13 - 19 February 2003 [625]
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Inevitable war?
Time has run out for any Iraqi compromises say US officials. Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington
Snakes and ladders
Braced for the worst, Arab diplomats still hope war might be averted, reports Dina EzzatTied and bound
If they can't stop a war in Iraq, the Arabs are taking measures to limit the repercussions. Nevine Khalil reportsA new tack
As Sharon prepares to form yet another government, Egypt is reaching out to Israel. Soha Abdelaty reports on the change of tactics, if not of heartCommitment renewed
Mrs Suzanne Mubarak has officially inaugurated the site of the new American University in Cairo (AUC) campus situated in New Cairo, some 40 kilometres east of the university's present location...Photo Caption
Worldly and godly rites of faith: About two million Muslims this week stood on Mount Arafat where it is believed the gates of heaven are open to the prayers of the pious; they were winding up their hajj (pilgrimage), the fifth pillar of Islam...The calm before the storm
The confrontation between opposition MPs and the NDP-dominated People's Assembly is in a hiatus for the Eid holiday; however, as Gamal Essam El-Din reports, it may well explode when parliament resumes in just over a weekIndigenous space
Garbage collectors in Giza are negotiating with the governorate for a role alongside the foreign companies who are to take over waste management in the area this spring. Dena Rashed investigatesNewsreel
A journalist with the independent financial daily El-Alam El-Youm, Ibrahim El-Sahari, was arrested on Sunday...Who will fall first
Both Sharon and Arafat have their eyes fixed on the next phase of the conflict: the post-Saddam era. Jonathan Cook writes from JerusalemFears of catastrophe
While Israel maintained its repression in the occupied territories, Palestinians looked with dread at what may come once American missiles start hitting Iraq. Khaled Amayreh , in occupied Jerusalem, writesLiquid gold in the Levant?
Lebanon has the potential to become an oil and gas producing country, according to recent studies. Mouhalhil Fakih reports from BeirutBetween Jews and Arabs
Israel's Palestinian minority has effectively been forced to quit the country's political scene, says Jonathan CookApartheid unmasked
Israel has provided its citizens with gas masks against a possible Iraqi attack, but none to its 3.5 million Palestinian inhabitants. Talal Jabari reports from the West BankA tragedy in every home
The last time Yasser's mother saw her 11-year-old son, he had an Israeli bullet in his head. One year on, she spoke to Annika Hampson about childhood under occupationOccupation and Olympics
A Palestine boxing champion in Askar Refugee Camp -- where jogging could get you killed-- speaks about how training is being held under occupation
The Godfather's war
The expected war against Iraq, says former Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, is anything but a weapons issue -- and its repercussions might prove catastrophic, reports Amira HoweidyHot under
The United States is increasingly isolated in its hawkish stance on Iraq, but it is too late to change course, writes Ayman El-AmirTreading water
France this week joined Russia and Germany in calling for a reinforcement of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq and vetoing proposals to send NATO reinforcements to Turkey, writes David Tresilian from ParisEvery nation for itself
Faced with impending war across the border, Turkey has no choice but to align itself with the US, writes Gareth Jenkins from IstanbulHopes and fears
Amid growing signs of war in Iraq, the Turkish capital played host this week to a meeting of Turkish and US officials with several Iraqi opposition leaders. James Martone , in Ankara, listened to the Iraqi leaders express hopes and fears concerning the future of their countryOver a barrel
Africa begs to differ with Washington over Iraq, Gamal Nkrumah writesCaught red-handed
A scandal over the sources of a British government dossier on Iraq is more than an embarrassment, it's a disturbing look into the British intelligence apparatusBackdoor friendship
When push comes to shove, will India stand by Iraq? In Delhi, Saba Naqvi Bhaumik reads between the linesUnder wraps
A flurry of recent reports on the impact of a war in Iraq are building the case for an impending humanitarian disaster, writes Nyier AbdouThe war no one wants
In an interview with Ibrahim Nafie , US Secretary of State Colin Powell unpacks the argument for war in Iraq and shrugs off the imperialist labelBetween Saddam and a hard place
Can the Iraqi opposition run a post-Saddam Iraq? asks Omayma Abdel-LatifUntying the knot
THE FIRST Iraqi opposition conference held on Iraqi soil was in the city of Salahuddin, in northern Iraq, at the end of October 1992...On record:
Sleeping splendour
On my last night in Baghdad, I attended a peace concert put on by the chamber group of the Baghdad Symphony Orchestra...
No bed of roses
The pound's floatation continues to be the talk of the townPound down, prices up
The drop in the value of the pound and its purchasing power has brought on fears of a recession. Mona El Fiqi reportsGoing for gold
Gold prices are skyrocketing. Sherine Nasr looks at whyFor the future
The 11th annual Al-Ahram Computer and Information Technology Exhibition (ACITEX) held last week at the Cairo International Conference Centre, brought together 200 companies and a flood of visitors...Briefs
Prime Minister Atef Ebeid has affirmed that exporters are free to manage hard currency revenues from their exports...US goes orange
With war drums beating, the United States terror alert level has been shifted to 'high', writes Anayat Durrani from WashingtonNew friends, old foes
Pakistan courts Russia and receives a diplomatic snub from India, writes Iffat Idris from IslamabadSomething to build on?
