Egypt's President Morsi calls for on-air talks

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's office has invited has invited 29 parties and 20 political figures to join a special "national dialogue" session Tuesday at Ittihadiya Palace. The talks will be the first of their kind of to be broadcast live on television. The meeting will focus on guarantees that the parliamentary elections slated for April 22 will be free, fair and transparent and discussing proposals that ensure an impartial process. An official statement by the palace said the meeting's agenda will include involving local and international civil society in monitoring the elections as well as "strengthening the climate of trust for the duration of the electoral process." A report on the meeting will be placed before the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC). According to the statement, parties and movements invited include al-Dustour, the Popular Current bloc, al-Wafd, al-Nour, the Freedom and Justice party (FJP), the Congress party, Strong Egypt party, the Egyptian Social Democratic party, the Free Egyptians party, Kefaya movement, April 6 Youth movement, Ghad al-Thawra party, the Socialist Popular Alliance party, al-Asala party, the Reform and Development party, the Egyptian Current, the Civlisation party, the Workers' Democratic party, al-Fadila party, al-Karama party, the Centre Party and al-Watan party. The presidential office has also been in touch with al-Azhar and the three main churches to ask them to send representatives to the session. The individual figures invited are Ibrahim el-Muallem, Mohammed Selim al-Awa, Hazem Abu Ismail, Mahmoud al-Khudairi, Zakariya Abdel Aziz, Tharwat Badawi, Hamdi Kandil, Fahmi Howaidi, Wael Kandil, Rami Lakkah, Manar el-Shorbagui, Sameh Fawzi, Susie Adli Nashed, Heba Raouf Ezzat, Mostafa el-Naggar, Abdallah el-Ashaal, Hafez Abu Seada, Gamal Eid, Abdelrahman Youssef and Wael Ghoneim.