News stories by Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, page 12

Egyptians expressed their discontent Monday with rising prices and political stagnation in a national 'day of anger' organised by online activists. Although smaller in scope than a nationwide strike on this date last year, opposition figures say the demonstrations across the country made their point.

Nine NATO member states agreed last month to utilise naval, intelligence and diplomatic resources to combat the alleged flow of arms into the Gaza Strip. Some Egyptian commentators see the move as a surreptitious means of cementing foreign control over the region.

Egyptian and Israeli officials celebrated the anniversary of the Camp David peace agreement last week. The agreement normalised relations between the two former adversaries 30 years earlier on Mar. 26. Opposition leaders, however, are calling for a suspension of the treaty, which they say fails to serve Egyptian interests.

Reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in Cairo this week yielded an agreement to hold national elections early next year. The two sides, however, remain deadlocked over the proposed terms of a national unity government.

Egypt has seen a wave of labour strikes in recent weeks by workers in a range of professions from lawyers to truck drivers. Although strikers' specific demands vary, commentators generally attribute the phenomenon to increasingly difficult economic circumstances.

Almost two months after the war on the Gaza Strip, the border area between the battered coastal enclave and Egypt continues to come under frequent Israeli aerial bombardment. Israeli officials say the strikes target cross-border tunnels used to smuggle weapons to Palestinian resistance factions.

A conference held this week in Cairo devoted to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip succeeded in raising more than 5 billion dollars from international donors. But some critics say the issue is being used as a means of isolating Gaza-based resistance faction Hamas.

Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of Egypt's suspended Socialist Labour Party, has been sentenced to two years in prison by a military tribunal. Hussein, along with two others, was charged with 'infiltrating' into the Gaza Strip following Israel's recent campaign against the coastal enclave.

Representatives of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas met in Cairo this week for talks aimed at national reconciliation and the formation of a unity government.

Senior Egyptian officials have indicated that the new demands raised by Israel for ceasefire could affect the peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas being brokered by Egypt.