Israel

Egyptians headed to the polls for the run-off of the first round of parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak was ousted as leader.

The release of Spy Files by Wikileaks is just the first stage of tackling the global problem of civilian surveillance, according to Privacy International founder, Simon Davies.

The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has slammed a new campaign by Israel's Ministry of Absorption to entice expat Israelis to return home.

Israel, despite being the 100th smallest country in the world has, outside of the U.S., the highest number of high-tech start-ups, estimated to be 4,000.

Britain has said it will expel all Iranian diplomats from the country following the storming of the UK embassy in Tehran on Tuesday.

Iceland achieved a historic first by recognising Palestinian statehood.

Israel has launched an attack on the southern Lebanese town of Ayta Shaab in response to the firing of several rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel. No casualties have been reported.

Foreign troops are heading to Syria to support both the rebels and the embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, prompting fears that the conflict is set to enter a yet more lethal phase.

A breakaway group of demonstrators has stormed the British Embassy compound in Tehran.

Lebanon's Prime Minister has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit his country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering releasing tens of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax funds, it has been reported.

The alleged spies were gathering data on Iran's security and military apparatus and also its highly sensitive nuclear programme, an official said.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has spoken out against the pro-democracy uprisings in the Arab world.

Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy is said to have been arrested and detained by Egyptian police.

Faced by months of uprising against his regime, Syrian President Bashar al Assad continues to blame much of the unrest on armed groups and Islamist movements.

The case of Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, the Egyptian blogger who bared all to protest against sexism in her country, has highlighted a growing trend for activists to use their physical bodies as part of political or social protest.

Despite three days of clashes between protesters and the security forces, which left at least 33 dead, the Egyptian authorities have announced that the parliamentary elections expected to take place in a week's time will proceed as scheduled.

Activists in Jerusalem are campaigning against gender segregation and the censorship of women in the public sphere, as enforced by ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews.

Much speculation has been made about the possibility of the popular protests in Syria disintegrating into an Iraq-style sectarian conflict. The IBTimes presents an analysis of the various arguments on either side.

Students demonstrating against the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites have formed a human shield around the uranium enrichment plant near Isfahan, reports Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

A group of Palestinian activists are reportedly re-enacting the U.S. Civil Rights Movement's Freedom Rides in the American South by boarding segregated Israeli settler buses to Jerusalem.

Israel has offered to help Kenya secure its borders in a bid to fight off the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab, which has caused havoc in the region, the Kenyan Prime Minister's office says.

The Associated Press reports that at least 50 people have been killed in the latest surge of violence in the Assad regime's crackdown on protesters.

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called on Palestinians to agree on a new premier to replace him a future new unity government, a Hamas/Fatah unity deal seem closer.

Iran authorities admitted on Sunday that their defence computer have been targeted by a virus called Duqu that is allegedly linked with the Stuxnet "cyber-weapon" discovered last year. The worm is believed to be aimed at sabotaging the Islamic Republic's atomic centrifuges, the devices that enrich uranium to create nuclear fuel.

Brigade General Hassan Moghaddam, a key figure in Iran's missile programme, was killed, along with 16 other Revolutionary guards in an explosion at a military base Saturday.

Tensions between the Arab states of the Gulf region reached a new high this week-end as Bahrain claimed it had broken up a terrorist group which had allegedly planned a series of attacks on the ministry, the Saudi embassy in Manama and the causeway which links the archipelago state to Saudi Arabia.

Israel's insistence on the need for a pre-emptive strike on Iran belies the Jewish nation's own murky history when it comes to nuclear arsenal.

Israel has accelerated the installation of anti-missile defences on its airliners, as officials fear a potential attack by militants using weapons looted in Libya after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, it was reported.

Obama's Middle East advisor, Dennis Ross, has stepped down from his position after nearly four years of service.