Cairo: Egypt's top court ruled on Sunday that parliament's Muslim Brotherhood-led upper house was illegal but could stay on until elections, dealing the Islamists a moral blow but letting them keep their grip on lawmaking for now.
The decision resolves an area of legal uncertainty hanging over a political transition repeatedly upset by the courts.
The ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court upheld the upper house's right, as set out in a new constitution, to legislate in the absence of a lower house. That chamber was dissolved in June 2012 following a similar legal challenge. Dates for new elections have yet to be set.
The upper house, elected as a consultative assembly on a 7 per cent turnout, has angered the opposition by broaching areas of controversy since it assumed legislative powers in December....
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06:58 AM, Jun 03, 2013
London: Supporters of the far right English Defence League rallied in Central London shouting anti-Islamic slogans in protest over the beheading of a soldier last week. Two war memorials have also been vandalised in the city. Three men arrested in London were on Monday released on bail while the two main accused, shot by police, remain under arrest in a hospital. The trio, aged 21, 24 and 28, were arrested...
09:55 AM, May 28, 2013
Many fear that the soldier beheading incident in London would spark reprisal attacks against Muslims. England's far-right protest groups called for a protest shortly after the attack in Woolwich. The English Defense League used social media to rally its supporters. ...
10:33 AM, May 24, 2013
More than 120 people have been injured in clashes between opposition protesters and Islamists near the headquarters of Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the capital. The violence erupted after activists protesting against the Islamists' policies and targeting of journalists, marched to the building guarded by police and Brotherhood members. ...
08:53 AM, Mar 23, 2013
At least five people, including a woman, were killed and over 50 others injured on Sunday as police opened fire during clashes with Islamists who enforced a nationwide shutdown demanding execution of "atheist bloggers" for alleged blasphemy. Five people were killed when strike supporters clashed with the police and local people in Manikganj's Singair upazila during the nationwide strike called by 12 Islamist parties, police and witnesses said. ...
07:00 PM, Feb 24, 2013
French troops pressed northward in Mali toward territory occupied for months by militants on Wednesday, military officials said, announcing the start of a land assault that will put soldiers in direct combat "within hours." French ground operations began overnight in Mali, said Adm Edouard Guillaud, the French military chief of staff. ...
03:40 PM, Jan 16, 2013
Egyptians voted narrowly in favour of a constitution shaped by Islamists and opposed by liberals in the first round of a two-stage vote, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's party that sought a "yes" vote said on Sunday, citing its unofficial tally. One opposition official also said the vote appeared to have gone in favour of Islamists who backed the constitution, after the opposition had said late on Saturday when...
10:49 AM, Dec 16, 2012
Lahore: Giving in to the pressure from hardline groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and a section of local residents, a move to rename a roundabout here in Pakistan after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh has been put on hold. The City District Government of Lahore had announced last month that Shadman Chowk would be renamed Bhagat Singh Chowk to acknowledge his revolutionary spirit and his role in the movement against the erstwhile...
11:14 AM, Nov 01, 2012
Washington: Radical Islamists in the West African nation of Mali are compiling a list of unmarried mothers, which has raised fears of cruel punishments such as stoning, amputations and executions, CNN reported. Ivan Simonovic, the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, said Islamists controlling most of the northern part of the country have vowed to impose a stricter form of Islamic Sharia law. Local radical groups say the law condemns...
10:55 AM, Oct 13, 2012
Alexandria: Protesters threw tomatoes and shoes at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade on Sunday during her first visit to Egypt since the election of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. A tomato struck an Egyptian official in the face, and shoes and a water bottle landed near the armoured cars carrying Clinton's delegation in the port city of Alexandria after she gave a speech on democratic rights. A senior US...
08:56 AM, Jul 16, 2012
Cairo: Egypt's newly elected President Mohammed Mursi, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, still figures on a travel ban list which prevents him from leaving the country as a member of the Islamist group. Despite winning Egypt's first presidential polls after the popular uprising which toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, 60-year-old Mursi's name was not removed from the lists of people banned from leaving the country. "The name Mohammed...
12:23 PM, Jul 06, 2012
Cairo: Islamist President-elect Mohamed Mursi began talks on Wednesday with groups nervous about where he will take Egypt after the generals who have ruled since Hosni Mubarak's fall make way for the republic's first civilian leader. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Mursi to bring diverse groups into his government, mentioning Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, secular-minded Egyptians and young people. The US State Department played down reports that Clinton...
08:49 AM, Jun 28, 2012
French police commandos arrested 19 people suspected of radical Islamist activity in Friday morning raids in several cities including Toulouse, scene of the killings of seven people by an al Qaeda-inspired gunman earlier this month. President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is waging an uphill battle for re-election, said more raids would follow. "There will be further operations, allowing us to expel a number of people who have no business in the...
06:31 PM, Mar 30, 2012
Cairo: Islamists are poised to further consolidate their overwhelming lead in the second phase of Egyptian parliamentary polls, as millions headed to polling booths on Wednesday to decide the future of nine governorates, in the first landmark elections since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. Voting has been relatively peaceful, with no major irregularities reported. Egypt's moderate Islamists - the Muslim Brotherhood - emerged as the largest force in the first...
08:10 PM, Dec 14, 2011
Cairo: After the final voters cast their votes in the first elections after the Egyptian revolution, counting has begun late on Tuesday night. The results are expected to be announced for individual candidates today and the political lists after the final phase of election is over in February next year. The counting of votes was being televised by the state television for the first time. So far, the Freedom and...
06:20 AM, Nov 30, 2011
Cairo: Egypt's military rulers were quick to take credit on Tuesday for a strong turnout in the first elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a vote that appeared to be the country's freest and fairest in living memory. The military did not field candidates in the parliamentary vote. But winning bragging rights for a smooth, successful and virtually fraud-free election would significantly boost the ruling generals in their bitter struggle with...
02:53 AM, Nov 30, 2011
Cairo: Egyptians voted on Tuesday in a parliamentary election that Islamists hope will sweep them closer to power, even though the army generals who took over from President Hosni Mubarak have yet to step aside. The election, the first since a revolt ousted Mubarak on February 11, unfolded without the mayhem many had feared after last week's riots against army rule in which 42 people were killed. General Ismail Atman,...
01:14 AM, Nov 30, 2011
Alexandria: Egypt's first parliamentary elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak brought the political debut of a potentially powerful new player on the scene, the ultraconservative Islamist movement known as the Salafis. At several voting stations in this Mediterranean coastal city on Monday, Salafis packed the lines as early as 7 am, an hour before the polls opened, clearly distinguishable by the long, moustache-less beards of the men and the...
04:03 AM, Nov 29, 2011
Baghdad: Two suicide car bombers and a car bomb hit police in separate districts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and wounding around 60, interior ministry and police sources said. One bomber rammed an explosives-filled car into a police station in central Alwiya district, killing 6 people including four policemen, and another bomber blew up his car outside a police building in northwestern Hurriya...
01:03 PM, Oct 12, 2011
Amman: A number of Jordanian activists staged protests in front of the Egyptian embassy in Amman to express their support for the Egyptians who have taken to the streets demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak since the last few days. Dozens of demonstrators on Saturday, including trade unionists, Islamists and members of political parties, raised slogans on Saturday against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and called on him to step...
12:37 PM, Jan 30, 2011
