At the end of a visit that started around 9am Cairo local time and lasted for over eight hours, US President Barack Obama left Egypt for Germany for the remainder of a Middle East-Europe tour that started Wednesday in Saudi Arabia and will end Saturday in France, Dina Ezzat

Dina Ezzat explores the prospects of the US president's address to the Muslim world, while Gihan Shahine gauges public sentiment

Getting Obama to move on Middle East peace will not be cheap for Arab countries, but officials deem the price worth paying, Dina Ezzat reports

There is no need for panic, say officials, as Egypt confirms its first case of swine flu, Reem Leila reports

Bar Association polls are over. What's next, asks Mona El-Nahhas

Gamal Essam El-Din reports on plans to increase women's representation in parliament

Journalists of Al-Ahram and Akhbar Al-Yom protested against the Shura Council decision to merge three publications into the two organisations, Reem Leila reports

Lower interest rates will bring mixed blessings. Hany Abou El-Fotouh identifies the potential winners and losers

Despite all international efforts to stop settlement expansion, the Israelis are going on with their plans, reports Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem

Ramallah's assassination of a Hamas commander in the West Bank may be the straw that breaks the back of Palestinian national reconciliation efforts, writes Saleh Al-Naami

ISRAEL this week said it was refusing to cooperate with a UN war crimes investigator who would look into war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip during the brutal Israeli army offensive against the coastal enclave five months ago, reports Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem

Lebanon votes next Sunday as polls suggest the opposition could emerge victorious, writes Omayma Abdel-Latif in Beirut

Lebanon's Christian regions will see the fiercest competition in this week's elections, Lucy Fielder reports from Metn

North Lebanon is the key battleground from which will emerge the next Lebanese prime minister, writes Omayma Abdel-Latif in Beirut

Ahead of Lebanon's upcoming elections Syria feigns indifference, but observers underline how crucial they will be, Bassel Oudat reports from Damascus

An outpouring of frustration and mistrust with Saudi Arabia contrasts with sunny vistas in Egypt, writes Salah Hemeid

In Swat the Pakistan army has shown it can take on the Taliban -- as long as Washington is nowhere in sight, writes Graham Usher in Mardan

Joseph Massad, Desiring Arabs, University of Chicago Press, 2007

Reading recent books on the history of the encounter between Islam and the West, both Christian and post-Christian, Youssef Rakha posits a single civilisation adjusting its constituent elements through the centuries

Amira Howeidy wonders just what Jad Shwery can do for the image of Arabs in the West

The desire to look youthful transcends differences of gender, age and economic status, finds Salonaz Sami

First it was the African Champions League. Now Ahli have crashed out of the Confederation Cup after a stunning loss in Angola, reports Ahmed Morsy

After warming up in the heat of Oman, the Egyptian national football team is setting its sights on the World Cup qualifier against Algeria on Sunday, Inas Mazhar reports