A triangle to the immediate south of Baghdad has emerged as a hotbed of resistance to US occupation forces and a centre for Islamic sectarian conflict. Ahmed Mukhtar reports

Voting, according to Iraq's most venerable Shia cleric, has become a religious obligation. Abbas Kadhim comments

The northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk sits atop vast oil reserves, but it also seethes with ethnic tensions, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti from Baghdad

The revelation that 100,000 Iraqis have died in the course of the US-led invasion and occupation of the country seems set to haunt the new American president, writes Amira Howeidy

Mohamed Darwish examines the issues to be debated in the forthcoming Arab Strategic Forum in Dubai

Prospects look good for Yemeni natural gas exports, reports Peter Willems from Sanaa

Palestinian reactions to Arafat's illness have been muted, writes Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank

Arafat's health is said to be improving, reports Layla Hafez from Paris

The Islamist resistance is set to become more mainstream in any post-Arafat dispensation, reports Khaled Amayreh

Egypt might endorse the mortal Arafat, but will always support the undying Palestinian cause, reports Dina Ezzat

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa tells Dina Ezzat why international pressure on Israel remains the key to peace in the Middle East

Leading Palestian political figures speak to Sherine Bahaa and Rasha Saad of the ripple effects of Arafat's health scare

As the Palestinian leader struggles to recover his health in a Paris hospital, Samir Ghattas reviews the weaknesses of the post-Arafat scenarios

Last month Graham Usher had lunch with Yasser Arafat and the only horizon was the past