Images of Egypt's president have appeared for the first time since he underwent surgery in Germany over a week ago.
Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country for nearly three decades, was said to be recovering well following the operation on his gallbladder, which had sparked concerns over the state of his health.
Egyptian state television released the video on Tuesday of Mubarak, 81, talking to two doctors.
"He was upbeat and in very good spirits as usual," Dr Markus Buechler, head of his medical team, said.
"His resolve and willpower ... was very obvious this morning as he looked forward to going back to his normal life."
An Egyptian government spokesman said Mubarak would address the nation by the end of the week.
A statement by Egyptian authorities said he left intensive care at the Heidelberg hospital last Wednesday, and that tests showed he did not have cancer.
Speculation over health
The release of the video comes after a swirl of rumours and speculation over his health, after a marked lack of pictures following his surgery on March 6.
Amr El-Kahky, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Egypt, said news of Mubarak's improvement gave a boost to Cairo's main stock market index, which bounced back from a six per cent loss over the past two days.
Mubarak, who has never appointed a vice-president since he took over in 1981, handed powers temporarily to his prime minister, Ahmed Nazif, before the operation.
He has not said whether he will run again for a sixth six-year term in the 2011 presidential election.
Many Egyptians believe that if he does not, he will try to hand power to his politician son, Gamal, 46. Both Mubaraks deny any such plan.
In 2005, Mubarak allowed multi-candidate elections which he won overwhelmingly, but election observers said at the time there were irregularities in the polls.
In parliamentary elections the same year, police closed down polling stations and judges who oversaw the election said some results were rigged in favour of government candidates.
Opposition groups in the country command little power, but dissidents have been galvanised by a new reform group founded by Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear agency.
Last month, ElBaradei flew to Cairo to a rapturous welcome from supporters and formed the National Association for Change.
He has said he is prepared to run against Mubarak in the 2011 presidential election.
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The Middle East.
11.3.10
US family seeks Israeli damages
US family seeks Israeli damages
The family of a US student activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza has launched a case against the Israeli government.
Rachel Corrie, whose family is seeking $324,000 in damages from the defence ministry, was one of several foreign activists killed in confrontations with Israel in occupied territory in the past decade.
She was nonviolently protesting against Palestinian home demolitions when the army bulldozer crushed her to death.
The proceedings on Wednesday in the Haifa district court in northern Israel, are likely to stoke controversy over Israel's treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters.
The Israeli army says Corrie, 23, a member of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, was fatally hit by a concrete slab on March 16, 2003, as a bulldozer cleared a hideout for Palestinian fighters in the Gaza area.
The Israeli government failed to conduct a thorough investigation into Corrie's killing and her family, advised by the US state department, then filed a private lawsuit five years ago.
Witness accounts
Corrie's family, citing witness accounts, has charged the Israeli driver must have spotted her before moving the blade in her direction.
But Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibovich, an Israeli army spokeswoman, told the Reuters news agency in an interview that "the crew inside the bulldozer did not see her nor hear her".
She said tear gas and stun grenades had been fired to warn protesters to flee.
Cindy Corrie, the victim's mother, said in a statement: "As we approach the seven-year anniversary of Rachel's killing, my family and I are still searching for justice."
According to the family, the aim of the trial is not to get compensation but to find out the circumstances behind Rachel's death and hold the Israeli military responsible.
Four other activists who witnessed the incident in Gaza are to testify in the case.
Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Haifa, said: "In a very interesting twist, just a few days ago, the state of Israel filed a motion that was accepted by the court, which means that they have 30 days after the end of this two-week period to submit witness testimonies and affadavits.
"Its a very unusual motion to have been granted. It means that the plaintiffs will be giving their testimonies without knowing what Israel has up its sleeves.
"The family lawyer said this is just a way to delay the whole procedure."
Israelis have shown little sympathy for Corrie, whose death occurred at the height of a Palestinian uprising in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank in which thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis were killed.
The case is expected to fuel anger in a nation facing accusations by a UN report that its army and Palestinian fighters committed war crimes during the 2008-9 Israel-Gaza conflict.
Steven Plaut, an Israeli from Haifa, charged in a column for the Jewish Press newspaper that Corrie's parents were a "two-person anti-Israel propaganda SWAT team" who supported Israel's enemies.
Source
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The family of a US student activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza has launched a case against the Israeli government.
Rachel Corrie, whose family is seeking $324,000 in damages from the defence ministry, was one of several foreign activists killed in confrontations with Israel in occupied territory in the past decade.
She was nonviolently protesting against Palestinian home demolitions when the army bulldozer crushed her to death.
The proceedings on Wednesday in the Haifa district court in northern Israel, are likely to stoke controversy over Israel's treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters.
The Israeli army says Corrie, 23, a member of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, was fatally hit by a concrete slab on March 16, 2003, as a bulldozer cleared a hideout for Palestinian fighters in the Gaza area.
The Israeli government failed to conduct a thorough investigation into Corrie's killing and her family, advised by the US state department, then filed a private lawsuit five years ago.
Witness accounts
Corrie's family, citing witness accounts, has charged the Israeli driver must have spotted her before moving the blade in her direction.
But Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibovich, an Israeli army spokeswoman, told the Reuters news agency in an interview that "the crew inside the bulldozer did not see her nor hear her".
She said tear gas and stun grenades had been fired to warn protesters to flee.
Cindy Corrie, the victim's mother, said in a statement: "As we approach the seven-year anniversary of Rachel's killing, my family and I are still searching for justice."
According to the family, the aim of the trial is not to get compensation but to find out the circumstances behind Rachel's death and hold the Israeli military responsible.
Four other activists who witnessed the incident in Gaza are to testify in the case.
Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Haifa, said: "In a very interesting twist, just a few days ago, the state of Israel filed a motion that was accepted by the court, which means that they have 30 days after the end of this two-week period to submit witness testimonies and affadavits.
"Its a very unusual motion to have been granted. It means that the plaintiffs will be giving their testimonies without knowing what Israel has up its sleeves.
"The family lawyer said this is just a way to delay the whole procedure."
Israelis have shown little sympathy for Corrie, whose death occurred at the height of a Palestinian uprising in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank in which thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis were killed.
The case is expected to fuel anger in a nation facing accusations by a UN report that its army and Palestinian fighters committed war crimes during the 2008-9 Israel-Gaza conflict.
Steven Plaut, an Israeli from Haifa, charged in a column for the Jewish Press newspaper that Corrie's parents were a "two-person anti-Israel propaganda SWAT team" who supported Israel's enemies.
Source
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