• Arab League welcomes US-Russia peace effort for Syria
• Arab League seems to soften Israeli-Palestinian peace plan
• Green buildings on the rise in Persian Gulf states

• 'Reducing tension in the Middle East': Op-ed article published worldwide, available online in over 50 locations
• OpEdNews article urges US Congress to deploy Invincible Defense Technology to create a lasting peace
• Reducing tension in the Mideast: Israel's military recommended to quickly implement peace-creating groups of advanced meditators

• Syria war could push Lebanon, Jordan into slump
• NASA: Alarming water loss in Middle East
• Mideast nuclear talks called off

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Arab League welcomes US-Russia peace effort for Syria
9 May 2013 - The head of the Arab League on Thursday welcomed a new effort by Russia and the United States to seek a negotiated end to Syria's civil war and called on the Syrian government and opposition to participate. This Russian-American cooperation to work together and directly constitutes a significant and positive development,' Nabil Elaraby said in a statement. Moscow and Washington agreed this week to try to bring President Bashar al-Assad's government and his opponents to the negotiating table. (more)

Arab League seems to soften Israeli-Palestinian peace plan
30 April 2013 - Arab states appeared to soften their 2002 peace plan on Monday when a top Qatari official said Israel and the Palestinians could trade land rather than conform exactly to their 1967 borders. (more)

Green buildings on the rise in Persian Gulf states
23 October 2012 - From the sustainably logged wood used in its construction to the 3,500-square-meters of solar panels on the roof, Qatar National Convention Centre, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, is considered one of the most environmentally sound convention centres in the world. 'We want to change people's mindsets,' said Ali al-Khalifa, as he led a visitor through an exhibition hall where dozens of ceiling windows helped cut down on electricity. It will take centre stage in November when it hosts the UN Climate Change Conference, the first to be held by a top oil producer. (more)

Germany urges revival of Middle East peace process
8 May 2012 - Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is urging Israel and the Palestinians to 'move ahead courageously' and swiftly to reopen negotiations toward achieving a two-state solution. Foreign Minister Westerwelle made the comments in a speech alongside his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman in Berlin. (more)

Start-up firms bloom in wake of Arab Spring
12 April 2012 - A positive result of the Arab Spring is that in some ways, conditions for entrepreneurs are improving, officials and businessmen say. Previously, start-up firms were sometimes discouraged by authorities as threats to small groups of privileged businessmen cooperating with authoritarian regimes. Now they are more often welcomed as tools to create jobs. (more)

Jewish, Muslim scribes keep calligraphy art alive
15 March 2012 - In a world overwhelmed by electronic gadgets that have changed the way we read, write and learn, the Jewish and Islamic arts of calligraphy have preserved their methods for generations. Parchment, feathers and 'qalams', a pen made of dried bamboo, are still used by sophers -- Jewish scribes -- and khattats -- Muslim calligraphers. Calligraphy is one of the main art forms in Judaism and Islam, reflecting how central the word is to both religions. (more)

Middle East stocks: Political optimism lifts Egypt, Kuwait bourses
24 January 2012 - Signals of political stability lifted risk appetite and the bourses in Egypt and Kuwait on Tuesday while other Gulf markets were mixed, showing little reaction to rising tensions over a European ban on oil imports from Iran. Cairo's index rose three per cent to its highest close since 16 November. It extended gains after the opening on Monday of Egypt's first freely elected parliament in 60 years. (more)

Online peace conference brings thousands together
24 January 2012 - Organizers of an online Middle East youth peace conference say thousands of Israelis, Palestinians, and other Arabs have participated in the Facebook forum. Uri Savir, former Israeli peace negotiator and founder of the 'Yala Young Leaders' group, hopes the online meetings will help break stereotypes and encourage participants to be active peacemakers. Nearly 50,000 people have signed up for the group since it was launched last June. About 12,000 joined during this week's two-day conference, which ended Tuesday. (more)

Middle East youths to hold Facebook peace conference
22 January 2012 - A former Israeli peace negotiator says thousands of young Jewish and Arab activists from across the Middle East plan to hold an online peace conference this week on Facebook. Uri Savir says the Yala Young Leaders group will hold its interactive conference on Monday and Tuesday. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, actress Sharon Stone, Barcelona football coach Pep Guardiola, National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern, and others are set to address the virtual gathering. (more)

