Egypt Government Officials

A court acquitted 24 Muslim extremists Saturday of assassinating Egypt's Parliament Speaker and lambasted prosecutors for building their case on confessions drawn by torture. Ten of the defendants were convicted on lesser charges and sentenced to prison for up to 15 years. But the sentences were in stark contrast to those handed down by Egypt's special military-run security courts, which have condemned 21 militants to death in the last six months.

Thousands of Egyptians led by President Hosni Mubarak paid last respects Monday to the widow of Egypt's late revolutionary leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Tahiya, 66, who died of heart failure at her home Sunday, was laid to rest at the Gamal Abdel Nasser mosque in Cairo's district of Cobri el Qubba where the late leader's body lay in state after his death in 1970.

Army firing squads executed two soldiers Thursday for a failed plot to kill President Hosni Mubarak, and nine men were sentenced to hang for a separate attack by Muslim militants on Egypt's prime minister. The defendants on trial for the failed assassination of Prime Minister Atef Sedki were defiant as they appeared before a military court Thursday in Cairo, chanting: "Tell Mubarak his turn is coming!" Sedki escaped unhurt in the Nov.

As Egypt seeks to play a more active role in calming the Middle East conflict, President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday named as foreign minister a seasoned diplomat with strong U.S. ties. Ahmed Maher, who served from 1992 to 1999 as ambassador to the U.S., takes on one of the highest-profile diplomatic roles in the region, serving as the Arab world's point man in efforts to end the violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

From Jordanian firefighters to Greek aircraft, a rare outpouring of international support for Israel helped the nation battle its worst-ever forest fire Friday, but the blaze continued to rage out of control. The death toll was revised to at least 41 people, according to Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. They included 36 prison guards whose bus was engulfed in flames Thursday as they rushed to help evacuate a nearby prison. The toll includes two police officers who were trapped in the same firestorm that ensnared the bus. One passenger car reportedly was able to escape only by speeding through the flames.

It began at dusk with a report that a 5-year-old Muslim girl had been raped by a Coptic Christian grocer and spread like hellfire through this dusty desert oasis. By midnight, villagers said she had been both raped and murdered. As Easter Sunday dawned, it was widely believed the deed had been perpetrated by a Coptic priest. Authorities tried desperately to quell the rumor. The little girl's family paraded her through the streets, assuring the populace that she was indeed alive and unharmed.

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the United States may be facing a new challenge from Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi, this time in the form of a heightened campaign against Libyan dissidents with American connections. Over the last week, the Clinton Administration has appealed to the Egyptian government "at many levels," even to the office of President Hosni Mubarak, to intervene in the case of missing Libyan dissident Mansur Kikhiya, U.S.