Cairo  - Egyptian police on Thursday said they found half a tonne of explosives hidden near its Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip.

Nicosia, Aug 21 : The Head of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EPGC) Abdallah al-Alim Taha recently said that Egypt’s reserves of crude oil and natural gas have hit a record level.

The country’s confirmed reserves of crude oil, he said, have reached the all-time record of 4.2 billion barrels, representing an increase of 221 million barrels compared to the previous year.

Also, Egypt''s confirmed reserves of natural gas hit a new record reaching 76 trillion cubic feet, an increase of 3.7 trillion cubic feet compared with the previous year. This represents an annual average rate of 8.5 per cent in the last ten years.

Cairo  - Amnesty International (AI) on Wednesday called on Egypt to end abuses against migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa who are often killed, imprisoned or forcibly deported when caught trying to cross the country's borders into Israel.

"Amnesty International has written to Egypt's President Hosny Mubarak this week urging him to end the use of lethal force against African migrants attempting to cross Egypt's the borders into Israel," the human rights organization said a statement.

The statement came a day after Egyptian police shot dead a Sudanese man and injured two more Sudanese who attempted to enter Israel illegally via the Rafah border crossing.

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.

Singapore - An Egyptian minister for investment, accompanied by a 35-member business delegation, Monday wrapped up a visit to Singapore aimed at boosting bilateral trade.

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.