But there were nonetheless more scuffles as Palestinians tried to enter Jerusalem’s Old City to attend Friday prayers.

The recent upswing in violence was sparked by Israel’s decision to include two West Bank shrines on a list of national heritage sites.

This week, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited the region, meeting with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to push the peace process forward.

To discuss the issues, Daljit Dhaliwal speaks with James Rubin, an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a former assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration, and Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, in our weekly roundtable.

For more on the Middle East negotiations, Daljit Dhaliwal speaks to two specialists on the region: Ghassan Shabaneh, assistant professor of international studies at Marymount Manhattan College, and in Washington, Steven Cook, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Israeli West Bank barrier. Photo Flickr user ChrisYunker

Palestinian leaders have agreed to a further round of indirect negotiations with Israel, more than a year after the last attempt to reach a settlement broke down in December 2008.

The planned negotiations, which do not yet have a timetable, will be mediated by the U.S., and special envoy George Mitchell will travel between the two delegations. Direct talks are not envisaged at this stage.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization has set a four-month limit on the process, and its leaders have said they do not expect results from the renewed talks, which have been endorsed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Israel and the U.S.

In a recent development that has strained the peace talk proposals, yesterday Israel has approved the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit. Israeli officials say the approval was granted before a 10-month moratorium on new construction in Jewish settlements within the disputed territory.

Israel has also approved plans to build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem, an area not included in the moratorium but which the international community considers occupied territory.

This is how some commentators and bloggers have reacted to the renewed dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian leaders:

From Tikum Olam, a liberal Jewish-American blog:

[A]las it’s all a charade. For all the “proximity” the two sides may have they are universes apart on virtually every major issue that divides them. No commentators I have noticed have remarked upon the fact that these talks are in fact a deep regression from previous rounds of talks which, during the Olmert government, were direct and without U.S. mediation. Those talks too were largely ineffectual. But at least the parties had enough trust in each other that they were willing to talk face to face.

From a Talking Points Memo blog:

Everybody knows the core issues between Israelis and Palestinians, except for the one that will matter the most and can be acted on immediately, before any comprehensive deal; the one where Israel’s concessions will not compromise its security but enhance it. I am speaking of Palestine’s economy, specifically, its private sector, the driver of civil society and spine of any future state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks about “economic peace,” but seems to mean little more than giving Palestinian laborers more jobs in Israeli agriculture and construction projects. What Palestinians need, rather, are entrepreneurs, managers, and professionals with the freedom to build a growing node in an urban and global network. The latter have made a remarkable start, but the occupation is thwarting them in ways few outsiders appreciate.

From Beneath the Surface, commentary on the peace talks:

Most people saw through Netanyahu’s peace bluff in June, but for those who believed the “outstretched” arm he supposedly gave the Palestinians, he just went against his campaign promises. Does Israel want peace with Palestine? By the decisions made the last couple of days it doesn’t seem like it, it seems like Israel want Palestine to surrender to their terms. Netanyahu has been given credit by vice-president Joe Biden for his indirect initiative to peace negotiations, but in reality the prerequisites that he laid aground for these negotiations were a joke!

From an opinion article in Haaretz, an Israeli center-left newspaper:

Israel must talk to Hamas. Not secretly. Not indirectly. Not for a politician to rehabilitate himself on the way to taking over the leadership of a party, as Kadima’s Shaul Mofaz tried to do, but openly and seriously. Just as the United States regularly talks to the Israeli opposition, Israel should maintain a dialogue with the Palestinian opposition. The dialogue should cover all core issues including a final settlement.

View footage of a checkpoint outside of the Beitar Illit settlement, which has a majority ultra-Orthodox Jewish population:

- James Matthews

Today, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the talks could begin as early as Sunday.

Few people know the Middle East as well as Martin Fletcher, a former NBC News correspondent who spent nearly 20 years as the Tel Aviv bureau chief. Daljit Dhaliwal speaks to Fletcher about the latest developments in the peace process.

The expectation is that the U.S. would act as the intermediary between the two sides.

An Israeli government spokesman welcomed the news, saying he hoped Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would resume soon.

For more, Daljit Dhaliwal interviews Daniel Levy, co-director of the Middle East Task Force of the New America Foundation.

What will it take to secure a long-lasting peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

[Sidebar photo: MaanImages/POOL/Thaer Ganaim]

On a recent trip to Israel, Worldfocus associate producer Mohammad Al-Kassim visited the school, where he met several young men who had found a new purpose in life through their studies there.

