Egypt is to open the Rafah border crossing into Gaza permanently to most Palestinians from Saturday, Egyptian state news agency Mena has said.
Gaza has been under blockade since 2007, when the Islamist Hamas movement took control of the territory.
Under ex-President Hosni Mubarak - ousted in February - Egypt opposed the Hamas administration and helped Israel to enforce the blockade.
Israel says the blockade is needed to stop weapons being smuggled into Gaza.
The Rafah crossing will be opened permanently from 0900 to 2100 every day except Fridays and holidays, beginning Saturday 27 May, Mena said.
"Palestinian women of all ages will be exempted from visas as will men under 18 or over 40," Mena reported.
Rafah is the only crossing into Gaza which bypasses Israel.
Egypt's transitional military government said last month it intended to open the crossing.
The move is likely to anger Israel. Last year, Israel eased restrictions on goods entering Gaza, but significant shortages in the territory remain.
Mena said the decision to open the Rafah crossing was part of efforts "to end the status of the Palestinian division and achieve national reconciliation".
The EU plans to boost development aid and loans for its Arab neighbours in the southern Mediterranean, but the help will be tied to political reform.
The EU foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton, said 1.24bn euros (£1bn) would be added to the 5.7bn-euro EU "neighbourhood" budget for 2011-13.
The EU is adopting a "more funds for more reform" approach, she said.
The wave of uprisings in the Arab world has forced a major foreign policy rethink in European capitals.
The 27 EU governments - the European Council - support a 1bn-euro increase in European Investment Bank (EIB) lending to the southern Mediterranean for 2011-13.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has also agreed to extend its operations into the Arab world, starting with Egypt. Annual lending volumes could reach around 2.5bn euros by 2013, according to the EU statement released on Wednesday.
Until now the EBRD's focus has been on eastern Europe, where the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has been operating since 2004, fostering closer ties between the EU and 16 partner countries.
The EU plans to help democratise the southern Mediterranean through a European Endowment for Democracy and a Civil Society Facility, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.
The consolidation of democracy in the region would improve stability, he said.
The EU has financed a range of projects in North Africa in recent years, but they have not been conditional on Arab leaders launching serious political reforms.
The unrest in North Africa this year - especially the war in Libya - has fuelled concerns that Europe could face a new surge in migration from Africa, at a time of economic hardship and high unemployment across the EU.
President Obama has told British politicians that, despite the rise of new global superpowers, the time for US and European leadership "is now".
In a speech in Parliament, he said the US and its allies in Europe would remain "indispensable" this century.
He is the first US President to address MPs and peers in Westminster Hall, on the second day of his UK state visit.
He praised relations between the US and UK as "one of the oldest and strongest alliances the world has ever known".
Mr Obama got a standing ovation as he began his speech - which covered a range of issues including foreign policy, economic development and international security.
As he began, Mr Obama acknowledged that the relationship between the UK and US was forever being "overanalysed" but added: "There are few nations that stand firmer, speak louder and fight harder to defend democratic values around the world than the United States and the United Kingdom."
'New chapter'
President Obama also told politicians gathered at Westminster Hall - who included in their ranks the former prime ministers Sir John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - that the two countries had "arrived at a pivotal moment once more" following global recession and years of conflict.
Even as more nations take on the responsibilities of global leadership, our alliance will remain indispensable to the goal of a century that is more peaceful, more prosperous and more just”
He said with the winding down of operations in Iraq, progress in Afghanistan and having dealt "al Qaeda a huge blow by killing its leader Osama Bin Laden" it was time to enter a "new chapter in our shared history" with new challenges - like the revolutions in the Middle East and Africa, climate change terrorist networks,.
But he rejected arguments that the rise of superpowers like China and India meant the end for American and European influence in the world.
"Perhaps, the argument goes, these nations represent the future, and the time for our leadership has passed. That argument is wrong. The time for our leadership is now," he said.
