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Lebanon helicopter hit by gunfire
A Lebanese army helicopter hit by gunfire is forced to make an emergency landing in the south of the country, the army says.

Israeli activist Abie Nathan dies
Abie Nathan, the maverick Israeli peace activist who flew a private plane to Egypt in 1966, dies at the age of 81.

Egypt urges end to Israel threats
Egypt is trying to defuse growing tension between Israel and Lebanon, its foreign minister says.

Nepalese sue US company over Iraq
A Nepalese man and relatives of 12 others killed in Iraq four years ago sue American firm KBR on charges of human trafficking.

Iraq bomb kills police recruits
At least 25 people are killed as a suicide bomber attacks police recruits in Diyala province in Iraq, according to police.

Iraq seeking 2011 troop pullout
The Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki speaks in detail about a deal to bring an end to the foreign troop presence by 2011.

Gaddafi charged over cleric kidnap
Lebanon indicts Libya's leader over the disappearance of a revered Shia cleric during a visit to the country 30 years ago.

Iran hangs second teenage killer
Human rights organisations condemn the execution of a second juvenile offender in Iran within a week.

Sarkozy confirms Syria visit date
French President Sarkozy says he will visit Damascus on 3-4 September as part of efforts to improve Franco-Syrian ties.

Sudan plane hijackers surrender
Two hijackers of a Sudanese plane surrender after flying it to Libya and releasing the passengers, officials say.

Israel searches for missing girl
Israeli police search for the body of a four-year-old whose grandfather said he killed her, in a case that has shocked Israelis.

Israeli police hold Gaza activist
Police in Israel arrest an Israeli citizen who entered Gaza by sea with a group of pro-Palestinian activists.

McCartney to play Tel Aviv, 43 years after Israel's Beatles ban
Sir Paul McCartney is to play a concert in Tel Aviv - 43 years after being banned from performing there.

Seeds of peace
US camp brings Palestinians and Israelis together

With the 'sons'
Meeting the Sunni militia driving Iraq's new security policy

Emblem in danger
Climate change threat to Lebanon's cedar trees

Against the Odds
How did our Olympic hopefuls get on?

Human face
Personal stories behind Mid-East prisoners issue

Tanks running dry
Drought heightens West Bank water woes

Rice wraps up peace push
The US Secretary of State ends her latest peace push saying there is still a good chance of an Israeli-Palestinian deal.

Alarm at Lebanon maid deaths
At least one immigrant maid is dying each week in Lebanon in a suicide or escape attempt, Human Rights Watch says.

Israeli W Bank building 'doubles'
Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank has nearly doubled in the last year, an Israeli pressure group says.

UK arrests over Qatari death
A student from Qatar who was attacked in Hastings died from falling and hitting his head on the ground, police say.

Robo-skeleton helps paralysed
A human exoskeleton robotic suit is helping people paralysed from the waist down to stand, walk and climb stairs.

Iranian leader backs Ahmadinejad
Iran's supreme leader wishes Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term as president amid criticism of his economic record.

Iran plane crashes in Bishkek
A passenger plane heading for Iran crashes shortly after take-off from Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek.

Saudi child 'files for divorce'
A Saudi court is preparing to hear a plea for divorce from an eight-year-old girl, who is married to a man in his 50s, reports say.

China's CNPC seals $3bn Iraq deal
China's state-oil firm CNPC has agreed a $3bn (£1.63bn) oil services contract for Iraq.

UK bank gets Egypt investment
Panmure Gordon, the British stockbroker and investment bank, announces a large Egyptian bank will buy a share in its business.

Press ponders Olmert resignation
Israel's press is largely unsurprised by Ehud Olmert's announcement that he would leave office in September.

Press lukewarm on Obama
US presidential hopeful Barack Obama's visit to the Middle East has drawn a cynical reaction in the region's media.

Israeli reaction to prisoner swap
Israelis comment on the prisoner swap taking place between Israel and Lebanon.

Iraqis in video, audio and text
Four Iraqis describe their hopes and frustrations with life in their country.

Iranian voices on missile tests
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Set apart for God and Torah
The BBC's Erica Chernofsky in Jerusalem gets a rare insight into the lives of members of Israel's Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

Black gold
The impact of a century of oil production on Iran

Darwish, the people's poet
Palestinian crowds pay emotional last respects to Darwish

Egypt's marriage crisis
Egyptians struggle with house prices and conservatism

Security Council extends UN force in southern Lebanon for another year
The Security Council today extended until the end of August 2009 the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), stating that the deployment of the mission together with the country's armed forces has helped to establish "a new strategic environment in southern Lebanon."

Iraq: UN envoy persists with efforts to promote dialogue over disputed city
The top United Nations official in Iraq continues to work to promote political dialogue and national reconciliation across the country, including over the disputed status of the northern city of Kirkuk, a UN spokesperson said today.

UNESCO chief deplores murder of senior Iraqi cultural official
The head of the United Nations culture agency today condemned the murder of a senior Iraqi Government official who had long worked to protect and preserve his country's cultural heritage.

Gaza: UN expert welcomes landing of ships carrying human rights activists
An independent United Nations human rights expert today hailed the landing of two wooden boats in Gaza carrying 46 human rights activists as a key symbolic victory.

Ban requests 12-month extension to UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the Security Council to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by another 12 months until the end of August next year.

UN anti-drugs agency lauds record heroin seizure in the Gulf
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has hailed the efforts of the authorities in the United Arab Emirates in seizing 202 kilograms of heroin, worth some $11 million, in what is being called the largest-ever heroin bust in the Arab world.

Mixed picture in Middle East, UN official tells Security Council
Israel and the Palestinians are continuing their negotiations aimed at devising a durable settlement to their long-running conflict, but intra-Palestinian violence has spiked over the past month, the top United Nations political official told the Security Council today.

UN's work in Iraq best tribute to colleagues killed five years ago, says top official
As the United Nations today remembers the colleagues killed and injured in the attack on its headquarters in Baghdad in 2003, the world body's top political official said there is no better tribute to the fallen than continuing the vital work they began in Iraq.