Dubai police showing some of the suspects. Photo: Channel 10 Israel

Today there’s more on the assassination of that top Hamas official in Dubai last month.

Australia’s foreign minister has summoned Israel’s ambassador, expressing concern about the alleged use of Australian passports by several of the 26 suspects identified by Dubai officials as being part of the ring that carried out the killing.

Dubai police say they are all but certain the plot was organized by Israel’s spy agency, Mossad. Israel has not commented on the claims.

As the allegations continue to emerge about the assassination plot, is Israel’s credibility damaged by not addressing claims that it was involved in the killing?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

Last Friday, the fifth anniversary of the Bil’in demonstrations, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and former Prime Minister Nabil Shaath joined 1,000 marchers from the West Bank, Israel and abroad.

The protests concern the 420-mile barrier, which Israel began constructing in 2002 — partitioning the West Bank from the rest of the country. About 10 percent of the barrier is 25-foot tall concrete sections, and the other 90 percent is mostly electronic fencing.

Israel claims the barrier is necessary to protect its citizens from Palestinian terrorism, while Palestinians call it an illegal land grab.

In the town of Bil’in, the wall has split apart the olive grove landholdings of villagers.

But this year, the Israeli military has begun to move part of the wall near the town, in compliance with a 2007 Israeli Supreme Court decision. However, local villagers claim the new route will only return one-third of their land.

Heather Sharp reported for the BBC from Bil’in:

Some of the remainder [of the land] had previously been designated Israeli state land and allocated for the expansion of a Jewish settlement. Mahmoud Samarra, 64, says he will get only a tiny fraction of his 93 dunums (23 acres) of land back. He points over the hill beyond the coils of barbed wire and the towering mesh of the fence. “It was like paradise,” he says, describing how he planted olive trees with his children and watched them grow over 17 years.

The protests continue, buoyed by the decision of the Supreme Court. Bil’in residents want to maintain media attention on their situation, even as another weekly protest in nearby Ni’in — which sprung up in 2008 — competes for the spotlight.

A joint Palestinian-Israeli activist organization, The Alternative Information Center, quoted Mohammed Khatib, one of the protest leaders:

The Israeli court had already ruled two years ago that the Wall here should be rerouted, but it is our struggle, not their court, that forces the Army to implement this decision now.

The International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled that the Wall should be dismantled in its entirety, and not just partially like the Israeli court had ordered. Today the demonstrators made an important step towards the implementation of this decision.

The protests often turn violent. Israel blames demonstrators who throw rocks at its soldiers, and Palestinians point to the belligerence of the Israeli army toward the protesters — including night-time raids on the houses of suspected participants.

Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich explains why the protests deteriorate into violence:

Those rocks they’re throwing can kill people…damage costing hundreds of thousands of shekels has been done to the fence and 77 Israeli soldiers have been injured in the past two years.

They go to the fence and tear it down, then we have no choice but to show up and defend the fence. And then they start throwing rocks.

Mepeace.org describes the violence from the Palestinian perspective:

Over its five years of protest, Bil’in has seen a sharp increase in violence and repression, with regular night raids targeting protest organizers, thousands injured by riot-dispersal equipment alongside real bullets, and the death of a Palestinian man last year after a tear-gas canister was shot at him from a high-velocity gun. Basem Ibrahim Abu Rahmeh was 29 years old when he was killed.

Dubai police claim that at least 11 suspects were involved in killing Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, many of whom allegedly used identities stolen from dual U.K.-Israeli citizens.

Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, is suspected of being behind the crime, but some analysts question whether Mossad’s handiwork would have been so sloppy.

Jacky Rowland of Al Jazeera English reports from Israel about those who found their names associated with the assassination plot.

Should Israel be more forthcoming about whether or not it was involved in the killing of the Hamas leader?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

Unlike some Olympic powerhouses, Israel has just three athletes competing in the winter games, including an ice-dancing brother-sister team and a skier.

But that could change in coming years if growing interest in one Olympic sport turns more competitive.

Arieh O’Sullivan of The Media Line caught up with an enthusiastic squad of Israeli athletes who love ice hockey.

Israeli soldiers on leave in the city of Jaffa. Photo: Mohammad Al-Kassim

Talk about war is getting louder in the Middle Eastern press, with many speculating about a possible outbreak of hostilities not only between Israel and Hamas, but Israel and Syria, or Iran and a host of adversaries.

