CAIRO: A “free opinion Web site launched by a group of Islamists and political activists who are seeking sanctuary in London and who were allegedly persecuted in Egypt has become a subject of controversy in the Egyptian political scene. Shunned by government supporters and popular among the opposition, the London-based Save Egypt Front presents its …

CAIRO: Gamal Mubarak, son of Egypt s president and one of the country’s most influential politicians, took a stride further into the public eye this week, presenting himself as a man of the people but denying any desire to lead them. A two-hour interview on state television and a walkabout in a poor Cairo area …

CAIRO: As the 25 year-old emergency laws are planning to be lifted by the government, opposition groups, especially Kefaya, have expressed their hesitancy in support such an action. They argue that when the emergency laws are gone, the new anti-terrorism bill proposed by the government will be even worse. “The emergency law should be repealed, …

CAIRO: A second Egyptian has died from the bird flu virus, Health Minister Hatem El-Gabali said on Monday. An official from the World Health Organization (WHO) told Reuters the latest victim of the H5N1 strain was a woman who had been in a critical condition on a ventilator before her death Monday morning. This is …

CAIRO: Egypt threatened Tuesday to take legal action against a U.S. museum unless it returns an ancient mask in its collection that the authorities claim was stolen from a warehouse, years ago. The St. Louis Art Museum has a week to turn over the 19th dynasty (1307-1196 BC) mask of Ka-nefer-nefer or face legal action, …

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia: Two men from Ukraine have been arrested in Slovakia after they helped to smuggle a group of 25 illegal migrants, believed to be Egyptians, over the Slovak border, an official said Monday. Spokesman for the prosecutor s office in the eastern Slovak town of Kosice, Milan Filocko, said the two were arrested late …

CAIRO: The outcome of President Hosni Mubarak’s talks with visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas dominated the national newspaper headlines, along with other government-related news. Meanwhile, while the prime minister’s upcoming visit to Washington and the absence of Mubarak from the Khartoum-based Arab summit raised speculations in the independent press. The talks, held in the Red …

CAIRO: Egypt said Monday a teenager hospitalized in the Nile delta governorate of Kafr Al-Sheikh with bird flu symptoms could be the fifth person in the country infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus. The 18-year-old girl was in stable condition, Nasser Kamel, spokesman for the government s anti-bird flu committee, told AFP. He …

CAIRO: Three Arab states have promised to donate two ferries each to Egypt, nearly two months after an Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea leaving some 1,000 people dead, the Egyptian press reported Monday. President Hosni Mubarak publicized the offers from the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Libya and Qatar in an exclusive interview with …

ISMAILIYA, Egypt: Terror attacks at several Sinai tourist resorts in the past two years were carried out by a militant group calling itself Tawhid and Jihad, a name used by Al-Qaeda associates elsewhere, Egyptian prosecutors said Sunday. The government has said the militants who carried out the suicide bombings were locals without international connections, though …

CAIRO: During Egypt’s Fourth Annual Cairo Conference, a meeting place for a diverse group of political parties and movements, delegates vowed on Sunday during its closing session to continue their struggle against imperialism, lack of press freedom, the ruling party’s monopoly and the powerlessness of the people. The conference, held on the grounds of the …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called Sunday on the next Israeli government to work with the Palestinians, who are set to be led by a Hamas-run cabinet from this week. Any Israeli government must cooperate with us and must not ignore the Palestinian side, Abbas said after talks with President Hosni Mubarak in …

CAIRO: Egyptian immigration officials prevented the leader of the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and four others from entering the country on Thursday, conference organizers said. The five were due to attend a conference in Egypt on Iraq and the Palestinian territories. The group included Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdul Majid Thunaibat, as well …

CAIRO: Egypt’s opposition groups are responding skeptically to an announcement made by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif this week that the government will lift the 25-year-old Emergency Law. Highly condemned for its authorization of sweeping arrests and detentions by Egyptian national security, the legislation came in force following the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat. Nazif says …

CAIRO: Egypt plans to lift 25-year-old emergency laws granting security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention that critics have long claimed are used against opponents of the government. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif announced the move in a speech to parliament late Wednesday, saying the laws would be replaced by new anti-terror legislation in Egypt, …

