Al-Qaeda on Thursday claimed responsibility for three suicide bomb attacks that killed at least 56 people in Amman, the Jordanian capital, saying the country had become a "backyard" for US-led operations in neighbouring Iraq

As the polls opened yesterday for the first round of the three-stage parliamentary elections, repeated promises that Egypt has embarked on a radical process of democratisation and reform were being tested in real time

There may be more run-offs than clear finishes once yesterday's votes are tallied. Gamal Essam El-Din surveys the scene

Transparent ballot boxes, monitors, a flamboyant Muslim Brotherhood campaign: the parliamentary elections certainly feel different this time round. But are they really, asks Amira Howeidy

The possibility of sanctions being imposed on Syria is sounding alarm bells across the region, report Dina Ezzat in Cairo and Alaa Riyad in New York

Amid violence, how the elections in Iraq will be fought emerges, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti

As violence continued last week in the French capital's suburbs and spread to provincial cities, the French government has been accused of fiddling while Rome burns, writes David Tresilian from Paris

Local monitors said the first round of parliamentary polls was calm and with less fraud than usual. Gihan Shahine wonders what this means

Amira Howeidy examines the shifting relationship between the state and Muslim Brotherhood

Is politics about to win the day? Omayma Abdel-Latif looks for an answer

The lead up to this year's polls featured a mix of both newer and more traditional methods of campaigning. Mustafa El-Menshawy reports

Damascus launches an internal reform programme in a bid to appease the Syrian street, Sami Moubayed reports from the Syrian capital

As pressure on Damascus reaches new heights, Lebanese politicians warm up for possible repercussions on their side of the border, reports Hicham Safieddine

Talk about reconciliation is empty until the division between the illegal occupation and legitimate resistance is recognised as the core rift in Iraq, write Abdul-Ilah Al-Bayaty and Hana Al-Bayaty

Sherine Abdel-Razek reports on the privatisation of Egypt's biggest chain of department stores

As the legislative framework begins to solidify, authorities believe they can start introducing e-signature to the market by the end of 2005. Pierre Loza reports

Sufyan Alissa examines the challenges of economic reform facing the Arab world

The explosion of the hinterlands of French cities belies the bankruptcy of the grand ideologies of equality and fraternity, writes Thomas Rathier in Paris

Opposition violence rocks Ethiopia threatening to thwart the country's nascent democratic process, writes Gamal Nkrumah

The Americas Summit fails to grasp its historic opportunity, but registers an injurious blow to Pax Americana, writes Gamal Nkrumah

Recapping with a conversation with the minister of state for environmental affairs, Mahmoud Bakr sifts through the myth and reality of the black cloud

Just can't bring yourself to throw anything away? Reem Leila helps you wade through the clutter