CAIRO: An American delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom is currently in Egypt, with plans to discuss the recent Nagaa Hammadi shootings, though the visit had been scheduled before the attack took place. Meanwhile Egypt insisted that the Nagaa Hammadi killings – in which six Copts and a Muslim guard were killed …

SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh held talks Saturday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who stressed his country s support for Yemen at an upcoming London conference. We will provide all political support for Yemen at this meeting, Aboul Gheit said at a news conference in Sanaa, where he and Egyptian intelligence chief …

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China Thursday to conduct a thorough probe into cyber attacks on Google and other US companies, pressing technology firms to resist Internet censorship. Without specifically mentioning China, Clinton said in a speech on internet freedom at the Newseum here that countries and individuals who engage in cyber …

WASHINGTON: A group of US lawmakers urged President Hosni Mubarak in a letter released Wednesday to properly prosecute gunmen behind the recent slayings of six Coptic Christians. The attack was indicative of a systematic pattern of violence and an example of alarming incidents of religious intolerance in Egypt, the 16 US senators and representatives wrote …

CAIRO: Al Kalima Human Rights Center filed a case to the Administrative Court calling for the resignation of Qena Governor Magdy Ayoub, citing repeated sectarian clashes in the area. Al Kalima is accusing Ayoub, Egypt’s only Coptic governor, of being responsible for repeated incidents of sectarian strife in his governorate and the escalation of violence …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak described the Nagaa Hammadi s shootings as a criminal act and urged Egypt’s intelligentsia to confront “sedition, ignorance and blind fanaticism in a speech to mark Science Day. This was the first time Mubarak comments on the brutal drive-by shooting of six Copts and one Muslim outside a church in Nagaa …

CAIRO: Reports have emerged from Qatar that Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal will come to Egypt this week to apologize for the death of an Egyptian soldier on the border with Gaza earlier this month. The Qatari Al-Sharq newspaper quoted unnamed sources that Meshaal will meet with Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul …

CAIRO: Protection of Egypt’s antiquities was the subject of heated debate at the People’s Assembly as steel mogul and senior National Democratic Party MP Ahmed Ezz and Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni argued over private ownership of antiquities. The point of contention was Article 8, which bans the trade, or any other form of disposal, …

DAMASCUS/BEIRUT: US envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday met President Bashar Al-Assad and said Syria had an important role to play in the search for peace in the Middle East. Mitchell reaffirmed President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s commitment “to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East that includes peace between Israel and …

CAIRO: Kosovo s foreign minister has urged Arab countries to recognize his country s independence, arguing that the Balkan nation deserves support from the Arab and Muslim worlds. The minister, Skender Hyseni, also said Monday his government was unhappy that most Arab nations have not recognized Kosovo nearly two years after declaring its independence. Hyseni …

CAIRO: Starting December 2009, reports circulated that Egypt is building an underground wall along its border with Gaza to combat the smuggling tunnels. With Gaza under a tight Israeli blockade, the tunnels have become the lifeline of the Strip, used for supplying its residents with foods, medicine and even toys and electrical supplies. Weapons, however, …

JERUSALEM: Amnesty International on Monday accused Israel of collectively punishing the population of Gaza with border closures tightened after the Islamist Hamas movement s 2007 takeover. The British-based rights group said the firing of rockets by Palestinian militants – which the Israeli military says has dropped by about 90 percent since its offensive in Gaza …

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood elected a new supreme guide, Mohamed Badea’ Sami, to head the group’s Guidance Office, which is their highest authority. Badea’ will be succeeding Mohamed Mahdi Akef, who made the announcement at a press conference on Saturday. In his first statement as Supreme Guide, Badea’ said that the Muslim Brotherhood will work …

JAKARTA: More than 200 Indonesian Muslims protested in Jakarta Sunday against an underground wall being built to block a network of tunnels crossing Egypt s border with the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile in Lebanon about 200 people took part in the protest near Egypt s embassy, accusing Egyptian authorities of acting like an agent of Israel. …

