Cairo - A delegation from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) will head to Spain to bring back three items of Pharaonic antiquities, SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawas said Thursday.

Hawas said that the pieces, which had been displayed at the Egyptian museum in Barcelona belong to the "New Kingdom" era, which began with the 18th Pharaonic dynasty during the 16th century BC and lasted until the rule of the ancient Greeks in Egypt.

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.

Cairo - American expatriates living in Cairo cheered Barak Obama's win as they partied into the early hours, and Egyptian locals expressed satisfaction with the election of the first black US president.

Many Americans in Egypt think that Obama's winning will positively reflect on the US image in the Arab world.

"I'm very happy that Obama won. This way people will stop asking me if I'm from the US and If I like Bush," said Jeff Bellis, a political science student at the American University in Cairo.

Cairo - Palestinian negotiators have not had their proposals for amendments to a draft reconciliation plan rejected out of hand in the run up to inter-Palestinian peace talks, senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said Tuesday.

"It is not true that the amendments were rejected ... we have already overcome many obstacles," al-Zahar told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.