Peace talks flicker back to life in Mideast storm - analysis
11 January 2012 - Uncertainty sweeping the Middle East is raising pressure to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process and tackle one big problem in the region that major powers believe they could, just, fix -- given enough trust on both sides. The next two weeks may be crucial. Negotiators from the two sides are already holding exploratory talks under the auspices of Jordan's King Abdullah, who will visit US President Barack Obama next week to discuss the latest developments. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
Short Summaries of Top Stories

'Reducing tension in the Middle East': Op-ed article published worldwide, available online in over 50 locations
25 December 2012 - In the past month, 'Reducing Tension in the Middle East', an op-ed article by David Orme-Johnson, PhD, and David Leffler, PhD, has been published in many countries worldwide, and is now available online in over 50 locations. The article presents a scientifically proven technology of consciousness--known as Invincible Defense Technology: group practice of an advanced form of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique. 'What we are suggesting is that the military of Israel, or any organization, establish such coherence-creating groups to quickly reduce tensions in the Middle East. . . . The predicted outcome is accelerated progress towards a just, equitable, lasting peace.' (more)

OpEdNews article urges US Congress to deploy Invincible Defense Technology to create a lasting peace
13 December 2012 - An article about creating peace in the Middle East through a proven technology of consciousness--groups of people practising an advanced form of Transcendental Meditation--has been published in many countries worldwide, most recently in OpEdNews. OEN is offering its readers an opportunity to let their local news media know about this scientifically verified solution--as well as, in the United States, their elected representatives in the US Senate and House of Representatives. (more)

Reducing tension in the Mideast: Israel's military recommended to quickly implement peace-creating groups of advanced meditators
30 November 2012 - As several Latin American countries have done, the military of Israel is recommended to establish peace-creating groups of advanced Transcendental Meditation practitioners to quickly reduce tensions in the Middle East. This could be a scientific experiment, using objective measures and independent, outside observers--with the predicted outcome of accelerated progress towards a just, equitable, lasting peace, conclude Dr David Orme-Johnson and Dr David Leffler. 'Are we as nations to go on like rats trapped in a conditioning cage, reacting the same way decade after decade?' they write. 'Or shall we step out of the cage into the transcendental level of our own consciousness and grow up into enlightened human beings, rather than continuing to resort to destroying and killing? This is the choice we have right now.' (more)

Reducing tension in the Mideast: More research on a peace-creating technology of consciousness
29 November 2012 - The article 'Reducing tension in the Mideast' by David Orme-Johnson, PhD, and David Leffler, PhD, continues its review of published research showing the effectiveness of a peace-creating technology of consciousness--group practice of an advanced form of Transcendental Meditation--to reduce violence and war and increase harmony and social coherence. The article continues to be published widely in the last several days in news outlets around the world. (more)

Reducing tension in the Mideast: Experts propose scientific solution based on technologies of consciousness
28 November 2012 - Deep-rooted ethnic and national stresses embedded in the collective consciousness of the region are at the basis of the Israel and Hamas conflict, as in all other conflicts worldwide, write David Orme-Johnson, PhD, and David Leffler, PhD, in an article published in many countries in the last few days. Unless these stresses are rooted out, the authors emphasize, destruction and killing will continue, as they have for millennia. Now there is hope, they say, through a proven technology of consciousness to create peace. Scientific research has found group practice of an advanced form of Transcendental Meditation to reduce stress and create social coherence, as seen in reduced war deaths, terrorism, and crime and increased cooperation and other positive trends. (more)

One year of Global Good News in Arabic: Website with good news from Middle East, North Africa
11 January 2012 - The Global Good News Arabic-language website, www.arabic.globalgoodnews.com, just celebrated the completion of its first year featuring good news from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The website was launched on 10 January 2011 for the 358 million people in 25 Arabic-speaking countries, as well as millions of other Arabic-speaking people around the world. (more)

Middle East: Students find a technique to create inner and outer peace
29 December 2011 - A group of Arab university students in the Middle East who practise Transcendental Meditation recognize the great promise of the programme, made possible through the generosity of the David Lynch Foundation. Like their peers in many countries, they enjoy its benefits in the reduced stress and growing mental clarity, peace, and happiness they are finding within themselves. They also have the satisfaction of knowing that through their group meditations they are radiating peace and coherence to the whole region. (more)

Rumi - 'I have passed beyond all thoughts'
26 April 2011 - 
A new essay analyzes beautiful passages from the writings of 13th century Persian poet and scholar Rumi, bringing new insights based on the knowledge and experience of the transcendental field of life provided by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Vedic Science and the Transcendental Meditation Programme. (more)

