Newsreel

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New envoys

PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak has approved the credentials of nine ambassadors. Among them was US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, French Ambassador Phillippe Coste, Palestinian Ambassador Munzer Al-Dajani and Saudi Ambassador Hesham Nazer. Other countries included India, Zambia, Finland, the Dominican Republic and Nepal. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and Chief of Presidential Staff Zakaria Azmi attended the Sunday ceremony.

Court order

GENERAL-prosecutor Maher Abdel-Wahed has ordered Al-Osbou' Editor-in-Chief Mustafa Bakri to appear in court on charges of slandering and libeling former chairman and Al-Ahram Editor-in-Chief of Ibrahim Nafie. Bakri had published a series of articles accusing Nafie of financial irregularities while he was in Al-Ahram. However, Bakri was unable to produce sufficient documents when questioned by the general-prosecutor.

In another development, businessman Naguib Sawiris has been asked to appear in court for slander and libel in a case involving Bakri. Sawiris had accused Bakri of receiving foreign funding.

Deadly crash

A CRASH involving a minibus, a bus and a truck killed 12 people and injured 35 others near a city in southern Egypt's Minya province.

The accident occurred late Tuesday night near Minya, 250kms south of Cairo.