Islamic-World

Hidden away in a concrete loading bay around the side of a major Cairo postal office, about 100 workers in their 20s and 30s gather among a forest of placards.

The body headed by Egypt’s official religious advisor on Tuesday denied he had said that Muslims were free to change their faith, as had been reported by a US Washington Post-Newsweek forum on Islam.

Egypt’s announcement that it is to sell off 80 percent of its third largest public sector bank, Banque du Caire, has revived old fears that privatisation is heralding the return of colonialism.

A 25-year-old Egyptian woman has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, bringing the number of human cases in the most populous Arab country to 38, a World Health Organisation official said on Sunday.

Darfur refugee Adam Abdel Karim, 31, became the latest casualty from the rising tide of those seeking to enter Israel illegally after being shot by increasingly vigilant Egyptian border guards.

The leaders of two important Darfur rebel factions have set difficult conditions for attending a UN-African Union meeting in August in Tanzania to plan for future peace talks.

Egyptian police opened fire on a group of African migrants trying to sneak across the border into Israel on Sunday, killing one woman and wounding four including a child, security sources said.

Egyptian police have detained 22 university students loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, security officials said on Sunday.

Two families in the Upper Egyptian Qena province decided to settle a feud with blades, but no lives were lost in the cutting that followed.

The ranking of the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy relative to other countries has declined from 52nd in 2005 to 63rd in 2006, says “The Egyptian National Competitiveness Report,” released this month.