"It was the United States, the United Kingdom, and our democratic allies that shaped a world in which new nations could emerge and individuals could thrive.
"And even as more nations take on the responsibilities of global leadership, our alliance will remain indispensable to the goal of a century that is more peaceful, more prosperous and more just."
Libya questions
Questions about the international community's strategy in Libya featured heavily during an earlier press conference on the second day of President Obama's state visit to the UK.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said there was no future for the country - which has seen two months of intense fighting between pro and anti-government forces - with Col Gaddafi in power, and he should step down.
Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying”
End QuotePresident Barack Obama
"The President and I agree we should be turning up the heat in Libya," he said, adding that "all options" for intensifying the pressure on the regime were being considered.
Mr Obama said the international community had made "enormous progress" in Libya, saving civilian lives under the terms of its UN mandate, and the US was "strongly committed to seeing the job through".
"Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying," he said.
But he warned against setting any timetable for action and cautioned against the prospect of any decisive change in the military situation on the ground.
"I believe that we have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain the course we are on, he (Gaddafi) will step down. Ultimately this is going to be a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear down the regime forces."
The situation in Libya was one of a number of issues discussed during 90 minutes of talks on Wednesday, including developments across the Middle East, in Syria and Yemen, the fight against terrorism and the global economy.
On a personal note, Mr Cameron said he had come to know the president well over the past year and had come to "value his leadership and courage".
He described UK-US relations as "a living, working partnership" which were "essential to our security and to our prosperity".
But he refused to be drawn on comparisons between the two men's relationship and that between President George W Bush and Tony Blair, saying each personal relationship between world leaders was different.
Winfield House
The presidential couple arrived 12 hours earlier than planned and spent their first night in the UK at the home of the US ambassador, Winfield House, where they met the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
Downing Street
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama met the Prime Minister and his wife, Samantha Cameron, at 10 Downing Street, where they later hosted a barbecue for British and American military families.
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Buckingham Palace
The President and First Lady briefly met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge before a ceremonial welcome in the Buckingham Palace gardens, where the president reviewed the guard of honour with the Duke of Edinburgh.
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Westminster Abbey
The public got their first glimpse of the Obamas when they visited Westminster Abbey, where the president laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
Globe Academy
President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron made a suprise visit to the Globe Academy in Lambeth, south London, where they teamed up for a game of table tennis against schoolboys.
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US First Lady Michelle Obama has been reunited with a group of British schoolgirls she met during a previous visit to the UK.
On the second day of President Barack Obama's state visit Mrs Obama made a speech at Oxford University and took questions from the children.
She paid an emotional visit to their school in Islington, London, in 2009.
Mrs Obama had earlier co-hosted a barbecue at Downing Street with prime minister's wife Samantha Cameron.
During her visit to Oxford on Wednesday the First Lady told the schoolchildren she was "thrilled to be back" in the UK and spoke of her own experience of making it from a poor background to a top university.
"I remember back when I was your age, trying to decide which schools that I would apply to. And I remember how well-meaning, but misguided, people sometimes questioned whether someone with my background could succeed at an elite university," she told them.
She added that even after being accepted to university she had "all kinds of worries and fears and doubts" that she would be less prepared than students who had come from more privileged families.
"But after a few months... I realised that I was just as capable.
"I realised that success is not about the background you are from, it is about the confidence that you have and the effort you are willing to invest."
Kept in touch
She had received a rapturous round of applause as she arrived at the university's Christ Church college.
Many see Michelle Obama - pictured at Buckingham Palace - as a style icon
She greeted the pupils from Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (EGA) secondary school as she entered the college's dining room, where the girls sat at two long tables to listen to Mrs Obama's remarks.
Addressing the youngsters she said: "How are you doing? It's good to see you again."
The 37 girls were picked for today's event because they were interested in science but not reaching their full potential.
Their meeting with the US president's wife came after a day of activities for the pupils, including campus tours, career discussions and mentoring sessions.
