Iraq's security pact with Washington hardly signals an end to the country's woes, writes Salah Hemeid

The ruling NDP's bid to muster national support for its new privatisation programme is already encountering fierce opposition, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

India shows the way during the first state visit of President Mubarak in a quarter century, says Gamal Nkrumah

The Ministry of Manpower and Immigration has issued a blacklist of Saudi companies accused of abusing foreign workers, Reem Leila reports

The bloody confrontations in Sinai between Bedouin tribes and security forces may just be the tip of the iceberg, reports Amirah Ibrahim

Is there a price to be paid for the import of low cost wheat from Russia and the Ukraine, wonders Reem Leila

With Israel's breach of the ceasefire in Gaza, Saleh Al-Naami laments yet another example of Israeli-PA collusion which victimises Hamas

Khaled Amayreh in occupied East Jerusalem shudders at the drift to fascism in Israeli politics

Hamas is determined that if Mahmoud Abbas is to remain president beyond 9 January 2009, it is only through "a package agreement", writes Dina Ezzat

Obama's victory has seismic repercussions for upcoming Iranian presidential elections, predicts Mustafa El-Labbad

Will talk do more than bluster, asks Bassel Oudat from Damascus

Time will only tell what effect this week's court ruling freezing Egyptian gas exports to Israel will imply, reports Sherine Nasr

Magda Shahin writes on the arrival of three major US financing agencies onto the Egyptian scene

Citizens reacted to the proposed plan to give them free shares in public sector companies with disbelief, confusion and amusement, Niveen Wahish reports

Inside a charmed circle, G20 nations make the most of their economic prowess in Washington to the detriment of those without, writes Gamal Nkrumah

A flurry of meetings last week -- in Nice, Brussels and Sharm El-Sheikh -- show the changing face of Russian-Western relations, says Eric Walberg

Amira El-Noshokaty reports on the downside of school education

The newly discovered subsidiary pyramid of queen Sesheshet, mother of King Teti I, the founder of the Sixth Dynasty, is another clue to understand more such an enigmatic dynasty as Nevine El-Aref writes

The different ways in which history is treated in television dramas are many and varied, but the nearer they stay to the facts the better they are, says Ghada Abdel-Kader

Amira El-Noshokaty enjoys reading some of the shortest plays ever

CAIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL -- 18-28 NOVEMBER

Gamal Nkrumah on the contest that clusters together Asian, Arab and Italian-inspired dishes with an accent on distinctness

Ahli of Egypt won a record sixth CAF African Champions League crown after drawing 2-2 with Coton Sport of Cameroon. Inas Mazhar covered the pulsating final and the joys on Cairo's streets