CAIRO: International donors at a conference in Cairo on Sunday pledged $850 million for the reconstruction of war-ravaged Darfur, way short of the $2 billion organizers had been expecting. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the closing session that $746 million had been raised for the western Sudanese region, but more donations came after …

CAIRO: Egypt and Turkey on Sunday urged the world community to help raise $2 billion to rebuild Sudan s war-torn western region of Darfur at an international aid conference. International donors were in Cairo for the one-day conference organized by the 57-strong Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and co-chaired by Egypt and Turkey. The …

KHAN YUNIS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon slammed Israel s blockade of the Gaza Strip during a tour of the war-battered coastal territory on Sunday, saying it was causing unacceptable sufferings. I have repeatedly made it quite clear to Israel s leaders that the Israeli policy of closure is not sustainable and that it s wrong, …

CAIRO: Four US Embassy officials traveled to North Sinai Wednesday on a routine visit, spokesperson of the US Embassy in Cairo Margaret White told Daily News Egypt in an email interview, emphasizing that embassy officials routinely visit the border area to liaise with Egyptian government officials as part of their official duties. Two days earlier, …

CAIRO: Egyptian television on Friday aired new footage of President Hosni Mubarak, who has been recovering in Germany after surgery, showing the 81-year-old making phone calls from hospital. Footage showed Mubarak, wearing a grey cardigan, sitting at a table and going over paperwork with his chief of staff Zakaria Azmi at the Heidelberg University Hospital …

BEIRUT: Arabs across the Middle East are unconvinced the United States will stand up to Israel despite Washington s rare public outrage over plans to build new Jewish homes in a traditionally Arab part of Jerusalem. The skepticism is eroding Arab hopes that President Barack Obama will push hard for a long-sought peace deal between …

GAZA CITY: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned any kind of violence on Thursday after Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, where she was on a brief visit, fired a rocket into Israel, killing one man. I condemn any kind of violence, we need to move forward to get the peace process moving toward …

CAIRO: Al-Wafd party is taking legal action against Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper for what it considers the publication of false information regarding reports of the opposition party striking a covert deal with the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to secure seats in the next parliamentary elections. Head of Al-Wafd Mahmoud Abaza told satellite television program “90 …

CAIRO: Egypt s foreign ministry summoned Israel s charge d affaires on Wednesday in protest at its provocative measures in occupied East Jerusalem, a day after hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police. Egypt delivered a clear message to the effect that Israel must immediately stop all provocative and illegal measures that feed the cycle …

RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday named a street after a US activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in a 2003 protest against house demolitions in Gaza. The dedication ceremony was held on the seventh anniversary of Rachel Corrie s death. Corrie s …

CAIRO: Ten days after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak underwent surgery in Germany, there is growing uncertainty over his state of health and increased talk about who will eventually succeed him. On Tuesday, state television aired footage of the president for the first time since his gall bladder was removed on March 6, showing Mubarak sitting …

NEW YORK: Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei is writing a memoir about his years as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, including the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Co., announced Tuesday that Crawling Away from Armageddon will be published in 2011. Metropolitan …

CAIRO: Hundreds of students demonstrated Wednesday at Cairo University against Israeli settlement construction in annexed Arab east Jerusalem and the incorporation of two Muslim shrines in the occupied West Bank as Israeli heritage sites. The students first stood in front of Cairo University’s main gate, then marched throughout the Cairo University campus until they reached …

CAIRO: Several Egyptian opposition groups called for political reforms and more freedoms in a statement on Monday at the end of a three-day conference, the official news agency MENA reported. The groups, which include established opposition parties such as the leftist Tagammu and the liberal Al-Wafd, demanded an end to the concentration of power in …

JERUSALEM: A US envoy s postponement of his Mideast trip appeared Tuesday to deepen one of the worst US-Israeli feuds in memory – even as Israel s foreign minister signaled his government had no intention of curtailing the contentious construction at the heart of the row. Hundreds of Palestinians hurled rocks at police and set …

EL-ARISH: Egyptian military prosecutors were interrogating an Israeli journalist on Tuesday after arresting him at the border as he tried to cross illegally with an African migrant, a security source said, adding the journalist risks a military trial. Yotam Feldman and the Ghanian were arrested on Sunday along a route used by smugglers who help …