Social networking: Follow new Arabic Global Good News on Facebook and Twitter
8 March 2011 - The new Arabic Global Good News website, online since January, features good news from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The home page includes the familiar social networking symbols to 'Friend' and easily share the new website throughout the world via Facebook, Twitter, blogs, instant messaging, email, and many other avenues. Even those who don't read Arabic are invited to visit the site and enjoy its various web pages illustrated with colourful designs. (more)

Middle East: University students radiate peace through Transcendental Meditation
30 January 2011 - Students in the Middle East are quietly discovering happiness and peace within their own consciousness--and radiating these qualities to their families and communities--through their daily practice of the Transcendental Meditation Programme. (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Syria war could push Lebanon, Jordan into slump
9 May 2013 - The economic devastation of Syria's war could drive the economies of neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan into reverse, Syria's former deputy prime minister said on Thursday. Pointing to the sharp slowdown in Lebanon's economic growth since the start of Syria's conflict in 2011, from 7 per cent to barely 2 per cent, Abdallah al-Dardari said there was a direct link to the ever-deepening economic collapse in Syria. Jordan's economic growth had remained steadier, but was still affected by the Syrian turmoil and was below the level needed to provide enough jobs for its fast-growing population. The Syrian conflict 'has a very destabilising effect,' said Dardari, now chief economist for the regional United Nations body ESCWA. 'It is in the interest of the whole region for Syria to regain peace and quiet, and start rebuilding.' Every one percentage point of economic slowdown in Syria produced a 0.2 percentage point slowdown in Lebanon, he added. (more)

NASA: Alarming water loss in Middle East
12 February 2013 - An amount of freshwater almost the size of the Dead Sea has been lost in parts of the Middle East due to poor management, increased demands for groundwater, and the effects of a 2007 drought, according to a NASA study. The study examined data over seven years from 2003 from a pair of gravity-measuring satellites. Researchers found freshwater reserves in parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins had lost 117 million acre feet (144 cubic kilometres) of its total stored freshwater, the second fastest loss of groundwater storage loss after India. The study is the latest evidence of a worsening water crisis in the Middle East, where demands from growing populations, war, and the worsening effects of climate change are raising the prospect that some countries could face sever water shortages in the decades to come. Some, like impoverished Yemen, blame their water woes on the semi-arid conditions and the grinding poverty, while the oil-rich Gulf faces water shortages mostly due to the economic boom that has created glistening cities out of the desert. (more)

Mideast nuclear talks called off
10 November 2012 - Attempts to find Arab-Israeli common ground on banning weapons of mass destruction from the Mideast have failed, and high-profile talks on the issue have been called off, diplomats said Saturday. The meeting -- to be held in Helsinki, Finland, by year's end -- was on shaky ground since it was agreed to in 2010 by the 189 member nations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Its key sponsors were the US, Russia, and Britain, but they said such a meeting was only possible if all countries -- especially Israel -- agreed to attend. A decision to give up on staging such a gathering after it was approved by the NPT is more than a reflection of Mideast realities. It also is bound to weaken efforts at future NPT conferences to reconcile clashing visions of disarmament and nonproliferation efforts. While Syria's civil war, nuclear tensions with Iran, and other Mideast frictions will be cited as the official reason for the cancellation, one of the diplomats acknowledged that the decision is mainly being taken because Israel has decided not to attend. (more)

Anti-American fury sweeps Middle East over film
14 September 2012 - Fury about a film that insults the Prophet Mohammad tore across the Middle East after weekly prayers on Friday with protesters attacking US embassies and burning American flags as the Pentagon rushed to bolster security at its missions. The obscure California-made film triggered an attack on the US consulate in Libya's city of Benghazi that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans on Tuesday, the anniversary of the 11 September 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States. In Tunis, at least three people were killed and more than two dozen wounded, state television said after police gunfire near the US embassy in the city that was the cradle of last year's Arab Spring uprisings for democracy. At least one person died in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, a doctor said, after some of thousands of protesters had leaped into the US embassy. As US military drones faced Islamist anti-aircraft fire over Benghazi, about 50 marines landed in Yemen a day after the US embassy there was stormed. For a second day in the capital Sanaa, police battled hundreds of young men around the mission. (more)

