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Darfur refugee chase

A REFUGEE from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region was shot and wounded by Egyptian police yesterday as he and dozens of others tried to cross into Israel, security sources said.

Police opened fire on the group of 30 refugees near the Rafah crossing point into the Gaza Strip after they refused to stop, sources said, adding that three others were arrested while the rest escaped into the Egyptian desert.

The wounded man was taken to hospital. Those arrested said they had paid Bedouin traffickers to take them into Israel where they sought asylum.

Israel said on Sunday it would return all those entering illegally from Egypt along the 250-kilometre border between the two countries which are bound by the 1979 peace treaty.

However, Israel added it would consider assisting a small number of refugees from the western Sudanese region of Darfur caught in the grip of civil war.

Bus crash kills 12

TWELVE Egyptians were killed and 58 others injured when a tour bus collided with a bus carrying workers on a highway just outside the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Tuesday.

According to Southern Sinai emergency, the accident apparently occurred after one of the vehicles tried to overtake a car and slammed into the oncoming bus.

Felali dies in prison

EGYPTIAN engineer Sherif El-Felali, who was serving 15 years in jail on espionage charges, died Monday after reportedly suffering from a heart attack. El-Felali's warden found him dead in his cell at Torah Prison when he went to wake him up early Monday morning. Forty-one- year-old El-Felali was convicted in 2002 of spying for Israel and was sentenced to 15 years. Though prison doctors determined heart failure as the cause of death, some observers were entertaining conspiracy theories including the belief that Mossad was involved to prevent El-Felali from leaking state secrets.

The prosecutor-general's office on Monday issued a statement saying El-Felali died of natural causes, noting that his family had earlier reported he had high blood pressure.

Initially, a state security court found El-Felali innocent of the charges brought against him. In fact, the judge called him a "true patriot" for turning himself in after he realised he had been set up in a scam. However, in his capacity as the supreme military commander, President Hosni Mubarak squashed the acquittal and ordered a retrial in an emergency state security court, which found El-Felali guilty of collecting information and data on Egyptian tourism and a large-scale agricultural project for Israel in return for money.

Shenuda treatment

THE HEAD of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenuda III, left Egypt on Sunday for Cleveland Hospital in Ohio for treatment related to kidney problems, reports say.

"The pope's health is good," church spokesman Anba Moussa was quoted as saying.

In October 2006, Shenuda travelled to the US for back surgery. Recently he underwent medical tests in Munich, Germany.

Shenuda's repeated trips for treatment have fuelled speculation over the succession of the 83-year-old pope who has headed the church since 1971.

Copts' appeal accepted

THE SUPREME Administrative Court on Monday accepted an appeal submitted by 45 Copts who were denied the right to reclaim their religious identity after they decided to convert back to Christianity from Islam.

The court referred the appeal to a court panel which will start hearings on 1 September.

The Copts' appeal contested a previous ruling passed by the Cairo Administrative Court on 29 April prohibiting them from restoring their Christian identities on their national identification cards.

Copts who attended the court session praised the ruling as historic and said they were sure the verdict would be in their favour. "Long live citizenship", Copts shouted inside the courtroom.

Compiled by Mona El-Nahhas