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Egyptian Transportation Minister Ibrahim El-Domairi asserted that there are four Egyptian and foreign offers to implementing a new railway between Aswan and Alexandria. El-Domairi told ArabicNews.com that there are studies for this line to determine its path in the areas through which it passes, as well as preparation of a note with conditions for establishing this line that will be raised in an international bid. He said there are Egyptian plans to develop the transportation network-- whether by land, sea or air-- under the auspices of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Go

Palestinian sources told ArabicNews.com that Israel will carry out its required withdrawal from 6.1% of the West Bank during the coming week, saying that the Palestinian leadership is comforted over the resumption on the Palestinian track which assures the Palestinian people's right to establish an independent country with Jerusalem as its capital, adding that resuming the peace process is a positive step toward ending the impasse in the area. Go

The Egyptian artistic union and the Tunisian artists union agreed on signing an agreement for joint cooperation to establish the different artistic festivals in the two states and organize shows and song recitals. Go

King Mohammed VI met in Rabat Tuesday the honorary chairman of the Toyota Motors Corporation, Shoichiro Toyoda, accompanied by two members of the corporation and head of the "Jamil" international group, Mohamed Jamil. Go

King Mohammed VI will undertake March 19-23 a state visit to France at the invitation of President Jacques Chirac, said Tuesday a release of the department of the royal household, protocol and chancellery. Go

Visiting Danish foreign affairs vice-minister, Friis Peterson, conferred in Rabat Tuesday with Human Rights Minister Mohamed Aujar and Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Taieb Fassi Fihri. Go

Argentine President Fernando De La Rua met in Buenos Aires Tuesday at the "Casa Rosada" presidential palace with visiting Premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi who handed him a royal message and conveyed President De La Rua an invitation from King Mohammed VI to visit the kingdom. Go

Well-informed Algerian sources expected that Tunisian- Algerian relations will witness rapid improvement in the coming phase following the visit held recently by Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia and during which he conveyed a message from President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to his Algerian counterpart, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Go

Jordanian King Abdullah II has received a telephone call from Sultan Qaboos of Oman. During the telephone conversations talks dealt with the remarkable fraternal bilateral relations between the two countries and exchanging views on various Arab and regional issues of mutual concern. Go

The international union for the services union asserted solidarity with the Lebanese people and labor against the Israeli aggressions in south Lebanon, calling on the Arab leaders to convene an Arab summit quickly to discuss all critical issues which concern the Arab states and to work on confronting the challenges that face the Arab citizens, Ibrahim Ramdan, head of the Egyptian general organization for services, told ArabicNews.com following his return from Jordan after ending the meeting of the Arab consultative committee and the conference of the international union for services. Go

Saeb Erekat, chairman of the Palestinian delegation in the transitional negotiations, called for more effective US participation during the coming meetings with Israel, saying in statements to Palestinian television that Washington has to exert much stronger efforts to urge Tel Aviv to carry out its commitments toward peace on all tracks and stop the settlement policy in throughout the occupied lands which have not yet been agreed upon. Go

Sheik Naeem Kasem, secretary general of the Lebanese Hizbullah Party stated that Israel's decision to withdraw from south Lebanon came as a result of the successful strikes by the resistance, referring to continuing the resistance operations till the last Israeli soldier's withdrawal from south Lebanon. He refused to respond to the European initiatives to appease the Israelis, assuring Lebanon's right to resisting the occupation. Go

The speaker of the Jordanian Parliament, Abdul Hadi al-Majali, said that the question of the Palestinian refugees will be the main item adopted by the Arab parliamentary group to be submitted as an additional provision for the 103rd conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union due to be held in Amman by the end of April. Go

Iraqi anti-aircraft defences on Monday, shot down an Iranian pilotless plane in Khaniqeen area near the Iraqi-Iranian borders after it had violated Iraq's airspace, INA reported. Go

The Arab Fund for Development decided to present a loan of $53 million to Egypt for developing projects for railway stations and trains which aims at completing the plan of the Egyptian Transportation Ministry concerning developing the railway stations organization which includes turning the regular class cars into first-class ones. Go

Malian President Alpha Omar Konare met in Rabat Tuesday with visiting Moroccan Minister of Transport and Merchant Navy Mustapha Mansouri who handed him a message from King Mohammed VI. President Konare voiced esteem for the king and the Moroccan people and hailed cooperation ties between the two countries. Go

UK Parliament member George Galloway criticized Britain and the United States for obstructing a planned aid flight to Iraq and the British government for asking the USA for permission to fly to Iraq, ABC News reported. Go

A cargo from the Saudi medical aids presented from the Saudi king for the Kosovar people is due to arrive to Pristina capital of Kosovo. A Saudi statement said this is the second cargo of medical aid to arrive in Kosovo, as the first one was sent in the current week, adding that this aid came in the framework of the aid presented to the Kosovar people to ease their suffering. Go

Algerian Minister of Labor and Social Protection Soltani Bouguerra said that 1.9 million Algerian citizens need social care. In his statements Monday on the national day for the handicapped, he said the handicapped are the most important category that need care, as they number 1,590,466 according to the official statistics for year 1998. Go

Cairo airport customs caught an attempt to smuggle 21 gold watches with a value of 200,000 LE that a passenger hid in her clothes and shoes on her arrival from Europe. Go

Bahrain's Shura council is considering ways of making goverment services more efficient to cut down on wasted time, Gulf Daily News reported. Go

Qatari Salt Processing and Production Company has purchased 40% of the Jordan Safi Salt Company, which lost nearly $10 million in 1999, Gulf Times reported. Go

Efforts to catch illegal immigrants to the UAE are being heightened during the Eid al-Adha holiday, Khaleej Times reported. Go

The fourth gold fair in Bahrain is to conclude on Friday in which 20 international companies specializing in jewelry participated in addition to five Bahraini companies that presented the most modern jewelry designs. Go

A Moroccan woman gave birth last week to four babies in Agadir (southern Morocco), medical sources at the city's Mokhtar Soussi Hospital said. The delivery took place in normal conditions and babies and their mother are in good health. Go