In a column in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Bradley Burston writes, “The countdown to the Second Gaza War has begun in earnest.”

The peace process is widely believed to be at an impasse, and there are other significant developments as well.

This week Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak publicly warned Hamas “to watch its step,” while senior Hamas and other Palestinian factions are warning of another Israeli offensive on Gaza.

And last week Hamas blamed Israel’s Mossad for the killing of one of its a top commanders in Dubai, UAE, and vowed revenge.

The Israeli Air Force has stepped up its bombing of tunnels in Gaza and is reacting with airstrikes every time a rocket is launched out of Gaza towards Israel.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, two Palestinian factions claimed responsibility for planting two barrels of explosives that washed up in an Israeli port, marking a new tactic and an escalation of the conflict.

This week the top news out of Iran concerns the deployment of U.S. anti-missile systems off Iran’s coast in the gulf, leading to rising tensions with Tehran.

Some experts say heavyweight Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a proxy war with Iran in Yemen over Iran’s alleged support of the rebels there.

Israel could in theory find itself in a war on multiple fronts. Earlier this week in a bold statement, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said war with Syria was inevitable, and added that Iran is still a central danger to Israel’s security and all options are still on the table in how Israel deals with Iran.

Just last week, the London based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Syria has called up its reserve military forces in anticipation of a full-scale war with Israel.

In Lebanon, the Secretary General of Hezbollah– the Lebanese Shi’a Islamist political and paramilitary group — Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, said his forces will “change the face of the Middle East region” if there is another war with Israel. The last time Israel and Hezbollah clashed was in the summer of 2006 and that war lasted for 34 days.

- Mohammad Al-Kassim

• Michael Haneke’s film “The White Ribbon,” which scooped the top prize at Cannes last year, would seem an early favorite. The German film focuses on the adolescence of young children in a village in Northern Germany on the outbreak of the First World War.

• The Peruvian film “The Milk of Sorrow” explores abuses inflicted on Peruvian women during the ascendancy of the Maoist Shining Path guerrilla movement. The title refers to the belief that the trauma inflicted upon mothers was passed onto their children through their milk, creating a legacy of psychological damage.

• The Argentine dramatic thriller “The Secret in their Eyes” follows a federal justice agent as he becomes entangled in an investigation into the murder of a young woman in 1970s Buenos Aires.

• The French film “A Prophet” follows a young French Muslim man who is sentenced to six years imprisonment in a jail dominated by the Corsican mafia. The new inmate has to quickly toughen himself up to survive in this dangerous world.

• The Israeli film “Ajami” is about life in a mixed Jewish-Arab neighborhood in the Mediterranean city of Jaffa. The film was co-directed by an Israeli Arab and an Israeli Jew and weaves together multiple perspectives.

• Read more about “Ajami” in our post Israeli Cinema: Growing Up.
• Explore the global film industry here Nigeria’s Nollywood produces more films than U.S.
• Check out our extended coverage page, The Politics of Pop Culture.

The topic on Al Jazeera Arabic’s controversial yet highly popular talk show “Opposite Direction” this week was the Obama presidency, one year later.

The host questioned the sincerity of President Obama’s outreach to Arabs and Muslims. Faisal al-Qasem, the Syrian host of al-Itijah al-Mo’akis, likened President Obama to a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing.

Al-Qasem accused Obama of speaking from both sides of his mouth and alleged that the Arabs’ problem was believing Obama’s sugar-coated words:

Al Arabiya news channel reported on the upcoming African Cup football match between Egypt and Algeria. Egypt beat Cameroon 3-1 to set up a repeat of the intense World Cup playoff against Algeria.

The last time these two teams faced each other was in Khartoum, Sudan, which was followed with violence and enormous tension across the Arab world.

Today’s lead headline in Israeli center-left newspaper Haaretz was about Israeli president Shimon Peres’ speech to the German parliament. Speaking on the anniversary of the Auschwitz death camp’s liberation, Peres called for the surviving perpetrators of the Holocaust to be brought to justice.

Abdel al-Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, published in London, wrote an op-ed yesterday on the stalled Middle East peace process — in light of U.S. envoy George Mitchell’s recent visit to the region.

Atwan, who was born in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, is an outspoken critic of many Arab governments. He attributes Mitchell’s lack of progress to:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to retain Jewish settlements in the West Bank and keep complete control of those areas.

• The refusal of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table again without an Israeli commitment to a freeze on settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

• U.S. President Barack Obama giving in to Israeli pressure on the settlements.

