As British troops pull out of Basra and Bush pays a surprise visit to Al-Anbar the situation in Iraq, despite what the US president says, is spinning out of control

Lots of busywork by the occupiers this week, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti

The bloody siege at Nahr Al-Bared is over but is probably not Lebanon's last such battle, Lucy Fielder reports

Tomorrow's elections in Morocco are creating a stir, says Faysal Saouli

Arab diplomacy has its eyes set on Washington and the forthcoming US proposed peace gathering, writes Dina Ezzat

Rumours about President Hosni Mubarak's health have sparked a wave of accusations and counter-accusations, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

Allegations that two Egyptians were tortured by the Kuwaiti police raise questions about the conditions endured by expatriate workers, writes Mohamed El-Sayed

Changes to the health insurance system see the opposition raising the spectre of privatisation, reports Karim El-Khashab

Serene Assir reports on the continued detention of four Muslim Brotherhood members accused of links with Al-Qaeda

For large stretches in Cairo and Giza, the River Nile is girdled with high-rise buildings and other encroachments. Reem Leila looks at means to preserve Egypt's principal lifeline

Palestinian sectarian violence looks more and more like Iraq, reveals Khaled Amayreh

Israeli analysts are working round the clock to formulate the best strategy for surviving the fallout of America's inevitable withdrawal from Iraq, writes Saleh Al-Naami

The JDP is cleverly pre-empting the military with its plans for a civilian constitution, reports Gareth Jenkins

Ban Ki-Moon is in Khartoum for talks with Sudanese officials and Darfur tops the agenda, writes Gamal Nkrumah

While the economy may be geared towards unprecedented growth, average citizens have yet to taste its fruit. Sherine Abdel-Razek listened to the debate at the Euromoney conference

Six years after 9/11 and the US-led occupation of Afghanistan, the Taliban are making a remarkable comeback, writes Gamal Nkrumah

Benazir Bhutto thought she had a deal with General Musharraf -- until Nawaz Sharif came along, writes Graham Usher in Islamabad

As demonstrators march on the White House with a million signatures on a petition to impeach Bush and Cheney, doubts persist about the event that made them "wartime leaders", says Eric Walberg

If it was up to you, who would you want to be? Hadeel Al-Shalchi handed out a questionnaire to young people in which they were asked to choose a role model. A sample of their answers follows

By Moushira Abdel-Malek

Ahli got the job done, but just barely, and are now in the semi-finals of the African Champions League, reports Ahmed Morsy