Trains bound for Upper Egypt are running again as usual after being halted for 12 hours on Sunday when two trains collided in Ayyat station south of Cairo, killing 18 passengers and injuring 36.

Train 152 from Giza to Fayyoum never made it beyond the villages of Kafr Ammar and Rejja in Ayyat. Around 6:00 PM yesterday, the train struck a water buffalo. Five minutes later it was rear-ended by

The general secretariat of the Tagammu Party voted yesterday to expel party leader Abul Ezz el-Hariri. The decision was approved with a majority of 50 members, with eight others voting against the resolution, and two members abstaining.

ABOUT 75 wedding guests, including 30 children, were hospitalised yesterday for apparent food poisoning, a police officer in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Assuit said yesterday.

Torture in Egypt has reached an intolerable level and is systematically being used on all levels of Egyptian society including women, children, elderly men and youth, regardless of

Each month, Egyptians have to bear the burden of soaring phone, water, electricity and trash-collecting bills, while their salaries remain unchanged. There's one word to sum up this situation - it's a nightmare,'' says Hoda Abdul-Hameed, a Cairo

Leader of Egypt's Coptic Church Pope Shenouda III on Monday stressed his rejection of normalized relations with Israel. "I reject any normalization with Israel in light of the continued occupation imposed on the Palestinians," he said.

THE ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)will not change any of its leaders in its annual congress later this month,Safwat el-Sherif,the secretary-general of the party, said yesterday.He added that the

ALEXANDRIA -- Leader of Egypt's Coptic Church Pope Shenouda III said the church "still had problems" with the governors of certain provinces. "It depends on the character of the governor and his willingness to solve problems outside of a bureaucratic context," Shenouda said, calling for more cooperation between state officials and the church.

The deputy leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood denied reports yesterday that Supreme Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef has quit in a row with conservatives in the leading opposition group

Liberal thinkers and writers are queueing up to protest against hesba (a religious principle, which legally empowers the ordinary Muslim to go to court if he suspects that a person, whether Muslim

A DECISION by the Medical Insurance Authority to raise healthcare fees for subscribers iscausing discontent in the corri- dors of local human rights organisations and prodding their officials into

A NON- GOVERNMENTAL organisation has appealed to President Hosni Mubarak to order the Ministry of the Interior to release Egyptian blogger after spending three quarters of his sentence term.

The price of democracy is much of our tolerance, which 'comes first'. This was the main concept of a lecture delivered by Lord David Owen, a former British foreign secretary in Cairo this week.

Ground-breaking talks: President Hosni Mubarak (R) sharing a joke with Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor before their meeting in Ljubljana yesterday. Mubarak wrapped up yesterday an official two-

EGYPT yesterday denied allega- tions that the death of a Palestinian man at an Egyptian hospital was due to torture.“The death of Sami Abu Zuhri was due to a sharp drop in blood pressure,” said an

Talks with Russia: President Hosni Mubarak (R) during his meeting with the Chief of the Russian Intelligence Service (C) in Cairo yesterday.

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- There's more to wearing the "niqab" -- the austere, all-covering veil favored by ultra-religious Muslim women --than meets the eye.

Controversial regulations:Cairo University students wearing the niqab ,which covers the face except for the eyes, standing outside the university dormitory last week,unable to enter due to new rules

The term "black cloud" has become widely used by Egyptians to describe the tiny particles of pollution in the air over the capital. For ten years now, from October to December, the cloud has

HUNDREDS of female students gath-ered yesterday in front of the student hostels of Cairo University, Egypt's biggest public university, to protest a decision by the institution's administra-