CAIRO: A 2007 video showing US military helicopters attacking and killing unarmed civilians, including two journalists, was published Monday by Wikileaks, a website disclosing leaked official documents. At a press conference on April 5, Wikileaks said that it had acquired the encrypted video of the July 12, 2007 attack from military whistleblowers. A dozen civilians, …

CAIRO: Sixteen Muslim Brotherhood (MB) detainees are expected to be released today after they posted bail Tuesday at the State Security Prosecution office after a court ruled they should no longer be detained. Among the detainees are Deputy Supreme Guide Mahmoud Ezzat and members of the group’s ruling Guidance Office, Essam El-Erian, Abdel-Rahman El-Barr and …

CAIRO: Ayman Nour, the disputed leader of Al-Ghad party, announced that he will run for president in the 2011 elections, and will appoint two vice presidents including a Coptic woman. Nour called on incumbent President Hosni Mubarak to step down and retire from the political arena. “I call on President Mubarak to retire from his …

CAIRO: Police violently broke up a protest organized by the April 6 Youth Movement Tuesday, with reports of some 70 arrests. The April 6 Youth Movement announced last week that it planned to stage a march to commemorate the day riots broke out in the Delta town of Mahalla on April 6, 2008. The original …

CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood leaders will stand in front of State Security Prosecution Tuesday to see if a court order for their release will be confirmed. The North Cairo Criminal Court ordered on Sunday the release of prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood who have been detained by State Security since February. Amongst the detainees whose …

BAGHDAD: Suicide attackers detonated three car bombs in quick succession near foreign embassies in Baghdad on Sunday, killing more than 40 people in coordinated strikes that Iraqi officials said were intended to disrupt efforts to form a new government. The bombings followed the execution-style killings of 24 villagers in a Sunni area two days earlier, …

CAIRO: The United States test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads during a joint military exercise Wednesday with Saudi Arabia, a Western military official said. The Trident missile launch was carried out in the kingdom, the official said, but he would not give a precise location. He spoke on condition of anonymity …

EL-MANSOURA: As part of his campaign for political reform, National Coalition for Change leader Mohamed ElBaradei visited the Delta city of El-Mansoura Friday. After performing Friday prayer at a mosque, ElBaradei, together with between 500 and 600 supporters, onlookers and journalists walked through a street in a procession which quickly turned into a demonstration. ElBaradei …

KHARTOUM: Sudanese presidential hopeful Yassir Arman has pulled out of April’s vote, casting further doubt on the electoral process and clearing the way for a likely first-round win by President Omar Al-Beshir. The move, announced by Arman’s ex-rebel group, came after Al-Beshir ruled out deferring the first multi-party polls in 24 years. “I took the …

LONDON: Former UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei has warned the West s support of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East risks encouraging Islamic extremism, in an interview Thursday with a British paper. There is a need for re-evaluation, he told the Guardian newspaper. The idea that the only alternative to authoritarian regimes is [Osama] Bin …

CAIRO: Egypt’s most high-profile dissident, former UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei, has taken his reformist campaign to the street with a whirlwind of encounters with Muslim worshippers, Christian activists and film stars. The 67-year-old former diplomat attended Friday prayers at Cairo’s historic Al-Hussein Mosque after going for a walkabout in a nearby working-class neighborhood as …

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden called President Hosni Mubarak on Monday to wish him a speedy recovery from surgery in Germany, the White House said. The vice president called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak today to extend his wishes for a quick recovery and to congratulate him on the birth of his first granddaughter, Farida …

CAIRO: The April 6 Youth Movement notified the Ministry of Interior of the demonstration it plans to stage on April 6 in front of parliament, calling for constitutional amendments on Articles 76, 77 and 88. The movement is also calling for canceling the emergency law and the amendment of the political rights’ law. The Hisham …

SIRTE: Arab leaders on Sunday ruled out renewed Middle East peace talks unless Israel halts all settlement building and urged US President Barack Obama to keep up his opposition. At the end of a two-day summit in Libya, they called for Obama to remain loyal to his initial and key position to work to halt …

