Middleeast

In jail, Sarah had imagined herself sitting on Oprah's stage. The talk show host would listen sympathetically to the Iraqi widow's story. The audience would applaud as she told how she had made hardened militants cry while she helped grill them for the U.S. military. They would know, despite the rumors, that she had never betrayed the Americans. Now that she was free, Sarah concentrated on a letter: "In the name of God, Dear Oprah, peace be upon you," she typed. "I'm sure you're going to be a little surprised because a lady from Iraq is writing to you, a woman from America.

Iran unveiled what it described as a new air defense system during an annual military display Sunday as policymakers in Washington confronted new reminders about their limited range of options for responding to Tehran's apparent arms buildup. The new system, which Iran said is designed to defend against attacks by missiles and high-altitude planes, was introduced as the government awaits delivery of sophisticated missile defense batteries it has bought from Russia but which have been delayed because of Israeli pressure on Moscow.

Every woman at the bridal shower was drenched in color. One wore a lime green strapless gown with turquoise sequins; another a violet leopard-print caftan with scarlet lace; another a yellow, gold-beaded chemise with a neckline that would have made J-Lo blush. Was this Yemen, or a strange mirage? "Really, it is very bad," said Samira Taher, one of the women at the shower. "If you see me in Egypt, I am always wearing the latest fashion, I have my hair in a new design, and I am wearing makeup, but here, I am wrapped in black.

Hundreds of Sunni men disappeared for months into a secret Baghdad prison under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's military office, where many were routinely tortured until the country's Human Rights Ministry gained access to the facility, Iraqi officials say. The men were detained by the Iraqi army in October in sweeps targeting Sunni groups in Nineveh province, a stronghold of the group Al Qaeda in Iraq and other militants in...

Avinadav Begin, 36, comes from one of Israel's most famous political families. His grandfather Menachem Begin, as prime minister, signed the historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt; his father, Benny Begin, a minister without portfolio in the current government, opposes a Palestinian state. The latest Begin to make a splash, Avinadav has written a book titled "The End of Conflict," which urges people to delve deep into the roots of conflict and reject external trappings of identity.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who once described ruling Yemen as dancing on the heads of snakes, has stayed in power for three decades through a clever mix of money, tribal ploys and government corruption. But Saleh's political capital is shrinking and his wiles are straining as Yemen struggles with a civil war in the north, secession troubles in the south and a battle against an Al Qaeda affiliate that has drawn the United States into a new front against the terrorist network. As with former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the U.S. regards Saleh more as a skilled operator than a trusted ally.

The rice has been harvested, the chaff burned. It's time for planting winter wheat, seed sunk deep into new furrow, as white birds with razor beaks land on fields to feast. Ali Mohammed has endured another season without his son. It is the rhythm of the Nile Delta: Crops change, children are forced away. There are few jobs here and they don't pay much. Young men, like fathers and grandfathers before them, leave this fertile land. Mohammed's son Ali took a 40-hour bus ride across the desert to paint buildings in Libya.

The suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees at a U.S. base will temporarily slow U.S. intelligence-gathering in eastern Afghanistan, but the agency will not retrench its ambitious buildup in the country while it conducts a security review, officials said Thursday. Military and intelligence officials were scrambling to determine how the bomber penetrated a forbidding network of barriers, barbed wire and watchtowers at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khowst province near the Pakistani border, and made his way deep inside to set off a thunderous blast.

Dubai is a clever blend of audacity and architecture, a shiny monument to the egos and ambition that turned a tiny emirate into a Middle East financial giant. Russian oligarchs stroll along man-made islands shaped like palm trees, and sheiks race down a ski slope built inside a shopping mall. Lacking the oil reserves of the emirate's neighbors, Dubai's ruling family created a parallel economic reality fueled by real estate, international investment and the art of the possible. The emirate was fashioned into a sleek cityscape of startling images: Islam balanced against the seduction of Western capitalism, and tribal traditions brushing the fleeting trends of globalization.

