CAIRO: A Cairo court on Thursday ordered the release of a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood and nine others, detained last month as part of a massive clampdown on Egypt s Islamists, a judicial source said. Essam El-Erian, a member of the opposition group s political bureau, and the nine other Brothers had been …

CAIRO: The director of the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) has made the curious claim that the infamous shooting of the Palestinian child Mohamed Al-Durrah, was staged by a Gaza cameraman. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Daniel Seaman made the claim in an official letter representing the Israeli Prime Minister’s office on Tuesday. And …

CAIRO: After receiving the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy, former Managing Director and publisher of Al-Masry Al-Youm Hesham Kassem returned from Washington last week. During his trip, he met with President George W. Bush at the White House. Angry with the changes in America’s approach to pushing democracy in Egypt, Kassem returned …

CAIRO: Neither American concern over the human rights situation here nor the Egyptian government’s response to US criticism have been well-received by human rights advocates in Egypt. “Both US statements and the Egyptian responses give us a strong sense of déjà vu. It’s business as usual and we have learnt the hard way that all …

TEHRAN: A group of prominent MPs have warned over the presence of Italian clothing retailer Benetton in Iran, saying its fashions are a bad influence on female consumers, newspapers said on Monday. The reformist Etemad-e Melli said the five MPs – four members of parliament s cultural commission and a member of its legal commission …

CAIRO: Israel has remained silent on Egypt’s decision to allow some 100 Hamas loyalists to return straight to the Gaza Strip through a crossing in Rafah, bypassing Israeli territory. Egypt allowed the return of the Palestinians stranded in Egypt since last June back into Gaza through a small crossing for military vehicles in Rafah early …

CAIRO: The Bolaq court postponed Monday the trial of Ibrahim Eissa, chief editor of Al-Dostour daily newspaper, at the request of his lawyers who asked for more time to investigate the nine lawsuits filed against him. Eissa is accused of publishing wrong information about the president’s health and spreading rumors that threatened foreign investments in …

CAIRO: Egypt allowed the return of some 100 Hamas loyalists stranded in Egypt since last June back into Gaza through a small crossing for military vehicles in Rafah early Saturday. The Hamas members crossed at round 3 am on Saturday, according to the Tagammu party representative in North Sinai Alaa Al-Kashef who told Daily News …

KHARTOUM: At least 10 African Union peacekeepers have been killed and dozens are reported missing after an attack on their base in Sudan s western Darfur region, the AU said on Sunday. At least 10 soldiers were killed, seven wounded and dozens are missing, African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) spokesman Noureddine Mezni told AFP …

CAIRO: Around 400 people took to the streets to support the editors in chief of four independent newspapers who were handed jail terms for insulting President Mubarak and other National Democratic Party (NDP) members. Responding to a call by the Kefaya Movement for Change, protestors representing a wide range of political parties and currents including …

CAIRO: Palestinians are subjected to the worst kinds of human rights violations and the international community is unable to protect them, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has said. The Middle East has witnessed the most unjust incidents, the foreign minister added, and this continual occupation and injustice to the Palestinians and elsewhere around the world …

CAIRO: An annual report issued by renowned US think tank Freedom House, harshly criticizes Egypt for poor governance on a number of levels. “Countries at the Crossroads 2007: Country Report – Egypt, authored by Dennis J. Sullivan and Kimberly Jones of Northeastern University in Boston, examines several key indicators of democracy in Egypt, broken down …

CAIRO: Egypt has decided to send around 2,100 troops and personnel to join a UN-AU (African Union) peacekeeping force in Darfur, which should number 26,000 troops in total. The deployment of the new peacekeeping force is being sped up as the current AU-only force has failed to counter the violence, which has seen 200,000 killed …

CAIRO: Controversial ex-president of Zamalek club Mortada Mansour denied accusations that ex-opposition leader Ayman Nour made against him. Last week prisoner and former presidential candidate Nour filed a complaint against Mansour (both inmates in Tora farm prison) claiming that Mansour verbally assaulted him in public and threatened him with murder, while holding a wrapped piece …

CAIRO: Ibrahim Eissa, chief editor of Al-Dostour daily newspaper, predicts that he will be tried before a State Security court instead of Bolak court, he told Daily News Egypt. Eissa is accused of generating public panic and causing the country substantial losses in foreign investment by spreading rumors about President Hosni Mubarak s health. The …

