CAIRO — Egypt's state TV has lifted a decades-long ban on veiled female news presenters whom successive secular-leaning regimes have barred from going on air.

In a cream-colored headscarf and a dark suit, Fatma Nabil appeared on Sunday and read the noon news bulletin. State TV said it was the first such appearance by a woman with her hair covered since it was established a half century ago.

TV official Mohammed Fathi said that Nabil's appearance would encourage many other women who wished to wear the veil but feared losing their jobs.

Egypt's state television maintained the policy against veiled presenters throughout the presidency of Hosni Mubarak, ousted in an uprising last year, as well as his predecessors. Some presenters sued and won, but were still kept off the air.