CAIRO: Queen Sonja of Norway called for cultural dialogue on Thursday during a visit to Egypt. The West and the Middle East must get to know each other, said the queen, who visited the Mohammed Ali mosque in Cairo as well as a Coptic Christian museum and church. The message would be that we have …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak will meet Javier Solana, the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief, to discuss a Middle East peace plan, the Daily Star Egypt has learned. According to sources contacted by telephone at the European Union in Brussels, the two-day talks will take place in Cairo and begin on Oct. 29. Egyptian foreign …

Sentiments threaten to hamper development projects progress CAIRO: The United Nations has faced much regional criticism of late. The recent war on Lebanon and the delay in a United Nations Security Council move to end the conflict resulted in widespread resentment directed toward the international body. Such sentiments have also created yet another obstacle to …

WASHINGTON: The head of the UN nuclear agency said Tuesday that despite a sense of insecurity in the Middle East and in other world trouble spots, a glimmer of hope exists that could bring peace between the Arabs and Israel and elsewhere. Mohamed El-Baradei, an Egyptian, said since Israel has agreed for the first time …

Two Israelis arrested as they illegally crossed border CAIRO: Police arrested a fourth person suspected of involvement in arms trafficking to the Gaza Strip, security sources said Wednesday. A security official speaking on condition of anonymity said Ibrahim Saleh was captured Tuesday in northern Sinai. The confessions of three other arms smugglers nabbed on Oct. …

Agence France-Presse CAIRO: Millions of Muslims across the world on Tuesday celebrated Eid al-Fitr, the feast marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, with calls for tolerance amid a surge of violence in Iraq and heightened security in Asia. Top clerics in the Middle East called for acceptance and dialogue following a year …

Due to the Eid-al-Fitr Holidays, there will be no print editions of The Daily Star Egypt on Tuesday, October 24 and Wednesday, October 25.The next edition will be on Thursday, October 26. We wish you all a Happy Eid.

Foreign minister blames resistance movement for war Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit’s assessment that the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah started the war with Israel to avoid being disarmed by the Lebanese government is false revisionism and a distortion of the facts, political analysts have told The Daily Star Egypt. Abul-Gheit told Egyptian television late Saturday that …

CAIRO: Three Bedouins were arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip from northern Sinai, security sources said. Abdullah Salem Abdullah, Kamal Mussalam Salem and Hani Eid Ibrahim were arrested Friday at a checkpoint 160 km. from the border town of Rafah after police found 159 crates containing automatic weapons and …

CAIRO: Egypt on Saturday proposed a middle solution to the Darfur crisis, suggesting UN peacekeepers in Sudan s war-torn region be funded by the international body rather than by their respective states. A middle solution could include funding the necessary peacekeeping forces in Darfur from the budget of the United Nations, removing pressures of funding …

Agence France-Presse TEHRAN: Iran on Sunday warned it would take appropriate measures in retaliation for any punitive UN sanctions on its nuclear program. Imposing sanctions has repercussions on both sides, regionally and internationally. They already know this. If they impose sanctions we will take appropriate measures, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said. Asked if …

JERUSALEM, Oct 22 (Reuters) – Several Israeli cabinet ministers called on Sunday for a military operation to retake control of Gaza s southern border and prevent Palestinian militants smuggling in weapons from neighbouring Egypt. Action must be taken without hesitation. Any hesitation is dangerous and we must act immediately, Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai …

Shells similar to chemical weapons, some experts say CAIRO: Israel admitted to using the deadly and controversial weapon known as white phosphorus during its war with Hezbollah earlier this year, according to an Israeli newspaper. For the first time, the Israeli army admitted the weapon’s use, which can cause severe burns and painful deaths because …

CAIRO: Islamic scholars have said they support President Hosni Mubarak’s appeal to Muslims to counter the ferocious attack on Islam. And goes even further to say it is the responsibility of every Muslim to educate others about their religion. The Muslim world is facing a ferocious attack, describing Islam wrongly and offending Muslims sacred [symbols …

