Garang is in Cairo, Al-Bashir threatens to execute his mentor Al-Turabi and the Darfur catastrophe worsens: Gamal Nkrumah examines crisis-ridden Sudan

The surprise about Israel's assassination of a Hamas leader in Damascus was not that it happened -- but that it provoked such little protest, writes Graham Usher in Jerusalem

Despite assurances from several quarters, Iraqi elections in January will be far from easy to hold. Salah Hemeid reports

It has been Sharon's year, and so will be the next without a fundamental change of Palestinian strategy, governance and policy, writes Graham Usher in Jerusalem

As long as there is occupation, there will be resistance, Hamas leader Khaled Meshal tells Amira Howeidy

The vast majority of Palestinians killed by Israel in the past four years played no role in the resistance. Khaled Amayreh meets a survivor

Last week's second annual NDP conference revealed the clear predominance of Gamal Mubarak and his reform team. Omayma Abdel-Latif tries to figure out how democratic their reform agenda might be

Opposition parties wholeheartedly rejected the relatively progressive amendments proposed by the NDP to some key political laws. Gamal Essam El-Din reports

Gihan Shahine digs into last week's dubious abduction of six Egyptian telecom engineers in Iraq

The escalating hostage-taking drama and bloody US reprisals have cast a dark shadow of doubt on the future democratisation process in Iraq, writes Hassan Hamid from Baghdad

High on the heels of a withdrawal of some 3,000 Syrian soldiers, the Lebanese opposition, no longer restricted to Christian Maronites, is playing hardball, reports Mohalhel Fakih from Beirut

It will take more than good intentions to implement the latest tax reform proposals, reports Sherine Nasr

The government is pumping new blood into the privatisation programme, reports Niveen Wahish

Opening this week, the Frankfurt Book Fair has prompted much commentary on Arab culture in the German media

Energy, energy, energy, and the desire to interact

by Yasmine El-Rashidi

As the nations' schools and universities kick-off another school year, Farouk El-Baz considers the role of education in the reform of the Arab world

As Egyptologists from around the world gathered in Grenoble, Nevine El-Aref was there to follow the controversies and delight in a world which combines the love of erudition with a passion for the past