Composer honours victims of bombing at UN headquarters in Baghdad
The writer of a classical work composed in honour of the United Nations staff members killed in the 2003 Baghdad bombing said the music is a gift to the UN family as officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, prepare to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the attack.

Two years on from war in Lebanon, progress on cluster munitions - UN agency
Two years after the end of fighting in Lebanon between Hizbollah and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the threat of cluster munitions has been reduced but not eliminated in the south of the country, according to a United Nations agency in charge of clearing mines from the area.

Iraq revives oil deal with China
If finalised, the deal with CNPC, Asia's biggest oil and gas company, to develop al-Ahdab oilfield would mark the first important commitment to Iraq by a foreign company since Baghdad nationalised its industry in 1972

DP World sees "challenging" times
The world's fourth-biggest ports operator says after-tax profit has more than doubled to $287mn in the first half, despite what it termed a "challenging" environment

Trophy hunt
The UAE and its neighbours are seeking to boost their world standing by hosting top championship tournaments

Dubai property heads off-plan
Speculation, particularly in properties under construction, has intensified and talk of overheating is in the air

Rice criticises Israel settlement surge
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, urged Israel not to undermine peace efforts with the Palestinians after a report found it had almost doubled its settlement building in the West Bank this year

Suicide bomber strikes Iraqi police recruits
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of Iraqi police recruits, killing 28 people and wounding 45, police said

Maliki confirms deadline for US pull-out
Iraqi PM tells tribal leaders an agreement had been reached in negotiations on a security pact with the US to end any foreign military presence in Iraq by the end of 2011

Georgia fall-out casts shadow on Iran talks
UN discussions begin next month on a new set of sanctions designed to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions, an issue that could make the Georgia crisis look like a passing summer squall

Exiting Iraq
The US presidential election has helped concentrate minds in Washington on withdrawal – but an orderly departure is still far from guaranteed

Prisoners freed in gesture to Abbas
Israel on Monday freed 198 Palestinian prisoners out of an estimated 9,000 held in Israeli jails, hours before the US secretary of state was to arrive to boost faltering peace talks

Schools' trial by independence
Qatar has performed one of the most radical reforms of an education system anywhere, but it will not bear fruit without changes in other sectors

Officials have plans for Iran's oil fund
The once-guarded oil contingency fund seems to be up for grabs within government

Israeli demand draining Sea of Galilee
Israel's thirst for fresh water means the country continues to pump vast amounts from the lake, which is falling by between one and two centimetres a day

Algeria fears tightening grip of al-Qaeda
Following one of the most violent weeks in Algeria for years, speculation is likely to intensify about the strength of an Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda and the...

Kremlin baulks at missiles for Syria
Russia's foreign minister said they would consider selling arms but stopped short of agreeing to a request for ballistic weapons that could target neighbouring states

EU Bumps Up Palestinian Funding
Europe's aid to the Palestinians shows where its sympathies lie.

Jerusalem Watch: Syria Seeks Missiles From Russia
Plus, if Israel liberates terrorists, why shouldn't Jordan?

Nuclear Syria
More evidence has surfaced in recent months revealing the extent of Syria's nuclear program.

Russian Resurgence Hurts American Mideast Policy
Moscow has the U.S. over a barrel in the Middle East.

Pakistan's Ominous Future
Musharraf's decline and fall leaves a dangerous void in this nuclear-armed Muslim country.

Israel Agrees to Release More Prisoners

Musharraf Resigns; Pakistan Up For Grabs
Political vacuum could create a nuclear nightmare.

Jerusalem Watch: Crackdown in Palestinian Territories
Olmert's latest attempt to create a Palestinian state; the greatest threat facing Jerusalem; plus, look who's violating human rights in the West Bank and Gaza.

Iran's Other Weapon
Tehran's nuclear project makes headlines, but Iran has another deadly weapon ready to go right now.

Lebanon's Cedar Revolution Dead

The Next Key Player in the Peace Process
The Jews and Palestinians need Europe to make peace, an international panel says.

Musharraf Faces Impeachment
How Musharraf's impeachment could lead to the worst possible disaster

The EU and Israel
President Sarkozy's mooted Mediterranean Union may have seemed a sore point with Germany's chancellor. The reality is it may bring her nation one step closer to achieving a long-cherished goal.

Jerusalem Watch
Bibi meets with Shas spiritual head, Israelis believe they are headed in the wrong direction and a new front opens on the war against terrorism.

Lessons From the Dead Sea
The desolate region serves as a perpetual warning of what once was--and offers hope for a better tomorrow!

Jerusalem: Hamas Fills Void Left by Fleeing Jews
Israel leaves parts of Jerusalem without police or army patrols.

Muslim Common Market Being Discussed

Hezbollah: Stronger Than Ever, Ready to Strike

Iran Celebrates West's Acceptance of Its Nuclear Status
Tehran continues to manipulate the West without giving any ground.

Karadzic and Islam's Northward Push
A coming clash of civilizations may be accelerated by the outcome of the forthcoming trial of Radovan Karadzic.

Iran: Filling the Power Void
Everywhere troops withdraw in the Middle East, Iran moves in.

This Week in Jerusalem
Olmert decides to step down, the list of proponents for dividing Jerusalem grows, and protests turn deadly near security fence.

Royal Seal of Prophet Jeremiah's Accuser Found
A bulla discovered in Jerusalem bears the inscription of a prince who served in the court of Judah's last king.

This Week in Jerusalem
Another bulldozer attack and a whirlwind visit by Barack Obama; plus, the Knesset considers lifting constraints on Sabbath-keeping.

Is Obama the Change Israel Can Believe in?
With many Jews still skeptical of his candidacy, the Illinois senator had a lot to prove during his recent visit to Israel.

