Egypt's call for inter-Palestinian dialogue might yet succeed, writes Amira Howeidy

Good-bye Hamas, hello Al-Qaeda, despairs Saleh Al-Naami

Amidst political infighting, a shocking new scandal involving Iraq's most vulnerable group, children, continues to blight Iraq's political scene, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti from Baghdad

As the war against insurgents gets deadlier and political reconciliation stalls, Washington's surge strategy seems to be crumbling, writes Salah Hemeid

Cairo is set on more Palestinian inter-factional dialogue, but will it work? Dina Ezzat looks for an answer

Dina Ezzat examines the Egyptian reaction to a tentative legislative US decision to withhold a portion of military assistance to Cairo

Mona El-Nahhas delves into the Byzantine manoeuvres surrounding Ayman Nour's petition for early release

Jailan Halawi listens to engineer Mohamed Saber minutes before a state security court convicts him of espionage and sentences him to 25 years behind bars

Although bird flu remains difficult for people to catch, it might conceivably mutate into a form that spreads among humans, sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions. Reem Leila reports on the possible king of killers

Realising justice for the Kurds, including compensation from the international community for having supplied the Iraqi regime with chemical weapons, continues to be an uphill battle, reports James Martin from Halabja

Israel continues to nurture the quisling Palestinian government with a carrot in one hand and a big stick in the other, reports Khaled Amayreh in East Jerusalem

Lebanon declared the Nahr Al-Bared Camp fighting over, but renewed fighting, a bomb attack on UN troops and an army shoot-out with militants heralded a protracted battle, Lucy Fielder reports

Gamal Nkrumah pays tribute to the killjoy PM who craved presidential power

NATO insists the war is "different" in Afghanistan compared to Iraq -- but the similarities are growing, writes Graham Usher in Islamabad

A new book about Egypt's first president, Mohamed Naguib (1901-1984) has Sahar El-Bahr revising all that she learned at school

Rania Khallaf claps and sways at the Citadel 8 pm

In a few days secondary school students will have finished their exams, writes Dena Rashed, but the phenomenal pain of the process -- it ain't over yet

Amira El-Noshokaty joins in reviewing a plan to include children with special needs in mainstream primary schools

Creative dexterity makes a difference to Levantine cuisine, discovers Gamal Nkrumah