Armed Al-Wadi Al-Gadid clashes SECURITY forces regained control over Sanaa village in Al-Wadi Al-Gadid governorate in southern Egypt after heavy armed clashes with gangs that steal railway tracks. On Tuesday, a police force in Al-Wadi Al-Gadid raided one gang while they were stealing the tracks of the Kharga-Luxor railway pass through Sanaa in Kharga. The governor, who accompanied the force, was almost killed in the clash. The gang members escaped to Sanaa, opening fire on pedestrians to clear the road. They took a group of people as hostages, but released them a few hours later after they escaped with the steel. One woman was killed and another wounded in the clash. Media reports said some houses were torched during the attack on the village. "They warned us not to give any information to the police or the army and opened fire on the houses. Many people fled the village overnight but returned in the morning," said Ahmed Abdel-Qader, one villager who was kidnapped. Tarek El-Mahdi, the governor of Al-Wadi Al-Gadid, said in a press conference that the situation was calm. He added that a joint force of the army and police was currently combing the desert for the gang, and had managed to reassure Sanaa residents that the situation was safe and that they should "return to their normal lives". Speaker of parliament Saad El-Katatni said many parliament members had expressed concern over the incident. He added he had talked over the phone with the minister of interior and the head of military police who assured him that the situation was under control. Remittances to be paid EGYPT and Iraq said this week they were putting the final touches on a deal estimated at $1 billion for Egyptian workers who were not paid during Iraq's 1990-1991 invasion of Kuwait. The announcement was made during a visit by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to Cairo. "We are committed to disbursing all the dues of the remittances," said Zebari. The remittances refer to the debt owed by Iraq to Egyptian workers who fled Iraq during the first Gulf War in the early 1990s following Iraq;s invasion of Kuwait, leaving their money and businesses behind. Zebari signed an agreement with his counterpart Mohamed Amr under which a total of $408 million are to be paid to 637,000 Egyptians. The two countries have been trying to resolve the issue ever since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. The row focussed on more than $0.5 million in interest on the original $408 million owed to Egyptian workers. A similar settlement was made in August last year during a meeting between former prime minister Essam Sharaf and Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abawi in Cairo, however, the Egyptian workers did not receive their money. But during this week's meeting which seemed to give a boost to bilateral relations, Amr said that he agreed with the Iraqis on a visit by a high-profile Egyptian businessmen's delegation to Baghdad after the Arab summit due to be held on 29 March in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to discuss Egypt's participation in Iraq's reconstruction. The two officials also discussed developments in Syria and preparations for the summit. Egypt-UK extradition FOREIGN and Commonwealth Minister for Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt, who paid Egypt a two-day visit, met Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr who affirmed the importance Egypt attaches to concluding an agreement on extraditing those accused in both countries. Such an agreement would enable Egypt to extradite Egyptians currently living in Britain and wanted by Egyptian police. Amr also tackled the money smuggled into the UK by former president Hosni Mubarak. Burt said his country would apply its own legal procedures to return the money. The UK has frozen a number of Egyptian-owned assets, Burt told reporters at the UK Embassy in Cairo. The stolen funds, he said, would be returned through legal channels conducted by British courts. However, he added that British legal authorities would only be able to return the money once provided with the necessary documents. Regarding extraditing former finance minister Youssef Boutros Ghali, wanted by Egyptian courts, Burt said the issue was not currently under discussion, noting that it is separate from the stolen funds issue. Cairo has so far failed to retrieve any funds smuggled abroad since the 25 January Revolution broke out early last year. Burt also met Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil El-Arabi to discuss the League's efforts to bring an end to the violence in Syria and ways the UK can support the effort. Press changes put off THE SHURA Council, the upper house of parliament, on Tuesday agreed not to lay off the editors-in-chief of state newspapers until further notice. The council also tasked a culture and economic committee to investigate the financial and administrative situation of the newspapers. "The culture committee will be working to set up new regulations and standards that the council will use as a guide to choose the future chief editors for state newspapers," speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed Fahmi said. Last week, Fahmi announced that the Shura Council would not extend the contracts of the editors of 48 state-run newspapers beyond 17 March. The newspapers in turn lashed out at the Shura Council for pursuing the same policy of the Mubarak regime by choosing editors. Some journalists perceived the Shura Council move as an attempt to control the state media. After the revolution of 25 January, several state newspapers formed an editorial council to run the newspapers instead of editors-in-chief chosen by the ousted regime. The editorial councils were set up after elections within each newspaper. The Press Syndicate called on the members of the councils to attend an urgent meeting to discuss their demands and submit them to the Shura Council. According to Egyptian law, all state-run newspapers are owned by the Shura Council and administrated by the Higher Council of Journalism.