CAIRO: Egypt dismissed Washington’s latest criticism of the recent crackdown on prominent media figures and the closure of a human rights group as interference in the country’s local affairs. A foreign ministry statement condemning the US criticism said that “The statement issued by the White House spokesperson over press freedom and civil society is interference …

Sociologist, dissident and now exile, Saad Eddin Ibrahim spoke to Daily News Egypt from the Qatari capital of Doha about his conflict with the Egyptian government. Ibrahim believes that although his Aug. 21 Washington Post editorial may have irked the regime, it was the conference on Arab Democracy followed by the brief meeting with President …

CAIRO: Under the title “No to imprisoning journalists, Al Ghad party organized a conference Monday to show solidarity with the four newspaper editors charged with insulting President Hosni Mubarak, his son and the ruling party. According to convicted editor Abd Al-Halim Kandil, they were also charged with insulting the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister. …

CAIRO: Israel appointed an inter-ministerial team Sunday to assist 498 Dafuri refugees they have decided to accept while expelling over 2,000 other refugees back to Egypt. Some 2,800 refugees have entered Israel from Egypt seeking asylum. Israel had decided to accept the ones from Darfur while sending the others back across the border. This is …

CAIRO: The Middle East Quartet released a statement after meeting in the UN headquarters on Sunday expressing support for the US-sponsored peace conference for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as well as their objection to the Israeli cut off of power to Gaza. A joint statement released by the members after they had been briefed by their …

BEIRUT: Lebanon s rival factions will have thrashed out agreement on a new president by November 24 when current President Emile Lahoud s term runs out, parliament speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday. By November 24, there will be a president of the republic who will have the approval of all the Lebanese, said the …

BAGHDAD: Insurgents killed at least 10 people in Iraq on Monday, including six in a suicide truck bomb attack in the northern town of Tal Afar, officials said. A bomber slammed his explosives-laden truck against a joint Iraqi police and army checkpoint in the centre of Tal Afar, the town s mayor Najim al-Juburi said. …

UNITED NATIONS: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed hope Sunday that key Arab nations, including Syria, will attend a Mideast peace conference this fall hosted by US President George W. Bush. Rice said invitations have not been issued yet but we would hope that the invitations would include the members of the Arab follow-up …

CAIRO: An Al-Qaeda umbrella group in Iraq posted a video tape on Saturday showing the killing of five kidnapped Iraqi army officers. The tape, posted by the Islamic State of Iraq, shows a masked gunman shooting the blindfolded officers in the back of the head with a pistol. The officers hands are bound behind their …

JERUSALEM: A coalition of Israeli human rights groups condemned the government s decision this week to cut back fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip, saying it violated international law. The government s decision to further isolate Gaza is aimed at doing what Israel s military has failed to do _ halt rocket barrages …

CAIRO: Prisoner and ex-opposition leader Ayman Nour filed a complaint against controversial ex-president of Zamlek club Mortada Mansour, in response to the latter s alleged defamation and death threat in Tora farm prison, where they are both inmates. Mansour, who was moved from Tora prison to Tora farm prison four months ago, allegedly verbally assaulted …

CAIRO: International efforts must be intensified to convince Palestinians that their future lies with the Palestinian Authority (PA) rather than Hamas, said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. “Today we are witnessing a race between two Palestinian leaders, two Palestinian entities, and that race is a race to convince the people [which] course is better, …

ALGIERS, Algeria: A bomb hit a police convoy escorting European workers in Algeria on Friday wounding nine people, the interior ministry said. Two French people, one Italian, their Algerian driver, and five gendarmes were injured but were out of danger, the ministry said in a statement. The attack was on a route between Lakhdaria and …

VIENNA: A 144-nation atomic energy conference criticized Israel Thursday for refusing to put its nuclear program under international purview, with the United States alone in supporting the Jewish state. Besides Washington, only Israel voted against the resolution while 53 nations backed it and 47 abstained. The remaining nations were absent for the highly unusual vote …

CAIRO: Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, deposed by the Palestinian Authority, contacted Egyptian intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman concerning the Israeli decision to declare Gaza an “enemy entity, a Hamas spokesman said. Suleiman, who plays a role as mediator between Palestinian factions, was said to have expressed deep concern to Haniyeh Thursday over the Israeli decision, …