This year, scenes from popular Egyptian ad campaigns during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan have provided the viewing public with more than just catchy jingles. Their messages carry a motif. Against a backdrop of political instability, deadly violence and rival factions explicitly voicing their differences, Egypt’s top TV Ramadan advertisers are attempting to encourage social integration in the country.

Qatar is buying modern and contemporary art by Western artists for record prices. Last year, the Qatar Museums Authority purchased “The Card Players” by Paul Cezanne for $250 million. That’s the highest known price ever paid for a painting. You might ask, how much is too much to spend on art? That’s not a question the royal family of Qatar seems to be asking itself.

Marc Lynch of Foreign Policy recently published an article titled, “They Hate Us, They Really Hate Us.” This article discusses the various reasons why so much anti-Americanism exists in Egypt. In short, Lynch argues that the Egyptian population has a considerably anti-American opinion and Egyptian politicians seeking election base their political campaigns on this public opinion. He states, “The anti-American rhetoric that has always flowed freely through the Egyptian media has been mirrored in public opinion.

While the revolt turned civil war rages across Syria, a group of activists are working to broadcast a new kind of revolution on the country’s FM airwaves – Radio al-Kul... The station, which is based in Istanbul but is one of only a handful of opposition media broadcasting inside Syria, can now be heard in six provinces. Its mission is not only to expand its geographic reach, but also to reach Syrians from across the political spectrum.

The majority of youth from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen - countries that went through a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests that began in December 2010 - feel disenfranchised from the political process in their country, a poll conducted by Al Jazeera Studies Centre has revealed. The study, published on Monday, also found that most of the 8,045 of women and men aged 17 to 31 surveyed from the four so-called "Arab Spring" nations, did not believe that their recently elected parliaments represented them.

Israel and the Palestinians plan to resume peace negotiations this week for the first time in nearly three years after an intense effort by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to bring them back to the table. The talks are scheduled to resume in Washington on Monday evening and Tuesday and will be conducted by senior aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the State Department said.

To reduce the spread of viral hepatitis disease and promote greater understanding of hepatitis, July 28 is observed as World Hepatitis Day. On this day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners focus on the fact that although the burden of disease caused by viral hepatitis is growing, it remains largely ignored or unknown as a health threat. For 2013, the overall theme continues to be ‘This is hepatitis. Know it. Confront it’.

Kuwait has promised $4 billion in aid to Egypt, which together with contributions from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates makes up a $12 billion Gulf Arab package that shows support for the Egyptian army’s ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3. Despite some public unease about rapprochement with former arch-foe Iraq, analysts and diplomats give high marks to Sheikh Sabah for his pragmatic efforts to rebuild ties with Baghdad.