Associated Press CAIRO: Egypt will play a key role in a string of meetings in Pakistan on Sunday for leaders of key Muslim Sunni nations, but Islamic scholars denied that there is an effort to form an alliance against Shia Iran. Pakistan s foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslan denied the conference aims at forming a …

BEIRUT: Nabih Berri is the speaker of the Lebanese parliament and a member of the Shia Amal party. Due to the complicated religious quota system within Lebanese democracy, he is currently a high-ranking government official as well as a leader of the opposition coalition that was behind several months of street demonstrations that have veered …

CAIRO: Jordan s King Abdullah II arrived in Cairo Sunday on a tour aimed at relaunching the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The monarch, who began his tour in Egypt before heading to Saudi Arabia, Britain and the United States discussed the violence in Iraq and ways to end it, a statement from the Hashemite Royal Palace …

CAIRO: Muslim clerics have initiated a campaign to collect one million signatures on a petition to be sent to United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon demanding the protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque from Israeli excavations. The campaign kick-started in the Qatari capital Doha, where clerics, including Egyptian Youssef Al-Qaradawi, gathered in an attempt to secure …

Associated Press CAIRO: A court has sentenced a policeman to six months in prison after convicting him of insubordination for refusing to guard the Israeli embassy, a court official said Sunday. Mohammed Khalaf Hasan, 38, was imprisoned after the Cairo Military Court for Police affairs pronounced its verdict this morning, accusing Hasan of noncompliance with …

Reuters CAIRO: Egypt rejected on Sunday imposing any conditions on the new Palestinian unity government and said it was up to the Palestinians to convince key international mediators to end the US-led financial sanctions. Jordan s King Abdullah has said there was common Arab ground that the unity government must adhere to the demands of …

CAIRO: Egypt on Friday lashed out at critics of the four-year jail sentence it handed a blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman Amer for insulting Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak. No one has the right to interfere with Egyptian legal matters or comment on Egypt s decisions, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a statement. …

CAIRO: A meeting of seven ministers from Muslim countries took place in Pakistan to discuss solutions for the conflicts marring the Middle East. The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia in addition to the Turkish secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, met in Islamabad …

Associated Press GENEVA: An independent report commissioned by the United Nations compares Israel s actions in the West Bank and Gaza to apartheid South Africa – charges that drew angry rebukes from Israel and were sure to revive charges that the U.N. Human Rights Council is biased against the Jewish state. The report by John …

CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit spoke out Thursday on hopes for overcoming the isolation imposed by the international community on the Palestinians after the formation of the coming government in Palestine, reported the Kuwait News Agency KUNA. In a press release issued after Aboul Gheit s meeting with Japan s special envoy for the …

Noam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. On February 9, Michael Shank interviewed him on the latest developments in US policy toward Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Venezuela. This is Part IV of a four-part series. Shank: In the 2008 presidential election, how will the candidates approach Iran? Do you think …

RAFAH: Months after Israel warned of a suspected plot to target Israelis in Sinai, Egyptian police Thursday said they had arrested three Palestinians and are on the hunt for a fourth man in the Sinai Peninsula. The three Palestinians arrested on Tuesday gave the security services the name of an accomplice who had been due …

Israel wants Fatah-Hamas strife to continue, experts say CAIRO: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s latest foray into the murky world of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute has gleaned little progress in light of the changed circumstances in domestic Palestinian politics. Rice met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin Wednesday as well as Israeli Prime Minister …

MILAN: Italy is not opposed to foreign ownership of Telecom Italia s network but must not let it fall into the hands of Islamic militants or the Mafia, Infrastructure Minister Antonio Di Pietro said on Monday. Di Pietro s comments came after Pirelli & C and Telefonica said they had held talks about a possible …

Noam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. On February 9, Michael Shank interviewed him on the latest developments in US policy toward Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Venezuela. This is Part III of a four-part series. Shank: How can the US government think an attack on Iran is feasible given troop …

