Mohamed Al-Anwar in Baghdad examines the possible alliances that will emerge following Sunday's election in Iraq

Does hype and spin make the Iraqi elections successful? Omayma Abdel-Latif asks Iraqi observers

Nermeen Al-Mufti takes stock of Sunday's elections across Iraq

The message from Sunday's vote is that Iraqis want to reclaim their country's full sovereignty, writes Abbas Kadhim

Mahmoud Abbas won an important battle in Jerusalem this week. There will be others, writes Graham Usher

In Abuja, this week, it was apparent that Africans are yearning to set their own agenda, writes Gamal Nkrumah

Cairo is playing a key mediating role to restart viable Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, writes Nevine Khalil

The ruling party and the opposition agree on rejecting "imported reform" but are yet to agree on the domestic variety. Gamal Essam El-Din reports

Prominent opposition MP Ayman Nour's arrest does not bode well for prospects of political reform, say political activists

Amira Howeidy looks for the limits of political opposition in light of this week's arrests of three activists and an MP

Nasr City residents suffered a water cut-off over most of last week. Jailan Halawi plunges into their plight

Khaled Amayreh examines the implications of the success of Hamas in last week's local elections in Gaza

Hizbullah vows to continue its struggle to secure the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails, reports Mohalhel Fakih from Beirut

There was a whiff of Porto Alegre to this year's Davos meetings, but "equitable globalisation" is not philanthropy, writes Faiza Rady

Over 100,000 people gathered last weekend in Brazil for the fifth World Social Forum, the annual meeting of the "global justice movement". Alistair Alexander reports from Porto Alegre

Egypt seems to be at the heart of Microsoft's plans for the region as Bill Gates visits for the second time. Wael Gamal reports

The already buoyant telecommunication sector is to be boosted even further by privatisation and a third mobile network, writes Sherine Abdel-Razek

The much-awaited e-signature law is only the first byte of a hitherto unexplored, but necessary, legal structure, writes Ihab El-Sonbaty

When she donned an apron to attend her first cooking class, Rehab Saad hadn't suspected that a principal chore of her life could be turned into pure creative pleasure

Gamal Nkrumah revels in the Eastern promise of an upmarket Cairene Lebanese restaurant

Shopping is helping Dubai shift the global dynamic, writes Tarek Atia