Associated Press EL-ARISH: A potential Palestinian suicide bomber and 10 Egyptians were arrested in the northern Sinai peninsula, a security official said on Thursday. The Palestinian, identified as Hamid Al-Nador, was detained Tuesday while wearing an explosive belt inside a beach resort in the border city of El-Arish, the security official said speaking on condition …

CAIRO: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Egypt on March 25 to meet with the so-called Arab Quartet on Middle East peace, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Tuesday. Mrs Rice will arrive in Egypt on March 25 and will participate in a day-long meeting of the Arab Quartert in …

Associated Press CAIRO: Egypt s judiciary chief has named the country s first female judges despite opposition from conservative Muslims, according to a decree published Wednesday. Mukbil Shakir, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, gave 31 women judge or chief judge positions in Egypt s courts, the official Middle East News Agency said, quoting …

CAIRO: Egyptian security forces arrested 18 members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday, cranking up pressure on the group ahead of a referendum due in April on constitutional amendments the Islamists deeply oppose. The Brotherhood, which rejects violence, is the strongest opposition force in Egypt. Members running as independents to circumvent a ban on the …

Michael Kaiser is the President of the John F. Kennedy Center and is the organizer of the 2007 Arab Arts Symposium scheduled for Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, and the 2009 Arab Arts Festival scheduled for the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. The Arab Arts Symposium will bring together 150 arts leaders from over …

AMMAN: The foreign ministers of Egypt and Saudi Arabia will visit Jordan this week for talks with King Abdullah II on reviving the Middle East peace process, the government spokesman said on Monday. The Saudi and Egyptian foreign ministers will visit Jordan on Wednesday as part of the ongoing consultations and stepped up efforts to …

CAIRO: The interpretation of the word majority promises to solve a dispute over who will be the next president of Al Ghad opposition party. During the party’s elections earlier this month, lawyer Ehab El Khouly was celebrated as the winner, securing 218 votes, 16 votes more than his closest contender Engineer Wael Nawara who got …

Associated Press GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: The Hamas-led Palestinian government on Tuesday said it has identified the kidnappers of a BBC journalist and hopes to free him soon. Palestinian security services in Gaza were on Wednesday checking information that could lead to the whereabouts of a BBC correspondent who was abducted two days ago, officials …

Associated Press CAIRO: Egypt s foreign minister said on Tuesday he has demanded Israel investigate the alleged killings of Egyptian prisoners of war in 1967. His comments appeared to be an attempt to diffuse a public uproar over his earlier remarks which were decried here as too lenient toward Israel. Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters …

CAIRO: After two days of debating the articulation of constitutional amendments, the Shura Council (SC, the Upper House of Parliament) gave them the green lights with four members opposing, and four abstentions, including one by a representative of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). On Tuesday, 239 members agreed on the package of 34 amendments. …

CAIRO: The Palestinian-Israeli peace process is at a crossroads due to changing dynamics in the region and abroad, Alvaro de Soto, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Star Egypt. “There seems to be a turning point here . a tipping point, he said, referring …

JERUSALEM: Israel has recalled its ambassador in El Salvador after he was found drunk and naked with sex toys lying nearby in the yard of his official residence, Israeli media reports said on Monday. A foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the ambassador, Tsuriel Raphael, was recalled but offered no details. The ministry sees his behavior …

Associated Press CAIRO: Egypt s largest Islamist opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other opposition lawmakers on Monday rejected controversial constitutional amendments demanded by the president. The lawmakers said they do not plan to attend an upcoming Parliament voting session and called Egyptians to boycott next month s planned referendum on the amendments, according to …

TRIPOLI: The United States is to help Libya to build a first nuclear power plant under an agreement to be signed soon, the official JANA news agency reported on Monday. The Libyan parliament or General People s Committee (GPC) gave its approval on Sunday for the foreign ministry to sign the deal, JANA said. The …

CAIRO: An Egyptian court has ordered President Hosni Mubarak and his interior minister to pay more than $5,000 in compensation to a man jailed for seven years without charge, security and judicial sources said on Tuesday. The administrative court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on Monday approved Hamed Yassin Hamed s request for compensation …

CAIRO: Constitutional reform being carried out in Egypt will not undermine the position of Sharia, or Islamic law, as the principal source of legislation, Gamal Mubarak, son of the Egyptian president, said in remarks reported on Friday. There is no intention to bypass Article 2 which says the Sharia is the main source of legislation, …

CAIRO: Police arrested four students in the delta town of Kafr El Sheikh in early morning raids, accusing them of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, a Brotherhood source told The Daily Star Egypt. “This is part of the crackdown escalating from the regime’s side, said Ibrahim Al Houdaiby, an advisor to the Brotherhood’s website …

CAIRO: Alexandria judge Abdel Fattah Mourad, who will arbitrate the appeal of jailed Alexandria blogger Kareem Amer, filed a lawsuit to shut down 21 human rights advocacy websites and popular blogs. The move raises concern about freedom of expression in Egypt and has caused alarm among human rights activists and bloggers. But far from a …

Reuters SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan: Osama bin Laden, if he s alive, celebrated his 50th birthday on Saturday, and his friends in the Taliban prayed for his long life. The Al-Qaeda leader s long silence has fuelled speculation that the world s most-wanted fugitive may have died, though many in the international intelligence community reckon Islamist …

CAIRO: Members of the People’s Assembly are furious over Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s statement that Egypt won’t cut relations with Israel over a film. The Israeli documentary film at the heart of the crisis claimed that Israeli cabinet minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer was responsible of the killing of 250 Egyptian prisoners of war …

CAIRO: Egypt said on Saturday that the United States had no right to set itself up as a global guardian of human rights and rejected Washington s criticism of Cairo s record, saying it was based on inaccurate information. The US State Department, in an annual report, cited Egypt as one of several countries where …

CAIRO: After sparking an international outcry over claims that Israel executed Egyptian prisoners of war in 1967’s Six Day War, the Israeli maker of “The Shaked Spirit Ran Edelist now says the documentary made no such claims. According to a report published in The Jerusalem Post, Edelist said that the incident in question which took …

Associated Press GUATEMALA CITY: Mayan leaders announced that priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate bad spirits after US President George W. Bush visits next week. That a person like [Bush], with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in …

RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM: Two journalists en route to cover a demonstration marking International Women’s Day were injured by stun grenades at an Israeli military checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah on Wednesday morning. According to the press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israeli police reportedly fired at and injured Rami Al-Faqih, a correspondent at the local …

CAIRO: In a BBC poll released this week documenting global opinion on the negative or positive influence of 12 countries on the world, Egyptians stood apart with their approval of Iran, and their apathy towards Asia and Latin America. Undertaken in November 2006 from a sample of 1000 people in Cairo and Alexandria, the poll …

GAZA: Thousands of Palestinians tried to force their way through Gaza s Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Thursday in a melee in which one man suffered a fatal heart attack and five people were wounded by gunfire, medics said. The crossing, Gaza s only link to the outside world that does not pass through …

RAMALLAH: Nasser Eddin Al Sha’a is the Palestinian Minister of Education who was detained last fall during an Israeli sweep of West Bank members of the governing Islamist party. A neatly shaven technocrat in a well-tailored suit, his term in office has been challenging. In addition to his arrest and perennial charges over alleged militancy …