BEIRUT (Reuters) – Children often go hungry in Yemen. Those caught up in the poor southern Arabian nation’s dizzying array of conflicts fare worse, a U.N. official said.

Yemen won sudden global attention and extra aid from the West, mostly for counter-terrorism, after a Yemen-based al Qaeda militant tried to bomb a U.S.-bound plane on December 25, 2009.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The balance of power in Lebanon shifted toward Syria and Iran on Tuesday when a Hezbollah-backed politician was named prime minister, ousting a Western-allied bloc that has headed governments for nearly six years.

Sunni Muslims loyal to outgoing premier Saad al-Hariri staged a “day of rage,” burning tires and blocking roads in protest at the appointment of Sunni billionaire Najib Mikati, a centrist lawmaker with ties to both Saudi Arabia and Syria.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Arabs intoxicated by the popular ferment in Tunisia are wondering if the rapid ousting of an entrenched leader could be replicated in North Africa or beyond.

But given the pent-up fury over economic grievances and political repression felt across all but the wealthiest corners of the Arab world, the region’s security states have proved remarkably resilient and adept at stifling pressure for reform.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Arabs intoxicated by the popular ferment in Tunisia are wondering if the rapid ousting of an entrenched leader could be replicated in North Africa or beyond.

But given the pent-up fury over economic grievances and political repression felt across all but the wealthiest corners of the Arab world, the region’s security states have proved remarkably resilient and adept at stifling pressure for reform.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The near-silence of Arab leaders about the popular protests that chased Tunisia’s ex-President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power speaks volumes.

People across the region have watched enthralled as street unrest forced Ben Ali to flee the North African country he has ruled for 23 years — an unprecedented spectacle in the Arab world, where authoritarian leaders can usually only be dislodged by army coup, assassination or their own mortality.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The collapse of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s “unity” government over a tribunal set up to try his father’s assassins has thrust Lebanon into crisis.

Here are some questions and answers about what lies ahead:

WHO RUNS THE COUNTRY NOW?

President Michel Suleiman asked Hariri on Thursday to head a caretaker administration, a day after 11 ministers loyal to Hezbollah and its allies resigned from his 14-month-old cabinet — the first time a Lebanese government has fallen in this way.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The collapse of Lebanon’s “unity” cabinet on Wednesday deepened a political crisis and exposed the failure of Syria and Saudi Arabia to bridge local rifts over a tribunal set up to try the killers of statesman Rafik al-Hariri.

The resignation of 11 ministers from Hezbollah and the armed Shi’ite movement’s allies forced the fall of an already crippled government led by the slain leader’s son, Saad al-Hariri.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – After 30 years of President Hosni Mubarak’s ultra-cautious rule, some of Egypt’s 79 million people feel change is overdue — even his claim to be the guarantor of stability has looked shaky since a January 1 attack on Christians.

But restive Egyptians may have to wait a bit longer. Most have known no other leader than the burly former air force commander who was catapulted to power when Islamist militants assassinated his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, in 1981.

CAIRO, Dec 20 (Reuters) – At Bayoumy’s, a dingy, smoke-filled tea shop in downtown Cairo, Egyptian football fans groaned at the “biased” referee as they watched their national team lose 2-1 to the Gulf state of Qatar in a friendly last week. Once the television commentary had died away and people turned back to their backgammon games, some pondered an awkward question for Egypt, which prides itself on being the pre-eminent regional power. Why is it that gas-rich Qatar, a football minnow ranked 113 in the world, will host the 2022 World Cup — the first in the Middle East — while Egypt did not win a single vote when it bid for the Cup six years ago?

“Qatar does not have the history that Egypt has, but it has vision, money and the goal to be a leader among nations in the region,” sighed the tea-shop proprietor Mr Bayoumy, reflecting on the past under former president Gamal Abdel Nasser. “Egypt had vision and resolve in Abdel Nasser’s time and was even more independent than Qatar now, which has the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East. But this country has no vision any more, only officials who look after themselves.”

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) – Egyptians wondering whether to vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election must factor in the risk of brawls involving thugs hired by rival candidates.

Renting such gangs of bully boys is so embedded in Egypt’s electoral landscape that one local daily has listed the prices the muscle-men, and their female counterparts, can command.