TALLINN: A court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has cancelled a sentence of 80 lashes handed down to an Estonian soldier and has decided that he is to a face a new trial, a defense official in Estonia said Monday. An Islamic court in the UAE last week sentenced Andrei Korol, an Estonian soldier …

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities have stopped jailed opposition leader Ayman Nour sending articles to his party s newspaper, Nour s wife Gameela Ismail said on Sunday. Nour, who came a distant second to President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt s first multi-candidate presidential elections, has threatened to start a hunger strike if he cannot send his articles …

CAIRO: The new Hamas-led Palestinian government is considering connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt s telecommunications network, communications and technology minister Jamal Al-Khodari said Monday. In the context of the separation from Israel, we are looking, with Egypt, into the possibility of connecting Gaza to the Egyptian telecommunication network, Khodari told Egypt s MENA news …

DUBAI: A group of Saudi Shiite clerics and intellectuals have criticized remarks by President Hosni Mubarak about the loyalty of Shiite Muslims to their countries, saying they inflame sectarian strife. Mubarak said Shiites in Arab states, in most of which they are outnumbered by Sunni Muslims, were more loyal to Iran than their own countries. …

CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit on Sunday condemned recent Israeli raids against Palestinians and suggested they instead should focus on returning to peace negotiations. Abul-Gheit said the Israeli air-strikes in the Gaza Strip that have killed 15 Palestinians since Friday were a violation of international conventions. The time has come for the Israeli leaders to …

CAIRO: The latest attempt by moderate Islamist group Al-Wassat to obtain an official license for their party has fallen short. This is the fourth failed attempt by the group in 10 years to acquire a license, despite optimism from its founder that the group would succeed in their bid. The Political Parties Court, a semi-governmental …

CAIRO: The American Human Rights Watch Organization, which is currently in Egypt holding its quarterly meeting, met with members of the Egyptian government on April 8. They discussed human rights in Egypt under the framework of political, economic and social reform programs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as representatives from the Ministry of …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak’s comments regarding Shiite Muslims in Iraq sparked region-wide criticism, and independent newspapers around the region have been following up on the issue. A high-profile Shiite Saudi writer, Fouad Ibrahim, told the Associated Press that the president’s remarks are the engine which drives the whole region towards civil war. Definitely Iran has …

CAIRO: Iraq and its powerful neighbor Iran were fuming Sunday over comments by President Hosni Mubarak, a major broker in Middle East politics, about Iraqi civil war and Shiites allegiance to Tehran The comments have upset Iraqi people who come from different religious and ethnic backgrounds and has astonished and discontented the Iraqi government, incumbent …

CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said Saturday that Egypt would host a meeting of Arab officials next week in an effort to stop the spiral of violence in Iraq. Abul-Gheit said the Wednesday meeting of foreign ministers would focus on the continuing dangerous Iraqi internal events and would ask loyal Iraqis to work to stop …

JERUSALEM: Israel s Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Hosni Mubarak announced plans on Thursday to meet as soon as the Israeli leader puts together a new government, officials said. Mubarak called to congratulate Olmert on his being asked by the Israeli president on Thursday to head a government after winning a March 28 …

CAIRO: The government s human rights watchdog condemned police intimidation during parliamentary elections last year, saying in a report Wednesday that security forces closed off polling stations to voters. Egyptian reformers have criticized the National Council for Human Rights, formed in 2004, saying it gives only muted reports on government human rights violations. Elections in …

CAIRO: As updates of the Al-Wafd party’s violent internal conflict continue to take prominent spots in local newspapers, related conspiracy theories were the topics for editorial discussion. The news regarding the judges club and their canceled meeting with Human Rights Watch, reports on the national debt and President Hosni Mubarak’s visit to Khartoum also received …

CAIRO: The last-minute cancellation of a scheduled meeting between representatives of international rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Cairo-based Judges’ Club exposed the judiciary’s lack of independence from the authorities, local activists said. “The decision reflects the grim reality faced by the judiciary in Egypt, said Nasser Amin, director of the Arab Center …

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will fund the construction of a permanent seat for Arab summits in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, an Arab diplomat said Wednesday. Egypt will offer the land for the building, the Riyadh-based diplomat told AFP, requesting anonymity. The decision comes after Saudi Arabia declined during the annual Arab summit …

