CAIRO: The former leader of the Al-Nagoun min Al-Nar (Delivered from Hell) organization, Magdy Zenhom Al-Safty, is the latest imprisoned insurgent to renounce violence as a means of achieving political goals. According to a statement received by Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper earlier this week, Al-Safty “welcomed the end of all military operations and violence in general. …

CAIRO: Two Coptic Christian rights activists have been arrested in Egypt for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) on a British-based website, their lawyer and a judicial source said on Thursday. Security forces on Wednesday arrested the Egyptian Country Director of the Middle East Christian Association (MECA) Adel Fawzi, 61, and the association s photographer Peter …

ALEXANDRIA: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip was destructive to the quest for a Palestinian state and reiterated his rejection of any talks with the insurgent group. Abbas made the comments after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, part of a flurry of meetings ahead of a US-sponsored peace …

CAIRO: In a letter to Egypt’s Ministry of Interior, Human Rights Watch demanded an immediate investigation into allegations that Egyptian border officials brutally killed four Sudanese refugees as they tried to flee into Israel. The murders of these four refugees, which reportedly occurred the night of Wednesday Aug. 1, were witnessed by Israeli soldiers patrolling …

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group, declared that they are in the final stages of announcing what they called the Muslim Brotherhood party program without applying for legal political party status, deputy leader Mohamed Habib told Daily News Egypt. The Brotherhood will announce its strategy, policies and opinions regarding different political, social and economic issues, …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak will host Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Alexandria today for discussions following the first visit by an Israeli prime minister to Palestinian lands in seven years last Monday. Abbas arrived in Egypt Tuesday after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jericho, the West Bank to discuss the future of the …

CAIRO: A Cairo military court resumed the tribunal of the 40 high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood detainees and examined their personal possessions yesterday. Lawyers, journalists and human rights groups were not allowed to attend the court session, although the hearing was open to the public. Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud, Muslim Brotherhood s lawyer, told Daily News Egypt …

RAMALLAH: In his business, people call him A-Ra’is or the captain, a title given to every tunnel owner in Rafah. “You can call me Abu Ziad, he says, while using the bottom of his dusty T-shirt to wipe the sweat off his forehead. After a short walk through an alley of a crowded neighborhood, we …

CAIRO: Domestic and international human rights groups denounced the military trial of 40 Muslim Brotherhood members, which entered its third session yesterday. Many of these groups called on President Hosni Mubarak to allow observers to attend the trials to ensure that it is carried out fairly. The third session of the trial, being held at …

CAIRO: Palestinians stranded in Egypt after the closure of the Rafah crossing could all be back by the end of the week if the rate of return continues as it is. A further 950 Palestinians made their way to Al-Oja crossing Sunday to bring the number of returned Palestinians up to 3,350 since the crossing …

CAIRO: A three-hour long meeting gathered Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as well as Palestinian and Israeli officials in the West Bank Monday. Olmert became the first Israeli leader to visit a Palestinian territory in seven years when he met with Abbas on the outskirts of Jericho in the West …

CAIRO: Out of 177 states, Egypt ranks 36 in the failed states index compiled by The Fund for Peace (FfP), an independent educational, research, and advocacy organization based in Washington, DC and published in the July/August issue of Foreign Policy Magazine. State failure, defined among most academic circles, means state loss of physical control over …

JERUSALEM: Israeli security officials on Monday warned citizens traveling in Egypt, Jordan and other Muslim countries to leave immediately due to a concrete and severe threat of terror attacks. Israelis anywhere in the world should also be alert to the danger of being kidnapped by operatives from Hezbollah, according to the announcement from Israel s …

CAIRO: Judicial Affairs Minister Mufid Shehab announced that Egypt’s state of emergency, which has been in place for almost 30 years, will be lifted next year, the Middle East News Agency (Mena) reported. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had pledged during the 2005 presidential elections that the emergency law would be lifted, but then said it …

EL-ARISH, Egypt: Around 2,000 Palestinians are still trapped in Egypt after the latest batch was allowed to return home to the Gaza Strip via Israel on Monday, a Palestinian security source told AFP. The source said that 900 Palestinians had reached the Al-Oja (Nizana) checkpoint, to the east of the divided town of Rafah on …

