CAIRO -- Egypt has long been criticized by local and international rights groups of human rights abuses, but at this years Cairo International Film Festival, an attempt is being made to present a softer image. This week the festival is also home to the first Cairo Human Rights Film Festival titled "Human Dignity," in cooperation with the American Islamic Congress (AIC), to commemorate Egypts signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60 years ago.

AMMAN -- Deciding it will longer remain on the sidelines of regional politicking that is playing out in Lebanon, Egypt has launched a diplomatic offensive to confront Syrian-Iranian influence in the country, which it sees as a threat to other Arab regimes.

CAIRO -- Egyptian opposition groups have cheered a victory in their ongoing fight to stop the flow of gas to Israel. Yet, despite a court decision that said Egypts 15-year contract with the Jewish state was improperly agreed because it had not been approved by parliament, supplies continue to arrive in Israel.

CAIRO – African migrants trying to sneak into Israel from Egypt along the lengthy Sinai border, often with little more than the clothes on their backs, are being gunned down by Egyptian police carrying out a new "shoot-to-kill" deterrence policy, a human rights group says in a damning report that also claims Israel may be involved.

CAIRO – Lawyers across the region have taken to filing hisba lawsuits against bloggers, journalists and intellectuals in an effort to stem the flow of what they deem heretical Islamic ideas. In Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4 blogger Roshdi Algadir was arrested for a poem he posted on his blog roshdi.maktoobblog.com.

CAIRO – U.S. President-elect Barack Obamas message of hope and change has been inspiring not only Americans but millions across the globe. His election has proved the success of true democratic systems in which empowered citizens can change the face of their politics. But for many Egyptians, whose apathy toward their own political system runs rampant, the hope and change that Obama represents seems worlds away.

AMMAN – Leaders across the Middle East congratulated Barack Obama on his historic election victory as the 44th president of the United States, as many anticipated that his administration would usher in a fresh new policy and approach that would bring peace to a region plunged into great turbulence during the past eight years of the George W. Bush presidency.

CAIRO – U.S. President George W. Bush is making a last ditch effort toward forging a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice scheduled a Nov. 9 meeting in Egypt between members of the Middle East Peace Quartet. Washington had hoped to reinvigorate a Mideast peace process before leaving office in January, but time has almost run out.

CAIRO -- It is a tough time to be a journalist or broadcaster in Egypt. Cairo News Company (CNC) knows this first-hand after an Egyptian court ordered its chairman, Nader Gowhar, to pay a fine of 150,000 Egyptian pounds ($27,000) for publishing footage of a protest earlier this year that was carried by the pan-Arabic news network Al-Jazeera.

And now it is Israels turn to go to the polls. Israelis will be electing next February a new 120-member parliament. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.