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Deborah Amos Deborah Amos covers the Middle East for NPR News. Her reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition.
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Deborah Amos

Haiti Quake: Ruin And Recovery

Medical Plane Avoids Collision Over Haiti

Medical personnel from the U.S. government were almost involved in a mid-air collision over the crowded and chaotic Port-au-Prince airport Thursday. The aircraft was diverted to Turks and Caicos, delaying the emergency teams for yet another day as the clock ticks down on helping severely injured survivors.

Medical Plane Avoids Collision Over Haiti

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Race

Poll: Blacks Optimistic About Their Future

A new poll by the Pew Research Center finds that despite high unemployment and other economic woes afflicting the African-American community, blacks are more optimistic about their prospects than they were just two years ago. The poll also found that more blacks and whites than before believe they share common values.

Poll: Blacks Optimistic About Their Future

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Analysis

White House Plans More Economic Stimulus

The Obama administration is trying to do something about the high unemployment rate. White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman Christina Romer told CNN that the White House is talking about actions to jump-start job creation.

White House Plans More Economic Stimulus

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Tide Of Arab-Turk Tension Rises Amid Water Shortage

The massive Ataturk Dam (shown here in 1992), in southeast Turkey, harnesses water for one of the biggest irrigation and electric power schemes in the world. A drought and other factors have created an acute water shortage in the Middle East, and resentment in countries downstream from Turkey is growing. Ed Kashi/Corbis hide caption

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Ed Kashi/Corbis

Middle East

Tide Of Arab-Turk Tension Rises Amid Water Shortage

The headwaters of the Middle East's great rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, originate in Turkey, which controls flow of the waters to the Arab world downstream. A three-year drought has devastated Syria and Iraq, fueling resentment against the Turks.

Tide Of Arab-Turk Tension Rises Amid Water Shortage

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Mideast Water Crisis Brings Misery, Uncertainty

Adilla Finchaan, 50, checks her drought-stricken land in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, in this photo taken in July 2009. Below-average rainfall and insufficient water in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers — something the Iraqis have blamed on upstream dams in Turkey and Syria — have left Iraq bone-dry for a second straight year. Hadi Mizban/AP hide caption

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Hadi Mizban/AP

Middle East

Mideast Water Crisis Brings Misery, Uncertainty

The Middle East is facing its worst water crisis in decades. For three summers, the annual rains have failed to come. Farmland has dried up in Iraq, Syria, southeast Turkey and Lebanon. The dire conditions are creating a new phenomenon: water refugees.

Mideast Water Crisis Brings Misery, Uncertainty

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Middle East

Iranian Agents Track Dissidents Who Fled To Turkey

Many of Iran's political dissidents have fled to Turkey, since the disputed presidential election in June and subsequent government crackdown. While many bloggers say they can continue reporting on Iran's anti-government protests from Turkey, they say Iranian intelligence agents cross the border, and harass them even in exile.

Iranian Agents Track Dissidents Who Fled To Turkey

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World

Lebanese Elections May Put Hezbollah In Charge

Lebanese voters go to the polls Sunday in crucial parliamentary elections. Some analysts are predicting a coalition led by the militant group Hezbollah will emerge the winner.

Lebanese Elections May Put Hezbollah In Charge

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World

Workers Polish Cairo Ahead Of Obama's Visit

President Obama is delivering a major speech at Cairo University. Egypt is a long-standing ally of the U.S. Workers have been busy cleaning the city ahead of Obama's arrival.

Workers Polish Cairo Ahead Of Obama's Visit

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World

Is There Freedom Of Expression In Egypt?

When President Obama delivers his much anticipated address to the Muslim world in Cairo on Thursday, many in Egypt will judge the speech by what he has to say about human rights and democracy. Human rights activists say Egypt has a record of rounding up opponents, and torture in Egyptian jails is common.

Is There Freedom Of Expression In Egypt?

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World

Obama To Visit Cairo, A Center Of Islamic Learning

When asked why President Obama decided to deliver a speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, many Egyptians point to Al-Azhar University, a center of Islamic scholarship since the 10th century. Al-Azhar stands for "a moderate version of Islam," teaching both the religion and modern science, one professor says.

Obama To Visit Cairo, A Center Of Islamic Learning

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National

Iraqi Translator, U.S. Soldier Reunited In U.S.

Ali Jabber Yasary served as a translator for the U.S. military in Iraq until the violence in his country forced him and his wife to flee. Now, with the help of an American soldier he worked with in Iraq, Yasary has a new home in California. But thousands of other Iraqis who served U.S. forces in Iraq are still waiting.

Iraqi Translator, U.S. Soldier Reunited In U.S.

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World

Turks Gripped By Shadowy Group's Coup Trials

In Turkey, trials are under way for a conspiracy plot that reads like a political thriller. Members of Ergenekon, a secret network of ultranationalists in the secular military establishment, are accused of conspiring to overthrow the country's moderate Islamist government.

Turks Gripped By Shadowy Group's Coup Trials

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Law

Internal Inquiry: Justice Dept. Officials Broke Law

A new Justice Department report says that politics illegally influenced the hiring of career prosecutors and immigration judges. The 140-page report issued Monday largely lays the blame on top aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Internal Inquiry: Justice Dept. Officials Broke Law

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Law

Jury Sees Video Of Al-Qaida Suspect's Interrogation

The first Guantanamo Bay war crimes trial has started. A military jury viewed a video of the defendant Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver, kneeling before a masked U.S. soldier, denying that he worked for al-Qaida. The videotape was recorded in Afghanistan shortly after Hamdan's capture in November 2001.

Jury Sees Video Of Al-Qaida Suspect's Interrogation

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Business

Financial Stocks Lift Despite Bad Earnings

Wachovia announced multibillion-dollar losses related to the mortgage crisis Tuesday. But instead of upsetting investors, the news helped lift financial stocks and the rest of the market.

Financial Stocks Lift Despite Bad Earnings

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