Cairo  - Groups of Bedouins protested Monday in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, blocking a main road, after Egyptian security forces opened fire, killing one man and wounding another, security sources said.

Police shot the two men when they refused to stop their car at a security check point, sources told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa. Bedouins often accuse Egyptian police of discriminating against them, including arresting Bedouins without charge.

Cairo, Gaza - Egypt announced on Saturday that crucial reconciliation talks between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah scheduled for Monday are to be postponed.

The decision came after Hamas officially told Cairo that it will not take part in the meetings, the Egyptian state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

In the Gaza Strip, the local Ramattan news agency quoted Palestinian officials as saying Egypt had informed them that the dialogue meeting was being postponed.

Cairo/Gaza - Egypt is to announce Saturday that crucial reconciliation talks between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah scheduled on Monday is to be postponed, al-Jazeera news network reported.

The decision came after Hamas has officially asked Cairo to postpone the talks which they see as "not yet ripe," the report said.

Egypt intends to inform the rest of Palestinian factions who were on their way to attend the meeting.

Earlier in the Gaza Strip, the local Ramattan news agency quoted Palestinian officials as sayiang Egypt had informed them that the dialogue meeting was being postponed.

Cairo - The headquarters of Egypt's opposition al-Ghad party were set on fire on Thursday amid clashes between rival factions in the party, security sources told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

Twelve fire trucks were called in to extinguish the flames in the party's offices in downtown Cairo.

The clashes involved supporters of the party's chief Ayman Nour and his deputy Moussa Moustafa Moussa, in their ongoing dispute over who should lead the party. The dispute has been going on since September 2005.

Cairo - The headquarters of Egypt's opposition al-Ghad party were set on fire on Thursday amid clashes between rival factions in the party, security sources told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

Twelve fire trucks were called in to extinguish the flames in the party's offices in downtown Cairo.

Cairo  - In a region where the presence of the US can not be more evident in political life, Egyptian political forces are hopeful that the victory of Barack Obama will bring the "change" he vowed, to their part of the world.

Essam al-Erian, a senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, described Obama's victory as "historical."

"Obama's victory is a historical moment for the US and can be historical for the whole world," al-Erian told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.