US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has arrived in Egypt to start a second round of Middle East peace talks.

A bus filled with Russian tour guides crashed through a roadside barrier and tumbled down a steep ravine in Israel today killing at least 23 people.

Iran remains the biggest threat to Middle East interests, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned today.

Egyptian police have arrested 22 young men on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks against tourists and other targets, a statement from the Interior Ministry said today.

Egyptian security forces are searching rugged desert mountains for the militants suspected of the Sharm el Sheikh bombings.

No Pakistanis were involved in the deadly bombings at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian ambassador said today.

Israeli Cabinet ministers today approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners – 500 of them next week – and a withdrawal from the West Bank town of Jericho.

LEADERS of Palestinian Islamic militant factions are in Cairo for ceasefire talks with the Egyptians, days before Egypt is to host talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Investigators in Egypt were today trying to discover the cause of a plane crash in which 141 people are feared to have died near the resort where the British Prime Minister Tony Blair is on holiday.

A very public fit of presidential coughing and sneezing has energised debate among the Egyptian elite over democratisation and how power is wielded in the most populous Arab country, reform advocates said today.

US president George Bush pledged to work unstintingly for a Palestinian state and Israel living side by side as he prepared to meet Arab leaders in Egypt today.

President George Bush, in his first personal foray into Mideast peace talks, arrived in Egypt tonight pledging to “put in as much time as necessary” to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

A heavy sandstorm engulfed most of Egypt today, reducing visibility to less than 500 meters and forcing several flights, including a plane carrying Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, to land elsewhere, airport officials said.