CAIRO: The former head of restoration in Islamic Cairo and two other Egyptian culture ministry officials were jailed for 10 years on Wednesday for receiving bribes from contractors, a judicial source said. A Cairo court also ordered Ayman Abdel Monem, Hussein Ahmed Hussein and Abdel Hamid Qotb to pay fines of between LE 200,000 ($36,400 …

CAIRO: Iran claimed Monday that the process of normalization with Egypt is currently underway. The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told reporters that talks are underway between Cairo and Tehran to reach this aim. Qashqavi also sent a warning to Cairo advising them not to allow “marginal issues …

BAGHDAD: Egypt sent its foreign minister to Iraq for the first time in nearly two decades, saying it is the right time to expand relations between the two nations, in a sign of growing Arab acceptance of the country s Shia-led government. We feel it is the proper time to come to Iraq and launch …

PORT SAID: On the eve of the October War s 35th anniversary, traffic at this old colonial town s military museum was slow. One young couple posed cheerily in front of a gory depiction of the 1956 Suez Crisis. Outside, children scaled a vintage Israeli tank and asked a drowsy-looking guard to snap their photo. …

CAIRO: Egyptian police arrested 15 members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the northern coastal city of Alexandria on Sunday, a security official said. The official said the MB members were arrested after they tried to enter a private school where their children had been educated but which the government has ordered to close. Among those …

CAIRO: Egyptian police blocked an opposition convoy carrying medical supplies to the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip and arrested at least 30 activists on Monday, security officials said. Police surrounded campaigners outside the Journalists Syndicate offices in Cairo, where the convoy was due to leave from, and detained 25 opposition members, a security …

JERUSALEM: Israel, the Palestinians and the Middle East Quartet will meet in November to review progress in US-backed peace talks launched nearly a year ago, Israel s Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday. Citing a senior official in Jerusalem, the paper reported that the meeting would be held in Egypt s Red Sea resort of Sharm …

ACCRA: Sudan s president warned Thursday that attempts by the International Criminal Court to prosecute him on charges of waging a genocidal campaign in Darfur are undermining attempts to bring peace to the region. Prosecutors at the Hague-based International Criminal Court filed genocide charges against President Omar Al-Beshir in July, marking the first time prosecutors …

OSLO: This year s Nobel Peace Prize could go to a human rights activist in China or Russia to put the spotlight on the situation in those countries, experts suggested a week before the laureate is announced. Chinese dissident Hu Jia and Chechen human rights lawyer Lidiya Yusupova are seen as strong contenders this year, …

CAIRO: Security forces cordoned a mosque in Assiut on Tuesday night, preventing Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members from hanging banners on the mosque s walls, Mohamed Habib, the group s deputy leader, told Daily News Egypt. Habib, who seemed to be taking the news lightly, said that the governor of Assiut ordered security forces to prevent …

WASHINGTON: The Egyptian embassy office in the US and several homes were evacuated Wednesday after a grenade was found at a northwest Washington park, but authorities determined it was not a live explosive. The grenade was found across the street from an office of the Egyptian Embassy, FBI spokeswoman Debbie Weierman said. There was no …

CAIRO: After failing to build a fertilizer plant in Ras El Bar, Agrium Egypt is continuing to build a marine pier at the port of Damietta to be used as an exporting base for products of the Misr Oil Processing Company (MOPCO). Local press reports claim that the company has yet to submit an environmental …

VIENNA, Austria: The chief UN atomic inspector suggested Tuesday that nuclear weapons states bore some blame for other countries seeking such arms, because they are modernizing arsenals rather than scrapping them. Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke on the sidelines of a 145-nation IAEA meeting that has focused partly on …

CAIRO: Bahrain s foreign minister said in an interview published Wednesday that Middle East nations should form a regional organization that includes Israel and Iran, the Arab countries top rivals, to try to resolve their disputes. It was a rare call for Arab countries to create a broad grouping alongside Israel and Iran. Egypt and …

