Aligning African ranks
Cairo takes the helm at COMESA with fresh ideas,writes Nevine Khalil

NDP sweeps in pallid Shura polls
The ruling National Democratic Party won a landslide victory in the initial lacklustre round of a three-stage mid-term elections of the Shura Council. Gamal Essam El-Din reports

F-16s against old rifles
In a brazen display of power, the Sharon government used F-16 fighter-bombers, the second deadliest weapon at its disposal after its sizeable nuclear arsenal, against the Palestinians. Khaled Amayreh reports from Hebron

Bright dawn, uncertain future
A year after Israel's ignominious withdrawal from southern Lebanon, people are facing a different kind of struggle. Ranwa Yehia visits the liberated villages

'We are not ready to compromise'
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic is seen as the new regime's most pragmatic official with close connections to Europe and the United States. He speaks to Ibrahim Nafie on the future of his country's relationship with Montenegro, the rest of the Balkans and his economic priorities

Travel

The road less travelled
Many archaeological sites in Egypt are developed for tourism and declared officially open to the public, but remain unvisited because they are either difficult of access or off the regular tourist track. Jill Kamil has surveyed some of them, and suggests solutions