Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Cairo on Friday to pile pressure on President Mohamed Morsi after a panel dominated by fellow Islamists rushed through a controversial draft constitution.
The new charter, adopted after a marathon overnight session boycotted by liberals and Christians, raises serious human rights concerns, including about religious freedom, activists say.
Full StoryEgypt's foreign minister says the political unrest roiling his country after President Mohammed Morsi seized more power should not affect Egypt's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan.
Mohammed Kamel Amr told reporters in Berlin after meetings Thursday with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle that Morsi's move last week to grant himself near-autocratic powers — at least until a new constitution is adopted and parliamentary elections are held — was a domestic issue.
Full StoryAn Egyptian panel was rushing through on Thursday approval of a new constitution at the center of a political crisis pitting the Islamist president against his opposition, which has threatened new protests.
By late afternoon, the constituent assembly, which has been boycotted by liberals and Christians, had approved almost one-fifth of 234 articles, including a unanimous decision to retain Islamic law as the main source of legislation.
Full StoryA controversial panel boycotted by liberals and Christians gathered Thursday to vote on a new Egyptian constitution that is at the heart of a power struggle between the Islamist president and his opposition.
Live television footage showed members being asked to sit down in the senate building, where the panel has met for more than over five months, to prepare for the procedure.
Full StoryA Cairo court on Wednesday sentenced seven Egyptian Christians and a controversial U.S. pastor to death in absentia for involvement in a movie that ridiculed the Prophet Mohammed, state media said.
The Christian Egyptians, including the film's maker, are all located in the United States and were tried in their absence. The American pastor, Terry Jones, heads a small congregation in Florida.
Full StoryThe text of Egypt's new constitution was set to be completed on Wednesday and voted on the following morning, with the controversial document the focus of of a legal and ideological battle.
"The discussions over the draft of the constitution will be finished today, to be followed by voting," Ahmed Darrag, the secretary general of the constituent assembly said in remarks carried by the official MENA news agency.
Full StoryEgypt's Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists will rally on Saturday to support President Mohamed Morsi in the wake of mass protests against his decree to assume broad powers, a Brotherhood official said.
Mahmoud Ghozlan, a senior Brotherhood member and spokesman, told Agence France Presse the rally would be held in Cairo, after the movement had canceled a mass demonstration that would have coincided with Tuesday's huge opposition protest.
Full StoryEgypt's Supreme Constitutional Court on Wednesday accused President Mohammed Morsi of an unjustified attack on its independence when he gave his reasons for issuing a decree that expanded his powers and placed him beyond judicial oversight.
"There was an attack against the court, false information was circulated about it... but the real sadness for its judges was that the president of the republic joined in the attack against the constitutional court," its head Maher al-Beheiry told reporters.
Full StoryDon't tell Popeye. It turns out you don't need to eat your spinach to get the world's biggest arms.
Massachusetts bodybuilder Moustafa Ismail eats seven pounds of protein, nine pounds of carbohydrates and three gallons of water each day to help maintain upper arms that measure 31 inches around — as big as a small man's waist.
Full StoryEgyptian police on Wednesday fired tear gas into Cairo's Tahrir Square, where several hundred protesters spent the night after a mass rally to denounce President Mohamed Morsi's assumption of expanded powers.
Clashes that have been erupting on streets just off Tahrir spilled into the square Wednesday morning, with canisters falling into the crowd forcing protesters to run and sending clouds of tear gas over the tents housing the demonstrators, television images showed.
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