DUBAI, UAE -- A fellow traveler, who has been religiously batting for the U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, wrote in this week: "I think through divine intervention, good luck or whatever, Obama has it wrapped up. We can go to sleep now and wake up on November 5th to a President Obama in the Oval Office! I have no illusions about Obama but I'm sure he will at least be less belligerent and that itself will undo some of the mess the Bush administration has created in the past eight years…"

My Sudanese father, now in his mid-80s, grew up without access to public education. The ruling British authority hadn't yet built a public school near Argo, his hometown on the Nile River in northern Sudan, south of the border with Egypt. They did build one there later, however, and I became the first in my Bedouin tribe to receive a formal education, which eventually lead to a graduate degree in America.

Violence has erupted in recent weeks between Christians and Muslims in various parts of Egypt, bringing to the forefront an age-old problem in a country considered a leading U.S. ally in the Middle East and where a more moderate – and tolerant – form of Islam is practiced.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of Yousaf Raza Gilani's conduct upon his ascension as Pakistan's new prime minister has been his lack of apparent vitriol toward President Pervez Musharraf.

JERUSALEM -- Tensions on Israel's northern border have increased significantly as the Jewish state began a week of the largest ever military exercises and emergency drills in the country's history on Sunday, raising fear and suspicion from its arch enemies Hezbollah, Syria and Iran that a preemptive strike could be in the offing.

What the Arab papers said on March 5:

Eternally Unelected, Extremely Vulnerable

In the sweltering heat of a July afternoon in 2002, Benjamin Orbach wandered the streets of Amman where he began his 13-month quest for an apartment with hot showers, friends with whom he could practice his Arabic, and a deeper understanding of the turbulent region he calls the 'Arab East.'

The Lebanese Hezbollah organization confirmed on Wednesday the assassination of one of its top commanders in an overnight car bombing in Damascus, dealing a serious blow to the guerilla group, as well as to Syria itself and the anti-Israeli Palestinian factions based in Damascus.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the opportunity of the Islamic Revolution's 29th anniversary Monday to launch a scathing attack on the West and his domestic opponents, vowing to vigorously pursue Iran's nuclear and technological programs, as he appeared to incite his supporters against his critics at home.