CAIRO: Egypt on Tuesday welcomed statements by Hamas leaders that they were ready to seal a unity deal with the rival Fatah faction but said Cairo s blueprint for Palestinian reconciliation was not up for negotiation. Successive statements from several Hamas leaders regarding their willingness to achieve Palestinian reconciliation are welcome, foreign ministry spokesman Hossam …

CAIRo: In a tumultuous 24 hours in Sinai and the Gaza Strip near the border, four people died in three separate incidents and at least seven others were injured. Additionally, eight prisoners escaped after their transport vehicle came under attack. A Sudanese migrant died Tuesday night in the first of the incidents when clashes broke …

NICE: France will host a summit of African leaders in May in the Riviera city of Nice, Industry Minister and the city s mayor Christian Estrosi said Monday. The summit had initially been scheduled to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh but was moved to a French venue to avoid inviting Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir, who …

BERLIN: German police raided 43 apartments on Wednesday in an operation targeting Islamists suspected of radicalizing more than 100 people into attending an Egyptian school where terrorist recruiters allegedly operate. The operation was aimed at 39 individuals across the country. Arrest warrants were issued for seven of them, three of whom are now in custody, …

ADDIS ABABA: The African Union on Tuesday sought an amendment to the Rome Statute to authorize the UN General Assembly to defer cases when the Security Council fails to decide on them. The bloc wants an amendment to Article 16 of the Rome statute in order to allow the UN General Assembly to defer cases …

CAIRO: Egypt on Tuesday welcomed statements by Hamas leaders that they were ready to seal a unity deal with the rival Fatah faction but said Cairo s blueprint for Palestinian reconciliation was not up for negotiations. Successive statements from several Hamas leaders regarding their willingness to achieve Palestinian reconciliation are welcome, foreign ministry spokesman Hossam …

CAIRO: Egyptian police shot dead a sub-Saharan African migrant and wounded another as they tried to enter Israel illegally, a security official said on Monday. A police patrol spotted the two trying to slip into Israel north of the Karm Abu Salem border crossing late on Sunday. Police opened fire after they refused orders to …

DAMASCUS: Hamas exiled leader Khaled Meshaal said on Sunday that a reconciliation deal with rival Palestinian faction Fatah was within reach and called on Egypt to host a meeting to seal an accord. He urged Egypt to receive us in Cairo … and you will see that the Palestinians will be reconciled immediately. That is …

CAIRO: According to local newspaper reports, a certain coterie of businessmen from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) are still attempting to agitate for the relocation of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant from its chosen location in Dabba. Dabba is to be announced soon as the site for the nuclear plant because it satisfies all …

ADDIS ABABA: China, often accused of being concerned only with Africa s oil, is building, free of charge, the edifice that will house the continent s political headquarters for decades to come. While China s ties with Africa are often characterized as a mad rush to secure resources to fuel its energy-hungry economy, the Asian …

CAIRO: Some 25 Egyptians arrested in November are being questioned by prosecutors for allegedly planning terrorist attacks, a security official and a lawyer said Sunday. The security official said the suspects were arrested on charges of stockpiling weapons and explosives to be used in “attacks against targets inside Egypt. The men were arrested in Mansoura, …

ADDIS ABABA: UN chief Ban Ki-Moon on Sunday criticized power-grabs in Africa in a speech to the continent s leaders as Libya s Moammar Qaddafi reluctantly handed over the presidency of the African Union to Malawi. The build-up to the three-day AU summit in Addis Ababa had been dominated by the expectation that Qaddafi would …

CAIRO: People’s Assembly (PA) Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour claimed that the Nagaa Hammadi shooting earlier this month was not indicative of sectarian strife in Egypt, but was an isolated criminal incident. In an interview with BBC Arabic Saturday, Sorour said that the incident was not fuelled by sectarian tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and Christians, citing …

UNITED NATIONS: China has agreed to cooperate with a coalition of naval forces combating rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia, a top Norwegian official said here Thursday. Norwegian foreign ministry official Carl Salicath made the announcement on the first anniversary of the establishment of the so-called Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of …

LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair said Friday he had supported the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq because Saddam Hussein flaunted UN resolutions, not because he wanted regime change. In the opening exchanges of his evidence to a public inquiry into Britain s involvement in the war, he insisted the September 11, 2001 attacks …

