Cairo - Egyptian police shot dead a Sudanese man on Tuesday and injured two more Sudanese when they attempting to enter Israel illegally via the Rafah border crossing, Egyptian police said.

Reports said the men had planned to look for work in Israel and had each paid 5,000 dollars to people-traffickers

The two injured men were taken to al-Arish hospital in Egypt for treatment.

Cairo  - Egyptian border guards arrested 12 African migrants in the Sinai near the Israeli border on Saturday, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

The group included three men and nine women of Sudanese, Eritrean and Ethiopian nationality. They were arrested while attempting to cross into Israel.

Like many African migrants, the group was hoping to gain asylum and jobs in Israel. Local human traffickers are believed to charge migrants up to 5,000 dollars each to aid their illegal entry across the desert border.

Cairo  - An archeological mission of the Egyptian Higher Council of Antiquities (EHCA) discovered on Friday four headless statues of the Sphinx, the mythical creature most famously represented at the pyramid complex at Giza.

The statues were discovered on the ancient road connecting temples at Luxor and Karnak in southern Egypt-also known as the "Avenue of the Sphinxes."

According to Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the EHCA, the sandstone statues belonged to King Nakhtnebef, the founder of the 30th Pharaonic dynasty (363-380 BC).

Cairo  - Ambassador Ahmed bin Heli did not go to Mauritania to give the Arab League's consent to the coup in the West African nation that saw the president toppled, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said Tuesday.

"The envoy's visit was not to give the coup the green light. The Arab League will discuss this issue in the next foreign ministers meeting, that will witness Mauritania's attendance," Mussa said.

Cairo  - Al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri has released his first English-language audio tape, criticizing Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, according to reports Monday.

The audio message was produced by al-Sahab, a pro-al-Qaeda production house, and aired on Pakistan's ARY channel as reported by Qatar-based al-Jazeera and US news channel CNN.

The director of ARY was quoted on al-Jazeera's website as saying that some parts of the tape were omitted because they were too sensitive and contained personal attacks.

Cairo - Egyptian police have arrested a retired police officer in connection with the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim who was found dead in her apartment in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 28, police said Monday.

The suspect worked as a security official for an Egyptian real estate firm owned by a prominent local businessman, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The suspect was arrested on a restaurant boat on the Nile river.