While the handpicked Interim Governing Council has fallen out of American favour, it remains unclear if an interim Iraqi government will have any power after 30 June, reports Ahmed Reda

The fate of Bush's loyal defence secretary remains in question as senior officials acknowledge that "the worst is yet to come" in the ongoing scandal over the torture of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers, Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington

The former Iraqi minister of human rights, who resigned over the indifference of Coalition authorities to complaints he brought before them, confirms that top US officials knew the full extent of the torture of Iraqi prisoners, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti from Baghdad

The images of American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners is making political waves, and is forcing a re-think of the US Middle East policy, writes Mohamed Hakki from Washington

Arab countries say they are on their way to a summit -- " inshallah ". Dina Ezzat reports

Newly restored Libyan-Western relations come under pressure as six foreign medics receive death sentences, writes Gamal Nkrumah

On the eve of clinching a comprehensive Sudanese peace deal, Khartoum and opposition forces need to rebuild trust

Bush's letter of assurance to Jordan's King Abdullah and obvious change in US policy towards the Palestinian Authority were seen as part of a damage limitation effort following the Iraqi torture pictures scandal, Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington

Fighting on the Lebanese-Israeli border is at its most intense in months, reports Mohalhel Fakih from Beirut

The Middle East is in chaos with Arab opinion split between opposing impotent and undemocratic regimes at home and hostile, occupying forces from abroad. Perhaps this how imperial powers want it, writes Galal Nassar