He received three unpalatable meals a day usually a sandwich of bread and cheese, or cold rice with canned vegetables, or soup.

NEWYORKER: Hellhole

Console yourself with dessert: the fermented-rice egg-drop soup tastes, intriguingly, like a bowl of lumpy, cold sake.

NEWYORKER: Biang!

America's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, recently cancelled a planned visit to Cairo, and Mr Mubarak was likely to face a cold reception during the annual trip to Washington he is expected to make in April.

ECONOMIST: Mubarak calls for a less pharaonic future | The