DAMASCUS: A tire from a bus of Iranian pilgrims exploded with force near a Shia shrine in Damascus on Thursday, killing three people, with Syria s interior minister dismissing reports of a terrorist attack. It is not a terrorist act at all, Interior Minister Saeed Sammur told journalists at the scene. It happened while one …

NEW YORK: The resentencing of a former civil rights lawyer convicted in a terrorism case has been scheduled for April 22. The sentencing date for Lynne Stewart was set Wednesday by federal Judge John Koeltl after an appeals court said he should consider whether she committed perjury when she testified at her trial. Stewart s …

PARIS: A protester who presented himself as an Iraqi journalist in exile hurled a shoe Tuesday at a colleague who one year ago found fame hurling his own footwear at then US president George W. Bush. Television reporter Muntazer Al-Zaidi was in Paris to promote his campaign for the victims of the US occupation in …

CAIRO: Egyptian police shot dead a sub-Saharan migrant as he tried to slip into Israel illegally overnight, a security official said on Tuesday. Police shot him dead after he ignored orders to stop, the official said. The man s nationality was not identified. Police in Egypt regularly shoot African migrants on the country s porous …

CAIRO: Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Tuesday denounced a vote in Switzerland that banned the construction of any further minarets, saying he hoped the referendum result would face a legal challenge. Moussa, who heads the 22-member organization, told reporters that the ban, approved by almost 58 percent of Swiss voters on Sunday, was a …

GENEVA: The United Nations called Switzerland s ban on new minarets clearly discriminatory and deeply divisive, and the Swiss foreign minister acknowledged Tuesday the government was very concerned about how the vote would affect the country s image. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said Sunday s referendum to outlaw the construction of minarets in …

CAIRO: Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medlici expressed his goodwill towards Egypt and said he hoped to turn a new leaf with Egyptians in a telephone interview with London-based Asharq Alawsat newspaper Tuesday. His statement was a reference to the tension brewing between Egypt and Algeria since the violence that took place in Sudan after the …

CAIRO: A German mediator is to give Israel s response to Hamas on a prisoner swap as the two sides edge closer to a deal, a Palestinian official said on Monday. The official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said Hamas leaders would meet the mediator in the Gaza Strip where …

CAIRO: Authorities at the Rafah border crossing prevented some 65 tons of meat donated by the Arab Doctors’ Union from being taken into Gaza Sunday due to spoilage of the meat while being transported. Health officials at the crossing determined that the meat had become unfit for human consumption due to the inadequacy of its …

CAIRO: Egypt criticized Saturday a resolution put forward by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) calling for Iran to immediately cease construction on its recently revealed nuclear facility in Qom. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told reporters Saturday that while Egypt was opposed to Iran keeping the site secret, the resolution was “unbalanced because it …

JERUSALEM: The man named as Israel s new ambassador to Egypt is the son of a spy who had been sentenced to death in Lebanon but was eventually part of a prisoner swap, a foreign ministry official said on Monday. The nomination of Yitzhak Levanon, 65, still has to be formally approved, the official, who …

CAIRO: The Rafah border crossing was opened Tuesday to allow some 1,000 Palestinian pilgrims to travel onto Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj in Mecca. The crossing will remain open today as well. Saudi Arabia is sponsoring the pilgrimage of 2,000 Palestinians – half from Gaza and the other half from the West Bank – …

GAZA CITY: Three Palestinians were wounded early on Tuesday as Israel carried out three air strikes on Hamas-run Gaza in response to rocket fire from the enclave, witnesses, medics and the army said. Two of the raids struck smuggling tunnels on the border between Gaza and Egypt and one hit east of Gaza City, witnesses …

CAIRO: In a statement to Egyptian terrestrial TV Monday, Gamal Mubarak, head of the policies secretariat in the ruling National Democratic Party, said that attacks on Egyptian fans by Algerians in Khartoum following the World Cup qualifier will have grave consequences. “Anyone who thinks that this will just pass is gravely mistaken, said Mubarak, son …

RAFAH: An Egyptian security official says police have seized a pickup truck loaded with a ton of explosives near the country s volatile border with the Gaza Strip. The official said smugglers abandoned the truck when police in the border town of Rafah chased them. He said several automatic weapons and munitions also were found …

CAIRO: Reports of the imminent release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit have cropped up in both the Egyptian and Israeli press. The news portal Masrawy ran a report that claimed that Shalit might be handed to Egypt during or right after the upcoming Eid holiday. The report also stated that a Hamas delegation headed …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak waded into the furor surrounding Egypt’s grudge match with Algeria during his speech for the opening of the 2009/10 parliamentary session. Egypt is in uproar over alleged attacks that took place in Khartoum after Algeria defeated Egypt 1-0 last Wednesday to qualify for next year’s World Cup. Egyptian fans attending the …

GAZA CITY: Hamas s armed wing on Sunday said that armed groups in its Gaza Strip stronghold had finalized a deal to stop firing rockets into Israel, but said they would respond to Israeli raids. The agreement between [Ezzedine] Al-Qassam [Brigades] and other factions to stop rocket [fire] is not a sign of weakness, the …

JERUSALEM: Israeli President Shimon Peres was heading to Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak on the troubled Middle East peace talks, his spokeswoman said. Mr Peres is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak one on one during the late morning in Cairo, Peres spokeswoman Ayelet Frish said. He will return …

CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit received a report on Sunday from Egypt’s ambassador to Algeria who was recalled to Cairo for consultations Saturday in the aftermath of attacks on Egyptian fans in Sudan following a World Cup qualifier playoff between the two national teams. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said that the report by …

CAIRO: The government has called in the Algerian ambassador Ambassador Abdelkader Hadjar yesterday and then recalled its own envoy Ambassador Abdul-Aziz Seif al-Nasr, from Algeria for consultations in protest against the attacks on Egyptians following the game in Sudan. Ambassador Hassan Eisa told Daily News Egypt this was “a practical move to show our anger, …

NEW YORK: Promising you haven t seen the last of me, a 70-year-old disbarred lawyer convicted in a terrorism case surrendered to US marshals Thursday to begin serving her prison term after a New York appeals court upheld her conviction. A smiling Lynne Stewart walked with several dozen supporters to a collection of cameras on …

CAIRO: Israeli President Shimon Peres will arrive in Egypt Sunday to hold talks with President Hosni Mubarak. Peres was on a tour of South American countries, which took him to Brazil and Argentina, the first visit by an Israeli president there in 20 years. His visit to Egypt comes in the wake of opposing comments …

CAIRO: Tribal tensions in Northern Sinai continued as a result of the shooting of a Suez police officer and the subsequent shooting of the prime suspect. Ahmed Eid from the Tarabin tribe was the man believed to have shot dead the head of criminal investigations in Suez city Ibrahim Abdel-Maboud last September, during an exchange …

CAIRO: Israeli President Shimon Peres will arrive in Egypt Sunday to hold talks with President Hosni Mubarak. Peres was on a tour of South American countries, which took in Brazil and Argentina, the first visit by an Israeli president there in 20 years. His visit to Egypt comes in the wake of opposing comments regarding …

WASHINGTON: The White House lashed Israel with heavy criticism on Tuesday after the Jerusalem city government moved toward the construction of 900 additional housing units in a Jewish neighborhood in annexed East Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state. President Barack Obama has made restarting peace talks between Israel and the …

CAIRO: Member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s (MB) Guidance Office and Secretary General of the Arab Doctors’ Union Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh was released by State Security Tuesday after almost five months of incarceration. Long seen as a temperate force within the group, Aboul Fotouh was detained June 28 and according to a group statement, had …