A culturally translated version of "Sesame Street" is shown in Egypt and now viewed regularly by 61% of Egyptian children under 8 years .It touches on sensitive issues like the tense relations between Coptic Christians and the Muslim majority.

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2001

Rev Mary McLauchlan told the board: "It cannot be good stewardship to invest all world mission finances in one set of buildings"

From LYNNE ROBERTSON, The Herald, May 23, 2001

Moslems loose patience waiting for goverment approval for disputed mosque construction, to be built near the church of Annunciation in Nazareth

Based on Jalal Bana, Haaretz, May 14, 2001

Leader of the Greek Catholic Church confined to remark on the refusal of the Maronite patriarch Nasrullah Butrous Sfeir to visit Syria to welcome the Pope.

Syria, Religion, 5/15/2001

The conference has recommended further changes to the law to remove the possibility of the perpetrators benefiting from carrying out 'honour killings', when men kill female relatives to redeem the family's name

BBC, From Kim Gattas in Beirut

A new encyclopedia on the Qumran scrolls provides an exciting treasure hunt into the ever-intriguing mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

By Moshe Dann, Jerusalem Post,14th May,2001

Village local in Maloula that lies only 65 kilometres north of Damascus helps German academic record Aramaic - the language Jesus spoke

Philip Sherwell, The Sunday Telegraph,8th May 2001