CAIRO: A gunfight that broke out at the headquarters of Egypt’s oldest opposition party on Saturday served to underscore the plight of Egypt’s political opposition, in a state of disarray since parliamentary elections were held three months ago. “The incident is proof that none of the secular opposition parties are capable of resolving their rapidly …

KHARTOUM, Sudan: President Hosni Mubarak made a surprise visit to Khartoum on Tuesday, his first in more than a decade, and held talks with Sudan s president on the conflict in the Darfur region. The talks came a day after a top U.N. envoy, Jan Egeland, protested over what he called a Sudanese governmental decision …

CAIRO: Egyptian security forces have detained eight more members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the central city of Al-Minya, the Islamist movement s spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. Eight members of the Brotherhood were arrested in Al-Minya, one of whom is the son of a Brotherhood member of parliament, said Essam Al-Aryan. It is …

CAIRO: Since the dawn of satellite television across the Arab world, the media has taken on a more combative role in its review of government, once the absolute force behind what was reported. Arab governments in recent years have been forced to take a hard look at their tactics for dealing with the media, as …

CAIRO: In yet another setback for opposition groups, the Egyptian Political Parties Court has once again postponed a request by the Al-Karama (Dignity) group to officially form a party. “We are certainly going to win the case, a young member of Al-Karama, Mohammad Al-Hameedy, tells The Daily Star Egypt preceding Saturday’s court session. “We will …

President Hosni Mubarak In 1981, Mubarak, then Vice-President, became president of Egypt following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Mubarak declared on his inauguration that he would follow the political direction of his predecessor, which was marked by reconciliation with the West and peace with Israel inside internationally recognized borders. Before becoming president, Mubarak served …

CAIRO: The aftermath of Saturday’s bloodshed at Al-Wafd headquarters due to in-fighting between two party factions has not yet faded, with news of the incident still sending shockwaves through media outlets as an official investigation into the incident kicks off. Noaman Gomaa, recently overthrown party leader, and others, including Ashraf Nasser, son of MP Ahmed …

CAIRO: A committee that oversees Egypt s political parties on Monday recognized the new leader of the opposition Al-Wafd Party whose previous ousted head was held for questioning after storming the party s offices. Rival Al-Wafd Party leaders sacked Noman Gomaa in January but he rejected the decision and on Saturday stormed the party offices …

CAIRO: Egyptian security forces detained 10 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the northern city of Alexandria, the Islamist movement s spokesman told AFP Saturday. Ten members of the Brotherhood were arrested Friday in Alexandria, some of them as they were eating in a restaurant, Essam Al-Aryan said. He added that among those rounded …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak urged Palestinians and Israelis to exercise restraint after the latest wave of violence and called for a rapid return to peace talks, in an interview published Saturday. We call on both sides, the Palestinians and the Israelis, to exercise restraint, after the latest suicide attack by Palestinian militants in the West …

CAIRO: Infighting between different factions within the Al-Wafd party turned violent Saturday, following each side’s failed attempts to reclaim the Dokki headquarters ended in bloodshed; at least 21 (according to Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, although other reports of 23 injured have surfaced) were injured in the violence, including two female journalists (Niveen Yaseen and Sahar Ramadan), …

MADRID: The Italian judge probing alleged CIA abduction of a Muslim cleric in Milan met Thursday Spanish colleagues investigating prisoner transfers by the U.S. spy agency, court sources told AFP. Milan magistrate Armando Sparato, who is investigating the clandestine arrest and removal to Egypt of Abu Amar, an Egyptian-born iman, met Spanish investigators on the …

CAIRO: During the past week, the Arab summit in Khartoum, coverage of political and economic events and announcements as well as the solar eclipse dominated front pages. The Arab summit in Khartoum took up most of the space on almost all local front pages on Wednesday. The coverage, however, varied according to each newspapers affiliation. …

SYDNEY, Australia: A former Guantanamo Bay inmate who was released by the U.S. military without charge last year was questioned by police in Sydney after witnessing a fatal double shooting, his lawyer said Thursday. New South Wales state police said Egyptian-born Mamdouh Habib, 50, was not a suspect in the killings and he was not …

CAIRO: Any attempt to attack Iran s nuclear facilities would destabilize the Middle East and increase terrorism across the world, President Hosni Mubarak said in comments published Tuesday. Speaking in an interview with an Egyptian weekly magazine, Mubarak also said that attempts to replace U.S. troops in Iraq with soldiers from Arab or Muslim-majority countries …