Slideshows

Who’s in who’s not, and who's having a sulk? While the jury's no longer out on who's judging and hosting in this season of Arab talent shows, the decisions haven't sat well with divas and A-list celebs who have been left out in the cold by the selections. The usual suspects who did not make the draw are on the warpath, and the proof is in their catty comments.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) - the military wing of the rebel group opposition - are doing a fine job of doing themselves out of their position as viable alternatives to the current regime. In this cross-section of their worst bits, a picture emerges of them as hardly the paragons of virtue for a better Syria.

Celebrities in the Arab world are not doing themselves any favors through their social media conduct. Their tendency to get petty, crude or too political, leaves something to be desired in this relatively new arena. Often, they are guilty of opening new channels and access to their personal life that they then realize the want to close. A gallery of gaffes, drama, tears, tweets and triumphs gives us a flavor of what we're dealing with.

What has the UN ever done for the Middle East? Questioning a failed inheritance for a people left with unimplemented resolutions and missions undelivered.

Will the growing feeling of hysteria and empty threats flying between Israel and Iran amount to a full-blown conflict or is it all of no consequence - just bombast and bluff? Only time will tell. Here, some coverage of the face-off between two nations spoiling for a fight.

Here, we trace the relationship since the Cairo speech that captured the world's imagination and set out the stall for the fresh-faced newly inaugurated President to make friends with Muslims, up until the anti-American riots of September 11, 2012.

Take one Syrian activist with a quirky concept and a love of cats and you get FSA Kittens, a site supporting the Syrian rebels, claws and all.

Papal Middle Eastern tours across the ages: How have the reigning Pope Bennedict XVI and the late Pope John Paul II fared in the Holy Land? The Pope pontificates from Lebanon to Morocco as we take a look at papal Middle East tours past and present.

Al Bawaba's picks of films and works offending the Abrahamic faiths: The movies in this cross-section fully expected and possibly depended upon offending religions in order to succeed or make a point.

There's no such thing as too much talent in the Arab world as MBC begins the hunt for the new Haifa.