CAIRO: Arab leaders meeting in Sudan next week should commit to giving Hamas financial support, the head of Egypt s largest Islamic group, the MuslimBrotherhood, said in a statement Thursday. Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef also called on the upcoming Arab League summit in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to extend political, economic and financial support …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak held talks with leaders from Syria and Lebanon on Thursday in what a presidential source said was an effort to repair strained relations between the two neighbors. Mubarak, who has long played a mediating role in the Middle East conflict, met separately in the Red Sea resort of Sharm …

CAIRO: An Egyptian was killed and 35 others, including German tourists, were hurt Tuesday when their cruise boat struck a bridge over the Nile as it tried to pass underneath, causing a canopy on the top deck to collapse, police officials said. The cruise boat, King Tut 2, was approaching its final destination in the …

CAIRO: The United States remains committed to pressing for more democracy in the Middle East despite victories by Islamic fundamentalists in recent elections in Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, top U.S. State Department officials said Tuesday. The Bush administration has said reform in the Mideast is a top policy concern and has focused on Egypt, …

GAZA: Egypt sent food shipments to Gaza on Wednesday to help alleviate a shortage of flour and other basic goods suffered by Palestinians due to Israel s frequent closure of the main commercial crossing into the strip. Palestinian security officials and witnesses said an Egyptian army truck laden with flour rolled into the Israeli side …

CAIRO: Egypt reported a fourth suspected case of bird flu in humans on Tuesday, in a 17-year-old boy whose father had an outbreak of the disease on his chicken farm in the Nile Delta on Saturday and Sunday. Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali, quoted by the state news agency MENA, said the boy was taken to …

CAIRO: Britain s Prince Charles on Tuesday condemned the violence sparked by the Prophet Mohammed cartoons and appealed to religious leaders to foster common values in a speech at a renowned Cairo university. Highest among those values of our common inheritance, and born of our love of God, must always come respect for each other, …

JERUSALEM: Emergency shipments of food will be brought into Gaza from Egypt on Monday, a U.S. diplomat announced on Sunday after hosting talks with Israel and the Palestinians on alleviating an impending humanitarian crisis. We have agreed that the crossing from Kerem Shalom will open tomorrow for imports of food and other essential humanitarian products …

CAIRO: Egyptians are heading to hospital fearing they might be the next victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu after two human cases were detected in the country, officials said Monday. There are two or three cases of people who came to hospital and tests are underway, said Nasser Kamel, spokesman for the …

DUBAI: An Estonian soldier who served as peacekeeper in Afghanistan has been detained in the United Arab Emirates for an alleged sexual assault against a policewoman, a newspaper reported Sunday. The Egyptian policewoman, who works at the airport of the emirate of Sharjah, alleged that Andrie Carol tried to rape her as she slept in …

CAIRO: Judges on Friday stood by four colleagues summoned for questioning about comments on last year s elections and voted against any concessions to the government on a draft law reorganizing the judiciary. A general assembly at the Judges Club, an informal and independent institution, voted that the four judges should not appear before prosecutors …

CAIRO: Prince Charles flies into Egypt today facing controversy at Cairo s most renowned Islamic institution over the awarding of an honorary degree to the heir to the British throne. Al-Azhar University, one of the top institutions in Sunni Islam, is to give Charles an honorary doctorate when he arrives with his wife Camilla at …

TORONTO: Canadian courts handed down rulings Thursday that could send one terror suspect back to his native Egypt and another off to the United States to face charges that he plotted to kill Americans abroad. A court cleared the way Thursday for an extradition hearing that could force Canadian Abdullah Khadr to be sent to …

CAIRO: Reem Al-Jawad can t take her young daughters to see Iraq s great and famous Tigris and Euphrates rivers as she believes it s too dangerous. So the 34-year-old Iraqi housewife brought her mother and two girls for a vacation in Egypt to see the Nile and to get a brief escape from the …

CAIRO: Since assuming the role of Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, has worked to establish himself not as a defender of one faith, but rather, the “defender of faiths . On Monday, the British royal and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, will embark on a …