CAIRO - Egyptian officials have announced the site for the country’s first nuclear power plant, settling the controversy over its location.
A presidential spokesman said Wednesday the new plant will be located in el-Dabaa, an area northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast.
Local business officials had criticized the government for considering el-Dabaa, saying a power plant […]

JERUSALEM - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says his faction will pull out of peace talks with the Israelis - set to resume next week - if Israel does not extend a freeze on construction in West Bank settlements that is set to expire September 26. 
The warning from the Palestinian leader came in letters to President […]

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday issued a formal invitation to Israel and the Palestinians to re-commence direct peace negotiations early next month in Washington after a break of nearly two years. U.S. officials say a peace accord can be achieved within a year, and that the United States is ready if needed […]

SANAA - Security officials in Yemen say an al-Qaida leader in the country’s north has surrendered to authorities.
The officials said Juman Safian turned himself in on Saturday in the province of al-Jouf.  They did not release additional details.
Yemen recently intensified its campaign against the group’s local branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, following a series […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell has failed to get Palestinian agreement to engage in direct talks with Israel.
A State Department spokesman, P.J. Crowley, says Mitchell had “serious and positive” talks Tuesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah.  But he says Mitchell left without agreement, referring to […]

WASHINGTON - Officials in Jordan say a rocket has struck the Red Sea port of Aqaba, wounding four people.
One of the injured was seriously hurt in the strike.
Israeli police said several rockets were also fired at the southern city of Eilat, but there was no damage and no casualties were reported.
The two cities are located […]

JERUSALEM - The United States is stepping up pressure on the Palestinians to jump-start the peace process. 
U.S. President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas demanding he move from the current framework of indirect peace talks with Israel to direct negotiations.  Palestinian officials say the letter warned that if Mr. Abbas […]

CAIRO - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh says he is opposed to any further conflict in the north of the country, after a week of tribal clashes left at least 70 dead. There are conflicting reports that tribal mediators have reached a ceasefire between Houthi rebels and the rival Ben Aziz tribe.
Yemeni security forces paraded […]

CAIRO - Egyptian archaeologists are searching for what they hope will be a treasure trove of tombs near the Saqqara pyramids, the early, stepped versions of ancient burial monuments.  The possibility of finding the largest cemetery from the Old Kingdom was raised by the recent discovery of two tombs, revealing vivid paintings and new information […]

ANKARA - Turkey is threatening to break diplomatic ties with Israel over its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a break in diplomatic ties could only be avoided if Israel either apologized or accepted the outcome of an international inquiry into the raid.
The Israeli government says it […]

BEIRUT - Lebanese politicians are considering easing restrictions on Palestinian refugees, after 62 years.
Like the tangled electricity wires at Bourj al Barajne camp outside Beirut, the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon is complicated.
Despite the fact that many have been living in Lebanon for generations, they are still refugees, and as such are forced to live […]

CAIRO - An Australian archaeology team has located an ancient Egyptian city used by foreign occupiers some 3,500 years ago.
Egypt’s antiquities department says pictures taken by radar show an underground city complete with streets, houses and temples.
It is located in an area in Egypt’s Nile Delta.
Antiquities Chief Zahi Hawass says the ancient city could be […]

CAIRO - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and said afterward that both leaders reiterated their commitment to peace in the Middle East.
The two men held talks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Biden said they discussed indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He said the […]

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers in the Turkish parliament are urging the government to review political, economic and military ties with Israel in the wake of Israel’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
The lawmakers approved a declaration Wednesday that calls the raid a clear violation of United Nations rules as well as international law.
Earlier Wednesday, Turkish […]

CAIRO - Egypt is opening its border with Gaza to humanitarian aid and relief.  The move comes as Cairo, along with its neighbors in the Middle East, continue to condemn Israel’s deadly raid Monday of an international aid convoy to the Palestinian territory.
President Hosni Mubarak ordered security at the Rafah border crossing to allow aid […]

CAIRO - They are among history’s most famous lovers - Antony and Cleopatra, the Roman warrior and the Egyptian queen.  From Shakespeare to Hollywood, their story has been told many times.  Now, Egypt’s top archeologist, with his own touch of Hollywood style, says he may be closing in on Cleopatra’s tomb.
On a recent sunny day […]

CAIRO - Egypt’s decades-long emergency law makes it difficult for opposition groups to rally.  So perhaps it is not surprising that at Monday’s demonstration against the measure, there were more police than protesters.
Some of the 100 or so protesters tried to march from Cairo’s Tahrir Square to parliament just a few blocks away.  They did […]

CAIRO - An Egyptian court has sentenced 26 men to prison terms ranging from six months to life on charges of plotting attacks on tourist and commercial sites.  The men were accused of belonging to a cell of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The prisoners maintained their innocence throughout the trial, saying they were just trying […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Iran and Syria are arming Hezbollah militants in Lebanon with sophisticated rockets and missiles.
Gates says Hezbollah has far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world, noting that such military capability is destabilizing to the Middle East.
He spoke Tuesday at a Pentagon news conference with […]

BEIRUT - More than 2,000 people have marched through the streets of downtown Beirut calling for a secular state.
It started on the social-networking site Facebook, a call to arms by people who believe church and state should not be one. After the online movement grew, Laique Pride organizers decided to take that spirit off-line, staging […]

CAIRO - Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed several hundred bronze coins dating back to the reign of King Ptolemy, who ruled Egypt about 2,300 years ago.
Egyptian officials say the coins were found near Qarun Lake in Fayoum Oasis southwest of the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
A government statement said one side of the coins features a depiction […]

CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has chaired his first Cabinet meeting since undergoing gallbladder surgery last month in Germany.
Mr. Mubarak met with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and several other government ministers Thursday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Mr. Mubarak temporarily handed over power to Prime Minister Nazif before undergoing surgery in […]

WASHINGTON - The United States has voiced concern about allegations that Syria has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the U.S. has relayed its concern to the Syrian government.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley says any such missile transfer would put Lebanon at “significant risk.”
The remarks came […]

BEIRUT - Lebanon’s civil war broke out 35 years ago Tuesday, after a Palestinian school bus was fired upon by Lebanese Christian militiamen. The anniversary comes amid increasing tensions between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the governing March 14 coalition over Hezbollah’s arms, allegedly being furnished by neighboring Syria.
Some lit candles in parts of Beirut to honor […]