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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 March 1999 Issue No. 420 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 March 1999 Issue No. 420
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Special Features Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Lean tour
US Defence Secretary William Cohen wrapped up a Gulf tour yesterday with a visit to Kuwait, where he held talks with Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. He is continuing his tour in the region with visits to Jor-an and Egypt. He is sched-led to meet with President Mubarak in Cairo today.Throughout the tour, Co-en failed to find support for US air strikes against Iraq and faced blunt crit-cism from US friends in the region, AFP reported. The traditional secretarial visits to US troops in the Gulf this time appeared de-igned less as a display of might than to underscore the protection they offer to countries in the region. Whilst in Kuwait, Cohen declared that the US will increase its military help to Kuwait including providing early warning against mis-ile launches from Iraq or Iran.
New vision
Iranian President Mo-ammad Khatami, on his first visit to the West, said that Iran sought peaceful re-ations with all countries and was ready for a new era of East-West friendship based on mutual respect.In a speech at a state ban-uet on the first day of his visit to Italy on Tuesday, Khatami pledged that Iran would help stop the spread of nuclear weapons and set out his vision of a new mil-ennium based on dialogue and equality among na-ions. Khatami met Italian Prime Minister Massimo d'Alema yesterday and will be received by Pope John Paul II today.
Eggs were hurled at Kha-ami's car and police de-ained three Iranian dem-nstrators as protests continued on the second day of his ground-breaking visit, Reuters reported.
Peace Miss
An arab-israeli woman has been crowned Miss Israel for the first time in the country's history. Rana Raslan, 21, said after winning the beauty pageant on Tuesday night that she wanted to prove to the world that Arabs and Israelis can live together in peaceful coexistence, Reuters reported.One of the judges, Pnina Rosenblum, a model-turned-business executive who is heading a feminist list in Israel's general election on 17 May, said she voted for Raslan to send a message of true peace to the Arab world.