The trip - arranged at Mrs Obama's suggestion - was designed to encourage the girls to think about studying for a degree.
Since visiting EGA in 2009, Mrs Obama has kept in touch with the school, writing letters and encouraging the girls in their studies.
During questions she said she had not changed her parenting philosophy towards the Obamas' two daughters since moving to the White House.
She said that, although she was proud and grateful for her education and career accomplishments, she believed her most important current role was to raise "strong women" and to teach her children not to be afraid to learn from failures and mistakes.
Taking tea
On Tuesday the White House released a photo of Samantha Cameron and Mrs Obama having a chat in the prime minister's home.
The photo was taken in the contemporary-style kitchen in the Camerons' four-bedroom flat above 11 Downing Street. Like the Blairs and Browns before them, the couple chose to live there rather than in the smaller apartment above Number 10.
Mrs Obama wore a vibrant purple wool-crepe dress and a blue coat by New York designer Narciso Rodriguez, while Mrs Cameron chose a British design - a Peter Pilotto embroidered floral silk dress.
The barbecue in the garden at Downing Street was held to honour the sacrifices of members of the UK and US militaries.
Meanwhile US president Barack Obama and UK prime minister David Cameron have been celebrating the US-UK relationship as "stronger than ever".
Questions about the international community's strategy in Libya featured heavily in a press conference on the second day of the state visit.
President Obama, who later made a key foreign policy speech to MPs and peers on the second day of his state visit, said the US-UK relationship was based on "shared ideals and shared values" not merely "warm sentiment and common history".
Street battles between Yemeni security forces and the country's most powerful tribal federation are continuing for a third day in the capital, Sanaa.
At least 44 people have died in the clashes, which began after forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh moved against a tribal leader's compound.
The tribal leader, Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, has joined an uprising against President Saleh's rule.
On Sunday, the president refused to sign a deal to stand down.
One report early on Wednesday said forces loyal to Sheikh al-Ahmar had moved to take control of several public buildings.
They seized the state news agency Saba and the national airline building, while also trying to storm the interior ministry headquarters, AFP news agency reported.
'Don't take orders'
But Mr Saleh remained defiant in a statement read by his spokesman on Wednesday.
"I will not leave power and I will not leave Yemen," the spokesman, Ahmed al-Soufi, quoted the president as saying.
He dismissed fears that Yemen risked civil war, and that the country might turn into a failed state or an "al-Qaeda refuge."
And he implicitly criticised Western efforts to mediate a transition, saying: "I don't take orders from outside."
He also said he was still prepared to sign a transition deal "within a national dialogue and a clear mechanism".
"No more concessions after today," he added.
Later on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama - in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London - repeated his call for Mr Saleh to "move immediately on his commitment to transfer power".
Immunity
The deal Mr Saleh has so far refused to sign called for him to step down within a month after 33 years in office and hand over power to a unity government.
It would also have given the president immunity from prosecution.
Mr Saleh has previously said he would only sign in the presence of opposition leaders.
Sheikh Ahmar, head of the powerful Hashid tribe, is a former supporter of the president. He joined the anti-government protests against Mr Saleh in March.
On Tuesday, his compound appeared to have been shelled as tribal leaders were trying to mediate a ceasefire there.
President Saleh has accused the sheikh of trying to provoke civil war, but the same accusation has been levelled against the president.
Barack Obama and David Cameron have said Col Gaddafi will ultimately be forced out of power and Libya's people allowed to "choose their own future".
At a joint press conference in London, the UK prime minister vowed to "turn up the heat" on the regime in Tripoli amid suggestions of deadlock on the ground.
But the US President urged people to be "patient", saying the allied campaign in Libya would be "slow and steady".
Both men celebrated the US-UK relationship as "stronger than ever".
Questions about the international community's strategy in Libya featured heavily the press conference on the second day of President Obama's state visit to the UK.
'All options'
Mr Cameron said there was no future for the country - which was seen two months of intense fighting between pro and anti-government forces, with Col Gaddafi in power and he should step down.
Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying”
End QuotePresident Barack Obama
"The President and I agree we should be turning up the heat in Libya," he said, adding that "all options" for intensifying the pressure on the regime were being considered.
Mr Obama said the international community had made "enormous progress" in Libya in saving civilian lives under the terms of its UN mandate and the US was "strongly committed to seeing the job through".
"Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying," he said.
But he warned against setting any timetable for action and cautioned against the prospect of any decisive change in the military situation on the ground.
"I believe that we have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain, the course we are on, he (Gaddafi) will step down. Ultimately this is going to be a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear down the regime forces."
Downing Street talks
The situation in Libya was one of a number of issues discussed during 90 minutes of talks earlier on Wednesday, including developments in the Middle East, including in Syria and Yemen, the fight against terrorism and the global economy.
On a personal note, Mr Cameron said he had come to know the President well over the past year and had come to "value his leadership and courage".
He described UK-US relations as "a living, working partnership" which were "essential to our security and to our prosperity".
But he refused to be drawn on comparisons between the two men's relationship and that between President George W Bush and Tony Blair, saying each personal relationship between world leaders was different.
President Obama, who will later make a key foreign policy speech to MPs and peers on the second day of his state visit, said the US-UK relationship was based on "shared ideals and shared values" not merely "warm sentiment and common history".
"It is a special relationship and an essential relationship. I believe it's stronger than it has ever been and I'm committed to making sure that it stays that way," he said.
Debt issues
More widely, Mr Cameron said the international community needed to seize the "once in a generation moment" to support pro-democracy movements in the Middle East.
He said he would push for a "major programme" of political and economic support for reformist governments in the region at the G8 later this week. President Obama condemned regimes using violence against their people.
President Obama said he believed Nato forces were "turning the corner" in Afghanistan while Mr Cameron urged the Taliban to make a "decisive split" with al-Qaeda if they wanted to participate in a political dialogue and bring about stability.
Asked about the two governments' approaches to economic recovery and deficit reduction, Mr Cameron said both countries were committed to reducing debt levels over the next few years.
President Obama said that although the pace at which they did this would differ, both shared the same goal of creating "broad-based prosperity" but also ensuring governments "lived within their means" and "never mortgaged our futures".
Later in the day, Mr Obama will give a setpiece speech on US foreign policy at Westminster Hall - the oldest building within the Palace of Westminster - an honour usually reserved for British monarchs.
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LONDON — President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron are playing table tennis with London students.
Obama met Cameron at his official 10 Downing St. residence after the president and his wife, Michelle, spent much of Tuesday at Buckingham Palace in the company of Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip and other royal family members.
The two leaders shared Obama's limo for the ride to the Globe Academy in London's Southwark neighborhood. The school has more than 900 students, ages 3 to 16.
Obama and Cameron saw some science exhibits, then rolled up their sleeves for a match against two teenage boys. It wasn't known who won. Reporters were escorted from the room with the game in progress.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told a joint session of the US Congress the US and Israel have no better friends than one another.
"Israel has always been pro-American, Israel will always be pro-American," Mr Netanyahu said.
His remarks come four days after he opened a rift with US President Barack Obama over the direction of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Israel enjoys strong bipartisan support in the US Congress.
"In an unstable Middle East, Israel is the one anchor of stability. In a region of shifting alliances, Israel is America's unwavering ally," Mr Netanyahu said
And he thanked the US and President Barack Obama for killing al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, saying "good riddance".
Mr Netanyahu also gave a vigorous defence of Israel's place in the Middle East, describing it as an outpost of democracy and press freedom in the region.
And he said that of 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, only the one million living in Israel "are truly free".
"This startling fact reveals a basic truth," he said. "Israel is not what is wrong about the Middle East, Israel is what is right about the Middle East."
Mr Netanyahu was briefly interrupted by a heckler who denounced Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. He paused used the point to applaud American democracy, saying no one in the "farcical parliaments" of Tehran and Tripoli would be permitted such a protest.
