Monthly Archives: July 2012

Another big day in court over legality of Egypt’s constitutional body

By | 2012-07-17T12:54:44-04:00 July 17th, 2012|News|

The struggle for Egypt’s future reaches a critical juncture on Tuesday when a court could dissolve a body tasked with writing the new constitution, a step that would open a new front in the power struggle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military.    The same court will also hear a separate legal case demanding

Clinton ‘not offended,’ regrets only wasted tomatoes in Egypt protest

By | 2012-07-17T12:19:31-04:00 July 17th, 2012|Reports|

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday she was “not offended” by protesters in Egypt who pelted her motorcade with tomatoes, calling the demonstrations a sign of greater freedom and anxiety, and mainly regretting what she saw as wasted food.   Asked about the assault on Sunday in Alexandria, where protesters threw tomatoes,

Christians Snub Cairo Meeting With Clinton, Claim US Backs Islamists

By | 2012-07-17T12:00:35-04:00 July 17th, 2012|News|

Protesters threw tomatoes, shoes and a water bottle as members of the press accompanying Clinton walked to their vans.Prominent Christian Egyptians snubbed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday because they feel the U.S. administration favors Islamist parties over secular and liberal forces in society at the expense of Egypt's 8 million Christians.   The

Saudi Arabia to amend rules governing religious police chasing people

By | 2012-07-17T11:25:37-04:00 July 17th, 2012|News|

Saudi Arabia will make amendments to rules governing religious police chasing people, a newspaper reported on Monday.    A group of procedures to govern the country’s Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Commission’s chasing of people will soon be released, head of the commission, Abdul Lateef al-Sheikh, told al-Watan newspaper.    Despite a

Egypt’s Tantawi defies Muslim Brotherhood declaring: Egypt is for all, not just one group

By | 2012-07-16T22:47:21-04:00 July 16th, 2012|Op-Eds|

  The military’s intervention in the days after polls closed in Egypt’s presidential election gave the country a reprieve from the looming threat of civil war which a Shafiq win was bound to spark. There were credible reports that Gaza and Libya terrorists smuggled weapons (rockets and missiles) into Suez and Marsa-Matorah and were poised

Arab Man ‘Falls’ from Window After Selling Land to Israel?

By | 2012-07-16T15:04:11-04:00 July 16th, 2012|Reports|

A retired Arab security officer died on Sunday of injuries sustained after “falling” from a third-floor window while in custody.   The 63-year-old man, identified by one source as Ahmed Mansour, was pronounced dead at a Ramallah hospital, where he was transported after suffering serious injuries, with one source saying it was unclear if he

Egyptians pelt Clinton motorcade with tomatoes and shoes

By | 2012-07-16T14:41:55-04:00 July 16th, 2012|News|

Protesters threw tomatoes and shoes at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s motorcade on Sunday during her first visit to Egypt since the election of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi.   A tomato struck an Egyptian official in the face, and shoes and a water bottle landed near the armored cars carrying Clinton’s delegation in the

Heavy fighting in Damascus as Annan to seek Russian help to end Syria crisis

By | 2012-07-16T14:25:01-04:00 July 16th, 2012|News|

Heavy clashes between rebels and regular troops erupted in Damascus on Sunday, in the “most intense” fighting in the capital since the start of the anti-regime revolt in Syria 16 months ago, a monitoring group said.   “The regular army fired mortar rounds into several suburbs” where rebels of the Free Syrian Army are entrenched,

Iran’s top leader to decide on blocking of Strait of Hormuz

By | 2012-07-16T02:06:59-04:00 July 16th, 2012|News|

The chairman of Iran’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says any decision to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the passageway through which a fifth of the world’s oil flows, rests in the hands of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.    Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi says Iran has a contingency plan to close the key

As Clinton meets with Egypt’s generals, Mursi arrives in Ethiopia for AU summit

By | 2012-07-16T00:34:51-04:00 July 16th, 2012|News|

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks Sunday with Egypt’s top military leaders, just hours after calling for them to help smooth the country’s full transition to democracy.   The top U.S. diplomat arrived in Egypt amid a complex power struggle being played out between the newly-elected Islamist president, Mohammed Mursi, and the Supreme