CAIRO: The Rafah border crossing opened Monday for the start of a three-day opening to allow stranded Palestinians in Egypt to return to Gaza as well as allow Palestinian students and those seeking treatment to pass in the other direction. According to Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Al-Ghussein, “8,131 people have registered and they hope …

CAIRO: The United States has cut from its budget $10 million in the aid it grants directly to Egyptian NGOs not officially registered with the Egyptian government, the America in Arabic news agency reported. The news agency attributed the news to a report released by the Project on Middle East Democracy group, which claims that …

RAMALLAH: Fatah, the divided movement of the late Yasser Arafat and the West s best hope for delivering a Mideast peace deal, is trying to stage a comeback. On Tuesday, Fatah is supposed to open its first convention in 20 years, hoping to clean up its corruption-tainted image and transform itself into a vibrant alternative …

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood plans to propose a meeting with National Democratic Party (NDP) leaders to initiate communication between both groups, the Brotherhood’s Deputy Leader Mohamed Habib told Daily News Egypt. According to Habib, Egypt is “currently facing a lot of setbacks in different areas, which negatively affected its role in the region and in …

WASHINGTON: More than 200 US lawmakers urged Saudi King Abdullah on Friday to push Middle East peace efforts forward with a dramatic gesture towards recognizing Israel s legitimacy. Led by Democratic Representative Brad Sherman and Republican Representative Ed Royce, the lawmakers wrote in a letter that they were disappointed that the kingdom had not undertaken …

CAIRO: Members of the International Movement to Open the Rafah Border (IMORB) were prevented from disseminating pamphlets at the Rafah border crossing Thursday by security forces at the gate. IMORB member Nada Kassass told Daily News Egypt from the crossing that the group was handing out leaflets to tourists visiting the crossing in an attempt …

EL-ARISH: Egyptian police shot and killed an African migrant as he tried to enter Israel illegally on Friday, a security official told AFP. The victim, who was not immediately identified, was hit in the chest and in the leg, the official said. Police spotted the man near the Rafah border crossing and ordered him to …

TEHRAN: Some 30 people accused of rioting in the turbulent aftermath of Iran s presidential election face trial on Saturday, a report said, as a senior cleric called Friday for all protestors to be freed. The trial in a revolutionary court come amid simmering tension in Iran following clashes between thousands of mourners and riot …

GAZA CITY: Two Palestinians were killed on Thursday when a smuggling tunnel linking the Gaza Strip to Egypt collapsed, medical sources said. At least nine people have been killed this week in cave-ins and other mishaps in the vast network of tunnels between Egypt and Gaza used to smuggle food, goods and, according to Israel, …

TEHRAN: Iranian riot police armed with batons and belts clashed with mourners staging a defiant graveside commemoration on Thursday for protesters killed in post-election violence, witnesses said. It was the first major violence between security forces and demonstrators in three weeks in Iran, where tensions are still running high over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad s disputed …

CAIRO: The Rafah border crossing will be opened for three days beginning next Monday to allow movement of certain Palestinians to and from the Gaza Strip. The crossing will be opened for Gazans seeking treatment in Egypt, students pursuing their studies abroad and for Gazans who passed through the last time the crossing was opened …

BRASILIA: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit discussed Middle East tensions with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during a visit on Wednesday. The meeting, which played to Brazil s ambition of having a role in helping negotiate peace in the Middle East, took place a week after Lula talked over the same issues …

ALEXANDRIA: Water ministers from Nile Basin countries on Tuesday delayed signing a water-sharing pact already rejected by Egypt and Sudan, who oppose any reduction in their traditional quotas. Ministers from nine Nile Basin countries and Eritrea, which had observer status at the four-day meeting held in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alexandria, put off finalizing …

BEIRUT: Lebanon s rival factions are close to agreement on a new unity government nearly two months after a Western-backed alliance won parliamentary elections, speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday. I can affirm that the political process concerning the formation of the new government is complete, Berri told reporters after meeting President Michel Sleiman. He …

