Last ditch attempts to mediate between Fatah and Hamas appear to have failed, reports Khalid Amayreh from the West Bank

Amid defiance on the part of Hamas and endurance by the population, no end seems in sight to the policy of starving the Palestinians into submission, writes Erica Silverman

Gamal Nkrumah on how the West got it so very wrong on Pyongyang's nuclear policy

Doaa El-Bey reports on the shifting focus of Egyptian-US relations

A quarrel over wearing the niqab at Helwan University's hostel has stirred hostile reactions on both sides. Reem Leila unveils the reasons

Many Muslims decided that recent Danish footage lampooning Prophet Mohamed would not get them provoked this time. Gihan Shahine finds out why

Judges join opposition politicians and human rights activists in an attempt to force the government's hand on constitutional change, reports Mona El-Nahhas

Al-Maliki continues to seek an end to violence, though little on the ground indicates that one will come, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti

The UN peace-keeping force in Lebanon finally receives its rules of engagement, to the disquiet of many Lebanese, reports Lucy Fielder

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan last week scrambled to defuse growing tensions with the country's new hardline high command as the Turkish military once again began to flex its political muscles, reports Gareth Jenkins from Ankara

The northwest Gulf of Suez is earmarked for immense development. Sherine Nasr examines the area's potential

Northeast Asia has again become the focus of world attention as Pyongyang successfully detonates an underground nuclear bomb, writes Gamal Nkrumah