RAFAH: Egyptian police detained a would-be Palestinian suicide bomber crossing from the Gaza Strip and planning to blow himself up among Israeli tourists in a south Sinai resort, security sources said Wednesday. The Palestinian was arrested late Tuesday on the Egyptian side of the border town of Rafah after crossing through a tunnel, a local …

CAIRO: The Sudanese government has offered an apology to Egypt for the mistreatment of four Egyptian workers at a police station in Khartoum. Sudan’s Interior Minister Al-Zubair Bashir Taha apologized on behalf of his government to the Egyptian government and promised that an investigation will begin immediately. Egypt’s Ambassador to Sudan Mohammed Al Shazly and …

Noam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. On February 9, Michael Shank interviewed him on the latest developments in US policy toward Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Venezuela. This is Part II of a four-part series. Shank: Venezuela has been successfully defiant with Chavez making a swing towards socialism. Where are …

CAIRO: Facing a prison sentence of up to 11 years for his controversial Internet writings on Islam and President Mubarak, Egyptian student blogger Abdelkarim Soliman Amer, also known as “Kareem Amer’, has reportedly received death threats from strangers as well as member of his own family. In conjunction with the final court ruling in the …

Associated Press ROME: The Italian government has signaled it will not press Washington for the extradition of 26 Americans indicted in the alleged CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan, according to remarks published Monday. Milan prosecutors want the government to ask Washington to agree to their request for the extradition of the Americans. …

CAIRO: This week, members of the legislative and constitutional committee of the People’s Assembly (PA) will begin formally drafting more than 30 new amendments to the constitution, including controversial proposals on terrorism and the electoral process. Human rights activists and legal experts are denouncing the proposed amendments, which, they say, will broadly expand state power …

CAIRO: The authorities released 48 Al-Azhar University students Monday, ending a two-month detention triggered by a military-style parade they performed on campus, said Mohamed Habib, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The students are members of the banned-but-tolerated MB group. The arrest was completely wrong and unfair from the start, Habib said, adding that …

CAIRO: Cairo criminal court on Sunday tossed out an appeal for release from prison by one of the assassins of former president Anwar Al-Sadat, saying the matter was not under its jurisdiction, a judicial source said. Abud Al-Zumur of the Islamic Jihad filed a case to be released from jail because his life sentence – …

MADRID: The biggest Al-Qaeda related trial in Europe resumed Monday with one of the men accused of bombing Madrid commuter trains in 2004 denying all charges and any link with Osama bin Laden s terror network. Moroccan Jamal Zougam is one of 29 defendants on trial for involvement in the bombings that left 191 dead …

Noam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. On February 9, Michael Shank interviewed him on the latest developments in US policy toward Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Venezuela. This is Part I of a four-part series. Shank: With similar nuclear developments in North Korea and Iran, why has the United States …

Associated Press BAGHDAD: Insurgents launched an attack on a US combat post Monday, sending in a suicide bomber and clashing with American troops. Two US soldiers were killed and 17 wounded, the military said. The assault began with a suicide bomber exploding a vehicle outside the base north of Baghdad, said the military statement. It …

CAIRO: The recent Israeli siege of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem united all the members of the People’s Assembly (PA), experts told The Daily Star Egypt. “Israel unites everybody and that is what happened at the PA, Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst from Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies told The Daily Star Egypt. The …

CAIRO: An independent MP announced last week his intention to set up a “popular movement to resist secularism. Mohamed Al Omda, deputy of Kom Ombo south of Luxur, wrote in a petition, which he asked members to sign: “We have noticed recently that the ruling party and its government have been using anti-religious slogans such …

CAIRO: A flurry of activity has infused Al Ghad opposition party recently to prepare for a March 2 general assembly meeting and elections for a new President. The party s upcoming presidential elections come one year after the leadership of former ambassador Nagui El Ghatrifi whose presidential term started on Dec. 30, 2006 and ended …