West will need to review oil routes
The Georgian conflict has highlighted the vulnerability of strategic oil export routes across the Caucasus and may point to a reassessment of western relations with Tehran

Georgia fall-out casts shadow on Iran talks
UN discussions begin next month on a new set of sanctions designed to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions, an issue that could make the Georgia crisis look like a passing summer squall

Iran gets around US bank sanctions
Bank Mellat, the third largest state-owned bank, is getting around sanctions by establishing links with small and medium-sized banks with less US exposure than bigger lenders

Iranian 'cult' of imam sparks controversy
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has called those who have 'opened a business' and claim to have been connected to the holy figure Mohammed al-Mahdi 'liars'

US warns Turkey over energy deal with Iran
As Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad visits Turkey, Washington says it expects Ankara to avoid an agreement that would harm diplomatic efforts to halt Tehran's nuclear programme

Carrefour aims to shake up Iran's food industry
The low-key arrival of a franchise of French retailer Carrefour in Tehran might have been expected to attract some excitement. It must be one of the few cities without an international supermarket chain

Iranians in dark over power investment
People are asking why a country with vast energy reserves and huge oil income can suffer regular electricity cuts

Russia denies sanctions deal after Iran snub
Moscow dismisses reports of agreeing with the US and UK for more economic restrictions after Tehran sidestepped an initiative for negotiations over its nuclear programme

Appointments a blow to Ahmadi-Nejad
Lawmakers have elected new ministers after forcing Tehran to drop its more radical nominees. The posts are critical to the president in his last year in office

Tehran poised to restart nuclear talks
The world's big powers have been told to expect a response from Iran that sets out an initiative designed to restart negotiations over its nuclear programme

Gulf business focuses on oil rather than Iran
While Middle Eastern states worry about the potential conflict between Iran and the US or Israel, companies seem unmoved as they concentrate on riding the oil boom

Oil group ends Iran investments
StatoilHydro, the Norwegian national oil company, has become the latest big western energy group to commit not to invest in Iran, following pressure from the US

Bank defies Tehran over lower rates
Iran's central bank has struck a blow to the populist policies of president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad and decided not to lower interest rates further following months of power struggle

A 'housewife' critic of Iran's reformists
In a country where political language is full of courtesy and prudence Fatemeh Rajabi's unflinching criticism of senior conservative and reformist politicians makes her stand out

Israel not alone in Iran struggle, vows Brown
The British prime minister, speaking to Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, urges Tehran to suspend its nuclear programme or face the collective response of many nations

Lebanese Prime Minister Visits Iraq to Improve Ties
Fouad Siniora's trip comes one week after King Abdullah of Jordan became first Arab head of state to visit Iraq since 2003 US-led invasion

US-Iraq Agreement Close on Troops' Future
But, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari tell reporters in Baghdad no deal has yet been signed

US, Iraq Close to Agreement on US Troop Withdrawal
On table for discussion was level of immunity US troops would have in Iraq and whether they would be under jurisdiction of Iraqi law or that of US

Negotiators Say US Troops to Leave Iraq by 2011
Accord reportedly would end US combat force presence in Iraq during next three years

Suicide Bomber Kills 5 in Northern Iraq
Local police say senior member of US-allied Sunni group among those killed

Suicide Bomber Kills 25 at Feast West of Baghdad
Officials say attacker blew himself up at home of a local sheikh who was celebrating his son's release from US detention

Maliki: Iraq, US Agree to No Foreign Troops After 2011
But, US officials insist no deal has been reached

Suicide Bomber Kills 25 People at Iraqi Police Recruitment Center
Most of those killed in Tuesday's attack were young Iraqis applying to join the police force in town of Jalula in Diyala province

Pentagon Says Iraq Withdrawal Must Be Based on Conditions
Position repeated in response to statement by Iraq's PM calling for full US withdrawal by 2011

Iraq's Talabani Says US Agrees to Troop Pullout Compromise
US officials have said a deal with Iraq is close but there is no final agreement

Rice Heads to Middle East to Push for Peace Deal
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushes for peace agreement by end of year as Israeli official says it will do all it can to reach peace deal before President George Bush leaves office in January

Iran's Supreme Leader Endorses Ahmadinejad for Second Term
It is first time Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made such a strong public endorsement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who faces re-election next year

Palestinians Celebrate Israel's Release of Prisoners
There are 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including women and children, and Palestinian officials say they all should go free

Rice Arrives in Israel in Bid to Prod Middle East Peace Effort
Condoleezza Rice says it is important to keep making forward progress, rather than trying prematurely to come up with a set of conclusions

Maliki: Iraq, US Agree to No Foreign Troops After 2011
But, US officials insist no deal has been reached

Suicide Bomber Kills 25 People at Iraqi Police Recruitment Center
Most of those killed in Tuesday's attack were young Iraqis applying to join the police force in town of Jalula in Diyala province

Rice: Peace Deal Progress Despite Israeli Settlements
US secretary of state Rice says she told the Israelis that Jewish settlement activity not helpful to peace process

Pentagon Says Iraq Withdrawal Must Be Based on Conditions
Position repeated in response to statement by Iraq's PM calling for full US withdrawal by 2011

Iraq's Talabani Says US Agrees to Troop Pullout Compromise
US officials have said a deal with Iraq is close but there is no final agreement

Israel to Display Dead Sea Scrolls Online
Israel Antiquities Authority announces thousands of scroll fragments will be scanned using non-damaging, high-tech imaging, which will reveal previously illegible portions

Iraq:

Private contractors in Iraq operate in a legal limbo. That may change

THE American federal agency that monitors progress in rebuilding Iraq recently gave warning to Congress that proposed changes in Iraqi law could provoke an exodus of private contractors, who remain a crucial part of the American presence in the country. In particular, proposals by Iraq’s government to end the contractors’ immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts is a contentious aspect of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that will, among other things, define the Americans’ legal status in Iraq after the UN mandate ceases, at the Iraqis’ request, at the end of this year. This week American and Iraqi negotiators sounded close to an agreement. But it was still unclear whether contractors’ immunity, let alone a date for America’s troop withdrawal, has been nailed down.

