CAIRO: Arab leaders are widely expected to approve Amr Mussa s bid for a second five-year term as Arab League chief when they gather in Sudan later this month, a senior official said Thursday. Arab League assistant secretary general for political affairs Ahmed bin Hili told reporters that the veteran Egyptian diplomat had the support …

CAIRO: As the recently elected Hamas government struggles to come to terms with their newly bestowed power and formulate an alternative plan to get Palestine up and running, the West Bank and Gaza face a great dilemma. Since assuming the reins of power following Palestine s first parliamentary elections in a decade, Hamas has been …

TRIPOLI: Libya will host a summit with Egypt in coming days to try to find a regional solution to the conflict in Sudan s Darfur region, an official source in Tripoli said on Wednesday. The move comes amid intense pressure on the African Union to turn over peacekeeping in the western Sudanese province to the …

LONDON: Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said on Tuesday the Egyptian government expects to draft an anti-terrorism law within a few months, clearing the way for an end to emergency law in place for a quarter century. President Hosni Mukarak promised during his election campaign last year to replace emergency law with more narrowly targeted legislation, …

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood said on Tuesday security forces had accused 22 of its members detained in the last week of recruiting youths to send to fight in Iraq and the Palestinian territories. The Brotherhood dismissed the accusation as ridiculous. Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, lawyer for the 22, said the accusation was made in a …

CAIRO: With his resignation from the National Democratic Party (NDP) still sending shockwaves through the political scene, Osama Ghazali Harb spoke to The Daily Star Egypt about his reasons for abandoning the party, his plans for founding a new one and what he sees as the future of democracy in Egypt. “The so-called political reform …

VIENNA, Austria: President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel and Hamas on Monday to talk to each other once the radical Palestinian group forms a new government, saying both sides must change hard-line positions to avoid further violence and chaos. Mubarak also appealed to the international community to continue financial aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government, declaring …

CAIRO: Pope Benedict XVI of the Vatican hailed the efforts of President Hosni Mubarak for his regional leadership during these turbulent times. Wrapping up his European tour yesterday with a stop in Vatican City, Mubarak and the Catholic leader also discussed concerns regarding the succession of a Hamas-heavy parliament in Palestine, and the threat of …

CAIRO: Following its reissue, the Al-Wafd newspaper faces new trouble as overthrown Al-Wafd chairman Noaman Gomaa attempts to seize the newspaper by publishing a rival edition from new headquarters in downtown. “Gomaa’s so-called newspaper is not and will not be issued, says Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, former parliamentarian and one of Gomaa’s principal party opponents. “It …

DOHA: Qatar on Saturday denied it had handed over to Egypt a man allegedly involved in attacks on tourists in Cairo last April, contradicting an earlier Egyptian report, the official QNA agency reported. An official at the Qatari interior ministry denied that Doha had handed over to Egypt one of those suspected of financing attacks …

CAIRO: The European Union s (EU) Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou met yesterday with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Minister of Health Hatem El Gabali to discuss the government s strategy to combat the avian flu as well as health-related trade issues. Kyprianou s visit was originally planned for later in the …

ROME: President Hosni Mubarak, in Rome for talks, voiced opposition to any use of force in the Iran nuclear crisis, the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Mubarak s spokesman as saying. The path of dialogue is the sole and only option, ANSA quoted spokesman Suleiman Awad as saying when referring to Mubarak s assessment of …

BERLIN: President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Berlin on Friday for talks with German leaders on issues including the Israeli-Paliestinian conflict and moves toward democracy in the Middle East. German President Horst Koehler greeted Mubarak at his Berlin palace. Mubarak meets Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday. Islamic militant group …

ROME: President Hosni Mubarak met Italy s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday as the Middle Eastern leader began a three-country European tour which will also take in Germany and Austria. Mubarak paid a courtesy visit to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi shortly after his arrival in Rome at the start of a 24-hour visit, before …

CAIRO: During a transitional stage in Egypt’s politics, reassessment of public policies is a necessity. Author Alaa Al Aswani and politician Mona Makram Ebeid took turns reviewing Egypt’s most captivating public issues, with the state of democracy in Egypt topping the list in their open discussion last week. “A sound political authority is the only …