CAIRO: This Ramadan saw the most severe crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, with the arrests of over 145 of its members, the group’s lawyer Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud told Daily News Egypt. In the past few years, detained members would be released during Ramadan, and never did the holy month see any arrests of Brotherhood members, …

CAIRO: This week the Human Rights Council at the United States Congress will discuss the latest developments in opposition Ghad party leader Ayman Nour s health status, his wife Gamil Ismail told Daily News Egypt. Nour, who was sentenced to five years for allegedly forging powers of attorney for the foundation of Al Ghad party, …

CAIRO: A group of European tourists and their guides snatched by armed bandits in a remote desert 10 days ago were freed unharmed in a pre-dawn raid by Egyptian special forces on Monday, officials said. The group of 19 hostages – five Germans, five Italians, a Romanian and eight Egyptian drivers and tour guides – …

CAIRO: Sudanese officials have claimed that the group of hostages abducted from El-Gilf Al-Kabir last week are on their way back to Egypt and may be freed very soon. “Sudanese security forces have located the route [of the group]. They are currently on their way to Egyptian borders from Sudan east Uwainat region, said Sudanese …

CAIRO: Member of Parliament Gamal Al-Zeiny filed a proposal to the People’s Assembly (PA) suggesting that the government create three new ministries: one for shantytowns, another to preserve Egypt’s marine wealth and a third to coordinate between all ministries. Al-Zeiny told Daily News Egypt that the first proposed ministry will be in charge of monitoring …

CAIRO: According to media reports, the 19 tourists and Egyptians abducted from Gilf Al-Kabir Friday Sept. 19 have been moved to Libya, Sudanese officials said. Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Yussef said that the hostages had been taken 13 km into Libyan territory, but no corroborating statement has emerged from any Egyptian source. “The Libyan …

VIENNA, Austria: North Korea plans to reactivate the nuclear plant that provided the plutonium for its atomic test explosion within a week, the chief UN nuclear inspector said Wednesday. The move is a further sign that the country is making good on threats to restart a nuclear program that allowed it to conduct the test …

CAIRO: Local and international media continue to follow up on the kidnapping of 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians with conflicting news reports as the hostage situation enters its fifth day. Minister of Information Anas Al-Fiqqi on Tuesday retracted his decision to impose a publishing ban on the incident, after local media continued to report …

CAIRO: A document was recently discovered proving that Britain is indebted to Egypt by 3 million pounds sterling – or LE 29 million – which it has loaned during World War I, local press reported. Ashraf Sabry, a doctor, claimed to have found the I.O.U document while researching Egyptian and British documents at the Royal …

WASHINGTON: After nearly a decade of deadlock, Israel and the Palestinians should revise their elusive peace efforts to engage Jordan and Egypt as partners in a land-for-peace agreement, a former Israeli national security chief proposed Tuesday. The gap becomes wider and wider rather than narrower and narrower in passing years, former Lt. Gen. Giora Eiland …

EL-ARISH: Israeli soldiers have killed an Egyptian smuggler who had sneaked across the border, a security official told AFP on Wednesday. Suleiman Sweilam Suleiman, 26, was killed earlier this week by the Israeli army after he crossed from the Sinai peninsula into Israel and is suspected to have planned to sell drugs, the official said. …

CAIRO: The Iranian government has banned from its markets the distribution or sale of the documentary film “Execution of a Pharaoh, which portrays the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as a traitor and praises his assassins. “The Iranian government doesn’t have anything to do with this film, directly or indirectly. Iran has banned the distribution …

CAIRO: Egypt has been placed at 115 in an annual list of perceived corruption in 180 countries, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index, published by independent organisation Transparency International. While Egypt was ranked 105 in last year’s CPI, Transparency International emphasize that a country’s score is much more important than its ranking, since ranking can …

CAIRO: Sudan and Egypt said they have located the whereabouts of the 19 hostages kidnapped from Egypt Monday. Meanwhile, the kidnappers have threatened to kill the hostages if a plane search is conducted. Sudanese Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Boutros Sadiq told reporters in Khartoum that the hostages had been located, but due to the threat there …