Hundreds of Egyptians on Apr 27 protested in Cairo against what they said was a bid to bring back deposed President Hosni Mubarak’s old guard after his last prime minister was allowed to stand in the presidential election.Suspicions over the army’s intentions were fuelled in the past week when Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister who like every president for the past six decades has held a top military post, was first thrown out of the race and then reinstated hours b...

Turkey is mediating between Somalia’s government and Al-Shabaab group to help bring an end to the years-long conflict in the Horn of Africa nation.“Through the years, Turkey, the only Muslim member in NATO, and Somalia have maintained a pleasant relationship,”AbdihakimAynte, an independent Somali researcher, said, adding that Ankara has notable advantages in mediating between the Somali rivals to end the bloody conflict.Turkey has spearheaded efforts to provide aid for milli...

Syria has failed to comply with a pledge to withdraw weapons from population centers, and towns where citizens met with UN truce monitors may have been attacked, international mediator Kofi Annan told the UN Security Council on Apr 24.Annan made clear that Syrian forces had not withdrawn heavy weapons from urban centers and returned to barracks, as they are required to under a six-point peace plan he drew up.“The situation in Syria continues to be unacceptable. The Syri...

Seven new development projects, with a total cost of about SR6.1 billion, will be implemented at the holy sites before the next Haj season in October, the undersecretary of the Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs told local daily Al-Madinahon Apr 24.HabibZain Al-Abdeen, head of the central administration for development projects at the holy sites, said over the next three years, 36,000 new toilets would be built. “Two years after that 62,000 new toile...

Imam and Khatib at the Grand Mosque in Makkah Sheikh Saleh bin Humaidon Apr 27 said that resorting to kidnapping diplomats is against Islamic law.“Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) told two messengers of Musailimah, a bitter enemy of the Prophet that he would not kill them because he is not killer of messengers,” Bin Humaid said while delivering the Friday congregational sermon at the Grand Mosque.

This Islamic precedent showed that...

Putting the son of fallen Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi on trial on their own soil is a matter of national pride for Libya’s leaders.Libya is standing firm on trying Seif Al-Islam Qaddafi, once the heir apparent to his father’s one-man rule. But so is the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, which indicted him in June for crimes against humanity stemming from the crackdown on last year’s revolt.On Apr 30 Libya will outline to ICC judges in the Ha...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Apr 25 commended the US Department of Defence (DoD) for dropping an Islamophobic training course attended by senior officers and for instituting a complete review of training relating to Islam and Muslims. CAIR also called on the DoD to retrain those officers who took the course that, according to an exclusive investigative report by Wired magazine, was suspended after it was found to contain inaccurate and derogatory material about...