WASHINGTON, DC — Egypt supported Israel’s escalation of violence against the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead in 2008 to 2009, a retired Israeli general said at a conference on Monday. The operation resulted in more than a thousand Palestinian deaths, and many say Israel committed war crimes during the assault.

Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri held a meeting on Monday with a ministerial security committee to discuss the latest developments in the foreign-funded NGO case. The meeting comes in the wake of the Thursday departure of several foreign NGO workers indicted in the case from the country.

(AINA) -- A court in Edfu has sentenced Reverend Makarios Bolous, pastor of St. George's Church in the village of Elmarinab, Edfu, in the Aswan province, to six months prison and a fine of 300 pounds for violations in the height of the church building. The court also ordered the removal of the excess height.

The dissolution and purging of the State Security Investigations Services by the government last year was a “lie,” the April 6 Youth Movement Democratic Front in Alexandria said Monday. In a statement marking the first anniversary of the dissolution, it accused the service that replaced State Security, the National Security Agency, of practicing the same “shameful acts” against activists.

Voter registration for Egyptians living abroad who will cast ballots for the upcoming presidential election began Monday, the Foreign Ministry announced. Ministry spokesperson Amr Roshdy said the ministry, in coordination with the Presidential Elections Commission, overcame severe time constraints in opening registration.

A cross-party women’s alliance has been launched in Bern to campaign for equal pay for women for equal work. Women still earn on average 18.4 per cent less than men doing exactly the same job despite the fact that the law on sex equality has been in force since 1981, and wage discrimination has been illegal for 15 years.

CANBERRA, Australia — Muslim women in Australia’s most populous state will have to remove veils to have their signatures officially witnessed under the latest laws giving New South Wales officials authority to look under religious face coverings. New South Wales state Attorney General Greg Smith said in a statement on Monday that beginning 30 April, officials such as justices of the peace and lawyers who witness statutory declarations or affidavits without making identity checks will be fined 220 Australian dollars (US$236).

Last week’s lifting of a travel ban on a handful of US nationals accused of carrying out unlicensed NGO activities – and their subsequent departure from the country – triggered sharp reactions from parliamentarians on Sunday. A large number of members of the People’s Assembly – the lower house of Egypt's parliament – used scheduled meetings of parliamentary committees to vent their anger at the lifting of the travel ban and for what they called "the double standards" inherent in US policy.

Cairo Criminal Court adjourned to 1 April the third session of the trial of Ahmed Ezz, the country's top steel magnate, state news agency MENA reported on Saturday. In Saturday’s session prominent lawyer Farid al-Deeb, who represents ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, told the court that he will head Ezz's defense team.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, on Sunday said that the armed forces consider the interests of the country above all else, and that the army is not a substitute for legitimacy. He also said that the armed forces are impartial to all political parties.

Group of "Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination" has launched signatures campaign to support the MP "Ziad al-Alimi" and adressed all honorable Egyptians: members and organizations of civil society and parties; to support the MP," Ziad al-Alimi" against the forces of darkness by signing a statement by name and job.

A plane carrying 17 foreign NGO workers took off for Cyprus at 7pm (17:00 GMT) Thursday after a travel ban was lifted Wednesday evening, according to Ahram's Arabic language portal. Sam LaHood, son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is among the handful of Americans onboard the plane, official news agency MENA reported.

Two Chinese workers, kidnapped for ransom in Cairo on Thursday in a sign of growing insecurity a year after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, were released after several hours, an embassy official said. "They are free," embassy spokesperson Lu Jingchun told AFP, without providing details of how the pair's release had been secured. Earlier, another embassy official told AFP the kidnappers were seeking a ransom payment.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman El-Zawahiri has released a video on the internet in which he says only the imposition of Islamic Sharia law can completely rid Egypt of the Mubarak regime. El-Zawahiri, who became Al-Qaeda chief after Osama Bin Laden was assassinated last year, said Egypt must stop being at the US's beck and call and begin a new chapter by annulling the Camp David agreement with Israel.

“Dismissing the lawsuits agianst Naguib Sawirus by “kasr Al Nil” court, which accused him of defamation of Islamic religion, is asserting a legal rule concerning such cases which is destined for the Attorney General by Egyptian law” said Dr. Naguib Gebrael, the head of the Egyptian Federation for Human Rights. Adding that the court declared the lawsuits were dismissed as they were raised by some lawyers who are not meant to raise such cases.

Three masked men with automatic guns have broken into “El Horia” pharmacy which is run by pharmacist “Ramy Yacoub” and is owned by one of his relatives in Nag Hammadi. The pharmacy is located behind a police station in Nag Hamadi in the governorate of Qena.

Three judges in charge of handling the recent government case against a number of US and Egyptian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) announced Tuesday afternoon that they have recused themselves "for reasons of discomfort," without giving an explanation.

Egyptian national Mohamed Ibrahim Makkawi was arrested at Cairo International Airport on Wednesday afternoon upon his arrival from the UAE on suspicions that he was in fact Seif Al-Adel, a former leader of international terror outfit "Al-Qaeda."

The first round of Egypt’s first post-Mubarak presidential elections will be held on 23 and 24 May, with final results to be announced on 21 June, the Supreme Committee for Presidential Elections announced at a Wednesday press conference.

The majority of Copts in Bani Suef, Ehnasia, Naser, and Al Wasta will surely vote for the good of Al Wafd Party. However, the choice of the list had sharp fights among the Coptic youths. Most of the youths ask for supporting the party of” Constant Revolution” for its liberal ideas. The attitudes of the Wafd Party such as its union with the Brotherhood besides the fact that the Wafd newspaper keeps attacking the Copts lately have angered the youths.

Cairo Centre for the Studies of Human Rights has started a campaign of awareness in the governorates that are supposed to have elections in the second and third phases. The campaign is titled as “You must know” It aims at explaining the electoral system and supporting the political contribution besides explaining the selection criteria within the citizenship contest of the citizenship principles and the lack of religious and ideological discrimination.