If all the privateers in Iraq ran scared of the new law, the American coalition’s manpower would be drastically squeezed. The Congressional Budget Office says that 190,000 people work for contractors in Iraq. Some 38,000 are American, 82,000 hail from elsewhere and 70,000-plus are Iraqi. But the law under which the foreigners operate has been murky. “We should have figured out the laws first and then hired the guys,” says Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank. “We did the opposite.” ...

Algeria:

Islamists linked to al-Qaeda may be reviving their campaign in the Maghreb

“THIS looks like Iraq, not Algeria,” declared a distraught witness to the carnage of a bombing that killed 43 police recruits in a town to the east of Algeria’s capital, Algiers, on August 19th. His words were apt. There has been a dramatic rise in attacks by Islamist extremists in the country during the past fortnight, with at least 79 people killed in various incidents across eastern Algeria, most of them in a spate of suicide bombings similar to those that have ravaged Iraq. The targets have been similar too, including police stations, a coast-guard outpost, and a bus transporting Algerian workers for a big Canadian company.

The attacks appear to be the work of Algeria’s main remaining Islamist guerrilla group, which in 2006, after contacts with al-Qaeda’s mother organisation, renamed itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Earlier this month it issued a chilling warning to Algeria’s pro-Western rulers: “We tell the sons of France, the slaves of America and their masters, too, that our finger is on the trigger, and the convoys of martyrs are longing to rampage your bastions in defence of our Islamic nation.” ...

Liberia:

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, halfway through her first term as president, is doing well

IN HER inaugural speech in January 2006, Africa’s first female head of state set out the daunting tasks facing Liberia, citing her determination to heal the awful wounds inflicted during the civil wars of 1989 to 2003 by her various appalling predecessors, including Charles Taylor, now on trial for war crimes at The Hague. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a former World Banker, also promised to reduce Liberia’s dire poverty and to consolidate democracy. On the whole, she has made progress—albeit with a lot of help from friends abroad.

Liberia is more stable these days, thanks in part to a large force of UN peacekeepers, whose numbers are due to fall from 13,000 to just under 10,000 by the end of 2010. Security is gradually to be taken over by a revamped national police force and a new army, both being recruited and trained by an American firm, DynCorp, which is being paid by the United States. ...

Nigeria:

Doubts persist about Nigeria’s banks

THE bright logos of Nigeria’s financial institutions adorn the tallest and poshest office blocks in central Lagos, the country’s commercial capital, testimony to years of impressive growth in banking. But now, after a rocky year, there are worries that some of the optimism may have been overblown.

The reform of Nigeria’s creaking, corrupt banking system was one of the big achievements of President Olusegun Obasanjo in his second term in office (2003-07). As part of a policy to squeeze weak or failing banks out of business, in 2005 the Central Bank of Nigeria raised banks’ capital requirements. In a hectic round of consolidation, the number of banks dropped from 89 to 24. Those that remained have had a very good few years, with massive local expansion and sometimes triple-digit growth in their share prices. And with less than a fifth of Nigerians keeping their money in banks and with fast growth led by private companies, there still seems to be plenty of potential for more business. Banks surveyed by a Lagos-based stockbroker, Afrinvest, showed that median before-tax earnings had risen by 141% year-on-year by June. ...

Zambia:

The death of a decent president, Zambia’s Levy Mwanawasa, raises questions about the state of leadership elsewhere in the continent

ON PAPER, Levy Mwanawasa should never have been president. He lacked charisma, wit or style—the sort of qualities that propel populists to high office in much of Africa. At rallies even his own supporters were fast bored by the former lawyer’s monotone drawl. His ill-health and slurred speech, the results of a car crash, led to nasty jibes about his mental capacity. When he narrowly won his first, disputed, presidential election in 2001, opponents dubbed him “the cabbage”, deriding him as a stooge for others more powerful.

But Mr Mwanawasa, who died this week in France after suffering in June the latest of several strokes, deserves to be remembered more fondly than the showmen who have beggared much of the continent. In the past seven years he made a serious effort to clean up Zambia’s pervasive corruption. At some political risk, he turned against his predecessor and one-time patron, the diminutive Frederick Chiluba, who was charged with 168 counts of theft. Mr Chiluba was convicted of graft in a civil court in London last year. It was a rare success: few African leaders have been held to such account. ...

Saudi Arabia:

Feeding its own people more cheaply

WHILE Saudi Arabia sets up its first sovereign wealth fund, ordinary Saudis are more preoccupied with the rising price of food. This is prompting the Saudi government to consider a new direction for foreign investment: buying farms in the poorer parts of the world.

Inflation in Saudi Arabia is running in double digits, its highest rate for three decades. Last December, 19 prominent Saudi clerics gave warning that inflation constituted a crisis that would lead to social unrest and crime. Since then, the poorest Saudis have got poorer, with prices going up across the board because of rapid monetary growth. Food and housing costs are rising fastest. ...

Iraq:

The country is awash with oil money but still lacks a proper plan

IN THE second quarter of the year, an American military auditor recently reported, Iraq’s oil production averaged over 2.4m barrels a day, the highest level since America invaded Iraq in 2003, and a marked improvement on last year’s average of around 2m b/d (see chart). Rising output, along with the high (if now falling) price of oil, should pump up Iraq’s oil revenues to almost $80 billion this year. That, in turn, has allowed the country’s parliament to boost this year’s budget from $48 billion to $70 billion in a supplementary spending bill approved earlier this month. As security improves, the government has a lot more cash to spend than it did a year ago. Will it make the best of it?

For one thing, revenue from oil should go up more sharply still. Iraq produced 3m b/d as recently as October 2001, despite the crippling UN-enforced sanctions at the time. Iraq’s oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani, has spoken of raising output to 6m b/d. In theory, that is possible. Iraq’s proven reserves, of 115 billion barrels, are the world’s third-largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran. Yet Iraq ranks just 13th in terms of production, suggesting there is plenty of scope to pump more. Russia, for example, produced almost 10m b/d last year from reserves of 80 billion barrels. Only 27 of the 80 or so fields that have been discovered in Iraq have ever been tapped. ...