CAIRO: Appointed at the end of January, General Coordinator of Kefaya Abdel Wahab El Messiri reiterated his commitment to stepping down from his post at the end of his term. I want to lay the rules for a democratic process, he told Daily News Egypt. This is unlike other opposition groups, which do not have …

CAIRO: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned the final verdict against opposition leader Ayman Nour and hoped the court would positively oversee the appeal, but experts believe US intervention will not be effective in Nour’s case. According to Agence France Presse, Rice discussed the case with President Mubarak in her last visit to the …

CAIRO: Around 2,400 Palestinians out of 6,000 stranded in Egypt for weeks have made it back to Gaza since Israel started allowing them passage last week, a Palestinian security source told AFP. On Thursday, 800 Palestinians reached the Al-Oja (Nizana) cargo crossing on the Egypt-Israel border, south of the divided town of Rafah, the official …

CAIRO: No shortage of commentary followed last summer’s war between Hezbollah and Israel, and the image of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on kiosks around Cairo, as in other cities throughout the mainly Sunni Arab world, seemed a quick explanation for the war’s regional impact. And yet opinion on Hezbollah since has often been confined to …

CAIRO: The need to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “indispensable , Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in Paris Wednesday, where he was meeting with French President, Nicholas Sarkozy. Over a working dinner the two leaders discussed several regional issues including Lebanon, Iran and Syria. The Darfur crisis and Sarkozy’s proposed ‘Mediterranean Union’ were also part …

CAIRO: It is difficult to imagine the atmosphere in Tora Prison these days. For years the notorious penitentiary south of Cairo has confined many Islamists with known links to violence. More recently, however, the number of those within the prison walls propagating violence in the name of Islam has sharply declined. One time Jihadists are …

CAIRO: The recently announced US initiative to arm its friends in the Middle East to limit Iranian influence may plunge the region into an intense arms race, political pundits told Daily News Egypt Although Syria was mentioned as one of the US’s concerns in the region, the military buttressing of its allies was portrayed primarily …

CAIRO: An estimated 20,000 people participated Wednesday afternoon in the funeral procession of a 15-year-old boy who died the previous morning after clashes between Bedouins and police in the Maassura area between Rafah and Al-Arish, according to an eyewitness. Ouda Mohammed Ouda Arafat, 15, died Tuesday morning as a result of injuries sustained in a …

CAIRO: President of the Judges’ Club Zakaria Abdel Aziz demanded changes to the Club’s regulations that would restrict the presidency of the club to one term. Hisham Al Bastawisy, member of the Judges’ Club and vice chairman of the Court of Appeals told Daily News Egypt that this change will also forbid any president from …

CAIRO: Six Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated men were arrested without charge by state security on July 18th and three have completely disappeared, according to Brotherhood MP Hamdy Hassan. Nobody has been able to get information on their whereabouts since their arrest despite persistent attempts by their families, their lawyer, and Hassan. Khalaf Ahmed, the Muslim Brotherhood lawyer …

RAFAH: Angry Bedouins on Wednesday hurled stones, destroyed a police checkpoint and set a police truck on fire in the third day of unrest near Egypt s border with Gaza, police and eyewitnesses said. The violence was sparked by an Egyptian plan to demolish houses along the country s porous boundary with the Gaza Strip …

CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Paris yesterday for his first official meeting with French President Nicholas Sarkozy. They had met previously on Mubarak’s trip to Paris in April this year, when Sarkozy was running for the French Presidency. The two leaders were due to speak about French policy in the Middle East, Sarkozy’s …

CAIRO: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit agreed that the Lebanese conflict must be solved with help from other countries in their meeting in Cairo Sunday night. “The Lebanese situation is complicated and difficult, and needs efforts from other countries, like France, Saudi Arabia as well as the Arab League, …

CAIRO: A 15- year-old boy died yesterday morning following clashes between police and 2,000 Bedouin protesters demonstrating on the road between Rafah and Al-Arish in the Maassura area on Monday. Tagammu party member and former parliamentary candidate Hussein El Qayem was present at the protest and told Daily News Egypt that Ouda Mohammed Ouda Arafat, …

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were set to depart Monday for a vital Middle East mission seeking Arab support for Iraq and consultations on aid and weapons sales to allies in the region. Amid growing calls at home to withdraw US forces in Iraq, Rice and Gates were expected …