Israel and Hamas truce holds on Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY: A tenuous ceasefire held Monday in Gaza, where Palestinians dug out from the rubble and Hamas put on a show of defiance vowing to fight on after the…
Omar Suleiman, Egypt's truce broker
CAIRO: Egypt's powerful intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is the one man who, discreetly and behind the scenes, can speak to both Israel and Hamas and eventually broker an to end…
Egypt summit ups pressure on Israel to quit Gaza
SHARM EL-SHEIKH: European and Arab leaders meeting in Egypt on Sunday ratcheted up calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and announced plans for an international aid conference.The…
Obama must shoulder weight of global expectations
WASHINGTON: Barack Obama will enter the White House Tuesday with a crushing burden of expectations both at home and abroad. How he manages those expectations will go a long way…
Arab leaders work to mend fences, pledge Gaza aid
KUWAIT CITY: Arab leaders meeting in Kuwait on Monday appeared to have healed a rift in ties exposed by Israel's deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip as they pledged aid…
Egypt signed anti-smuggling deal, says Israeli official
CAIRO: Egypt and Israel signed an agreement to prevent arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip before Israel announced its ceasefire last Saturday, an Israeli official told AFP.A senior Israeli government…
Arab leaders set to agree Gaza aid, economic accord
KUWAIT: Arab leaders, meeting for the third time in five days on Monday, were expected to agree to a $2 billion aid package to rebuild Gaza after a three-week Israeli…
Suez Canal revenues down 8 pct on piracy threat
CAIRO: Income from the Suez Canal, which analysts have expected to decline since the severity of the economic crisis became clear last fall, dropped by about 8 percent in December,…
Shoe frenzy takes over Egyptian art in new exhibition
In the current global shoe-throwing frenzy ushered by Muntazar Al-Zaidi, an art exhibition that poses its central subject matter and title as "Shoes is, most definitely, an event that demands…
Obama's poet to weave historical spell
Moments after Barack Obama delivers his first address as the new US president on Tuesday, a slight, bespectacled woman will take his place at the podium and read the world…