Zimbabwe:

Negotiations to resolve the country’s crisis are proving as sticky as expected

AFTER shaking hands in front of the cameras on July 21st, President Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, seem barely closer to resolving their differences than they were three weeks ago, when discussions over power-sharing began. Together with Arthur Mutambara, who leads a small opposition group that split off from Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), they have been locked in secretive negotiations under the eye of South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, mandated by the region’s leaders to mediate such talks. But so far Mr Tsvangirai has refused to accept a deal that could leave Mr Mugabe still wielding most of the power.

Mr Mbeki, often accused of being too soft on Mr Mugabe, is particularly keen to clinch a deal before the 14-country Southern African Development Community (SADC), the region’s main club, meets in Johannesburg on August 16th. But as The Economist went to press, Mr Mbeki looked unlikely to succeed in time. ...

Syria:

A recent assassination makes Syrian politics look as mysterious as ever

THOSE who speak do not know and those who know do not speak. That classic adage of how information flows in a dictatorship has always fitted Syria rather well. But the fog in the Syrian capital, Damascus, has rarely been thicker than now.

Take the mysterious death of a top general, Muhammad Suleiman, at a seaside resort earlier this month. Was he shot by a lone sniper from a passing yacht, as first alleged, or killed at closer range, perhaps even by a masked hit squad? Was he targeted because he had fallen out with Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, or because he had angered Israel by funnelling Iranian and Syrian arms to Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shia guerrilla group with which the Israelis fought a messy war in 2006? Or was he killed in revenge for his role in other assassinations, such as the lorry-bomb killing of the Lebanese leader, Rafik Hariri, in 2005, or, contrarily, in the death of Hizbullah’s elusive tactical mastermind, Imad Mughniyeh, whose car blew up last February inside a compound housing Syrian intelligence operatives? ...

Mauritania:

Africa’s reaction to the continent’s latest coup is being carefully watched

AFTER a decent election last year, Mauritania was held up as a fine new democracy for Africa. Alas, no more. The latest military putsch, on August 6th, put failed and successful coups in the last three decades into double figures and prompted a flood of international criticism, including suspension of aid and of membership of the African Union (AU). But will such remonstrations make a jot of difference?

The hopeful part of the story goes back to 2005, when soldiers including Colonel Muhammad Ould Abdelaziz overthrew Maaouya Ould Taya, a nasty dictator who had been in power for two decades. For once, the soldiers kept their promise to organise fair elections. But Colonel Abdelaziz stayed close to the centre of power, first by persuading Sidi Muhammad Ould Cheikh Abdallahi to compete in the presidential election of 2007, which he won, and then by serving as the head of his presidential guard. ...

Israel:

The issue of Jerusalem’s holiest site may again be dividing Jews

THE lead singer, with yarmulke, beard and guitar, appears with a sheep on the cover of the latest record by Lechatchila, a religious-rock group popular among Orthodox young Israelis. “Don’t stare at me,” the lyrics go. “The Temple is sure to be rebuilt right now. We’ve got to prepare, to believe, to make the redemption happen.”

For two millennia, ever since the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, Jews have continued to study, write and indeed sing about the intricate rituals of service and sacrifice, in the belief that one day the Messiah would come and the Temple would be rebuilt. Meanwhile, the faithful were forbidden even to walk on the Holy Mount, let alone worship there. ...

Uganda:

Since peace talks with Uganda’s rebels collapsed, some say war must resume

IN MARCH, after nearly two years of on-and-off peace talks, negotiators for Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) announced that their leader, Joseph Kony, an elusive self-styled mystic, was at last ready to emerge from the bush and sign a deal to end one of Africa’s longest wars. For two decades, the conflict had brought misery to a region bordering several countries (see map), left tens of thousands of people in northern Uganda dead, and displaced nearly 2m others. Earlier this year, the date for signing a peace deal approached. But at the last minute Mr Kony called off the event and sacked his negotiators. Now there is a danger the war may resume.

It is yet another humiliating setback for those who have advocated talking to a man wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court at The Hague. So those who have always argued for taking a tougher stand against the LRA, such as Uganda’s senior soldiers, have the upper hand again. At the end of June, citing the lack of progress towards a peace deal, the leaders of Uganda, Congo and the autonomous region of south Sudan agreed for the first time to co-ordinate military efforts to stamp out the rebellion once and for all. ...

Mauritania:

Why the world likes this coup less than the last one

WHILE the rest of Africa seems to be slowly ridding itself of its penchant for coups, Mauritania seems to be perfecting its ability to stage them. Such is the country’s current strike rate that the last two successful coups on the continent have both taken place in this Islamic republic, a vast, sandy country that sees itself as part of both the black and Arab parts of Africa. The latest victim is President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who was arrested by his presidential guard and relieved of his duties on August 6th. Not a shot was fired and the news was spread mostly by the president’s distraught daughter, who telephoned journalists as dissidents occupied their house and whisked her father away.

According to script, state television and radio went off air, except to declare Mr Abdallahi a “former” president and to reinstate the senior army officers whose sacking had been announced earlier that morning. The coup was led by Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, the head of the presidential guard and one of the officers Mr Abdallahi had tried to fire. Even before the military dismissals, politics in Mauritania had been in a rotten state. In the space of three months one government had been sacked and another forced to resign. Complaints have ranged from poor management of rising food prices to the lack of transparency over the first lady’s finances. The army was believed to have instigated a mass resignation of the president’s supporters in parliament earlier this week. ...

Rwanda:

Exchanging unpleasantries about the genocide

DID France expect—and indeed help—the genocide that killed almost a million people in Rwanda 14 years ago? That is the claim made in a 500-page report published in Rwanda this week, accusing 33 French politicians and army officers, including France’s then-president, Francois Mitterrand, of complicity. But the report must be read with a pinch of salt. It is in part the product of a feud between the two countries.

