LUXOR, Mar 12 (IPS) - Literacy programmes are teaching millions of Egyptians to read, but are struggling to keep up with the country's high population growth.

JERUSALEM, Mar 12 (IPS) - "The best laid-schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley" (Scottish for 'going wrong').

RAMALLAH, Mar 10 (IPS) - Iran and Israel appear to be spoiling for a fight, going by recent belligerent statements emanating from several regional capitals.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 9 (IPS) - Male leaders fail to break the Mideast impasse. Enter women from Israel and the Palestinian territories working together. And? it would have been nice to say they succeeded where the men failed.

SHEIKH JARRAH, Occupied East Jerusalem, Mar 9 (IPS) - Amid the wave of violence that swept through the occupied Palestinian West Bank, including East Jerusalem, over the last few days, there are signs that the Israeli left may be emerging from its collective coma.

BRUSSELS, Mar 8 (IPS) - For the first time since September 2006, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, a leading figure in the Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan, has been granted permission to travel outside Gaza.

JERUSALEM, Mar 8 (IPS) - Was it Yasser Arafat's biggest political error? A decade ago, the deadline for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel as envisaged in the 1993 Oslo peace accords thrust itself into the fruitless Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

WASHINGTON, Mar 5 (IPS) - Thursday's vote by a Congressional committee condemning the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as "genocide" is almost certain to complicate U.S. ties with Turkey, a long-time strategic ally and increasingly influential player in the Middle East and central and southwest Asia.

SILWAN, Occupied East Jerusalem, Mar 5 (IPS) - Outside the Bedouin-style protest tent in the heart of this Palestinian neighbourhood, the anger is palpable, but controlled.

RAMALLAH, Mar 4 (IPS) - Israel?s occupation of the Palestinian territories, with its ubiquitous closures, checkpoints, military raids and arrests, has decimated the Palestinian economy in the West Bank and Gaza.

GAZA CITY, Mar 2 (IPS) - At 14, Nour plays the piano, and she knows the facts around her. That the average age for marriage is 18, likely to a man found by parents, her place would be within that home, and a woman has on average 6.5 children.

GAZA CITY, Mar 2 (IPS) - They come by the hundreds every day to sand dunes and rubble sites to sift for pebbles, stones and sand that can be used in making concrete blocks. They lean into trash bins across the Strip, and wade through piles of rubbish scavenging for plastics, metals, and any bits worth reselling.

CAIRO, Mar 2 (IPS) - Arab governments have stepped up efforts to curtail tobacco use, but initiatives have met stiff resistance from the region's smokers.

JERUSALEM, Feb 28 (IPS) - When last December Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, delivering to an international conference in Herzliya outside Tel Aviv what has become the equivalent of Israel's 'State of the Union' address, chose to focus not on Iran's nuclear ambitions or on the prospects of Middle East peace, but on "the need to re-enforce our national heritage," his vision was dismissed by supporters and critics alike as inconsequential.

TEL AVIV, Feb 27 (IPS) - The U.S. is raising the stakes in its bid to halt Iran's nuclear programme, putting the issue on a "pressure track", says top U.S. general David Petraeus. The U.S. and other world powers are drumming up support for a fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran for its refusal to comply with repeated ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment and to agree to a deal involving UN-backed nuclear fuel.

IDNA, Occupied West Bank, Feb 27 (IPS) - Israel?s illegal occupation and continued expropriation of Palestinian land in the West Bank has left 2.5 million Palestinians living there with effectively less than 40 percent of the territory.

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (IPS) - The United States needs to take on a more aggressive presence in peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, according to a major report published earlier this month by the James Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

RAMALLAH, Feb 22 (IPS) - Hamas has closed ranks and is licking its wounds following the Jan. 20 assassination in Dubai of one of its top operatives, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. It is alleged that one of its own was responsible for providing the hit team with vital logistical information.

CAIRO, Feb 22 (IPS) - Activists and opposition groups are stepping up pressure on the Egyptian government to stop constructing a barrier along the border with the Gaza Strip. Officials say the barrier will prevent cross-border smuggling, but critics say it will seal the fate of the people on the Gaza Strip.

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (IPS) - After months of delay, the administration of President Barack Obama is taking major steps engage the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of a broader regional strategy designed in major part to isolate Iran, escalate the fight against al Qaeda and other radical Sunni groups, and encourage peace talks with Israel.

RAMALLAH, Feb 17 (IPS) - The Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah is fighting a tidal wave of fresh allegations, including sexual harassment, an internal power struggle and embezzlement.

RAMALLAH, Feb 15 (IPS) - Female journalists worldwide complain about discrimination on the grounds of gender. However, their colleagues in Gaza also face death threats, the dangers of working in a war zone and the struggle for daily necessities as the Israeli siege on Gaza drags on.

JERUSALEM, Feb 15 (IPS) - An Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film, Israel's 'Ajami', is a tragic, yet realistic, pointer to the multi-layered conflict of Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (IPS) - A campaign of attacks against the New Israel Fund (NIF), a U.S.-based progressive organisation that supports human rights groups in Israel, has gained attention in both the Israeli and U.S. media, raising questions about the role played by foreign non-profits and non-governmental organisations in influencing Israeli government policy.

RAMALLAH, Feb 9 (IPS) - Pressure exerted on the Palestinian Authority (PA) by international and regional officials has given Gazans a last minute reprieve, albeit temporary, from plunging into darkness and plummeting temperatures.

RAMALLAH, Feb 5 (IPS) - Gazans hoping for a modicum of justice following Israel?s indiscriminate military assault on the coastal territory during December 2008 and January 2009 - which left 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead - could be waiting in vain.

SILWAN, Occupied East Jerusalem, Feb 3 (IPS) - Backed by armed security men, the municipal inspectors race their jeeps through the narrow alleyways and up a hillside crowded with buildings.

BRUSSELS, Feb 2 (IPS) - Defenders of Israel?s aggressive stance have for many years been recognised as a powerful force shaping United States foreign policy. A less well-known fact is that the pro-Israel lobby has been making a concerted effort to strengthen its presence in Europe.

RAMALLAH, Feb 2 (IPS) - The Mideast continues to be plagued by autocratic Arab regimes where human rights, democracy and freedom of speech are a pipe dream for the average citizen. But who is to blame and what can be done to amend this situation?

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (IPS) - The Jordanian government should halt the arbitrary revocation of nationality from its citizens of Palestinian origin, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Monday.