"We wish all the time to be able to provide you fresh bread and to propose you a joy of eating life with bread."

--slogan of Kobeya Kitchen, a Japanese bakery/restaurant chain

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EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK HAS CALLED UPON THE EGYPTIAN ARMY AND INTERIOR MINISTRY TO INCREASE BREAD PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION in the poorer districts of Cairo and other major cities in response to rioting and long lines outside bakeries over recent days.

Said riots and queues having been aggravated by high wheat prices on the global markets and rumours of corruption among bakeries producing subsidised bread for the poor @ an official price of five piastres (about a penny) a loaf; in contrast, free-market bread sells for as much as 10-12 times the price of subsidised loaves.

Which, by American standards, is cheap however you slice it.

But in Egypt, a substantial number of its 70 million populace lives below the poverty line, and cannot live without subsidised bread.

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MEANWHILE, BACK IN IRAQ, NOTWITHSTANDING THE CONTINUED PRESENCE OF AMERICAN COLONIAL OCCUPATION FORCES, a newly-released poll jointly commissioned by broadcasters ABC (USA), BBC (GB), ARD (D) and NHK (JPN) reveals that the Iraqis are showing some semblance of optimism five years into the ur-RAHOWA-turning-misadventure.

Howbeit guarded, considering the continued and continuing American Colonial Occupation which His Fraudulency and his hand-picked (as it were) successor, The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, insists will be now, tomorrow and forever (even if there has been a decline in the numbers of those wanting American troops to leave Iraq forthwith).

The BBC, one of the co-sponsors of the survey of 2,000 Iraqis across all its provinces, elaborates further:

While 55% of all Iraqis believe that their lives are good, only 33% of Sunnis are happy with their lives, compared with 62% of Shias and 73% of Kurds.

"In spite of all the improvements, the Sunni population of Iraq clearly remains deeply alienated, and deeply hostile," our correspondent says.

Some 62% of those polled say security in their own area is good - up from 43% last year - but exactly half of all Iraqis still rate security as the biggest problem for the country overall.

And Iraqis are still reporting problems with the provision of basic services.

Large majorities of Iraqis - 88%, 81% and 61% respectively - say that the availability of water, fuel and electricity is "very bad" or "quite bad".

These results echo the findings of a Red Cross report on the humanitarian situation in Iraq.

The Red Cross found that millions of Iraqis have little or no access to clean water, sanitation and healthcare, with some families spending a third of their average monthly wage of $150 (£75) just buying clean water.

And Iraqi public hospitals provide only 30,000 beds, less than half of the 80,000 needed, the report says.

Next month, the top US commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, will testify before the US Congress about progress in Iraq since the beginning of the "surge", when 30,000 extra troops were sent to the country.

One of the stated aims of the surge was to provide enough security to allow Iraqi politicians to hammer out a lasting political settlement.

The poll suggests that Iraqis are sceptical about political progress.

Only 21% believe that the increase in US forces has made conditions for political dialogue in Iraq better, while 43% think the surge has made conditions worse.

And 38% want American forces to leave immediately, compared with 35% who want the troops to remain until security has been restored.

The survey suggests that support for the Iraqi government is returning, after a drop-off in recent years.

Just under 50% of Iraqis now have confidence in the government, up from 39% in March 2007.

"Iraq seems to be holding together as a country. Overwhelming numbers of both Sunnis and the Shia still want it to remain a unified nation," says John Simpson.

"By comparison the Kurds are the splitters. Only 10% of them want to keep the country together."

Support for Iraqi security forces remains high, with 67% expressing confidence in the police and 65% in the army.

In contrast, public confidence in local militias has fallen since last year.

In March 2007 it stood at 36%, by August it was down to 24%, and it has fallen another 2% since then, to 22%.

Within that, Shia feelings about local militias has fallen the most steeply.

In March 2007, 51% of Shias had confidence in militias - now that figure has declined to 28%, the survey suggests.

The poll is the fifth such survey to be conducted since the beginning of the US-led invasion in 2003.

Reinforced by glowing-sounding earnings claims as are unlikely to be realised by respondents, let alone substantiated by advertisers--who, come to think of it, are more than likely to offer what amounts to time-limited "make-work" positions as are unlikely to constitute work by even the requirements for "work experience" in state workfare schemes.