Ankara  - The Egyptian and Turkish presidents on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to joint efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire in the Middle East.

Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak speaking in Istanbul after meeting his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said that the world must focus on helping Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"We give great importance to rebuilding," Mubarak said, noting that Egypt would host an international conference next month to discuss reconstruction efforts. Mubarak also said that aid to Palestinians in Gaza must be allowed through Israeli checkpoints immediately.

Cairo - Egyptian security forces have detained 30 Egyptian truck drivers delivering supplies to the Gaza Strip, a source in the interior ministry told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Wednesday.

The drivers were held, pending investigation, in Northern Sinai, the source said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He added that if security forces found nothing after a thorough investigation and search of the trucks, the drivers would be released and allowed to continue their journey.

Berlin/Cairo  - German archaeologists may have tricked Egyptian customs officials into allowing them to smuggle the bust of Queen Nefertiti to Berlin nearly a century ago, according to a secret document unearthed recently.

The German magazine Der Spiegel revealed details of the document, which could prompt calls from Egypt for a return of the 3,400-year-figure of the pharaonic queen, hailed as the world's most beautiful woman.

Cairo - Archaeologists in Egypt discovered a "perfectly preserved" mummy inside a 2,600-year-old lime sarcophagus north of Cairo on Wednesday, Egypt's antiquities authority said.

Scientists said they believed the mummy, one of 30 discovered in a previously forgotten tomb near the step pyramid of Saqqara, could have been a nobleman from the time of the 26th Dynasty.

The 26th Dynasty ruled ancient Egypt from approximately 685 BC until Cambyses II of Persia sacked Memphis in 525 BC.

Cairo- Representatives of rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas have held preliminary talks in Cairo, in what Egypt hopes will be the first of many meetings on forming a national unity government, the al-Arabiya TV news channel reported Wednesday.

The meeting, which took place late Tuesday, was attended by the head of Fatah's parliamentary bloc, Azam al-Ahmad, Fatah spokesman Ahmed Abdel-Rahman and senior Hamas officials Jamal Abu-Hashim and Ayman Taha, al-Arabiya said.

Cairo - An Egyptian opposition member of parliament has been suspended for threatening to throw his shoe at a ruling-party lawmaker last month, local media reported today.

Parliament voted to suspend Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated MP Ashraf Badr until the next session of parliament begins in November 2009 by a vote of 279 to 2, with one abstention, the Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm reported Wednesday.

But parliament also defeated a motion by ruling-party deputies that Badr be stripped entirely of his seat.