CAIRO: Less than a week after parliament promised to amend the law to prohibit the detainment of journalists as a result of their stories, an independent female reporter was sentenced to one year in prison in a libel case. “Excessive [and] harsh, said Amira Malash, the sentenced journalist, referring to the court verdict. “The court …

CAIRO: An adviser to President Hosni Mubarak said on Tuesday the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas would be wrong to make unilateral concessions to Israel and Western calls for it do so were unfair. Presidential adviser Osama El-Baz, who met Hamas leaders last month, also said the Islamist group, which is forming the next Palestinian government, …

CAIRO: A senior member of Egypt s ruling party announced his resignation from the party Tuesday to protest what he called its failure to implement democratic reforms. Osama El Ghazali Harb is a member of the National Democratic Party s influential policy committee and said he was quitting after the committee, which is led by …

CAIRO: The presidents of Egypt and South Korea pledged Tuesday to work to boost relations and increase the volume of trade between their countries that amounted last year to around $850 million. President Hosni Mubarak and his visiting South Korean counterpart Roh Moo-Hyun also covered international and regional issues, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Iraq. …

CAIRO: The main political adviser to President Hosni Mubarak said on Tuesday that Mubarak would welcome retirement if he could find a replacement. But the Mubarak family is not thinking of putting forward the president s 42-year-old son Gamal as a successor, adviser Osama El-Baz told Reuters in an interview. Mubarak is 78 in May …

SEOUL: South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun left on Monday for a three-country tour of Africa, where securing steady energy supplies for his resource-poor country will be high on the agenda. Roh will visit Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria, in a first trip by a South Korean president to the region in 24 years, the presidential Blue …

CAIRO: In one of her news reports, CNN’s Hala Gorani learned to stuff pigeons. As it took 14 takes to get the right shot, Gorani eventually got “pretty good at it. Another time, she learned all about Aleppoan food, the best culinary offerings of her hometown. It’s not just cooking though; “Inside the Middle East, …

CAIRO: Security forces arrested five members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday in what the opposition Islamist group said was the latest sign of curbs on political freedoms. An Interior Ministry official said the arrested men were found in possession of anti-government publications. By making the arrests, the government was sending a message to Egyptian …

BERLIN: President Hosni Mubarak will visit Germany later this month for talks expected to address the situation in the Palestinian areas and moves toward democracy in the Middle East, the German government said Friday. Mubarak will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel on March 11, spokesman Thomas Steg said. He also is expected to meet Germany s …

CAIRO: Former Housing Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman dropped all his lawsuits against the press on Friday, clearing the way for an end to a confrontation between the press and the government over prison sentences. President Hosni Mubarak promised two years ago to work to abolish custodial sentences for publishing offences but the law has not …

CAIRO: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sealed the fate of free trade with Egypt after her visit last week. Negotiations on any agreement on the matter are now unlikely to commence before 2009. Despite attempts to pass off the postponement of free trade talks to internal political conditions within the U.S. Congress, the topic …

LONDON: Three Britons who spent nearly four years in prison in Egypt for membership of a banned Islamic group said Wednesday they had been repeatedly tortured for their political beliefs. The allegations came after Reza Pankhurst, Ian Nisbet and Maajid Nawaz were freed by the Egyptian authorities and returned to London s main Heathrow Airport …

RAFAH: It is hard to imagine that a gravel road is all that leads to one of the most difficult border crossings on the planet, but that is the reality of the Gaza-Egypt crossing at Rafah. Although construction is underway to pave the road, gravel is all that stands between hundreds of Palestinians and home. …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak said Egypt had won over U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to its views on democracy in the Arab world and quoted her as saying it would take a generation for democracy to take hold. She was very polite as she was listening to Egyptian opinions and points of view. She …

TRIPOLI, Libya: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday discussed the conflicts in Iraq and Sudan, the Iranian nuclear standoff and the situation in the Palestinian territories, an Egyptian envoy said. & Mubarak held talks with Gadhafi in the Libyan Mediterranean port city of Misratah on Tuesday before returning to Egypt later …