CAIRO: Egypt said Thursday that it will invite rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to Cairo in late October for a final round of talks that it believes will result in a signed reconciliation agreement. The Gaza Strip s Hamas rulers and Fatah, which leads a separate, Western-backed government in the West Bank, have been …

GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council approved a US-backed resolution Friday deploring attacks on religions while insisting that freedom of expression remains a basic right. The inaugural resolution sponsored by the US since it joined the council in June broke a long-running deadlock between Western and Islamic countries in the wake of the publication of …

CAIRO: The summer of 2009 saw a “boom in Egyptian and foreign speculation as to the regime’s plans for Gamal’s [Mubarak] succession, a US report said. In his report, Michael Wahid Hanna, a fellow and program officer at the Century Foundation, thoroughly discussed the possibility of the inheritance of power in Egypt. The report, titled …

CAIRO: Protestors gathered at Al-Azhar Mosque after the Friday noon prayers to denounce the events at Al-Aqsa Mosque last Sunday when Israeli protestors attempted to storm it on Yom Kippur. Security forces had managed to prevent many of the protestors from reaching Al-Azhar in the first place and set up a tight security cordon in …

CAIRO: The United Nations’ Security Council removed prominent businessman and member of the Muslim Brotherhood Youssef Nada from the international terrorists list based on a request by the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Ikwanweb, Swiss Ambassador in the UN Paul Seger said, “Switzerland has called for the reform of the United Nations’ terrorist …

JERUSALEM: Israel and Hamas fighters announced a deal Wednesday that will see Israel release 20 Palestinian women from prison this week in exchange for a videotape proving that a captive Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip is still alive. The decision was the first tangible sign of movement in more than three years of …

BRIGHTON: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak branded Tuesday a bid to have him arrested in Britain absurd as he attended the governing Labor party s annual conference. Pro-Palestinian activists lodged an application in a London court for the arrest warrant over Israel s offensive in Gaza in 2008, which left more than 1,400 Palestinians and …

GAZA CITY: At least two Palestinians were killed and five missing on Wednesday after an overnight Israeli raid on smuggling tunnels in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, medics said. Four Palestinians were wounded, three of them seriously, following the strike on three tunnels on the border between Gaza and Egypt, which the army said it launched …

CAIRO: Despite suspending their three-month-long sit-in, legal specialists are still at odds with the Minister of Justice, with each side giving conflicting accounts of the crisis. Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei said certain political streams influenced the legal specialists’ crisis, but maintained that their demands were always on the top of his list. I have …

DUBAI: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in remarks published in the press on Monday that the new uranium enrichment plant recently revealed by Iran triggered mounting suspicions . There are increasing suspicions and the new plant in Qom (southwest of Tehran) signals intentions that should not be allowed, Aboul Gheit told the Saudi-owned …

CAIRO: Egypt has accused Israel of lacking the political will to achieve peace with the Palestinians during Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s speech to the UN General Assembly Saturday on behalf of the Non-Alignment Movement. Aboul Gheit, along with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan and Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judah expressed …

CAIRO: The upcoming parliamentary session is expected to discuss three main draft laws pertaining to the Ministry of Justice’s legal specialists’ demands, the plight of Egyptian expats and organ transplants. The parliamentary session is scheduled to start in November. After meeting with the Chairman of the People’s Assembly (PA) Fathi Sorour last Saturday, Minister of …

JERUSALEM: Tensions ran high after clashes erupted in Jerusalem s Old City on Sunday at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a site revered by Muslims and Jews that has been a major faultine in the Middle East conflict. Palestinian youths hurled rocks at Israeli police, who were deployed throughout the winding narrow streets of the Old …

CAIRO: Security forces arrested 12 Muslim Brotherhood deputy leaders in the governorate of Beheira late Saturday, including a former member of parliament. The group was meeting at the house of Adly Hussein, an MB member, who was also arrested. Among the 12 detained are: Mohamed Swedan, head of the MB administrative office in the governorate, …

