New Hezbollah manifesto In a televised speech given from an unknown location, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has announced a new manifesto for the Lebanese Shia movement, which focuses mainly on military resistance to Israel and the necessity of maintaining an armed resistance movement. According to Reuters, the speech also marked a change in the Islamist [...]

77 dead in Saudi flooding 77 people have died and tens more are thought to be missing in Saudi Arabia as a result of flooding in the western port city of Jeddah, and Mecca – the destination for over 2 million Hajj pilgrims. None of the casualties had been among the pilgrims, while 56 of [...]

Netanyahu proposes settlement suspension, East Jerusalem not included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a temporary halt in West Bank settlement construction, but East Jerusalem is not included in the proposal. This is deemed unacceptable by Palestinian leaders, who have also questioned Netanyahu’s commitment to halting the building. Under Netanyahu’s proposal, no new [...]

Gadaffi asked to step in as mediator in Egypt-Algeria football row Libyan leader Moamar Gadaffi has been asked by the Arab league to mediate between Egypt and Algeria, following their diplomatic spat over a world cup qualifier. Libyan news agency Jana reported that “”As chairman of the African Union, the Guide of the Revolution [Col [...]

Further delays probable for upcoming Iraqi elections after lawmakers amend election bill The Iraqi parliament has amended a new election law, which would see more parliament seats allocated to Kurds in northern Iraq, and a fewer to Sunni Arabs. The law has already been vetoed once by vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi, who, it is expected, will [...]

CAIRO: Egyptians are rejoicing after 8 Egyptian railway workers were charged in the October train crash that left 18 people dead and more than 50 injured. They will go on trial, in a date yet to be set, a judicial official has said. The group, which includes two train conductors and three signalmen, will face [...]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. It’s a simplistic, often flawed, and yet pervasive ideology. To me, it seems the only logic – if such a word can be used – reasoning behind Morris Sadek’s argument in his latest blogumnist post here on Bikya Masr, where he outlines Jewish-Coptic common roots, and the [...]

CAIRO: A young woman recently infected with the H1N1 virus has died, according to a statement made by Dr. Hatem El-Gabali, the Minister of Health, yesterday. Her death brings the total number who have succumbed to the virus in Egypt to 6. Out of those 6, five of the deaths have been women. The latest [...]