WASHINGTON, May — U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday toward the end of a regional tour, focusing on ways to stem chaos in Iraq and on Iran’s impact on security in the Gulf.

Egyptian magistrates have opened an inquiry and interviewed 20 witnesses following religious clashes in recent days in Al Ayat, south of the capital Cairo, independent daily al-Masri al-Yom reported Monday.

The wife of jailed Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour, the main challenger to Hosni Mubarak in a 2005 presidential election, said he was assaulted by security men on Saturday in a courthouse stairwell.