CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak will head to Washington around the middle of August, a presidential source told AFP on Wednesday. President Mubarak will leave for Washington in the middle of next month for talks with US President Barack Obama, the source said. Obama delivered a landmark speech in Cairo on June 4 in which he …

WASHINGTON: US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell will return to the region at the end of this week, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Monday. George Mitchell will be traveling to the region later this week, Crowley said during a press briefing. His itinerary is still not completely set, but he will …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak attended on Monday the Union for the Mediterranean s second annual meeting in Milan. He addressed those gathered for the event, speaking to the need for greater cooperation among Mediterranean nations in the realms of the Middle East peace process, the environment and technology. Following the meeting in Milan, Mubarak traveled …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak called for Europe to improve cooperation with the southern Mediterranean states yesterday at the Economic and Financial Forum for the Mediterranean in Milan, Italy. The president opened the forum with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi before a diverse delegation of ministers and industry leaders from nations of the Union for the …

TEHRAN: Iran s popular former president Mohammad Khatami has called for a nationwide referendum on the legitimacy of the government to end the country s post-election crisis. Khatami s proposal was reported by several reformist websites on Monday. Khatami also said Iranians have lost their faith in the ruling political system following the June 12 …

GAZA CITY: Two Palestinians suffocated to death in a smuggling tunnel between Gaza and Egypt, medics and witnesses said on Monday. The two men, aged 17 and 33, died of asphyxiation when a fuel leak occurred in the tunnel which then collapsed, they said. Palestinians often die in cave-ins and other mishaps in the vast …

CAIRO: Egyptian-mediated Palestinian reconciliation talks between rivals Fatah and Hamas set for next Saturday have been delayed for a month, Egypt s official MENA news agency said on Sunday. Egyptian officials decided that some issues required further discussion and efforts. The date for the last round of talks, July 25, does not leave enough time …

CAIRO: With the newly approved law setting a women’s quota of 64 seats in the People’s Assembly for the next two PA sessions, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Egypt’s biggest opposition bloc, is yet to announce its plans for these new seats. Of the 454 seats in the current parliamentary session, the Brotherhood has 88. During …

GAZA CITY: Representatives of an anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect paid a brief visit to the Gaza Strip on Thursday on a solidarity mission with the area s Hamas leaders. It was the first time envoys from the Neturei Karta have visited the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control in June 2007. The sect denounces Israel …

TEHRAN: Tens of thousands of opposition supporters packed Iran s main Islamic prayer sermon Friday, chanting freedom, freedom and other slogans as their top clerical supporter Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon sharply criticizing the country s leadership over the crackdown on election protests. Outside Tehran University, where the prayers were held, pro-government Basiji militiamen …

JAKARTA, Indonesia: Suicide bombers who checked in as guests smuggled explosives into American luxury hotels in Indonesia s capital and set off a pair of heavy blasts that killed eight people and wounded more than 50, investigators said Friday. The near-simultaneous bombings ended a four-year lull in terror attacks in the world s most populous …

CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood MP Saied Khalifa filed an urgent interrogation request to the PA chairperson for Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, regarding the government’s authorization of the passage of Israeli warships through the Suez Canal on July 14. “How can Egyptian authorities allow something like this to happen at a …

CAIRO: An Israeli envoy on Tuesday concluded his first round of talks with top Egyptian intelligence officers in efforts to free an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip, officials said. Egypt has been mediating attempts to trade hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who was captured …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Pakistan promised India on Thursday that it will do “everything in its power to bring the Mumbai terror attackers to justice, a key demand by New Delhi to improve relations. The prime ministers of the two nuclear powers also agreed that action on terrorism should not be linked to their peace talks, the …

CAIRO: The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Sharm El-Sheikh came to a close Thursday amid debate over the relevance of the movement. With “International Solidarity for Peace and Development as its title, the summit featured strong words from world leaders hoping to unite, as well as to resolve political or military disputes. Of the summit’s …

CAIRO: State Security Prosecution renewed the detention order of Muslim Brotherhood Ashraf Abdel Ghaffar, deputy secretary general of the Arab Doctors’ Syndicate. Abdel Ghaffar, along with eight other Brotherhood leaders, was arrested earlier this month in the recent crackdown on the group, on charges of belonging to an illegal group, money laundering and terrorism. Secretary …