Atwan argues that another intifada is likely because of the stalemate in the peace process. He also thinks Fatah and Hamas may be forced to reconcile if progress is not made.

- Mohammad Al-Kassim

A priest in the Samaritan community on Mt. Gerizim in the West Bank. Photo: Ben Piven

The Samaritans, numbering around 740 people, are an ethno-religious sect split between Holon, Israel, and Kiryat Luza, near Nablus in the West Bank. They have been in the Holy Land for over three millennia and still use a dialect of ancient Hebrew.

Worldfocus spoke with Benyamin Tsedaka, the Samaritan newspaper editor, historian, basketball coach, choirmaster — and chairman of the Samaritan Medal project.

Worldfocus: Have the Samaritans really been living in the Holy Land for 127 generations?

Benyamin Tsedaka: The Israelite Samaritans are descendants of the tribes of Levi, Ephraim and Menashe. They have never left the Holy Land since they entered with the prophet Joshua sometime between the 17th century and 13th century BCE.

The Israelites have lived in Samaria — the northern part of today’s West Bank — since ancient times, but they did not emerge as a separate group during until the Second Temple period, around the 4th century BCE. Then, our community became distinct from the people of Judea — who later became known as Jews and whose holy city was Jerusalem. Today, most Israelis refer to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria.

The number of generations is based on the lineage of the priestly family among the Israelite Samaritans. 127 generations trace back to Aaron, Moses’ brother, as mentioned in the Samaritan historical chronicle.

Worldfocus: Most Americans likely know the parable of the Good Samaritan. How are you preserving the Samaritan heritage?

Benyamin Tsedaka: With our humble efforts we publish the A.B. - Samaritan News bi-weekly magazine in four languages — Modern Hebrew, Ancient Hebrew, English and Arabic — every two weeks for the last 40 years.

In 1981 we established the A.B. - Institute of Samaritan Studies as a home for hundreds of students from all corners of the world. We are encouraging Samaritan Studies all over the world. So far, 7 conferences held since 1988, the last one in Papa, Hungary, in 2008. The next one will take place in Halle, Germany, in 2012.

I myself have published many books and lectured in Europe and the USA. I also conduct the Israelite Samaritan Choir, which sings the most ancient music of the civilized world since 1980. And in a few months, I’ll be releasing the first-ever English translation of Israelite Samaritan version of the Pentateuch [Five Books of Moses]. This will likely call more attention to the Israelite Samaritan community.

Worldfocus: What is the Samaritan Medal for Peace and Humanitarian Achievement?

Benyamin Tsedaka: Our community almost became extinct at the turn of the 20th century, the Samaritans became a bridge between Israel and its neighbors after the Six Day War in 1967.

The Samaritan Medal.

Two of our main activities are the Mount Gerizim International Peace Center — a place of meeting between Israelis and Palestinians — and since 2006, the Samaritan Medal for Peace and Humanitarian achievements.

The medal is given to the most prominent activists of peace and humanity. Some recent recipients are Palestinian tycoon Munib Masri, King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Palestinian Minister of Development Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh. So, in this way, we promote the Samaritan issue all over the world.

Worldfocus: Your community is split between the West Bank and Israel. How do you manage to get along so well with both the Palestinians and Israelis?

Benyamin Tsedaka: We are doing it just in the simplest way. We try to live in peace with all entities in the Middle East, especially with the different Palestinian political groups. So far it is reaping good fruits and full respect to the Samaritans from all groups.

Worldfocus: What is the future of the Samaritan community in the Holy Land?

Benyamin Tsedaka: I have warned my community not to take sides in the region — but to stay neutral and live in peace with all of them. We try to maintain the religious practices that make us special among the family of nations.

As long as we keep this policy of neutrality we will survive in our region and will ensure a good future for the Israelite Samaritans.

- Ben Piven

Israel and Lebanon have long been competing for the world record in hummus production. The dispute is about who has cultural ownership over the eastern Mediterranean staple.

And now, Israel boasts a four-ton hummus batch in the Israeli-Arab town of Abu Ghosh — nearly doubling the Guinness world record set in Beirut last year.

Ben Knight of ABC has more.

There’s an ambitious $500 million invested in homes for tens of thousands of Palestinians, six miles north of Ramallah — in what would be the West Bank’s first planned Palestinian city: Rawabi.

The project managers still need approval from Israel for access roads, but they went ahead anyway with the groundbreaking earlier this month.

