Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is deferring an expected trip to Egypt and other Mideast countries next week, confining her travels to a conference in London on assisting the Palestinian Authority. The decision not to go apparently caught Egypt off-guard. The country's major pro-government newspaper, Al-Ahram, reported Friday that Rice would be in Egypt next Saturday. Egypt last Sunday postponed the G-8-Arab conference on promoting democracy in the midst of a dispute with the Bush administration over the jailing of a political activist. Rice had registered her ``very strong concerns'' about the detention of Ayman Nour, the leader of an opposition party, when she met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Tuesday in Washington. [State Department spokesman Richard]Boucher said she would reschedule a visit to the region ``at a fairly early date.''