US President Barack Obama ordered American troops back onto Iraqi soil. Granted, it's only a few hundred this time, and they are ostensibly there just to protect the US embassy in Baghdad — a far cry from the thousands that flooded the country after the 2003 invasion.  Still, US troops in Iraq carry the baggage of that long, bloody war, a fact that is not lost on the average Iraqi.

From Naomi Campbell to Nancy Ajram and Kate Moss, Florence-based fashion designers have dressed the world’s stars and they don’t look set to stop any time soon. Whether it be Roberto Cavalli, Salvatore Ferragamo, Guccio Gucci or Emilio Pucci, they are all being celebrated during the 60th anniversary of the Center of Florence for Italian Fashion. These Italian powerhouses have been at the cutting edge of fashion design for years and their influence on the Middle East, as well as their inspiration from the region, is clear.

International designers and fashion icons have been keeping a close eye on Middle Eastern fashion for style inspiration, while many global celebrities have recently been spotted wearing Arab-designed outfits on the red carpet, on stage and as day wear.

Iran sent 2,000 advance troops to Iraq to help fight an extreme jihadist insurgency effectively seizing control of major cities in the country, a senior Iraqi official told The Guardian on Saturday.

As Egypt prepares to swear in its fourth leader since 2011, a huge slice of $1.5 billion in US aid remains in deep-freeze amid fears the nation is sliding back into authoritarianism. Former general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be crowned as the next president on Sunday after three years of political turmoil since the ousting of long-time iron-fisted leader Hosni Mubarak. But far from welcoming Sisi as a step toward stability, some analysts are urging Washington to re-think its decades-old, military-based aid program amid concerns over human rights abuses and a crackdown on civil liberties.

President Barack Obama wants America’s friends and allies not only to remain tightly tied together, but to grow the group in order to make sure shared democratic values and open markets are defended and promoted. Most importantly, he wants to make sure America and her collective is unbreakable. What we are witnessing is the end of “big-stick” policy. This is the era of bundled “little-stick” politics.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is running for re-election Tuesday, June 3, can be thankful his neighbors do not get to vote. Strong majorities of the publics in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Tunisia and Turkey and half the public in Lebanon voice a very unfavorable view of the embattled Syrian leader, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.

A number of Turkish artworks have been presented during a cultural exhibition held in Tehran’s Saba Art and Cultural Institute.  Turkish Ambassador to Tehran, Umit Yardim, President of the Yunus Emre Cultural Institute, Hayati Develi, and the Director of the Iranian National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), Ahmad Mohit-Tabatabaei, attended the opening ceremony of the festival.