Cairo - An Egyptian court on Tuesday barred the government from exporting gas to Israel, a security source told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

The higher administrative court's ruling came against the government for exporting gas to Israel at a price below international gas price levels.

The ruling came as meanwhile members from Egypt's banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood took the streets demonstrating against the Israeli attacks on Gaza and demanding that Egypt to cut its relations with Israel.

Egypt and Israel sealed a 15-year gas deal in 2005 which gives Israel the right to import gas from Egypt at a fixed price.

Cairo - A delegation from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is due to arrive in Cairo on Monday for talks with the Egyptian government, a senior official from Hamas has said.

Ayman Taha, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement that a delegation from the movement had been invited by the Egyptian government, to discuss the Israeli military incursions into the Gaza Strip.

Egypt, which brokered the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which ended on December 19, is also receiving delegations from the European Union and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday, in an effort to end the fighting in the nearby Palestinian enclave.

Cairo - Mohammed Dahlan, a senior official of the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected insinuations in some Arab media that his group would return to power in the Gaza Strip on the heels of the Israeli incursion against the rival group Hamas.

In telephone comments to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa late Sunday, Dahlan, the former Fatah leader in Gaza prior to their expulsion by Hamas in June 2007, denied any such aims by his group.

"We do not want any power which has been purchased with the blood of Palestinians," Dahlan told dpa.

Cairo- Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak received Monday a cluster of European Union (EU) envoys Monday as diplomatic efforts got underway towards forging a ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip.

The EU group, meeting Mubarak in the resort of Sharm El-Sheik, includes French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, EU Foreign Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU top diplomat Javier Solana as well as the Foreign Ministers for Sweden and the Czech Republic, Carl Bildt and Karel Schwarzenberg.

Cairo - The head of the Arab League urged the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to take immediate action to stop Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip.

"We urge the Security Council not to fall under any pressure and take an immediate decision to stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza," said UN Secretary General Amr Mussa at the opening of an Arab League emergency meeting.

Decrying the rising number of Palestinian casualties, Mussa asked: "Which 'magic number' is the security council waiting for before it will act to put an end to these attacks?"

Cairo - Donkeys have been banned from walking around in the streets of Egypt's south-western al-Wadi al-Gadeed governorates without wearing diapers, according to an official in the area.

Mohammed Haround said the measure was to "preserve the aesthetic and cultural scene of the governorate which currently witnesses an unprecedented boom in tourism".

"Diapers are available in the markets at low prices," Haroun was quoted by the official MENA news agency as saying on Tuesday. He added that owners of the donkeys who violate this decision will be fined.