The long awaited verdict has been announced -- death for business magnate Hisham Talaat Mustafa and former security officer Mohsen El-Sukkari for the killing of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim. Shaden Shehab was in court as the verdict was read

Netanyahu's reception in Washington suggests to Emad Gad that a Palestinian state could be closer than most people think

A recent government poll paints a confusing picture of a society where corruption is simultaneously condemned and coveted, reports Gihan Shahine

Accusations that substandard wheat has been imported from Russia have forced the government to propose new food safety measures, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

Cairo International Airport is using thermal body scanners to help detect passengers with swine flu, reports Amirah Ibrahim

Egypt's cull of its pig population is regarded as unnecessarily brutal, reports Reem Leila

Reem Leila reports on Mrs Suzanne Mubarak's inauguration of the final phase of the Zeinhom Urban Development Scheme

Lawyers are due to elect a new council and chair of the Bar Association. Mona El-Nahhas reviews the campaign

State security prosecutors are expected to start interrogating detainees believed to be behind the February Hussein bombings, reports Jailan Halawi

The 2009/2010 state budget was finally approved by the People's Assembly, with the finance minister ringing alarm bells on the budget deficit and local debt, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

A new World Bank report collates a wealth of experience in managing limited water resources. Niveen Wahish speaks to the co-authors

Pre-empting the outcome of national dialogue, Mahmoud Abbas has reappointed his unpopular premier. It won't do him good, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah

Having clung to it for long, Palestinian officials are seeing the basis of the two-state solution evaporate before their eyes, writes Saleh Al-Naami

With a more liberal government in Washington and a more hawkish one in Tel Aviv, this is some change, if only in rhetoric, says Anayat Durrani

While its founders believed that the violence and racism at the heart of Israel's birth would be forgotten, it isn't and never will be, writes Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem

Could the dynamics of democracy be moving finally in the right direction in Kuwait? Sherine Bahaa assesses the results of the Kuwaiti elections

Military manoeuvres and a network of spies: is Israel preparing for another war on Lebanon? In Beirut, Omayma Abdel-Latif seeks answers

Gamal Nkrumah scrutinises the sense of celebration among the citizens of Sri Lanka with this week's cruel crushing of the Tamil Tigers

Pakistan's war against the Taliban will be won in the refugee camps as much as in the mountains and cities, writes Graham Usher in Swabi near Swat

Chocolate Moelleux? Grand Cru Truffle ? Gamal Nkrumah takes an axe to the knots in the art of preparing xocolatl for the contemporary palate

The CAF Confederation Cup might not be good enough for Egypt's Ahli, but they appeared enthusiastic enough to try to win the title for the first time in their history, Ahmed Morsy reports

Amira El-Naqeeb witnesses the birth of a new sport in Egypt