The report was commissioned by Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president. Some will say it is a response to a French judge’s indictment of nine of Mr Kagame’s allies over the plane crash that killed his predecessor, Juvenal Habyarimana, whose death triggered the start of the massacres. But it is also part of a broader effort by Mr Kagame’s government to entrench its own narrative of the 100-day killing spree and refute revisionist histories that minimise the killings or, in some cases, deny that any genocide took place. ...

The Middle East and America's election:

Weighing up the relative merits of Barack Obama and John McCain

SIX months ago, in a mock poll conducted at the US-Islamic World Forum, a gathering of influential Muslims and Americans held every year in the Gulf state of Qatar, Barack Obama won a resounding victory as the preferred choice for the next American president. If one is to believe internet chatter from America’s extreme right, the Illinois senator’s popularity among Muslims in the Middle East might be due to the allegations that he is 43.75% Arab by blood, or that he has been secretly funded by Arabs with ties to terrorism. Then again, it might just be natural that a candidate who has some Muslim ancestry, and who has protested against the widely loathed policies of the Bush administration, would inspire more enthusiasm than a Republican opponent committed to continuing those policies. Oddly enough, however, recent statistical and anecdotal evidence from the region shows that enthusiasm for Mr Obama is less fulsome than might be expected.

The lukewarm feelings partly reflect the burgeoning over the past eight years of a more general cynicism towards America. In a global opinion survey taken last spring regarding expectations from a new American president, results from five Muslim countries polled clashed with more optimistic opinions elsewhere; large majorities expected that American policies under any new administration would either not change much, or change for the worse. “Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell were both black, and they still invaded Iraq,” scoffs a Cairo taxi driver. ...

South Africa:

The African National Congress under Jacob Zuma shows signs of losing its way

A LITTLE over half a year after Thabo Mbeki was ousted as president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), worries are growing about the party’s new leadership and where it may take South Africa after a general election due next year. Arguments still rage over the corruption charges facing the new leader, Jacob Zuma, who is likely to replace Mr Mbeki as the country’s president. An unseemly fight within the ANC across the country is denting people’s confidence in their rulers.

Mr Zuma appeared in court this week in a bid to have the charges against him dismissed. Other appeals will probably follow and his trial—if it happens at all—is unlikely to start before the election. Critics accuse Mr Zuma of delaying tactics, but hundreds of supporters, including ANC bigwigs and some cabinet ministers, went to the small town of Pietermaritzburg to support their champion. They want the charges dismissed on the grounds that he is the victim of a political conspiracy and that a fair trial has become impossible. ...

Israel:

A politician hits back against a rampant judiciary

THEY are known collectively by their opponents as the “rule-of-law gang”, and for the moment they seem to be in the ascendancy. The gang is the collection of judges, prosecutors, policemen and journalists who last week forced the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to announce his resignation over allegations of corruption. They wear their sobriquet with pride; the gang members see themselves as having been vindicated, yet again, in their crusade against graft and sleaze in high places.

After all, they argue, the fact that Mr Olmert was only the latest of Israel’s four most recent prime ministers to have been involved in criminal inquiries while in office shows how bad things have become. Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud, 1996-99) was questioned about an alleged votes-for-influence conspiracy. Ehud Barak (Labour, 1999-2001) was implicated in election-financing irregularities. And Mr Olmert’s predecessor, Ariel Sharon, was interrogated both about breaking such financing rules and about much more serious allegations of bribery and breach of trust. None of them was actually prosecuted (although Mr Sharon’s son was and subsequently went to prison). Mr Olmert probably will be prosecuted. Indeed, two of his former ministers are already in court: Avraham Hirschson, the finance minister, on charges of theft and fraud, and Tzachi Hanegbi, minister of the environment, who is alleged to have handed out government jobs to political cronies. Thanks in part to the diligence of the gang, that particular practice, long customary in Israeli politics, is being rooted out. ...

Israel:

After months of suspense, Israel’s beleaguered prime minister announces that he will step down, probably in September. What next for his country?

FLOUNDERING beneath a welter of investigations into alleged corruption, Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, announced on July 30th that he would resign as soon as his Kadima party had elected a new leader in late September. The two front-runners to take over are his foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and his transport minister, Shaul Mofaz. But the operatic slowness of the process means that Mr Olmert may still be running the show into next year. In any event, no matter who grasps Kadima’s helm, a general election may take place in the spring, when the opposition Likud party, led by the hawkish Binyamin Netanyahu, may be favoured to win.

Ms Livni or Mr Mofaz may have to haggle long and hard after September to rebuild a viable coalition. Kadima’s partners, emboldened by Mr Olmert’s tribulations, have been brazenly bucking parliamentary discipline; the government has recently lost vote after vote but has staggered along. ...

Nigeria :

How student fraternities turned into powerful and well-armed gangs

A YOUNG man whispers a confession: as a university student, he killed six or seven of his peers. He cannot be sure of the number, since his shots were fired in gun battles. He intimidated professors, burned their cars, and helped kidnap—briefly—their children to force them to give good marks to certain students. He did it all as a member of a campus cult. When he renounced his membership, he got death threats and moved to another city, where he lives today.

Nigeria’s university system used to be the finest in west Africa, but today’s classes are overcrowded, buildings are crumbling and the curriculum has remained unchanged for years. The cults emerged from the shambles. Having started life as confraternities for the most academic students, they have deteriorated into gang violence. The Exam Ethics Project, a lobby group, says that inter-cult violence killed 115 students and teachers between 1993 and 2003. The real number may be much higher. ...

Iraq:

Private contractors in Iraq operate in a legal limbo. That may change

THE American federal agency that monitors progress in rebuilding Iraq recently gave warning to Congress that proposed changes in Iraqi law could provoke an exodus of private contractors, who remain a crucial part of the American presence in the country. In particular, proposals by Iraq’s government to end the contractors’ immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts is a contentious aspect of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that will, among other things, define the Americans’ legal status in Iraq after the UN mandate ceases, at the Iraqis’ request, at the end of this year. This week American and Iraqi negotiators sounded close to an agreement. But it was still unclear whether contractors’ immunity, let alone a date for America’s troop withdrawal, has been nailed down.

