CAIRO: Police have arrested 32 Muslim Brotherhood members over the past two days, the Islamists and security officials said on Wednesday. Twelve men were arrested in raids on Wednesday morning in Fayoum province south of Cairo for suspected involvement in an attempt to bring medical supplies to Gaza earlier this month, the Brotherhood said on …

GAZA CITY: Hamas gave its tentative support Tuesday to an Egyptian plan to reconcile the movement and the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas amid a looming constitutional crisis. “We will agree to the draft of the agreement and will not reject it, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP, but he added that …

CAIRO: The International Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) Committee chose Egyptian MP Mohamed Mostafa Sherdy as a representative of the North Africa region to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor the coming US presidential elections on Nov.4. Sherdy, an MP affiliated with Al-Wafd opposition party, told Daily News Egypt that he …

CAIRO: A policeman was shot in North Sinai Sunday night while in pursuit of a fugitive who escaped, amidst fears that he may escape through an underground tunnel into Gaza. Diaa Fathy Fotouh, 22, was shot while in pursuit of the fugitive by a bullet which pierced his left breastplate inches from his heart. He …

JERUSALEM: Israeli President Shimon Peres will head to Egypt this week to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Peres office said Monday that the two leaders would meet Thursday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. They said talks would focus on promoting peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the fate of a …

UNITED NATIONS: Iran, a country under UN. sanctions, and Iceland, which has been battered by the recent credit crisis, failed Friday to win nonpermanent seats on the powerful UN Security Council. Austria and Turkey beat Iceland in the battle for the two nonpermanent European seats on the 15-member council in voting at a meeting of …

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s president opened a conference on the Darfur conflict Thursday with a call for a national vision for peace in the desert region, though his rebel foes were absent from the gathering. Rebel groups in the western Sudanese region dismissed the president’s three-day forum as an attempt by him to avoid prosecution at an …

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) _ Sudan s president has launched a three-day meeting to hammer out what he calls a national vision for peace in the country s wartorn Darfur region. Regional supporters of President Omar al-Bashir, including the African Union, the Arab League, Egypt, Libya and Qatar, are attending the conference that opened Thursday. But …

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly votes today to choose five new non-permanent members of the powerful Security Council, with all eyes on the contest between Iran and Japan for the lone Asian seat up for grabs. Iran, which is under UN Security Council sanctions for its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work, is …

CAIRO: Egypt on Thursday hailed Syria and Lebanon s establishment of diplomatic ties for the first time since independence 60 years ago as a step in the right direction. Egypt is relieved by the announcement of setting up diplomatic relations between these two neighbor states, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a statement. This …

CAIRO: The Egyptian parliamentary delegation refused to attend the human rights session of the International Parliamentary Conference in Geneva Wednesday because it was discussing the case of incarcerated former presidential candidate Ayman Nour. The delegation was headed by Egyptian house speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour, who bristled at the topic on the council’s agenda, saying it …

BRUSSELS: NATO warships were steaming through the Suez Canal Wednesday en-route to Somalia to help combat piracy off the largely lawless African country s coast, an alliance spokesman said. Seven ships from six NATO navies … are transiting the Suez Canal today on their way to conduct both anti-piracy duties and to visit NATO partner …

RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has rejected a call for talks with arch-rival Hamas ahead of early November Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo, his spokesman said on Wednesday. Fatah and all the factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization are in favor of a Palestinian dialogue that involves all the parties, said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu …

DAMASCUS: Syria and Lebanon formally established diplomatic ties on Wednesday for the first time since independence 60 years ago, turning a new page in relations between Beirut and its powerful one-time powerbroker. A statement signed by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and visiting Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salloukh announced the launch of diplomatic relations between the …

WASHINGTON: The administration of US President George W. Bush authorized the CIA to waterboard Al-Qaeda suspects according to two secret memos issued in 2003 and 2004, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. The memos were issued at the request of intelligence officials who were “troubled that White House policymakers had never endorsed the program in writing, …

AL-ARISH: Egyptian police shot dead an African migrant and wounded another on Tuesday as they tried to cross illegally into Israel, a security official said. The two were shot when police saw them about to enter Israel southeast of the Egypt-Gaza border town of Rafah, the official said, adding that the migrants were Eritreans. Imad …

CAIRO: The two candidates vying for the presidency of the United States have similar foreign policies concerning the Middle East but differ only on the subject of Iraq, a lobbyist has said Monday. “Both Senator [John] McCain and Senator [Barack] Obama have said that Israel is the United States’ main ally in the region, and …

CAIRO: Egypt will need more time to ensure security measures are in place before it goes ahead with its decision to open an embassy in Iraq, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Iraq has offered Egypt two adjacent buildings in a safe place, but cameras and security are being installed, …

CAIRO: The Sudanese Justice Minister says Sudan will be conducting its own trials for suspects involved in crimes in the wartorn Darfur region but gave no date. Abdel Basset Sabdarat says that a special prosecutor is nearly finished with a number of reports on unspecified Darfur crimes. He refused Monday to link the trials to …

JERUSALEM: Two Arab-owned apartments were set ablaze in the Israeli town of Acre amid clashes between Jews and Arabs, police said Saturday. Rioting in Acre – one of only a few mixed Arab-Jewish towns in Israel – first erupted on Wednesday, during observances of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The violence has continued since …

CAIRO: France wants Egypt to be the representative of the Arab world in the proposed expansion of the G8 nations which is to become the G14 with the inclusion of six other countries. “The Arab world has to be represented in the G14 and Egypt is the most suitable according to France because of its …

CAIRO: Around 30 members of the same family were arrested from a neighborhood in the border town of Rafah on suspicion of smuggling solaar gas into Gaza. According to sources in the area, 30 members of the Barahma family – part of the Barghoum tribe – were taken after security forces completely surrounded the neighborhood …

CAIRO: A controversial new report published by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research titled “The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion claims that American high school and elementary textbooks contain countless inaccuracies about Christianity, Judaism and Israel. The Jewish institute based its report on 28 geography, history and social studies textbooks in the …

CAIRO: Fatah and Hamas will meet in Cairo on Oct. 25 for Egyptian-mediated talks aimed at forming a transitional government comprising ministers acceptable to the rival factions, Hamas said on Thursday. Fatah and Hamas will meet on Oct. 25 in Cairo under Egyptian mediation to resolve their differences on how to reach reconciliation and end …

CAIRO: Senior Hamas officials met Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss an Egyptian proposal for a Palestinian unity government, the official MENA news agency reported. MENA says Omar Suleiman s meeting Wednesday with Hamas focused on proposals to form a moderate Palestinian government, hold new elections and reorganize the Palestinian …

JERUSALEM: Declassified documents about the October 1973 war highlight just how much Israel had underestimated the strength of its Arab foes amid deep divisions among its military and political establishment. We didn t properly evaluate the effectiveness of their offensive forces, then Defence Minister Moshe Dayan said, according to the documents quoted by Israeli media …

CAIRO: Palestinians who were allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing to embark on the lesser pilgrimage (umrah) in Ramadan have opted to remain in Saudi Arabia illegally rather than return to Gaza. According to sources in the area, of the 1,320 pilgrims who initially left to Saudi Arabia, only 265 have returned to Gaza …

CAIRO: Security forces completely surrounded a neighborhood in the border town of Rafah Wednesday as central security forces also amassed at the border crossing with the Gaza strip. One hundred cars from different security bodies surrounded a neighborhood called Canada in Rafah, prohibiting residents from leaving or entering. Many shops in the area closed down …