Cairo - Arab League Chief Amr Mussa appointed retired diplomat Hani Khalaf, an Egyptian national, to head the Arab League representation in Iraq, an Arab League statement said Thursday.

The new Arab League ambassador will fly to Baghdad in October, the statement said.

The Arab League office in Baghdad was previously headed by a Morrocan, Mukhtar Yemeni, who resigned in the summer of 2007 over the security conditions in the country. Since then the post has been vacant.

Egypt for its part has not sent a top diplomats to Iraq since the killing of its ambassador there, Ihab al-Sherif, in July 2005, five days after he was kidnapped in Baghdad.

Cairo still has no ambassador in the war-torn country.

Cairo  - Mussa Abu Marzouq, deputy of the Damascus-based political wing of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, said Wednesday the movement refuses any kind of independent investigation on who is behind the bombings that have recently hit Gaza.

Abu Marzouq told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, while in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials, that "it is a crime not a reconciliation case that may need an independent investigation."

Cairo  - A delegation of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas arrived in Cairo Tuesday to discuss with Egyptian officials a truce and prisoner exchange deal with Israel.

The delegation, headed by Mussa Abu Marzouq, deputy of the Damascus-based political wing of the movement, was to discuss ways to strengthen the fragile truce between Israel and Palestinians.

Cairo  - Egypt's top archaeologist said Tuesday that two Egyptian citizens were rewarded for turning in two pieces of antiquities they found while each was redecorating his house in the northern Menoufiya governorate.

"The Egyptian Ministry of Culture decided to give each citizen five thousand Egyptian pounds (970 US dollars)," said Zahi Hawass, Head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

Hawass stated that the two pieces belong to Ancient Egyptian King Ahmose of the 26th dynasty. After asserting the authenticity of the pieces, the SCA took the pieces to start their restoration process.

Cairo  - Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak headed on a brief trip to South Africa and Uganda to discuss economic cooperation with those two countries, Cairo airport sources said on Monday.

Cairo  - Arab League head Amr Mussa left Monday on a key visit to Tehran to attend a foreign ministers meeting of members of the Non-Aligned Movement, Egyptian airport officials said.

The three-day meeting to start Monday aims to prepare for the Non- Aligned Movement Summit to take place in July 2009 at the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.

Mussa left for Tehran through the Saudi Arabian coastal city of Jeddah, due to the lack of direct flights between Tehran and Cairo.

During his landmark visit, the Arab League chief will meet with Iranian officials to discuss the current affairs in the Middle East.

Arab countries are generally concerned about Iran's nuclear programme and its growing involvement in regional affairs.