GAZA: Fatah and Hamas officials agreed on Friday to take steps to end violence between the two rival Palestinian movements which has raised fears of civil war. Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said an Egyptian security delegation had brokered the talks, which took place in the coastal strip. These efforts have been crowned …

OTTAWA: A Canadian judge on Thursday quashed key parts of Canada s secrecy law used by federal police to obtain a search warrant to scour a reporter s home in 2004 for evidence of an unauthorized leak in a suspected terror case. Ontario Superior Court Justice Lynn Ratushny said in her ruling that three sections …

SYDNEY: An airline baggage courier pleaded guilty in Australia on Friday to stealing samples of women s hair from their lost bags and keeping them on file. Rodney Petersen, 30, had faced 110 charges of theft and stalking after taking strands of both head and pubic hair from the luggage of female passengers whose lost …

EL ARISH: Three Bedouins were arrested early Friday trying to smuggle nearly 200 crates of automatic weapons and ammunition from Egypt into Gaza, police said.Police seized the weapons on a truck in the village of Ballouza, some 100 km east of the Egypt-Gaza border. The smugglers were heading north to the village of Sheik Zuwayed, …

CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit warned Thursday of the looming risk of an all-out civil war in Iraq, and urged its religious leaders gathered in Mecca to start mending fences. It is with the utmost concern that Egypt is witnessing the escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq and assassinations perpetrated on the basis of the …

CAIRO: An Israeli official denied that President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Eliezer met yesterday to discuss the fate of a soldier captured by Palestinian forces four months ago. This conflicts reports from the Egyptian state media agency MENA yesterday that Eliezer had arrived in Cairo Wednesday night to restart “efforts set in …

CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a key US ally in the Middle East, is to visit Moscow next month for talks with one of the sponsors of the region s moribund peace process. President Mubarak s visit will deal with international and regional issues of importance to both countries, mainly the Palestinian question, the Lebanese …

CAIRO: The head of the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday condemned what he described as the West s ferocious war against Islam. We observe with open eyes and alert minds this ferocious attack against Islam and Muslims, Mohammed Mehdi Akef said in a statement issued for next week s Eid Al-Fitr feast. He …

Mubarak to address the nation on challenges facing the Islamic world CAIRO: Economic and political crises and the shaky relationship between Islam and the West are among the main challenges facing the region, Islamic scholars have told The Daily Star Egypt. Incidents like Pope Benedict XVI’s allusion to a medieval criticism of Islam and the …

CAIRO: Authorities have arrested a Muslim Brotherhood leader Hassan Al-Hayawan, the group’s lawyer told The Daily Star Egypt. Security forces arrested El-Hayawan at his clinic in the Nile Delta province of Al-Sharqia, on Tuesday night, according to an online statement released by the Brotherhood. “This is an unjustifiable escalation, reads the Brotherhood statement. The media …

CAIRO: Two young Egyptians caught in the act of kissing in public in Cairo during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan have been fined 100 pounds ($17.50) each, newspapers reported Wednesday. A court in Kasr al-Nil district found the pair guilty of offending public morals when they kissed in broad daylight on the banks of …

TEHRAN: Iran s top nuclear negotiator warned Wednesday that any UN sanctions over its nuclear program would have negative consequences in the region and also affect Tehran s cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog. If sanctions are pursued by the UN Security Council they know that this will accentuate the regional crisis, Ali Larijani told …

Sudan’s neighbors wary of international interference CAIRO: Discussions focusing on the Darfur crisis between President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi in Tripoli on Monday were aimed at bridging differences in their approaches to ending the violence, a Sudan expert says. Hani Raslan, Sudanese affairs expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic …

A US rights lawyer convicted of conspiring with terrorists by acting as a go-between for a jailed Egyptian cleric and his militant followers was sentenced to 28 months in jail Monday. Lynne Stewart, 67, was convicted in February 2005 of lying to the government and conspiring with her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, to convey …

Reuters CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood sees little likelihood of a popular backlash if Gamal Mubarak succeeds his father as president, the Islamist group s deputy leader said on Tuesday. Mohammed Habib, whose group is among the country s opposition force, said plans seemed to be moving ahead for Gamal to succeed his father Hosni Mubarak, …