CAIRO: Egyptian police arrested on Monday 15 students affiliated with the banned Muslim Brotherhood during a protest at Cairo University against Israeli settlements, a security official said. Hundreds of students staged protests in several universities across Egypt over Israeli plans to build new homes for Jewish settlers in occupied East Jerusalem and include two West …

BERLIN: Egypt s President Hosni Mubarak was shown on Egyptian state television on Tuesday, sitting and chatting to doctors at the German hospital where he underwent surgery 10 days ago, reported Reuters. He was upbeat and in very good spirits as usual, a German doctor said in a televised statement, adding no further daily laboratory …

JERUSALEM: The Israeli government on Sunday gave final approval for the construction of a barrier along the border with Egypt in a bid to curb the entry of illegal immigrants. A cabinet statement said the barrier along the 250-kilometer desert frontier would cost around $365 million, and would comprise fencing and other unspecified technological measures. …

JERUSALEM: Egyptian security officials arrested an Israeli journalist as he tried to sneak across the porous Israeli-Egyptian border with African migrants, his newspaper reported Monday. An Egyptian security official said the Israeli had no identification papers or money but told his investigators he was reporting on African migrants sneaking into Israel from Egypt. The Haaretz …

CAIRO: The National Democratic Party (NDP) has denied accusations of a secret deal struck with certain opposition parties to divide the Muslim Brotherhood’s current parliamentary seats amongst them and to ignore the presidential ambitions of former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei. Al-Shorouk newspaper quoted an unnamed senior NDP source as refuting claims that a deal had …

CAIRO: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Monday that Israel s decision to build new settler homes in east Jerusalem endangers indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Recent Israeli decisions to build new housing units in east Jerusalem have endangered and undermined the tentative agreement to begin proximity talks, she said in …

CAIRO: Hundreds of students held demonstrations in front of Cairo University’s main gate on Monday, denouncing attacks on Palestinians by Israeli police in the compound of Al-Aqsa mosque. The demonstrations were dubbed “Third Intifada for the Aqsa Mosque, by the students who were chanting “We will announce it, Aqsa we are coming. For the fourth …

CAIRO: UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes last week addressed Egypt’s role in the blockade on Gaza, warning of a humanitarian disaster if Egypt blocked the tunnels that run through its border to the Gaza Strip. If [the] tunnels [between Egypt and Gaza] were blocked, however undesirable they may be, the situation without the tunnels …

CAIRO: While the distribution of opportunities worldwide is “extremely unequal, it is the “key driver to human movement which [presents] a huge potential for improving human development, said the UN’s Human Development Report 2009 released Sunday. However, the report added, “Sometimes the movement is not an expression of choice but due to constraints. The report …

CAIRO: Security forces have detained more than 97 members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) on Friday and Saturday after their participation in pro-Palestine demonstrations following Friday prayers. Some of the detainees aren’t members of the Muslim Brotherhood but took part in demonstrations that took place in five different governorates. The detainees have been denied access …

CAIRO: The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has summarily dismissed the findings of the latest Human Rights report released by the US State Department, labeling it as of “no great value. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said that the report was not something that Egypt was concerned about and added that “there is no country that is …

CAIRO: Organizers of an international conference due later this month on rebuilding Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region said on Thursday they hope to raise $2 billion for development projects. The March 21 meeting co-chaired by Egypt and Turkey “aims at sending a clear message to the international community that development is a key factor in achieving …

CAIRO: Egypt s President Hosni Mubarak s health is satisfactory after surgery in Germany to remove a gall bladder, the head of the medical team at Heidelberg University Hospital said on Thursday. President Hosni Mubarak s overall medical condition continues to improve in a satisfactory manner, Professor Markus Buechler said in a statement released by …

CAIRO: The next Secretary General of the Arab League will also be Egyptian because the headquarters are in Cairo, said Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. In an interview with terrestrial Channel One Thursday, Aboul Gheit said that an Egyptian will replace current head Amr Moussa after his second term expires next year, adding that there …