Spot the difference – Egyptian paper puts leader in front

A state-run newspaper in Egypt has been caught taking a creative approach to improving their President's standing on the world stage: Photoshop. An eagle-eyed Egyptian blogger, Wael Khalil, exposed Al-Ahram's use of a doctored image, which shows Hosni Mubarak apparently leading a pack of world leaders, in a recent online post.

The original photograph showed Mr Mubarak lagging behind US President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan on the red carpet at the White House. Al-Ahram, which has the largest circulation of any Egyptian newspaper, published their altered version of the image on Tuesday. Already prompting a wave of spoof images, the embarrassing revelation arrives at a time when Egypt is preparing for parliamentary elections in November.

Al-Ahram has been accused of being "unprofessional" by the opposition group 6 April Youth Movement, who said: "This is what the corrupt regime's media has been reduced to."