US embassies attacked in Yemen, Egypt after Libya envoy killed
13 September 2012 - Demonstrators attacked the US embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday in protest at a film they consider blasphemous to Islam and American warships headed to Libya after the death of the US ambassador there in related violence earlier in the week. Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in eastern Sanaa. Earlier they smashed windows of security offices outside the embassy and burned cars. In Egypt, protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the US embassy in central Cairo after climbing into the embassy and tearing down the American flag. The state news agency said 13 people were injured in violence which erupted on Wednesday night after protests on Tuesday. Among the assailants, Libyans identified units of a heavily armed local Islamist group, Ansar al-Sharia, which sympathises with al Qaeda and derides Libya's US-backed bid for democracy. The attacks could alter US attitudes towards the wave of revolutions across the Arab world that toppled secularist authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia and brought Islamists to power. (more)

Gulf states recalling ambassadors in Syria
7 February 2012 - Gulf Arab countries announced on Tuesday they were recalling their ambassadors from Damascus and expelling Syrian envoys in response to worsening violence in Syria. Syria's rulers had rejected Arab attempts to 'solve this crisis and prevent the bloodshed of the Syrian people,' a statement from the Gulf Cooperation Council said. 'The council considers that it is necessary for the Arab states... to take every decisive measure faced with this dangerous escalation against the Syrian people. Nearly a year into the crisis, there is no glint of hope in a solution.' The group's foreign ministers are meeting in Riyadh on Saturday to discuss the situation in Syria. (more)

Israel, Palestinians exchange blame over talks
29 January 2012 - The Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Sunday blamed each other for the impasse in newly launched peace efforts, raising doubts about whether the dialogue would continue just weeks after it began. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of spoiling the low-level talks, saying it failed to present detailed proposals for borders and security requested by international mediators. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinians 'refused to even discuss' Israeli security needs. For the past month, the sides have held Jordanian-mediated exploratory talks at the urging of the Quartet of international Mideast mediators -- the US, UN, EU, and Russia. The goal of the talks has been to find a formula to resume formal peace negotiations, with the aim of forging an agreement this year. (more)

Middle East governments fail to see scale of change - Amnesty
9 January 2012 - Most Middle Eastern governments are failing to recognize the significance of the Arab Spring and are responding with repression or merely cosmetic change, Amnesty International said on Monday. Reform movements showed no sign of flagging despite bloodshed on the streets and arrests last year, Amnesty said in its report 'Year of Rebellion: State of Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa'. 'With few exceptions, governments have failed to recognize that everything has changed,' Philip Luther, Amnesty International's interim Middle East and North Africa director, said in a report. 'Persistent attempts by states to offer cosmetic changes, to push back against gains made by protesters, or to simply brutalize their populations into submission betray the fact that for many governments, regime survival remains their aim.' (more)

2011 'Year of the Tyrant,' 2012 ominous for Syria, Iraq
22 December 2011 - In the past year, from the Atlantic coast to the shores of the Gulf, popular uprisings against entrenched autocrats have swept the region, unleashing long pent-up yearning for change in a world that democracy had passed by. The balance sheet so far seemed inconceivable as 2011 got under way. The darker side to this still unfolding tale is the way historically-embedded sectarian hostilities -- ostensibly suppressed by decades of pan-Arab nationalist ideology -- were and are being stoked, leaving swathes of the region polarised between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims. The violent re-emergence of these centuries-old divisions began in Iraq with the toppling of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, and the rise to power of a new Shi'ite ruling elite, unleashing sectarian carnage inside the country and a Sunni-Shi'ite struggle for power across the region, with Saudi Arabia facing off against non-Arab Shi'ite Iran. Now, while Syria and Egypt -- not to mention a poverty-stricken Yemen gripped by factional struggle -- are new causes of worry, other unresolved problems are re-emerging with a vengeance. (more)

Arab Spring boosts political Islam, but which kind?
26 October 2011 - More democracy is bringing more political Islam in the countries of the Arab Spring, but Islamist statements about sharia or religion in politics are only rough indicators of what the real effect might be. The strong showing of Tunisia's moderate Islamists in Sunday's election and a promise by Libyan National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil to uphold sharia have highlighted the bigger role Islamists will play after the fall of the autocrats who opposed them. These Islamists must now work out how to integrate more Islam into new democratic systems. Many terms used in the debate are ambiguous. 'If sharia is introduced, you don't know what you'll get,' said Jan Michiel Otto, a Dutch law professor who led a recent study of how 12 Muslim countries apply sharia. (more)