CAIRO: Culture minister Farouk Hosni s failure to secure UNESCO s top job will do little to shake Egypt s foreign policy, even if Cairo s grumblings are heard for a while to come, analysts said on Thursday. A firm ally of the United States, Egypt claims a key role in the efforts for Arab-Israeli …

CAIRO: Egypt will not back down from calling for monitoring of Israel’s nuclear program, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki in the wake of a letter Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit sent to the UN Security Council on the topic. In an interview with Egyptian terrestrial television Thursday night from New York, Zaki said that …

UNITED NATIONS: A ministerial conference on Thursday pressed the nine states which have yet to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to do so to ensure the pact can come into force. The call was made as a two-day conference on the CTBT got under way here a day after Saint Vincent and …

GAZA CITY: Khaled Meshaal, exiled leader of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, will go to Cairo on Sunday for fresh talks with Egyptian officials, a Hamas spokesman said on Thursday in Gaza City. Sami Abu Zuhri said Damascus-based Meshaal will head a delegation of Hamas leaders from both inside and outside the Gaza enclave, which the …

MILAN: A top Italian prosecutor Wednesday made his case against 26 US secret agents accused of snatching a terror suspect from a Milan street and sending him home to Egypt where he claims he was tortured. No one could seriously argue that they were in Italy for other reasons than to abduct Milan imam Abu …

MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will make his first visit to the Middle East next month to support efforts by US President Barack Obama to relaunch the peace process, a source at his office said Thursday. Zapatero, whose country takes over the rotating presidency on the European Union on Jan. 1, will …

UNITED NATIONS: World powers Thursday adopted a landmark resolution seeking to rid the planet of nuclear arms at an unprecedented Security Council summit hosted by US President Barack Obama. Although we averted a nuclear nightmare during the Cold War, we now face proliferation of a scope and complexity that demands new strategies and new approaches, …

NEW YORK: The Palestinians cannot return to peace talks at this time because of fundamental disagreements with Israel on what should be on the agenda, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published Thursday. Abbas rebuffed an appeal by President Barack Obama that both sides get back to the table promptly. The Palestinian leader …

CAIRO: The Kefaya Movement for Change has taken serious measures to launch a legal battle against Gamal Mubarak, inquiring about the source of his wealth and accusing him of taking up political roles that they claim are unconstitutional. The movement formed a legal committee tasked with outlining the methods and mechanisms necessary to officially put …

CAIRO: Al-Qaeda predicted President Barack Obama s downfall at the hands of the Muslim world in a new video released Tuesday. The 106-minute video in Arabic, entitled The West and the Dark Tunnel, is part of a series of messages by the group marking the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Osama bin Laden …

GENEVA: The United States will soon introduce its first draft resolution since its election to the UN Human Rights Council, a text on freedom of speech being prepared with Egypt, diplomats said Tuesday. US and Egyptian diplomats were on Tuesday putting the finishing touches on the draft text which would be presented on Friday to …

CAIRO: Egypt has sent a letter to the 15 members of the UN Security Council calling for a nuclear free Middle East and the monitoring of Israel’s nuclear program. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit sent the letter last week to the foreign ministers of the 15 member states in which he outlined that it was …

NEW YORK: There isn t enough common ground between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to relaunch Mideast peace talks, and their first meeting on Tuesday, at a New York City hotel, is unlikely to change that. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a face-to-face meeting Tuesday as a courtesy …

CAIRO: Head of the Free Socialist Constitutional Party Mamdouh Qennawi said that member Mamdouh Ramzy had not consulted him before announcing his intentions to become Egypt’s first Coptic candidate in the 2011 presidential race. Qennawi told Al-Shorouk newspaper that it was the “personal initiative of Mamdouh and he did not consult me, but it is …

TEHRAN: Hardliners attacked senior pro-reform leaders, including former President Mohamad Khatami, in the streets of Tehran Friday as tens of thousands marched in competing mass demonstrations by the opposition and government supporters. Opposition protesters, chanting “death to the dictator, hurled stones and bricks in clashes with security forces. The opposition held its first major street …