"This is real democracy," he said.
On Friday, Mr Netanyahu rejected Mr Obama's call to base the borders of a future Palestinian state along Israel's pre-1967 lines, with agreed land swaps.
About 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, areas that lie behind Israel's pre-1967 borders.
In a speech on US policy in the Middle East on Thursday, Mr Obama said the borders of Israel and a future Palestinian state should be based on those pre-1967 borders, referring to those that existed before the Six-Day War.
Since then, Mr Netanyahu, who has said Israel must maintain a military presence in the Jordan valley, has repeatedly rejected Mr Obama's call, referring to the 1967 lines as "indefensible".
Some analysts expect Mr Netanyahu to downplay the significance of the disagreement with the US, Israel's strongest international ally.
Thousands of passengers have had their flights cancelled because of drifting ash from an Icelandic volcano.
Airports affected include Londonderry, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Prestwick, Durham Tees Valley, Newcastle and Carlisle, air traffic services company Nats said.
The UK's emergency response committee, Cobra, met to discuss the knock-on effects of the ash cloud.
Air traffic management body Eurocontrol said about 500 flights were cancelled across Europe on Tuesday.
UK air traffic control service Nats said the ash cloud would continue to affect flights from some airports in Scotland and northern England from 1900 BST on Tuesday until 0100 BST on Wednesday.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, who led the Cobra talks, said although there would be widespread disruption for Scottish airports, it was unlikely to last long.
"At the moment the model suggests that disruption later in the week is likely to be limited, but of course the weather patterns are changing all the time," he said.
The Met Office said the ash had reached northern Scotland and would spread across much of the UK by the end of the day.
But forecasters said changing wind patterns made it hard to predict its exact path and concentrations would vary between regions.
The following airlines have announced cancellations:
British Airways will not operate any flights to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle on Tuesday
KLM cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Newcastle as well as from Durham Tees Valley Airport
Aer Lingus cancelled 12 flights to and from Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh
BMI has cancelled all flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow for the rest of Tuesday
Loganair, based in Glasgow, has cancelled 38 flights. Only inter-island routes in Orkney are unaffected
Eastern Airways will not be operating any services in or out of Scottish airspace
Easyjet has cancelled flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Newcastle until 1900 BST
Ryanair has cancelled all flights to and from Scotland for the rest of Tuesday
Minor air traffic disruptions were also reported in Norway and a small part of Denmark.
Despite later cancelling its flights, the Irish carrier Ryanair claimed it had made a test flight through ash over Scotland and challenged a ruling some flights should be grounded.
Ryanair said its 90-minute flight at 41,000ft showed there was "no visible volcanic ash cloud or evidence of ash on the airframe, wings or engines".
Ryanair said the "red zone" over Scottish airspace where ash has been classified "high-density" was invented by the Met Office and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
During last year's disruption, the advice was for planes to avoid the ash at all costs
Since then, the CAA has worked towards a better understanding of what engines can take
There are now three recognised levels of ash concentration
Low: 0 to 0.002 grammes per cubic metre
Medium: 0.002 to 0.004 grammes per cubic metre
High: Over 0.004 grammes per cubic metre
There are no restrictions on flying in low ash concentration
However if an airline wants planes to fly through medium or high concentration ash, it must put forward a "safety case" to its aviation authority showing it has assessed whether the aircraft will be able to cope
The safety case includes information from a series of tests and from consultations between the airlines and plane manufacturers
But a CAA spokesperson said: "The CAA can confirm that at no time did a Ryanair flight enter the notified area of high contamination ash over Scotland this morning."
BBC transport correspondent Richard Scott said the CAA confirmed Ryanair were being, at best, "misleading".
The cancellations come just over a year after another volcanic eruption in Iceland caused widespread disruption across Europe, including the closure of UK airspace, amid concerns about the damage volcanic ash could cause to engine aircraft.