If all the privateers in Iraq ran scared of the new law, the American coalition’s manpower would be drastically squeezed. The Congressional Budget Office says that 190,000 people work for contractors in Iraq. Some 38,000 are American, 82,000 hail from elsewhere and 70,000-plus are Iraqi. But the law under which the foreigners operate has been murky. “We should have figured out the laws first and then hired the guys,” says Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank. “We did the opposite.” ...

Iraqi oil:

Iraq's oil is flowing a bit more freely

IRAQ'S oil production averaged over 2.4m barrels a day in the second quarter, the highest level since America invaded in 2003. This should boost the country's oil revenues to around $80 billon this year and production should keep on rising as security improves. Iraqi oil is cheap to extract and there are probably new fields to be found. But political uncertainty is hampering the investment needed to overhaul exitisng infrastructure and oilfields that might dramatically boost output in near future.

...

Iraq:

The country is awash with oil money but still lacks a proper plan

IN THE second quarter of the year, an American military auditor recently reported, Iraq’s oil production averaged over 2.4m barrels a day, the highest level since America invaded Iraq in 2003, and a marked improvement on last year’s average of around 2m b/d (see chart). Rising output, along with the high (if now falling) price of oil, should pump up Iraq’s oil revenues to almost $80 billion this year. That, in turn, has allowed the country’s parliament to boost this year’s budget from $48 billion to $70 billion in a supplementary spending bill approved earlier this month. As security improves, the government has a lot more cash to spend than it did a year ago. Will it make the best of it?

For one thing, revenue from oil should go up more sharply still. Iraq produced 3m b/d as recently as October 2001, despite the crippling UN-enforced sanctions at the time. Iraq’s oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani, has spoken of raising output to 6m b/d. In theory, that is possible. Iraq’s proven reserves, of 115 billion barrels, are the world’s third-largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran. Yet Iraq ranks just 13th in terms of production, suggesting there is plenty of scope to pump more. Russia, for example, produced almost 10m b/d last year from reserves of 80 billion barrels. Only 27 of the 80 or so fields that have been discovered in Iraq have ever been tapped. ...

Iraq:

The death toll in Iraq continues to drop

THE death toll of civilians and American soldiers in Iraq has been falling steadily. The “surge” of American troops last year, the growth of the Iraqi army and the Sunni awakening (in which many Sunnis who previously supported insurgents have turned against them) all help to explain why. Last month 13 American soldiers died in Iraq, the lowest level since the invasion in March 2003. The civilian death toll is harder to estimate: it hit 5,000 just over a year ago but dropped to 387 in July, according to the Iraqi authorities (other estimates are a bit higher, at around 500). Although Iraqi security forces are now in command of ten of the country's 18 provinces, an agreement on a timetable for American troop withdrawal and a full military handover to Iraq's own government will take some time yet.

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The Beijing Olympics:

News from the Forbidden Citius, Altius, Fortius

BEIJING’S grey skies began to clear briefly on July 27th, though the capital’s wretched air quality continues to be a top concern of organisers as the opening of the Olympic games draws near. Chinese officials insist that cooler, drier weather and clearer skies will descend on the capital for the two weeks of the games, August 8th-24th.

The last batch of Olympic tickets went on sale, prompting a near riot. Tens of thousands queued up, pushed and shoved. The police waded in to restore order and roughed up journalists covering the incident. One reporter from Hong Kong was detained for hours, prompting an unusual official acknowledgment that the police might have overdone it. With more than 20,000 foreign journalists expected to cover the games, and 100,000 security personnel (plus a similar number of “security volunteers”) on hand, there is every chance such problems will arise again. ...

Iraq:

The politicians are still failing to take advantage of the lull in the violence

THE mood in Baghdad and most parts of Iraq is an odd mixture of hope, frustration and nervousness. Despite the occasional mass-murderous suicide bomb, such as the four that killed at least 50 people in Baghdad and the disputed city of Kirkuk on July 28th, the death toll is continuing mercifully to slide downwards (see chart); the month of July will probably have witnessed the fewest American military combat deaths—eight, as The Economist went to press—since the war began five years ago.

The month’s Iraqi civilian toll, though harder to count and still wretchedly high, will also be one of the lowest since the insurgency got going in 2004; some 500-odd violent civilian deaths were reported in July, compared with a tally of 3,700 at the height of sectarian mayhem two years ago. Irrespective of the different plans of the two American presidential candidates, a reduction of American troop numbers is also happening steadily, from 171,000 in October to 145,000 at last blush. At the same time, the size of the Iraqi forces is creeping up, from 115,000 two years ago to 229,000 today. This week the province of Kadisiya, south of Baghdad, became the tenth out of 18 to come under Iraqi, rather than American, operational command. ...

America and the Middle East:

American policy in the Middle East is changing, and could usefully change some more

BARACK OBAMA’S presidential-style progress through the Middle East and Europe this week stole many headlines (see article). But that should not be allowed to divert attention from some surprising policy shifts by the man who, last time we checked, was still the actual president of the United States. George Bush has just made at least one-and-a-half U-turns in the Middle East. They have serious merit. If he now makes another turn and a half, he may bequeath whoever succeeds him something unexpected: the beginnings of a decent American policy for this troubled region.

Mr Bush’s first U-turn was on Iran. For several years now the world has applied economic sanctions, part of a policy of carrots and sticks designed to make Iran come clean about a nuclear programme which it claims is peaceful but which many governments believe to be a quest for the bomb. Until last week, however, America had left it to Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China to dangle the carrots. America itself was all stick. America’s partners have held countless meetings with Iran to offer technical and economic rewards if the Iranians only stop enriching uranium. Mr Bush, having consigned the mullahs to an “axis of evil” in his first term, refused to let Americans attend. That has helped the Iranians to claim that whatever the other countries were offering was never enough; what use the blandishments of lesser powers if the superpower was determined on hostility and regime change? ...