CAIRO: Egypt says the move by the militant Palestinian Hamas to ban Fatah members from traveling to a key party convention in the West Bank is unacceptable. The convention is to elect a new leadership of the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas movement. Fatah says the meeting due next week is now in jeopardy because …

CAIRO: An American report published in the Middle East Quarterly has highlighted concerns over the stability of Egypt once President Hosni Mubarak is no longer president. Titled “Is Egypt stable? and penned by Aladdin Elaasar, the report indicates that since there is no clear scenario for the succession of power, there will be instability in …

CAIRO: Detained blogger Magdy Saad has been released and is now at his home, says Muslim Brotherhood blogger Abdel-Moneim Mahmoud. Saad, a Muslim Brotherhood blogger, was detained last Wednesday at Cairo International Airport along with fellow Brotherhood member Abdel Rahman Ayyash. The two were returning from a conference in Turkey when they were detained by …

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Mahdy Akef denied reports claiming there is a “secret deal between the group and the government to release the group’s recently detained deputy leaders. In a statement sent to Daily News Egypt, Akef said, “The Brotherhood refutes what Al-Shorouk daily newspaper published last Sunday about a deal between …

CAIRO: Egypt and Israel agreed to look into expanding economic ties after Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met with Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Yossi Gal in Cairo Monday. According to a statement by the Israel foreign ministry, Aboul Gheit and Gal agreed to cement bilateral dialogue between Egypt and Israel as well …

BEIRUT: Hezbollah s leader was quoted by two Lebanese newspapers Monday as warning that his fighters will strike Israel s largest city of Tel Aviv with missiles from Lebanon – if the Jewish state attacked the guerrillas south Beirut stronghold in a new war. The papers – As-Safir and Al-Akhbar, both with close ties to …

CAIRO: US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell called on Arab states on Monday to fully normalize ties with Israel, after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the latest leg of a regional tour. Mitchell told reporters after the talks that Washington was asking countries in the region to set the context for comprehensive peace …

GAZA CITY: A 33-year-old Palestinian man was killed on Sunday when a smuggling tunnel he was in between the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Egypt collapsed, medics said. Six other people were rescued in the collapse, they said. Palestinians often die in cave-ins and other mishaps in the vast network of smuggling tunnels between Egypt and …

DAMASCUS: The US administration is determined to achieve a truly comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace settlement that includes normal relations between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, President Barack Obama s special Mideast envoy said Sunday. George Mitchell was speaking to reporters in Damascus after talks with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. It is Mitchell s second …

CAIRO: Egyptian security forces banned Saturday a protest by the Muslim Brotherhood planned to take place at the Journalists’ Syndicate against extending the detention of seven members of the group. The protest was set to take place after a Brotherhood meeting that was hosted by the syndicate’s freedoms committee, headed by Mohamed Abdel-Quddous. MB deputy …

CAIRO: The detainees of the Hezbollah cell case will stand trial in the State Security Emergency Court, Public Prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud announced Sunday. Twenty-six people have been referred to the court, 22 of which are currently being detained in Egypt. The main suspect at large is Mohamed Qublan, the Hezbollah intelligence officer whom Egypt accuses …

CAIRO: Omar Suleiman, the director of Egypt’s general intelligence service and a possible successor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, has been named the most powerful intelligence chief in the Middle East by Foreign Policy Magazine. It is widely believed the president is grooming his son, Gamal Mubarak, to succeed him, but Suleiman is very popular …

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a warm peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors on Thursday in a rare speech at the Egyptian ambassador s residence near Tel Aviv. I think we can have a very warm peace, Netanyahu said, according to statements carried by the private Channel Ten television. We hope in …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak admitted that Egypt is facing a number of domestic difficulties in the speech he gave to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the Free Officers revolution. Mubarak did not specify the type of domestic difficulties Egypt faces, but admitted that they were numerous. However he did add that Egypt is on the …

CAIRO: The Military Supreme Court will review Tuesday the verdict of a two-year prison sentence handed to former editor of Al-Shaab newspaper Magdi Ahmed Hussein last February for illegally entering the Gaza Strip. Hussein, head of the suspended Labor Party, was arrested in early February when he arrived at the Rafah border crossing after spending …