EL-ARISH: Egyptian police shot dead two Eritreans on Saturday as the would-be migrants tried to cross the border illegally into Israel, a security official told AFP. Four people were also wounded during the shooting, including one who was in a critical condition, and another person was arrested. Police fired warning shots first and, when (the …

SIRITE, Libya: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari briefly walked out Thursday of an Arab League ministerial meeting held in Libya to protest against Moammar Qaddafi’s declared support for Saddam Hussein loyalists, delegates said. They said Zebari stormed out after he told his Arab peers that his government was angry over public comments by Qaddafi pledging …

EL-ARISH: Egyptian police arrested 22 people suspected of involvement in smuggling goods into the Gaza Strip as part of major crackdown launched earlier this week, a security official said on Friday. The men were arrested as part of a large police operation that was launched on Wednesday in Rafah and Sheikh Zwayed, in North Sinai, …

BEIRUT: Lebanon s ambassador to Egypt will attend the Arab summit in Libya after President Michel Sleiman decided not to go amid a spat over the suspected disappearance there of a prominent Lebanese cleric, the government said on Wednesday. The cabinet unanimously agreed that Khaled Ziyadeh, Lebanon s ambassador to Cairo and representative to the …

SIRTE: Arab leaders gather for an annual summit in Libya at the weekend determined to “rescue Jerusalem as Israel defies international calls for a settlement freeze in the Holy City. The summit will be the first to be hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and is expected also to discuss Sudan where President Omar Al-Beshir, …

BERLIN: Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, who underwent surgery in a German hospital this month, is likely to be released “in the coming days, the clinic said Wednesday. “I cannot give you a date, a spokeswoman for the University of Heidelberg hospital told AFP, but noted, “Everything went well. We are expecting his release in due …

GAZA CITY: Two Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli forces in separate incidents in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Thursday, local medics said. Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services, said a day laborer was in very critical condition after being shot in the back near the Sufa border crossing with Israel in …

CAIRO: One hundred independent and opposition MPs held a joint press conference on Monday in front of the People’s Assembly calling for the discussion of a new law they drafted which lays the foundations for the elections. The draft Political Rights Law was discussed at the event that brought together politicians and political activists. “The …

WASHINGTON: Talks between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to produce signs that they had ended a dispute which Netanyahu said could block the Middle East peace process for a year. Sticking to a hardline position before the White House talks late Tuesday, Netanyahu said peace efforts would be held …

CAIRO: The Arab League chief wants the 22-nation bloc to engage Iran directly over concerns about its growing influence and its nuclear activities, in a step that could undermine US and Israeli efforts to isolate the country, diplomats said Tuesday. Senior US officials including Defense Secretary Robert Gates toured the region last month to urge …

GAZA CITY: An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip overnight injured four people, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said Tuesday. The Israeli army confirmed the air raid and said it hit a weapons storage facility. The four casualties, including a woman, were slightly hurt by shell fragments when an Israeli aircraft fired a missile …

CAIRO: Sudan’s president threatened Monday to expel foreign observers over their recommendations to delay the country’s first multiparty elections in decades due in April. The April vote – Sudan’s first multiparty elections in decades – will see voters cast ballots for a national president, a southern president, local and national assemblies as well as governors. …

LONDON: Britain’s government will expel an Israeli diplomat from London on Tuesday over the use of forged British passports in the suspected Mossad assassination of a Hamas operative. Foreign Secretary David Miliband was scheduled to address lawmakers in the House of Commons over the issue, following the conclusion of an investigation into the use of …

CAIRO: Egypt’s government is seeking to severely restrict the work of non-governmental organizations, including preventing them from monitoring elections, three dozen NGOs said Monday. Draft legislation to curtail local NGOs will be brought before parliament in the coming months, the groups said in a letter of protest. An official at the government ministry responsible for …

JERUSALEM: Egypt released Sunday an Israeli journalist arrested a week ago trying to cross the border illegally with an African migrant, an Israeli official said. Israeli journalist Yotam Feldman was released following an intervention by Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, said the Israeli official, who asked not to be …