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Robert Fisk As the Pope arrives in Cairo, Sisi puts on a show of military strength

It must be the most dangerous trip Pope Francis has ever made, into the very heart of the capital of the largest Arab nation whose Isis tormentors long ago decided that Christians would be their “prey”. But Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who used to be a field marshal, seems to be turning it into a symbolic demonstration of his army’s power.

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Into the Water, review

There’s no doubt that Into the Water will sell a lot of copies. Like Paula Hawkins’ 2015 hit The Girl On the Train, this, her second thriller, is one that will appear on those “beach reads” round-ups and stick around on bestseller stands at airports for months to come. Then, just when even your friend who “doesn’t do books” has read it, the film will come out ­– the rights have already been sold – and it will start again, this time with a Hollywood A-Lister on the cover. But is it any good? Well, I won’t deny that I was semi-gripped. Not quite still-reading-it-on-the-Tube-escalator gripped, but sufficiently so that I eschewed company at lunchtime for a few days to finish it.

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