News stories by Mona Alami, page 6

'The World’, a manmade archipelago off the coast of Dubai, developed by the Nakheel real estate company - which partly relied on the issuance of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, to finance the ambitious project - has come to symbolise for many the vulnerability of the Islamic financial market.

Surrounded by oil-rich nations Jordan has been able to make do with its modest resources over the years. In 2010, however, the country will have to face challenges associated with global economic slowdown and the crisis in Dubai.

Music enlivens the yellow taxi as it traverses the Jordanian capital. A small Palestinian flag hangs from the rearview mirror. Jihad, the cab driver, says his father fled here from the Palestinian West Bank in 1948.

In the mountains towering above this southern city, Hizbullah (Party of God) is building a new line of defence on lands where a fierce war was once fought between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Israel.

The luxury brands and fashion powerhouses that line the streets of the Lebanese capital seem to suggest that this country is enjoying an hour of glory as the world is in the throes of a severe recession.

With its long, dry summers, Lebanon's diminishing woodlands are devastated by wild fires every year - and this year is no exception.

Palestinian refugee Youssef Shaaban was released from prison early this month - after serving 16 years in a Lebanese prison for a crime he did not commit.

Lebanon could be stepping closer to joining the WTO following years of political instability that have held up reforms.

Christian heads of both the majority and the opposition have raised their stakes ahead of the imminent formation of the Lebanese government headed by Sunni leader Saad Hariri.

A large highway cuts through the green hills connecting Lebanon's south to the Mediterranean Sea. Here, nestled amid banana trees and colourful bougainvillea bushes, lies the city of Tyre, a bastion of the Shia community and a significant base of the Lebanese opposition. Now, following the parliamentary elections and the victory of the March 14 political group, Shias of the south are asking what lies in store for them.