A bloody beginning
An incursion into Gaza just hours after new Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen was sworn-in put into grave doubt the intentions of the Israeli government. Khaled Amayreh , in Jerusalem, reports

A free liberal Iraq
Omayma Abdel-Latif talks to Adnan Bachachi on the future of Iraq

Gun rule in Basra
Weeks after the battle for Basra ended, the city remains paralysed by lack of security, reports Judit Neurink from Iraq's second city

Loyal to Iraq, not to Saddam
Saddam Hussein's army deliberately did not put up much of a fight, because the military had no faith in his latest war. Two Iraqi soldiers who deserted at the battle of Baghdad share their story

In the eye of the storm
Nyier Abdou talks to Kurdish Prime Minister Barham Saleh about the end of an era -- and the storms kept at bay

Tomorrow will be ours
Nermeen Al-Mufti speaks with the founder of the Iraqi Turkoman National Front about the contentious issue of right of claim over Kirkuk

Pacifying foolishness
Colin Powell's visit to Syria and Lebanon was a clear message that Damascus was not being targeted, Imad Shoeibi , in Damascus, writes

Suffer the little children
A violent earthquake struck the Turkish province of Bingol last week, demonstrating once again the murderously high cost of a bureaucratic culture of nepotism and corruption. Gareth Jenkins reports from Ankara

The "bitter reality"
In the wake of the US attacks on Iraq, Arabs are exploring home-grown ways of nurturing investment in the region. Shamel Darwish reports from Dubai

Keeping the status quo
The US victory in Iraq and the subsequent withdrawal of US troops from Saudi Arabia is unlikely to push Saudi or American rulers toward a radical reassessment of the historic oil-for-security alliance, argues John R Bradley in Jeddah

Talking heads, Sudanese style
Khartoum's distress calls are being heard in neighbouring Arab capitals as the tense regional situation casts a dark shadow over the Sudanese crisis, writes Gamal Nkrumah

Contentious poll in Yemen
Parliamentary elections in Yemen are over yet controversy over their fairness rages on, reports Nasser Arrabyee from Sana'a