Cairo - Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour has said he will challenge President Hosny Mubarak in future presidential elections despite a jail term that has weakened his health and a ban on his participation in politics.

Cairo- Hundreds of Egyptian villagers protested early Thursday after police killed a pregnant woman in a house raid, a security source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The 26-year-old pregnant woman resisted police who came to arrest her brother, who is being investigated in a robbery case.

Police hit the woman, who died after she was moved to a hospital in Samalout.

Samalout is located some 217 kilometres south of Cairo.

Cairo - At least eight people died Wednesday when a building collapsed in the coastal Egyptian city of Alexandria, according to a security official.

Additionally, one woman was injured in the collapse. It was unknown how many people might still be buried in the rubble, the official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The collapse of the five-storey building may have been caused by poor construction that allowed more floors to be added to the building than the structure could support.

Cairo  - A delegation of senior members of the Palestinian group Hamas arrived in Cairo Tuesday for talks with Egyptian officials aimed at ending the Hamas-Fatah power struggle in Gaza and the West Bank and achieving Palestinian national reconciliation.

Cairo - A bus collided with a truck in central Egypt on Sunday, killing at least

Cairo  - Egyptians on Wednesday celebrated the first day of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

This year, the holiday in Egypt is a week long, due to the coming weekend and the October 6 commemoration of the 1973 war with Israel.

After four weeks of fasting, a holiday mood spread among Egyptians, who began the day with the Eid prayers after sunrise.

Families and friends prepared to visit each, while many, encouraged by the warm weather, headed to coastal cities for the feast.