Reporting from Amritsar, India, and Islamabad, Pakistan -- Five Americans detained in Pakistan after allegedly trying to link up with militant groups over the Internet denied in court today that they had any intention of carrying out terrorist attacks, their defense attorney said. The five, all young Muslim men from the Washington, D.C., area, were arrested in early December in Sargodha, a city in eastern Pakistan. The suspects, who range in age from 19 to 25, denied they had ties Al Qaeda or other militant groups during a court appearance in Sargodha, said their attorney, Ameer Abdullah Rokri.

Iran's top political and religious authority lashed out at the United States at a nuclear disarmament conference Saturday in Tehran meant to counter a nonproliferation summit in Washington earlier in the week. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, described the United States as the world's "only nuclear scofflaw." He called Washington hypocritical for advocating arms control while retaining a huge nuclear weapons stockpile, and for accepting the atomic arsenal of Israel.

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Peshawar, Pakistan -- Two suicide bombers attacked a refugee camp in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 41 people and injuring 64 others in what appeared to be retaliation for the military's latest offensive against Taliban fighters. The dead and wounded had been lining up for food at a refugee camp in the volatile tribal region's Kohat district, said North-West Frontier Province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. Police said a suicide bomber rushed up to the line and blew himself up. As others rushed to the blast site to help the wounded, a second bomber detonated his explosives.

Avinadav Begin, 36, comes from one of Israel's most famous political families. His grandfather Menachem Begin, as prime minister, signed the historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt; his father, Benny Begin, a minister without portfolio in the current government, opposes a Palestinian state. The latest Begin to make a splash, Avinadav has written a book titled "The End of Conflict," which urges people to delve deep into the roots of conflict and reject external trappings of identity.

The Obama administration voiced concerns Wednesday about Israeli allegations that Syria recently delivered Scud missiles to Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, a move U.S. officials warned could destabilize the region. "We are obviously increasingly concerned about the sophisticated weaponry that are -- that is allegedly being transferred," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said during a news briefing.

The Obama administration signaled Wednesday that the United States would accept weakened United Nations sanctions against Iran as a way to quickly assemble a broad international coalition against Tehran's nuclear program. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said adoption of a new sanctions resolution by the U.N. Security Council is more vital than the actual measures taken. "What is important about the U.N. resolution is less the specific content of the resolution than the isolation of Iran by the rest of the world," Gates said.

Is Anat Kam an Israeli hero or a traitor? She is accused of secretly copying more than 2,000 military documents, many of them classified, while serving mandatory duty as a soldier from 2005 to 2007, and then releasing some to the press. One document appeared to show that the Israeli army tried to circumvent court orders meant to rein in its use of targeted killings. Supporters say the 23-year-old Kam, who is on trial at Tel Aviv District Court, acted according to her conscience.

The Israeli military has begun rerouting a hotly disputed section of the West Bank security barrier, marking a victory for Palestinians who fought for five years to win back access to their land, officials said Thursday. The move comes nearly 2 1/2 years after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the fence improperly cut through the Palestinian village of Bilin in order to enlarge a nearby Jewish settlement. Bilin leaders celebrated the arrival of work crews Thursday but said they would continue to protest until the barrier was completely removed.

It started in the Green Zone, with Iraqi soldiers ordering restaurants to stop serving alcohol and confiscating bottles from politicians at checkpoints. Then, mysterious signs began appearing across the rest of Baghdad declaring alcohol sinful and warning of damnation for those who drink. Finally, the crackdown came. Phalanxes of soldiers and police officers descended on the nightclubs, cabarets and bars that had proliferated across the capital in the last two years and symbolized for many a return to normality.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Tuesday took a swipe at the website that released secret military video of a 2007 helicopter gunship incident in Iraq in which civilians, including two news agency employees, were killed. Gates said the videos released by the group WikiLeaks were out of context and provided an incomplete picture of the battlefield, comparing it to war as seen "through a soda straw." "These people can put out whatever they want and are never held accountable for it," said Gates, speaking to reporters aboard his plane en route to Lima, Peru, for a defense ministers conference this week.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, battling for another term in office, lashed out at Iraq's neighbors Monday for meddling in its affairs as political leaders negotiate the composition of a new government. The tough comments were broadcast on state TV and came as representatives of Iraqi parties tour the region. Some Middle East countries have issued statements in recent days on Iraq's ongoing negotiations. Without naming any neighboring countries, Maliki warned them not to intervene in Iraqi affairs.