CAIRO: The delegation of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom cancelled a proposed trip to Upper Egypt due to sensitivities in the wake of the Nagaa Hammadi Jan. 6 shootings. The foreign ministry sent a letter to the Shoura Council explaining that they had requested from the US Embassy to intervene regarding the visit, …

WASHINGTON: The war in Iraq is ending and all US troops are coming home, US President Barack Obama said Wednesday in his State of the Union address, vowing continued US support of the Iraqi people. As we take the fight to Al-Qaeda, we are responsibly leaving Iraq to its people, Obama told lawmakers. But make …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on Palestinians on Wednesday to seize the opportunity to resume peace talks, as both sides failed to agree on the conditions for negotiations. Barak told reporters in Egyptian Sharm El-Sheikh after talks with President Hosni Mubarak that Israel had already made the unprecedented move of partially freezing …

CAIRO: Egypt is among a host of countries including the US that is still involved in secret detentions of terrorism suspects around the world, according to a UN report. The report, due to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in March, stated that these countries had been continuing the practice of secret detentions …

PARIS: Ahmad Massaadeh, a former Jordanian ambassador to the EU and NATO, has formally been named head of the Mediterranean Union project, making him the first leader of the forum created in 2008, France s foreign minister said Tuesday. The appointment of the secretary general constitutes a decisive step in the institutional construction of the …

CAIRO: The prosecution in a trial of 26 alleged Hezbollah members charged with planning attacks in Egypt demanded the death sentence on Tuesday, a judicial source said. The prosecutor made the request during a hearing at the emergency state security court trying the high-profile case, which has damaged relations between Egypt and the powerful Lebanese …

BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri heads to Cairo on Wednesday on his first official visit for talks with top officials, including President Hosni Mubarak, his office said. Hariri will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Ali Shami, Economy Minister Mohammed Safadi, Information Minister Tarek Mitri and other officials, a statement said. He will also be …

CAIRO: Former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei unequivocally stated that he does not want to become president of Egypt in an interview with Foreign Policy Magazine published Tuesday. “I don t want to be president of Egypt, he said. “I have a lot of plans other than being president of Egypt . However . a lot …

CAIRO: Reacting to President Hosni Mubarak’s statements on Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt, lawyer Naguib Gobrael says that he “refuses to accept that Egyptian Copts in diaspora “are spreading misinformation about the issue. Mubarak said Sunday during his speech, given on the occasion of national Police Day, that there have been “continued attempts to disrupt national …

CAIRO: The Foreign Relations Committee of the People’s Assembly (PA) rejected the statement issued by the European Parliament (EP) regarding the Nagaa Hammadi killings when it convened late on Monday. Members of the committee argued that Europe was not in a position to pass judgment due to violations against freedom of belief in its own …

CAIRO: State security detained nine members of the Muslim Brotherhood early Monday in Daqahleya as they were campaigning for a parliamentary run-off election. The nine members are Abdul Mohsen Qamhawi, Saad Mahmoud, Gamal Bayoumy, Gamal Aleshry, Mohamed Shaaban, Bakr Fares, Ahmed Mohamed Waley, Mohamed Yusuf and Gamal Aboul Nasr. Some of the detainees are former …

CAIRO: Both President Hosni Mubarak and Interior Minister Habib El-Adly defended Egypt’s decision to build an underground wall on the border with Gaza Sunday. Mubarak was speaking on the occasion of Police Day, the first time it is declared a national holiday. El-Adly also spoke Sunday night on the terrestrial television show “Hadith El-Medina (Talk …

JERUSALEM: Israeli police said on Thursday they have arrested two men suspected of running a ring that abducted and swindled African refugees in Egypt seeking to illegally enter Israel. The two Eritreans, aged 34 and 41, allegedly used a network of informers and an Egyptian gang to catch the refugees, most of them from Eritrea, …

BEIRUT: Police have clashed with stone-throwing protesters outside Egypt’s embassy in Beirut and at least three people were injured. About 200 people took part in Saturday’s protest over Egypt’s construction of an underground steel wall along the border with Gaza. Witnesses said baton-wielding riot police clashed with the protesters when they tried to push against …