Monthly Archives: April 2013

US Embassy Deletes Tweet Following Spat With Egypt

By | 2013-04-07T19:55:09-04:00 April 7th, 2013|News|

The US Embassy in Cairo deleted a controversial tweet about attacks on freedom of expression in Egypt following complaints by President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.   The embassy temporarily shut down its account and deleted the tweet, which had linked to a clip by popular US funnyman Jon Stewart denouncing the arrest of

Hamas Training Syrian Rebels in Damascus

By | 2013-04-07T13:08:09-04:00 April 7th, 2013|Reports|

Hamas, a former ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, is now training the rebel Free Syrian Army in eastern Damascus, according to a report Friday in the British Times.   Diplomatic sources told the newspaper that members of Hamas’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades were training FSA units in the rebel-held neighborhoods of Yalda, Jaramana and Babbila.

Abbas Wants Netanyahu to Present a Map of ‘Palestine’

By | 2013-04-07T12:56:31-04:00 April 7th, 2013|News|

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has demanded that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu present a map for a future Palestinian state before any peace talks can resume, an aide told AFP on Friday.   Abbas "wants to know, through a map to be presented by Benjamin Netanyahu to (U.S. Secretary of State John) Kerry, what the

Egyptian court drops lawsuit to ban comedy show

By | 2013-04-06T23:45:09-04:00 April 6th, 2013|News|

A Cairo court turned down on Saturday a suit filed by a Muslim Brotherhood lawyer demanding that a popular Egyptian satirist’s TV show be banned for allegedly insulting the president and excessive sexual innuendo.   Judge Hassouna Tawfiq said that the lawsuit against Bassem Youssef’s “El-Bernameg,” or “The Program,” was dropped because the plaintiff did

Al-Qaeda denies Saharan leader killed by France

By | 2013-04-06T23:09:34-04:00 April 6th, 2013|News|

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the movement’s North African arm, said French statements that its forces had killed the group’s leader in the Sahara were “blatant fallacy”, a monitoring website said on Saturday.   AQIM, as the group is known, did not name the leader but it appeared to be referring to Abdelhamid Abou Zeid,

‘Five die in Christian-Muslim clashes in Egypt’

By | 2013-04-06T22:46:10-04:00 April 6th, 2013|News|

Five Egyptians were killed and eight wounded during clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Cairo, security sources said on Saturday.   Four Christians and one Muslim were killed when members of both communities started shooting at each other in Khusus outside the Egyptian capital, the sources said.   They said the violence

Egypt student protesters demand top cleric’s resignation over alleged food poisoning

By | 2013-04-03T13:40:23-04:00 April 3rd, 2013|News|

Students at Egypt’s al-Azhar University surrounded the religious institution on Wednesday, demanding that Grand Mufti Ahmed al-Tayeb, the country’s top cleric, step down.   Protests demanding his resignation, and that of the university’s principal Osama al-Abed, began earlier in the week after alleged food poisoning struck more than 500 students.   The top cleric dismissed

Israel Launches First Air Strike Against Gaza Since Truce

By | 2013-04-03T13:24:11-04:00 April 3rd, 2013|News|

Israel launched its first airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday since the Egyptian-mediated truce ended November’s eight-day bout of fighting.   “Occupation planes bombarded an open area in northern Gaza, there were no wounded,” the Hamas Interior Ministry said in a statement.   An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed there had been a strike in