This year, in the UK, the decision on whether to fly or not in ash cloud conditions is down to individual airlines subject to aviation authority approval.
The CAA said procedures were "totally different" to last year and although no airlines had applied to fly in high-density ash, some had applied for, and been given, permission to fly in medium ash.
The Grimsvotn volcano in Vatnajokull National Park began erupting on Saturday and closed Iceland's airspace for a period.
Experts say the eruption is on a different scale to the one last year and ash particles are larger and, as a result, fall to the ground more quickly.
Frances Tuke, from travel industry body Abta, urged passengers to contact their airlines, which he said had legal obligations to their customers.
He said passengers could have a claim under European "denied boarding" regulations.
These state that if a flight is cancelled or delayed for more than five hours, passengers are entitled to be either re-routed, given a replacement flight, or a refund.
Since last year, the CAA has graded ash levels as low, medium or high, and airlines are notified if levels reach medium or high.
All British aircraft can fly in medium-density ash but the airlines need to consider whether to fly, according to risk assessments.
The Foreign Office is advising passengers to remain in regular contact with their travel agent or airline for the latest news on the status of flights and bookings.
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US President Barack Obama is visiting Moneygall in the Republic of Ireland as he begins a week-long tour of Europe.
The tiny village in County Offaly was the home of one of his ancestors who emigrated to America in 1850.
Locals greeted Mr Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama with cries of "Welcome home!" as they entered the village.
The Obamas landed in Dublin earlier on Monday. Security is tight for the trip, following the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan three weeks ago.
Crowds lined the streets in Moneygall, which normally only has 300 residents, to welcome Mr Obama to the village that was home to his great-great-great grandfather, a shoemaker.
During the couple's short visit, they visited the ancestral home of the Kearney family, shook hands with well-wishers lining Moneygall's flag-bedecked main street and enjoyed supping on a pint - or a half, in the first lady's case - of Guinness in one of the village's two pubs.
There had been a minor delay to the US president's schedule when his bomb-proof Cadillac - nicknamed "the Beast" - became stuck on a ramp on the way out of the US embassy in Dublin, forcing the US first couple to switch vehicles.
When he returns to Dublin later, Mr Obama will deliver an open-air speech on College Green.
'Special relationship'
Upon arriving in the capital, President Obama met Irish President Mary McAleese, and also held talks with Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
After the Republic of Ireland, the president will also visit the UK, France and Poland. In France, he will attend a meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) major world powers.
Mark Mardell, the BBC's North America editor, says Afghanistan will be high on the agenda, as will the upheaval in the Arab world.
On Tuesday, Mr Obama flies to London for a three-day state visit to the UK.
He and his wife will stay at Buckingham Palace as guests of the Queen.
Mr Obama will hold talks with Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street with the Nato operation in Libya expected to be high on the agenda.
Mr Obama will also address both houses of the UK parliament at Westminster Hall.
It is rare for a foreign head of state to make such an address in Westminster Hall - usually this is reserved for British monarchs.
The White House has said the visit will be an important opportunity for Mr Obama to reaffirm the strength of the "special relationship".
"The US and UK of course enjoy a special relationship," said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.
"There is no closer ally for the US in the world than the UK. We are in absolute alignment with the British on a range of core international security interests and, of course, our deeply shared set of values that have tied us together for many decades."
Relations reset
On Thursday Mr Obama heads to Deauville, France, for the G8 summit where he will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
On Friday, the US leader travels on to Poland to discuss proposals for a US missile shield in Europe which the Poles will partly host.
President Obama hopes to press the reset button on relations with some US allies, after appearing to take the UK and the rest of Europe for granted, says our North America editor.
Security for the tour is expected to be unprecedented, following the US raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this month.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC aired on Sunday, Mr Obama said he would order a similar operation if another militant leader was found in Pakistan.
The killing of Bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town strained ties between the two allies.
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Middle East 
Yemen rebels seize public offices 
Tent city
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