Felice Friedson of The Media Line reports:

However, a year later, there is some movement toward a resumption of talks. Mitchell will be going back to the region in the next few days, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to meet tomorrow with officials from Jordan and Egypt.

To take a deeper look at the issues, Alon Ben-Meir, a senior fellow at New York University’s School of Global Affairs, joins Daljit Dhaliwal. Ben-Meir discusses why the timing is right to resume the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. He also talks about the new role settlements are playing in the peace process.

For its part, last year the U.S. gave nearly $1 billion in assistance to the Palestinians.

Felice Friedson of The Media Line looks at broader attempts to foster growth and foreign investment in the Palestinian economy.

(View full post to see video)

Do you think the U.S. should do more to promote economic growth in the West Bank?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

Here’s our eclectic list of ten innovative solutions to social, economic and political problems around the globe, drawing from our Signature series reporting, as well as other sources.

View our slideshow of the top ten choices:

Politics:

Rwanda – The small East African nation is the only country in the world with a female majority in parliament — women hold 56 percent of parliamentary seats.

The political rise of women is partly due to the country’s electoral quota (at least 30 percent female) and is also a consequence of male deaths during the country’s 1994 genocide.

Still, Rwandan voters have elected women in numbers well beyond the mandates dictated by the post-genocide constitution. And though women in Rwanda still face discrimination, female legislators have influenced major reforms in banking and property laws.

Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Seemungal spoke to some of the powerful women in Rwanda who are guiding the country through a long process of reconciliation, including Aloysie Cyanzaire, chief justice of Rwanda’s Supreme Court.

Iran — This was the decade that social media grew up. Activists in countries around the world — from Ukraine and Moldova to Madagascar –  used Internet-based communications to amplify their political protests.

While some commentators take issue with the now well-worn term, “Twitter Revolution,” there is no doubt that the opposition movement in Iran has used social media to take political dissent to a new level.

After authorities expelled or incapacitated foreign media in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections of June 2009, words and pictures shared via Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook became the go-to sources for news about the Iranian opposition’s “green” movement.

Technology:

Estonia — The tiny Baltic nation of Estonia has embraced the digital age. It boasts hundreds of free public internet access points, and all Estonian schools are connected to the Internet.

Online phone service Skype grew up in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn. Citizens can vote online, and they access official documents, bank accounts and public transportation with national identity cards.

Worldfocus anchor Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer reported on E-Stonia in the spring of 2009.

Israel — Because of its small size and urgent need to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, Israel may be the perfect incubator for a concept that still seems very futuristic — the electric car.

Headed by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi, the company Better Place has installed thousands of electric charging stations around the country. Worldfocus special correspondent Michael Greenspan and producers Yuval Lion and Ara Ayer reported on the progress of the electric car in Israel earlier this year.

Environment:

Denmark — Long before Copenhagen, the Scandinavian nation had made huge advances in energy efficiency.

In the last 20 years, the Danish economy has grown 78 percent even while its energy usage has remained constant and its carbon emissions reduced. The country has also become a net exporter of energy; wind alone has created 30,000 new jobs.

Special correspondent John Larson reported on the Danish miracle in our Worldfocus series “Green Energy in Denmark.”

Guyana – This year, Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo proposed a low-carbon development strategy that compensates the nation for conserving its rainforests, which make up about 80% of the land.

It is likely to be the test-case for the U.N. plan to reduce deforestation worldwide.

Economy:

Brazil – Building on the success of similar programs in Mexico, Brazil has implemented a strategy aimed at curbing poverty and promoting education.

The Bolsa Familia provides more than 11 million impoverished families with a stipend, in return for guarantees that families will send their children to school.

Since its inception in 2003, the poverty rate in Brazil has fallen from 34% to 22%, according to government statistics.

Bangladesh — In 2006, the Nobel Committee awarded the Grameen Bank and founder Muhammad Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize — a sign of the widespread acceptance of microfinance as a means of combating poverty.

As a group of economics professors summarized: “Microcredit is undoubtedly the most visible innovation in anti-poverty policy in the last half century.”

Health:

Bhutan — The former king of the tiny mountain kingdom of Bhutan pioneered the concept of gross national happiness. The idea has spread, and Bhutan continues to inspire other countries.

Last year, the government of Bhutan adopted a new Constitution, which mandates that government programs be evaluated based on the happiness that they foster.

Senegal – An innovative grassroots initiative begun in Senegal to combat female genital mutilation has spread to other African nations.

