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China plans to establish a $100 million industrial zone in Egypt's Suez region which is expected to ultimately attract $2.5 billion in Chinese investments.

Egypt's trade ministry said in a statement that China would also give Egyptian firms a $200 million credit line for production and technology transfers from China.

Elaph, London, October 30, 2007

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The Moroccan daily Le Matin marked yesterday, October 30, 2007, the 42nd anniversary of the assassination of Mahdi ben Barka, one of Morocco's most prominent leaders.

Ben Barka was assassinated during a visit to France.

Source: Le Matin, Morocco, October 30, 2007

Senior Hamas official Nazar Riyan has said that next autumn Hamas members would pray at the muqata'a in Ramallah, and that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would fall just like the falling leaves of autumn.

Riyan was speaking during a march by hundreds of Hamas supporters.

In response, PLO Executive Committee Secretary Yasser Abd Al-Rabbo said that Riyan belonged in a mental institution.

Source: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, October 31, 2007

According to reliable Palestinian sources, Muhammad Al-Deif, general commander of Hamas's armed wing, the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, returned a month ago to the Gaza Strip.

Deif, who remains partially paralyzed after a July 2006 Israeli air strike, has threatened that his brigades will soon move from defense to offense, and that they will strike deep inside Israel if Israel does not stop its activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Source: Al-Hayat, London, October 31, 2007

Following a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called on the Arab and Muslim countries not to normalize relations with Israel unless it withdraws from the territories occupied in 1967 and agrees to a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.

Abbas clarified that participation in the Annapolis conference would not be considered normalization.

He also proposed a six-month timetable for completing negotiations with Israel over a permanent settlement, and said that the Palestinians were willing to immediately implement the first section of the road map.

Source: Al-Hayat, London, October 31, 2007

Palestinian sources have reported that the conference planned by Palestinian factions to counter the Annapolis conference has been postponed, due to Hamas's and PLO opposition factions' wish to hold their conference simultaneously with the Annapolis conference (see "PA Attempts To Prevent Anti-Annapolis Conference").

Source: Al-Hayat, London, October 31, 2007

Clerics from Al-Azhar University have decided to examine fatwas issued by Al-Azhar Sheikh Dr. Sayyed Al-Tantawi in order to draw up a list of fatwas by him that are against Muslim law and against rulings by clerics.

The move was aimed at bring about a religious trial against Dr. Tantawi, whose fatwas have aroused harsh reactions.

Source: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, October 31, 2007

The head of the Al-Mustaqbal faction in the Lebanese parliament, Sa'd Al-Hariri, has revealed that the Lebanese security apparatuses have information about intentions to assassinate him and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Al-Siniora using car bombs.

He said that there is also evidence that Syrian military intelligence director Gen. Asaf Shokat is behind the assassination attempts.

With regard to Syrian threats that if there is no agreement in the matter of the election war will break out in Beirut, Al-Hariri said that Lebanon would act independently and freely, without interference in its affairs.

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, london, October 31, 2007

Teachers of the Tamazight (Berber) language in Algiers are in the fourth day of a hunger strike to demand tenure.

Linguist Abdennour Abdesselam has accused the Algerian regime of trying to speed up the disappearance of the Tamazight language, and has threatened to appeal to UNESCO.

The hunger strikers have the support of teachers' unions, the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), and members of the political system and the civil society

Several strikers have been taken to hospital for medical treatment.

Source: La Depeche de Kabylie, Algeria, October 30 and 31, 2007