United States President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell landed in Damascus on Thursday for his fourth visit since mid-2009. He came to brief President Bashar al-Assad about ongoing talks between Palestinians and Israelis, which he has called "impressive", arranged by the Obama administration.

As Hillary Rodham Clinton has embarked on her first attempt at substantive Middle East diplomacy, she has drawn on her record of controversial statements about Israel and the Palestinians - and depicted it as an asset. It is a tricky balancing act that attests to the secretary of state's talent as a politician, as well as her predilection for getting into hot water with bold, sometimes ill-timed pronouncements.

Joseph S. Nye Jr., an expert on the projection of U.S. soft power abroad, says these incidents will make it increasingly hard for the United States to succeed in the Afghan war effort, and complicate relations with the Muslim world.

The pastor of a small Florida church, under pressure from President Barack Obama and other world leaders, said he is abandoning plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Diplomats, entrepreneurs and future leaders joined Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the U.S. State Department's annual iftar dinner in Washington on September 7. Secretary Clinton praised 70 young American Muslim leaders who attended the iftar...

President Barack Obama warned Thursday that an obscure U.S. Christian pastor's plan to burn the Koran on September 11 could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings, and Asian countries urged Washington to prevent the act.

APDS Blogger: John Nahas

While the controversy surrounding the proposed Muslim Community Center and Mosque at Ground Zero continues on in the U.S., another site of worship has been restored and opened in the most unlikely place—Beirut, Lebanon. The Magen Avraham Synagogue in Beirut’s Wadi Abu Jmil district reopened this past week after nearly three decades of being closed due to significant damage during the Lebanese civil war.

TAMPA --- At the headquarters of U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, some young civilians are pushing back at extremist messages that permeate Internet forums. This Digital Engagement Team’s members, who are fluent in Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu, comb through online postings in their respective languages looking for incendiary or inaccurate commentary about U.S. military operations or related activity. When these messages are found, the team prepares “engagements” that challenge the writer’s logic or facts.