America and the Middle East:

Foresight and hindsight in the world's bad places

HOW did America get into its current mess in the Middle East? And how can it get out again? Kenneth Pollack’s book is all about the second question but he starts by making a confession relevant to the first. He was a champion of the invasion of Iraq. In 2002, in an influential book entitled “The Threatening Storm”, he argued the strategic and moral case for removing Saddam Hussein. Mr Pollack admits now that the intervention a year later was a fiasco, and that after such a disaster the inclination of most Americans is to turn away from the region completely and focus on problems at home. But that is not his view. His latest book is a powerful argument for continued, and perhaps even greater, American involvement in the Middle East.

As befits a former CIA analyst and member of the National Security Council, Mr Pollack builds his case on a hard-headed examination of America’s interests in the region. Of these, the most important is oil. If a big percentage of it were suddenly to be removed from the market, the shock of higher prices could on some estimates spark a global recession akin to the Great Depression. American policy, he concludes, should therefore be designed principally to prevent “catastrophic oil disruptions”. This means guarding against possibilities such as a revolution in Saudi Arabia or a massive terrorist attack on the oil-supply network. ...

Iraq and Afghanistan:

Barack Obama describes his war aims which are still rather vague

IN 1960 John F. Kennedy won the presidency by, in part, making the counter-intuitive argument that his Republican opponents had been too soft on the Soviet Union. Nearly half a century later, Barack Obama seemed this week to be trying something of the same sort.

On July 15th Mr Obama appeared on a stage with no fewer than eight American flags, not to mention the one he has recently started wearing on his lapel. He had his work cut out. Ever since he spoke of “refining” his plans for pulling out of Iraq, liberals have assailed him for backing away from his commitment to all but leave Iraq within 16 months of taking office. Centrists hoped he would further soften his determination to pull out quickly. And whichever way he went, conservatives would criticise him: for flip-flopping if he moved towards the centrists, or for ignoring the success of the American “surge” if he satisfied the left. The right, not known for its love of satire, was already particularly thrilled by the cover of this week’s New Yorker, which shows Mr Obama and his wife dressed as terrorists. ...

Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Algeria

Al-Qaeda’s star is falling in Iraq but rising in the Maghreb

THE “Islamic State of Iraq”, as al-Qaeda and its jihadist allies in that country like to call themselves, pumps out a stream of triumphant videos showing its fighters blowing up American Humvees. But these days the swagger has gone as the jihadists have been greatly weakened by the Americans and Sunni tribesmen. Their predicament was summed up in an interview by a man calling himself Abu Turab al-Jazairi. Described as one of al-Qaeda’s leaders in northern Iraq, the movement’s last bastion, he acknowledged losing several cities “because a large number of tribal leaders betrayed Islam”. And some of al-Qaeda’s fighters “got carried away with murdering and executions”.

One of America’s justifications for invading Iraq in 2003 was that Saddam Hussein was supporting al-Qaeda. That claim, like the one that he had weapons of mass destruction, has been discredited. In fact, it was the invasion of Iraq that revived al-Qaeda after its eviction from Afghanistan in 2001. By early 2006, America’s National Intelligence Assessment on terrorism concluded that the Iraq conflict was “breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement”. ...

Kurdistan diary:

An unconventional holiday in “The Other Iraq”

Standing in a crowded amusement park near Rawanduz, in northern Iraq, waiting to get on a small, mountainside toboggan-run while sucking an ice-lolly that claimed to imitate a watermelon (but more closely resembled chilled, sweetened, pulverised cotton wool), I cannot help but feel that my expectations of Kurdistan have been confounded.

Iraqi Kurdistan is not an obvious holiday destination. But when offered the opportunity to spend a week here, I jumped at it. While the rest of Iraq remains mired in conflict, the north is relatively peaceful. After the years of suffering under Saddam Hussein, the Kurds have finally been able to take their fate in their own hands. They are busily building a future. ...

Failed states:

A helpful if turgid primer on sovereignty and legitimacy

AFGHANISTAN, Iraq and Somalia are among the 50 or so countries that can be described as failed or failing states. Although there are many differences between them, these nations also have certain characteristics in common. At any one time, these can include political and economic instability, poverty, civil disorder, terrorism, human trafficking, ethnic conflict, disease and genocide.

Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart have worked in many of these countries. In 2005 they founded the Institute for State Effectiveness in Washington, DC, to help advise countries that are trying to make the leap from failed to functioning state. Before that, Mr Ghani was finance minister in the first post-Taliban government in Afghanistan. ...

Translation systems:

Devices and programs are getting better at translating languages

WARS often boost technological development. In Iraq the armed forces have faced a shortage of translators, both from within their own ranks and from bilingual locals whose lives can be put in peril if they are found to be working for the foreigners. This has created a demand for machines that can translate between Arabic and English. Although some experimental devices have proved unreliable, they are now improving.

A number of two-way translating devices have been under development as part of the Spoken Language Communication and Translation System for Tactical Use (TRANSTAC) programme run by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA. There are three main participants: IBM, BBN Technologies and SRI International. ...

Iraqi Kurdistan:

Can the Kurds offer a tourist haven?

FOR the Kurds of Iraq, Zakaria Abdulla is the nearest thing to the Beatles, rolled into one man. He claims that one of his more recent albums, “Telinaz”, meaning “lovely”, has sold more than 3m copies across the region and in Europe. But mere musical success is no longer enough. These days he has a political vision—and a business nose to match.

As a budding property magnate, he is the driving force behind Naz City, a burgeoning housing development on the edge of Erbil, the Iraqi Kurds' capital, with some 700 Western-style flats designed to “bring something beautiful to Kurdistan”. Such projects, he hopes, may lure back some of the thousands of professionals who fled from Saddam Hussein and are now used to European and American living standards; Mr Abdulla spent some years in Sweden. So far, he says, seven ministers in the Kurdish regional government, more than 100 assembly members and at least 50 academics have taken flats in Naz City. ...