CAIRO: A Christmas Eve attack in southern Egypt in which six Coptic Christians and a Muslim policeman were killed reveals an atmosphere of intolerance, US Assistant Secretary for Human Rights Michael Posner said on Thursday. The United States is very concerned about the tragic events in Nagaa Hammadi, Posner told reporters in Cairo. It s …

GAZA CITY: The construction of a new underground wall and recent border clashes have frayed relations between Hamas and Egypt and could threaten the Islamist movement s main lifeline in Gaza, analysts say. Since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 it has relied on smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt to defy the …

CAIRO: The UN s former nuclear chief has yet to return home to his native Egypt after almost a quarter century monitoring the world s atomic programs, but the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner has already created the biggest political stir in his homeland in years by hinting at a new career in politics. Mohamed …

CAIRO: The new Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is to be announced at a press conference today. The new chairman will replace outgoing leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef and will have to preside over a schism within the group erupting from the fallout of the appointments of the new Guidance Office as well as …

AMMAN: A roadside bomb exploded near an Israeli embassy convoy headed to the Jewish state from the Jordanian capital on Thursday, causing no casualties, officials from the two countries said. “The Israeli embassy convoy left Amman and was headed for the Hussein bridge when the blast occurred. Nobody was hurt, an Israeli diplomat said, referring …

LA GRANJA: An Italian minister on Wednesday said Italy was the “most welcoming country in Europe, days after violent attacks forced more than 1,000 African farm workers to flee a town in the south of his country. Andrea Ronchi, the European affairs minister, said racism did not exist in Italy and accused the rest of …

CAIRO: Fifty European MPs from 12 different countries are scheduled to visit the Gaza Strip today via the Rafah border crossing in a trip organized by the European Campaign to End the Seige on Gaza. The delegation, after having criticized the foreign ministry for procrastinating the coordination of the visit, finally announced that they had …

CAIRO: The Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force in December 2009, doesn’t signal a change in European Union foreign policies, but it would be felt in few structural changes, Ambassador of the European Union Delegation in Cairo, H.E. Marc Franco told Daily News Egypt. In a press conference held last Monday to mark the …

CAIRO: The Kefaya Movement for Change’s coordinating committee renewed Wednesday incumbent coordinator Abdel Halim Qandil’s term for one more year amid tension between the opposition movement’s leaders. A meeting at the movement’s headquarters saw clashes between members of the coordinating committee, where 25 members voted for retaining Qandil’s position for another year, while 20 members …

WASHINGTON: The United States Tuesday voiced its support for a wall being built by Egypt to block a network of tunnels stretching out from the Gaza Strip, arguing it would stop arms smuggling. We believe that weapon-smuggling should stop and that measures taken to stop that weapon-smuggling should be, could be carried out, yes, said …

CAIRO: State officials in North Sinai have told Bedouin tribal leaders they are willing to reconsider the status of detained tribesmen as well as those who have been charged in absentia. Almost 1,000 Sinai Bedouins are currently detained for various offences, mainly arrested in crackdowns in the wake of terrorist bombings in Sinai in 2005 …

CABINDA: Angolan police grilled two suspects in a deadly shooting attack by separatist rebels on Togo s team which cast a long shadow Monday over the start of Africa s premier football tournament. The pair were arrested in Cabinda, an Angolan enclave inside the Democratic Republic of Congo, close to the scene of Friday’s attack …

CAIRO: Egypt claims to have uncovered the identity of the snipers that killed Egyptian border guard Ahmed Shaaban and will request that Hamas arrest them, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the press Monday. “We know their names and we shall request that they be apprehended, he said, “and we shall see how Hamas deals …

CAIRO: Egypt has stated that an Israeli decision to build a high-tech barrier fence along its border with Egypt was something that concerned Israel alone, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said. “It is an Israeli matter, Zaki retorted when asked about plans to build a new barrier along the 210 km border it shares with …

CAIRO: The death of Egyptian border guard Ahmed Shaaban in Rafah could have been caused by friendly fire, claimed Al-Shorouk columnist Fahmi Howeidi in an article published Monday. Shaaban, 22, was shot during a demonstration on the border Jan. 6 when Gazans amassed near the Salahuldin Gate at the border town of Rafah. It was …