasion of Iraq, recalls the pulling down of Saddam's statue – and early signs of chaos.
FocusTen years after invasion, Iraq remains dangerously dividedIn the new Iraq, old sectarian fears remain. Around Baghdad's Green Zone, the fortified seat of government, concrete walls pulled down a year ago are going back up.
Tunisia's Al Nahda unveils new cabinet in latest bid to placate criticsEager to tamp down political instability, Tunisia's ruling Al Nahda party announced a new cabinet today that it hopes will allow the party to focus on political reform and the economy.
Despite UN peacekeeper capture, Syrian aid groups say dangers are overblownSyrian rebels' detention of 21 UN peacekeepers has set off alarm bells for international aid groups, but local organizations say that such incidents are rare and short-lived.
Youth villages give Israeli immigrant children a place to belongIsrael's youth villages, first created in the country's earliest years for Holocaust survivors, are now tasked with integrating children from places as disparate as Ethiopia and Russia.
- US aid spending unlikely to change, despite $8 billion wasted in Iraq
A US government report found widespread waste in the $60 billion reconstruction effort in Iraq. But development experts think waste in US aid spending is here to stay.
How more than $8 billion in US taxpayers' money went to waste in IraqA report on US spending in Iraq released today found that of the $60 billion spent there, at least $8 billion, or 13.3 percent of it, was wasted.
Syrian rebels seize UN peacekeepers in GolanSyrian rebels are holding about 20 UN peacekeepers who monitor the Israel-Syria border in an attempt to force the withdrawal of Syrian Army forces from a nearby village.
