News stories by Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, page 9

When Ahmed al-Tayeb, the newly-appointed grand sheikh of Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar religious institution, relinquished his membership in President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), it carried significance.

Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), rocked Egypt's political arena last year by announcing his desire to contest the presidency. But while the idea has fired the imagination of political activists, many analysts remain sceptical.

Egypt embarked on 'neo-liberal' economics more than three decades ago reorienting its socialist-oriented policies towards those of the 'free market.' Now, however, many critics call the strategy a failure and blame it for the country's rampant poverty and unemployment.

A decision by the government to ban the veil in some academic institutions has reignited debate about personal rights.

For the last decade, the autumn skies over Egypt - especially over capital Cairo, have been overshadowed by a thick haze people call 'the black cloud'.

As authorities consider suspending a whole academic year to check the spread of swine flu among school children there is a feeling that measures to contain the H1N1 virus - known to be less dangerous than the one responsible for seasonal flu - are going over the top.

Egypt has long been recognised as the cultural trendsetter of the Arabic- speaking world. Despite recent challenges to this role with the advent of satellite television, experts say that contemporary Arab culture remains largely defined by Egyptian literature, music, film and television.

Amazingly, just when all four parties - the U.S., its allies in the Arab world, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel - seemed to have hit rock bottom in terms of the prospects of moving the region away from conflict and towards peace, all of a sudden everything seems to be pointing in the exact opposition direction.

Leaders of Egypt's Coptic Christian Church have voiced support for Gamal Mubarak, son of President Hosni Mubarak, as preferred candidate for president. Concurrently, however, some Coptic activists are calling for demonstrations against what they see as official state bias against Christians.

Signs are emerging of some narrowing of differences over the sharing of Nile waters.