The world's second-largest restaurant chain announced a venture with a local company in the United Arab Emirates that will lower McDonald's carbon footprint by converting its frying oil into biodiesel. It is the first time that a company in the oil-rich Middle East has used biodiesel to power vehicles on this scale

While rap has provided the gritty sound track to popular uprisings roiling some of the Middle East's most entrenched dictatorships, in Syria it has largely supported the status quo. That picture is one the Syrian government is keen to portray: that protesters who have taken to the streets...have either been duped or are active participants in a foreign conspiracy aimed at punishing Syria for its politics.

Kane concluded that the Turkish “blend of Islam, democracy, and soft power is a far more attractive regional template than the Iranian narrative of Islamic theocracy and hard power resistance.”

When you pass through a country's borders, what does it mean to have immigration issue that authoritative stamp in your passport? For Palestinian artist, Khaled Jarrar, it means a great deal because his country does not exist as a nation state.

Washington’s close Kurdish allies cracked down hard. After 62 days of street protests, 10 people were dead. The carefully crafted image of Kurdistan as a democratic island in an ocean of regional dictatorship was in tatters.

Against the backdrop of the Middle East's ongoing upheaval, especially the violence in neighboring Syria, Turkey's once-vaunted "zero problems" foreign policy strategy now looks severely outdated. Though Turkey will continue to seek a balanced, multivector foreign policy...

When looking at the attitudes towards the United States in the Middle East, it is clear that we have not made a dent. Regrettably, the turnover at the U.S. State Department in public diplomacy has produced sporadic performance and a see-saw of differing priorities.

The fact that the Syrian authorities have given the green light for leading opposition figures to meet openly may be unprecedented, but it is not the sign of progress that many might hope for...the conference appears to be nothing more than part of a public relations exercise by a regime that is intent on showing the world it is serious about reform, but without actually being serious.