Afghan women appear to be massively outnumbering male voters in one of the most conservative parts of the country, amid allegations of widespread fraud designed to re-elect President Hamid Karzai in next year's polls.

Beirut- The focus in Lebanon continues to be the outrage by the ruling March 14 Christian leaders over General Aoun's visit to Syria and his subservience to the Syrian regime. Yesterday the French daily Le Figaro published an article in

Beirut- Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the 2009 parliamentary elections will take place on time regardless of what happens.

Beirut- Lebanon's highest ranking Shiite cleric on Friday declared support for the international tribunal that would try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri and urged the Lebanese to forget the "black pages of the past."

By James RodgersMoscow - When Alexiy II became head of the Russian Orthodox Church, it was forced to co-exist with a state which was officially atheist.

By Natalia AntelavaBeirut- The world maybe in meltdown but Beirut is booming. The country best known for wars, turmoil and instability has not just survived the global financial crisis, it seems to be thriving because of it.

searchlink]J-pop[/searchlink] newcomers [searchlink]Girl Next Door[/searchlink] continue to punch way above their weight. The trio (Suzuki Daisuke/keyboards, Chisa/vocals, Inoue Yuji/guitar) have already landed a spot on the prestigious NHK live song contest "Kohaku Uta Gassen" on New Year's Eve. That highly

Two mega dramas of cinematic proportions are taking over weekday nights on SBS.Though both promise to deliver, at best, a saccharine dose of romance and melodrama, great fodder for one and top stars for the other forecast a successful winter

The chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency met Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday amid growing tensions with old rival India over the Mumbai attacks. Lieutenant General Ahmad Shujaa Pasha, the head of Pakistan's main security service,

An Iraqi man and a 4-year-old child were wounded on Friday when a mine exploded as they tried to cross the UN-patrolled buffer zone between the north and south of divided Cyprus, police said. The lightly injured child and the

Beirut is attempting to reclaim its status as the "international book capital" this year at the 52nd Beirut Book Fair, and is taking special aim at younger readers. Organizers of the book fair are pleased that more than 210 exhibitors

Diplomatic, media and government officials attended a ceremony Friday at UN House in Beirut to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, a day that since 1977 has usually been marked on November 29. At the ceremony,

As preparations for Eid al-Adha and Christmas coincide in much of Lebanon, one neighborhood in Beirut is hoping the holiday spirit will help attract customers to its quiet, quaint streets. On Thursday boutique and gallery owners in Saifi launched a

Turkey on Friday hosted three-way talks with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan in an effort to bring the two troubled neighbors closer. President Abdullah Gul chaired the meeting with his counterparts, Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari

Turkey's persistent failure to penalize police brutality has led to an increase in cases of violence by officers, including fatal shootings, since 2007, a leading US-based human rights group said Friday. "Historically, law enforcement officials were rarely if ever held

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called for the military to develop an enduring capacity to fight "irregular" wars, and to rethink its reliance on ever-more costly high-tech weapons. Writing in Foreign Affairs quarterly, Gates said the United States needs

Eight people were killed and 17 wounded when prisoners in Kabul's main jail went on the rampage, setting fire to their beds and taking guards hostage, an Afghan minister said on Friday. The inmates of the notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison were

Lebanon is going to experience a decline in economic activity which may affect the financial capacity of the banking sector in the near future, the World Bank's lead economist for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) said Thursday. "The

Joe Hobeika, the young leader of WAED, or the National Secular Democratic Party, will be running in the spring parliamentary elections for the district of Baabda, he told The Daily Star in an interview Friday. The parliamentary run, Hobeika said,

When the United Nations talks of "Israeli-occupied territories," the conventional definition is that these disputed lands include the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights - all of them conquered during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. But to