Egypt News اخبار مصر
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Eleven European tourists and eight Egyptians abducted in a remote border area of Egypt have been freed and half of their kidnappers killed, Egyptian officials said on Monday.

The freed hostages arrived in Cairo aboard an Egyptian military plane. They descended the aircraft smiling, some holding bouquets of flowers, to be greeted by Egyptian military officers and government officials along with foreign diplomats.

The 19 were liberated in what Egyptian media called a “rescue and recovery operation,” although officials gave scant and contradictory details on how authorities secured the release or how the hostage-takers were killed.

“They have been released safe and sound,” Tourism Minister Zoheir Garrana told Reuters. State media said the freed hostages would be taken to a military hospital for health checks.

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At least five people have been killed in a suspected car bomb attack on a military bus carrying soldiers in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Witnesses said the blast happened on the outskirts of the city during morning rush hour. Some 30 people are believed to be wounded.

Several soldiers as well as civilians were killed in a similar blast on a bus in the city last month.

Lebanon’s leaders said the attacks were an attempt to destabilise the country.

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel must give up almost the entire occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem as the price for peace with the Palestinians, in an interview published on Monday.

“What I am saying to you now has not been said by any Israeli leader before me,” Olmert told the Yediot Aharonot daily in what was widely seen as the political testament of an outgoing leader left with only limited powers.

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The Syrian state news agency has said Saturday’s bomb attack in the outskirts of Damascus was carried out by an Islamist suicide bomber.

The agency also says the attacker entered Syria from an unnamed neighbouring Arab country.

Officials say tests were being carried out on the attacker’s remains to determine his identity.

Seventeen people died in the explosion, which took place near a security complex and a Shia shrine.

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The UN nuclear watchdog’s annual conference started Monday with a showdown looming over efforts by Syria and Iran to get a seat on the IAEA board and Islamic countries railing against Israel’s nuclear programme.

The US has deployed long-range radar in Israel to give early warning of any missile strike by Iran, officials say.

The radar has been set up at an air base in the Negev desert and will be operated by 120 US military personnel.

Israeli reports say it is the first time US military personnel have been based in the country permanently.

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US-led efforts to tackle the al-Qaeda group are not regarded as successful, an opinion poll carried out for the BBC World Service suggests.

Some 29% of people said the “war on terror” launched by President George W Bush in 2001 had had no effect on the Islamist militant network.

According to 30% of those surveyed, US policies have strengthened al-Qaeda.

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يلقي الدكتور حسن يونس وزير الكهرباء والطاقة كلمة مصر الثلاثاء فى المؤتمر العام للوكالة الدولية للطاقة الذرية بالعاصمة النمساوية فيينا.

ويؤكد يونس خلال الكلمة تأكيد مصر على اهتمامها الكامل بالاستخدامات السلمية للطاقة النووية وإسهاماتها فى تحقيق التنمية الاقتصادية إذا ما أحسن استخدامها فى كافة مشروعات التنمية التى تستهدفها مصر خلال السنوات القادمة.

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Banking titan Wachovia was rescued by Citigroup Monday, the latest victim of a crisis now slamming European banks on doubts that a 700-billion-dollar US bailout deal would get through Congress.

As central banks again tried to shore up the banking system with cash and stocks slumped, US authorities announced they were backing a Citigroup takeover of Wachovia Corporation with up to 42 billion dollars of debt.

The crisis is spreading deeply into Europe despite the draft bailout deal in Washington, with the weekend rescues of Fortis and Bradford & Bingley banks, and Dexia and other European banks coming under severe pressure Monday.

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قرر المستشار محمد حلمى قنديل المحامى العام لنيابة وسط القاهرة حبس اثنين من العاملين بالمسرح القومى 15 يوما على ذمة التحقيقات فى قضية الحريق الذى اندلع السبت بالمسرح القومى بميدان العتبة.

والإثنان هما باسم جرجس ميخائيل حنا مدير خشبة المسرح بالمسرح القومى، ومحمد بكرى مصطفى درويش مسئول الكهرباء، حيث نسبت اليهما النيابة انهما تسببا فى الحاق أضرار جسيمة فى أموال الجهة التى يعملان بها وكان ذلك ناشئا عن اهمالهما فى اداء وظائفهما واخلالهما فى اداء واجباتهما.

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