Iraq is so all-consuming -- this week alone brought us gruesome hostage news, the death of an archbishop, a spate of suicide bombings, a spike in U.S. troop casualties -- that I thought it might be time to check in on what's happening in the rest of the Middle East.

Here are some of the regional non-Iraq headlines that caught my eye from the past week or so:

IRAN: Iran's 44 million eligible voters can head to the polls Friday for parliamentary elections in which many reformist candidates have been sidelined, bolstering chances for two rival conservative factions. Check out the Web sites mentioned on this earlier blog post to learn more about the candidates and to follow results.

EGYPT: Al Jazeera, along with Western wire services, have reported on violent riots near government-subsidized bakeries where bread is in short supply due to shortages of basic food commodities and rising food prices. Al Jazeera says at least 10 people have died over the past two weeks in the crisis. Chilling images of the unrest is airing on the Arabic-language satellite channels and angry Egyptians are calling for the military to intervene.

SAUDI ARABIA: A YouTube video of a Saudi women's activist behind the wheel of her car in defiance of the kingdom's ban on women drivers has received thousands of hits. Check it out here. Wajeha Huwaider "talks of the injustices of the ban and calls for its abolition as she drives calmly along a highway," according to a BBC report. Back in 1990, Saudi authorities arrested dozens of women who staged a protest by circling Riyadh in cars.

JORDAN: Jordan freed a former mentor to the late leader of al Qaida in Iraq on Wednesday after several years in custody without a trial, the AP and other agencies reported. Isam Mohammed Taher al Barqawi, aka Sheikh Abu Mohammed al Maqdisi, was arrested in 2005. He'd been a cellmate of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who led al Qaida in Iraq until he was killed in a U.S. air strike in 2006.

LIBYA: Authorities released a prominent dissident, Fathi al-Jahmi, after his nearly four-year imprisonment without trial drew condemnation from rights groups and the U.S. government, according to this AP story. Al Jahmi, a former governor, was first arrested after criticizing the government and its authoritarian leader Moammar al Gadhafi.

LEBANON/SYRIA: The Syrian government officially invited Lebanon to the Arab Summit, to be held in Damascus on March 29-30, after other Arab leaders hinted they'd boycott the annual meeting if Lebanon was excluded. No word on whether Lebanon would accept the invitation. The hostile relationship between the neighboring countries has been exacerbated by what many Lebanese view as Syria's meddling in the ongoing struggle to name a president for Lebanon.