A year after the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan's reconstruction, Negar Azimi reviews the political and socio-economic situation in the war-torn countryA matter of morality
South African Cabinet Minister Ronnie Kasrils spoke to Gamal Nkrumah about Palestinian national self-determination and the importance of potable water as a fundamental human right
Courting self-destruction?
Baghdad can still act to defuse the rush to war, writes Ibrahim NafieA monument to hypocrisy
Every one of us must raise our voices, and march in protest, now and again and again, writes Edward SaidAs war is being decided
What lies behind President Bush's saying "the game is over", asks Mohamed Sid-AhmedThought in times of war: The logic of stagnation
Why is it the victim that stands accused? Anouar Abdel-Malek analyses the reversal of logicSteadfast... for how long?
Famously resistant to change though the Arab world may be, the current crisis could be the end of an era, writes Gamil MattarBahgory One-line: Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Barad'ie
Editorial: Hollow greetings
The greeting sent by US President Bush to the Palestinians on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, in which he reaffirmed Washington's commitment to a Palestinian state, is at once more and less than it may seem...Close up
Full steam ahead
Can the war against Iraq be stopped? The question is being asked around the world. In the past few days international opposition to the American-led war has grown...
By Salama A SalamaSoapbox
A delicate balance
The decision to free the exchange rate was badly timed, occurring when Egypt maintains a severe deficit in trade and services, with a weak tourism sector, shrinking remittances by expatriate Egyptian workers, and the strong demand for foreign currency, associated with the Hajj season.
By Ahmed El-Sayed El-NaggarThe Eid in Gamaliya
No sooner does the Eid arrive than I start thinking of the neighbourhood of Gamaliya, that beautiful section of Fatimid Cairo in which I was born and spent my childhood...
By Naguib Mahfouz
A promise unfulfilled
Amal Choucri Catta finds all is not as it should bePlain Talk
It seems that poetry is receiving a boost in England.Over the rainbow
Alfred Farag's Quixotic Ali Janah El-Tabrizi and his servant Quffah, surface at the AUC. Nehad Selaiha was there to welcome themIn progress:
Cremaster dreams
Doaa Aly, a graduate of the Fine Arts College, Cairo University, exhibited paintings in the first Nitaq, the downtown arts event, in 1999, contributing what has been described as "a three-dimensional comic strip" to the second Nitaq in 2000...Photo caption
Mauro Frascotti, Comic Strip, Egypt: The Townhouse Gallery's exploration of contemporary cartoons continues until 26 February and includes a full programme of workshops held alongside exhibitions...Briefs
Actor Alaa Waleieddin passed away in hospital on Tuesday, following a diabetic coma that set in on Monday..
The greatest of sculptors
Gamil Shafik considers the substance of nature and art at the Eighth International Symposium on Sculpture and ponders what makes an artist of the Western DesertThe Badr phenomenon
Badr Abdel-Moghni Ali was born in Farafra Oasis in 1958. He is a "spontaneous artist", the kind who falls in love with his surroundings and discovers within himself an artistic gift; a gift he employs to enhance and preserve the beauty he has found in the traditions and nature of the oasis..Necessary violence
The prospect of Eid Al-Adha remains by and large a vision of sacrifice...
By Youssef RakhaJust say no
Injy El-Kashef hides among the fishApple Meringue
Weekly recipe
By Moushira Abdel-MalekLess sheep for sharing
As the nation celebrates Eid Al-Adha, Injy El-Kashef finds out that the rise in market prices has somewhat dampened the festive holiday spiritSpanish show
The Egyptian Museum is putting on a series of exhibitions highlighting the work of foreign missions in Egypt. Nevine El-Aref viewed the current displayDig days:
The curse and the dwarf
When planning what to include in the "Hidden Treasures" exhibition in the basement of the Cairo Museum, now open to the public, I thought it might be time to put on view some of the remarkable artefacts I have discovered...New discoveries
A massive head of Amenhotep III and six statues of the goddess Sekhmet saw the light of day last week, Nevine El-Aref reports
Roses all the way
What is the ultimate way to spend Valentine's Day: lying in the desert under a starry sky or soaking in a bath of rose petals? Aline Kazandjian samples both in search of the perfect partners' paradiseTally me bananas
A sunset felucca ride to Banana Island... what more could one ask? But, as Rebekah Logan discovers, the road to paradise is paved with promises
Super-duper
The African Super Cup has been added to Zamalek's growing trophy chestIt's cricket but it's not
A wise man once said you shouldn't mix something as nice as politics with something as nasty as sports...Final whistle
Big-game and big-name referee Gamal El-Ghandour calls it a day. He spoke to Inas Mazhar about his past and futureA possible partner
Laws in print
A romance between Egypt and Libya to host the 2010 World Cup may be premature. A final decision for a joint bid is far beyond the Egyptian Association's office at Gabalaya Street, reports Eric Asmougha
As late as 1880, Egypt had no laws regulating the press. Rather, "royal will" had the power to toss a journalist into prison for allegedly exceeding the limits. However, such arbitrariness would not continue. The growing number of local and foreign publications, writes, Professor Yunan Labib Rizk , would make legislation inevitable
By Yunan Labib RizkTahani El-Gebali: A question of judgement
No winding pathways for Egypt's first woman judge
By Amina ElbendaryPack of Cards
By Madame Sosostris
Limelight
By Lubna Abdel-Aziz