The NGO Tostan uses a community empowerment model and and now encompasses work on health, human rights, and democracy.

More than 4,000 villages in Senegal have made public declarations against female genital mutilation and child marriage.

Our signature stories delve into issues around the world — from the long-term effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam and gang violence in Mexico to discrimination against whites in South Africa and Afghan immigrants in Iran.

Here are the 15 Signature stories most popular with viewers in 2009:

	MOROCCO Moroccan single moms cope with hostility, shame	Young Muslim women who become pregnant out of wedlock face intense pressures. They are often shunned and scorned. Hoda Osman, Rebecca Haggerty, Megan Thompson and Reda Fakhar report on how mothers are coping.
	HAITI Dirt poor Haitians eat cookies made of mud	The cookie recipe — dirt, butter and salt — has been passed down through the generations, despite a lack of nutritional value. Benno Schmidt and Ara Ayer report on how these dirt cookies are managing to keep Haiti’s poor alive.
	JORDAN Oprah brings taboo topics to Middle East	The Middle East’s MBC-4 began airing “The Oprah Winfrey Show” more than four years ago, and the program now reaches about 6 million viewers in the Arab world each day. Kristen Gillespie reports from Jordan on the ”Oprah effect.”
	VIETNAM Agent Orange devastates generations of Vietnamese	During the Vietnam War, the U.S. dropped millions of gallons of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant. Generations of Vietnamese civilians have suffered the consequences. Mark Litke and Ara Ayer report on the devastating effects the toxin has left behind.
	MEXICO Gangsters spill blood and spread fear in Tijuana, Mexico	Over the last year, more than 6,000 people have been murdered in Mexico’s drug wars, more than 700 of them in Tijuana alone. John Larson, Bryan Myers, Megan Thompson and Ivette Feliciano report from Tijuana.
	SOUTH AFRICA Poor white South Africans blame reverse discrimination	To some extent, the economic playing field has been leveled since the end of apartheid 15 years ago. Martin Seemungal reports on South Africa’s white community, where poverty has doubled since 1994.
	JAMAICA One island, two Jamaicas and a ‘whole heap’ of difference	A public debate erupted when graphic Dancehall music lyrics and images were banned from Jamaican radio and TV. Lisa Biagiotti, Micah Fink and Gabrielle Weiss report on how the ban highlights the divide that dates back centuries.
	ISRAEL Israeli company builds infrastructure for world’s electric cars	One Israeli company is designing an entire system to service electric cars with battery charging stations. Many other countries are expressing great interest. Michael Greenspan, Yuval Lion and Ara Ayer report from Israel.
	LIBERIA Liberia, “America’s stepchild,” searches for own identity	Liberia was settled by freed American slaves, and now, as Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report, the nation is trying to re-shape its identity. Liberia, a small country in West Africa, has longstanding ties to the U.S.
	LATVIA Empty stores, offices tell tale of Latvia’s economic fall	Until the global recession, Latvia was experiencing rapid economic growth. During the past year, it has tumbled down, with unemployment around 14.5 percent. Daljit Dhaliwal, Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report on the scope of Latvia’s fall.
	IRAN Afghan immigrants find refuge in oil-rich Iran	Though the West has branded Iran a nuclear outlaw and supporter of terrorism, Iran is a model of stability compared to its neighbors. Three million Afghan immigrants in Iran are low-skilled laborers. Richard O’Regan reports from Tehran.
	DENMARK Taxes curb Danish oil use, promote energy independence	In Denmark, a Ford Focus costs $51,000 — $34,000 of which is in taxes. John Larson explains how taxing energy and subsidizing alternative technologies have reduced the country’s dependency on oil and created thousands of jobs.
	INDIA India’s “untouchables” trudge through sewers	While India has largely transformed into a modernized economy, the country remains strongly tied to the traditions of the caste system, which often governs the jobs that people hold. Martin Himel reports on India’s lowest class of laborers.
	TURKEY Rising Islamist movements challenge secularism in Turkey	Secular critics are branding Turkey’s growing conservative groups as fundamentalist. Gizem Yarbil and Bryan Myers report on how traditional religion and modern democracy are trying to coexist.
	PHILIPPINES Journalists risk their lives reporting in the Philippines	Today in the Philippines, journalism is robust. But more than 70 journalists have been murdered since 1986. Mark Litke and Ara Ayer report on the risks that many reporters face doing their jobs — from Manila to rural areas.