CAIRO: Members of the second Viva Palestina aid convoy were scheduled to return to Egypt Thursday from Gaza after having entered the besieged territory with medical aid and ambulances. The convoy, comprising some 200 Americans and led by British Respect Party MP George Galloway, entered Gaza Wednesday evening through the Rafah border crossing after five …

CAIRO: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Cuban leader Raul Castro chaired the opening session of the 15th Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El-Sheikh Wednesday. The title of this year’s summit is “International Solidarity for Peace and Development. The main part of the summit kicked off with bold statements by world …

CAIRO: The Egyptian and Iranian foreign ministers have met three times this week, signaling a thaw in the tense relations between the two Muslim nations, Egyptian and Iranian diplomats said Tuesday. Formal diplomatic ties were severed in 1979 when Egypt signed a peace deal with Israel. Although Iran has been looking to improve relations, Egypt …

CAIRO: The passage of two Israeli warships through the Suez Canal Tuesday are indicative of Egyptian/Israeli security cooperation against Iran’s nuclear program, said prominent Hezbollah leader Mohamed Yazbek. Yazbek told the Iranian news agency IRNA that there was a clear desire on the part of the Egyptians to cooperate with Israel in opposing what he …

AL-ARISH: Two Egyptian police have been charged with taking money from a Gazan family with the false promise of allowing them into Egypt from the isolated enclave, a security source told AFP on Tuesday. The two policemen offered via a middleman to let the Palestinian family into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, Gaza s …

SUEZ: Two Israeli navy ships made a rare crossing of Egypt s Suez Canal on Tuesday, headed from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, a port source told AFP. One of the ships, the Hanit, already crossed the canal both ways in June, in what the source said was the first case of a large …

CAIRO: The 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement kicks into high gear today in Sharm El-Sheikh. Foreign ministers and other officials have already begun preliminary meetings for the conference which will come to a close on Thursday. As of this summit, President Hosni Mubarak is now the secretary general of the organization through 2012, receiving …

CAIRO: No trial date has yet been set for the detainees in the Hezbollah cell case as investigative authorities continue to renew their detainment without announcing when the case will go to trial. “There is a political angle which is why [no date has been set], the lawyer of some of the defendants Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud …

JERUSALEM: Britain has imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel over the Gaza war, refusing to supply replacement parts for navy gunships used in the offensive, a newspaper reported on Monday. Britain s Foreign Office informed Israel s embassy in London of the sanctions a few days ago, Haaretz newspaper said, adding that the embassy …

CAIRO: The defense team representing the 26 alleged members of a “terrorist cell arrested last week filed on Monday a complaint to the State Council’s Administrative Court against interior minister Habib El Adly requesting him to unveil the whereabouts and the reasons behind the group’s arrest. The suspects include 25 Egyptians and a Palestinian. Protesting …

CAIRO: Detained Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh was admitted into Qasr Al-Aini Hospital Monday morning after he experienced difficulty breathing. The chairman of the Arab Doctors’ Syndicate was transferred to a hospital upon his request, after State Security Prosecution received an official request from Torah Prison, where he was detained. According to a …

CAIRO: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s choice for the next Israeli ambassador to Egypt has sparked debate in the Israeli media and among government officials who criticize it as a political appointment that will hinder relations with Israel’s largest neighbor. Israeli media reported on Friday that Lieberman, an outspoken conservative, appointed Shaul Kamisa to head …

CAIRO: Two years prior to Egypt s scheduled 2011 presidential elections, former Al-Ghad party chairman Ayman Nour faces difficulties campaigning for the presidency. Nour is experiencing early challenges. In an interview with Daily News Egypt, Nour said that many of his conferences have been cancelled, all for different reasons. A July 9 Fayoum conference titled …

CAIRO: The International Movement to Open the Rafah Border (IMORB) commemorated Monday its month-long presence at the Rafah border crossing by building their own latrine after authorities placed barbed wire around the facilities of the only cafeteria near the gate. The IMORB has maintained a constant vigil at the Rafah border crossing since June 13. …