High-powered Washington lobby firms have helped the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak secure enormous benefits in Washington. President Obama’s special envoy to Egypt, Frank Wisner, works for one such firm which has had many contracts with Egypt’s military and leading business families. Read more about Obama envoy Wisner works for Egypt military, business lobbyists
CAIRO (IPS) - “Break my heart but don’t come near my bread” goes an old Arabic proverb. Failure to observe it has often come at a high political price. Just ask Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who has now fled. Read more about It's not just Tunisians who are hungry
BUENOSAIRES (IPS) - With the string of announcements in South America of recognition of a Palestinian state this month, the region’s integration process showed a new interest in and capacity to reach common positions in the realm of foreign policy. Read more about Latin American nations recognize a Palestinian state
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - According to the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization, the food insecure in Gaza are an alarming 61 percent, with another 16 percent vulnerable to food insecurity. Read more about Hunger and poverty worsen in Gaza
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - The quality of life, the economy and food security for Palestinians living in Gaza have been severely impaired by Israel’s strict four-year blockade, according to the UN. Israel says its closure regime is designed to protect Israeli citizens from attacks by militants in Gaza. Read more about "Gaza is a man-made crisis"
DUBAI (IRIN) - With a failing economy, rising unemployment and deteriorating power, sanitation and health facilities, the health of Gaza’s population continues to worsen, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report. In contrast, modest improvements have been made in the West Bank. Read more about Gaza crisis "far beyond humanitarian"
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Nine-year-old Ismail spends every afternoon herding his family’s flock of sheep and goats, a scraggly group of roughly 20 animals. They live in a shanty house district near Tel al-Howa in Gaza City, where growth is sparse to non-existent. Read more about Israel winning its war on goats
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - “You feel very sleepy and dizzy. You put your head down and all you want to do is sleep. Everything feels very peaceful, you are not even aware what is happening and if there is no immediate intervention you are dead within minutes,” Enaam Abu Nada told IPS. Read more about A silent killer in Gaza
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Amid still-unresolved tensions over Jewish settlement expansion in East Jerusalem, two major publications reported Wednesday that US President Barack Obama is seriously considering proposing later this year a US peace plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Read more about Obama said to mull Israel-Palestinian peace plan