CAIRO- Egypt's Trade Ministry plans to tender 500 million square metres of land for specialised trade zones next month, part of a plan to boost internal trade and lure more investment, the state news agency reported.

CAIRO: In separate incidents, two political activists were detained and released over the Eid holiday.Walid Shawqy, an activist with the National Association for Change (NAC) founded by Mohamed ElBaradei, was arrested early on Friday morning after Eid prayers and taken to a police station in Dakerness, El-Daqhileya.

CAIRO - An opposition coalition led by potential presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei has agreed to boycott Egypt's parliamentary elections due in November.

An Egyptian court issued today what it described as a lighter ruling against the two lawyers convicted of assault on a Tanta prosecution head

DAKHALIA (Egypt) - Four girls drowned when their pleasure boat capsized in a canal in this Nile Delta province, the official Middle East News Agency reported on Saturday. Eight others were rescued from death during the mishap.

A prominent opposition journalist is to go on trial for allegedly libeling Egypt's foreign minister in a newspaper, a judicial source said on Sunday

CAIRO- A senior member of Egypt's ruling party said on Wednesday the Muslim Brotherhood had failed to provide an effective parliamentary opposition, in the latest hint that the Islamists may be sidelined in November elections.

CAIRO- Egyptian Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin, a prominent economic liberaliser, will resign from the Egyptian government to take up a senior post at the World Bank beginning in October, the cabinet said on Wednesday.

CAIRO - Hundreds of Muslim worshippers and activists from the social networking website Facebook protested Sunday night outside Amr Ibn el-Aas Mosque in Old Cairo, calling for the release of Camilia Shehata, the wife of a priest who has allegedly converted to Islam and then disappeared around a month ago.

Egypt's Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin has been nominated for a prominent position at the World Bank (WB), according to informed sources

CAIRO - Egypt's Prosecutor General Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud Monday referred Mohssen Shaalan, the First Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Head of Sector of Fine Arts, together with 10 other defendants, to the Criminal Court to be tried over the theft of van Gogh's painting 'Poppy Flowers' from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Giza last month.

CAIRO-Egypt's Chief Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud Sunday referred to a criminal court TV commentator Hamdi Qandil on charges of slandering Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.

A prominent opposition journalist is to go on trial for allegedly libeling Egypt's foreign minister in a newspaper, a judicial source said on Sunday

CAIRO--President Hosni Mubarak Sunday night pledged to continue reforms in order to "create a modern civil country and a vigorous society" in Egypt.

Egyptian workers from four textile companies--Misr-Iran, Mansoura-Spain, Shibeen Spinning and Mahalla Spinning--ended an open-ended sit-in two days ago they had started on Wednesday at the Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions (EFTU)

US Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey said that she hopes negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis will continue until a peaceful solution is reached, emphasizing the need to create two states that can live side by side in harmony

CAIRO: With election fever in the air, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) are preparing their female candidates to win the majority of the 64 seat quota reserved for women in a bid to repeat their 2005 win in the coming parliamentary elections.

ISMAILIA, Egypt- Egyptian police shot dead an African migrant as he tried to cross the border into Israel on Friday, a security source said, bringing the migrant death toll at the sensitive frontier to at least 31 this year.

Egypt's Minister of Finance Boutros Ghali has decided to set up a committee to formulate a new draft law on exceptional pensions to replace the current law number 71/1964

CAIRO-A 1-1 draw with Zambia that ultimately cost Egypt a place at the World Cup remains fresh in the memory of the Pharaohs ahead of their game against Sierra Leone in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

CAIRO-An Egyptian-American dissident and an outspoken critic of alleged hereditary succession in Egypt has signed a petition backing Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak, as a potential presidential contender, saying he supported Gamal's right as a citizen to run but he does not endorse him.