Key Lawmakers Urge Bush Administration to Hold Talks With Iran

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates faced tough questions from lawmakers Tuesday about the Bush administration’s refusal to hold talks with Iran unless Tehran first halts its uranium enrichment program. Gates told a Senate panel that it is an open question whether such talks would succeed while President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is in power. VOA’s Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill. Read more

New Criticism Of Iran’s Ahmadinejad Adds To Aura Of Discontent

There is harsh new criticism circulating in Iran about President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s economic policies. This time the critic is influential cleric and former President Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who says the government is pursuing policies that are leading to the “impoverishment” of the Iranian people. Read more

Letters From Iraq: Concrete ‘peace’

They call it “the Wall,” and it is the reason for much of what is right and wrong with Baghdad’s war-ravaged neighborhood of Saidiyah. The Wall is a 12-foot tall barrier of about 77,000 concrete blocks that American troops set up last December, surrounding the neighborhood of 60,000 people that had been decimated by sectarian violence. It comes with a heavily guarded entrance manned by Iraqi security forces. Read more

Islamists Gain, Women Fail to Secure Seats in New Kuwait Parliament

Kuwaitis went to the polls Saturday to vote for a new representative Parliament. It was the second time in Kuwait’s history that women were allowed to run as candidates, but just as last time no women won enough votes to secure a parliament seat. In contrast Islamists made headway, winning half the seats in Parliament. Aya Batrawy has more from our Middle East bureau in Cairo. Read more

Lebanese Leaders Board Separate Flights to Doha As Reconciliation Talks Resume

Frustrated by 18 months on the political sidelines, Hizbollah and allies made their move last week, striking at heartlands of government support in a coordinated offensive that may serve to speed the further polarization of sectarian communities and the politicization and fracture of the military. Read more

Tehran Opens Controversial Women-Only Park

In an official ceremony in Tehran this week, Mayor Mohammad Baqir Ghalibaf opened a new, sex-segregated park designed exclusively for women’s leisure and sport. In the new park, called “Mothers’ Paradise,” women can walk, jog, and engage in other athletic activities without having to cover their heads. Read more

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