Throughout Ramadan, the date market at the entrance to Rod Al- Farag will be the site of frenzied buying and selling, with customers from Cairo and Upper Egypt making up the bulk of the clientele until mid-month, and Delta inhabitants taking over thereafter, in preparation for the feasts. --see caption--

Opinion

INTIFADA IN FOCUS

Waiting for the man
Much is dependent on a speech Colin Powell is scheduled to give in the US next week. Almost certainly too much, predicts Graham Usher in Jerusalem

War

Contest heats up over the Palestine linkage
US President Bush has declared support for the creation of a Palestinian state. But opposition has dogged his every step. Mohamed Hakki, in Washington, writes

All Western hands on deck
The provision of additional military units by Western countries to assist the US-led war in Afghanistan is indicative of foreign policy concerns as well as the interoperability of NATO members, writes Robert Lowry

The road untravelled
As the murmur of naysayers and sceptics of the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan rises to an audible din, international powers are scrambling to settle on a feasible post-Taliban scheme. Nyier Abdou looks at the limited scenarios on offer

Handed over?
Security sources remained tight-lipped concerning a claim that a leading Islamist militant was handed over to Egypt by Syria

Islamism's new face
The war on terror will change political Islam; political Islam in turn might well change the region. Diaa Rashwan writes

Egypt

Economy

Close to the abyss
Egypt says the US must face up to its responsibility to restore calm to the region. Nevine Khalil reports

Brotherhood faces WTC fallout
The fallout of the 11 September attacks against the United States has begun to hit Egypt's largest political Islamist group, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, reports Khaled Dawoud

Stalled in troubled waters
How will Egyptian exporters cope with the aftermath of 11 September? Mona El-Fiqi finds that the war on terrorism has dealt another blow to Egypt's economy

International

Africa duped
What constitutes a trouble-free draft for the WTO ministerial meeting in Doha? Snubbing African concerns, says Tetteh Hormeku

Region

No let-up in Mideast violence
Ariel Sharon comes under increasing international pressure as Israeli troops continue their campaign of intimidation in the occupied territories this week. Khaled Amayreh reports from Jerusalem

An autumn of fury
Last week a senior Palestinian leader threatened to resign because of the Palestinian Authority's political arrest campaign and exposed all that is wrong in the heart of the regime. Graham Usher reports from Gaza

Nosedive in Saudi-US ties
A recently divulged letter from Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to US President Bush confirms that there was a rift in Saudi-US relations even before the 11 September attacks, writes Michael Jensen

In New York and Geneva, Arab diplomats are pushing for the UN and the international community to engage more actively in the deteriorating Middle East peace process. Dina Ezzat examines the diplomatic offensive

'Amoral responsibility to act'
Ensuring respect
Interrogating apartheid

Features

Extra-curricular ruckus
All week students have been clamouring about free student union elections. Dena Rashed heads to campus to find out what the ruckus is all about

That time of dates
With Ramadan upon us, Cairo's date market is a hive of activity. Nesmahar Sayed joins the crowds and finds old traditions, big money, recession and Bin Laden

Travel

Sports