Mohamed Morsi took the oath of office on June 30 to become Egypt’s first Islamist president and its first elected head of state since Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow last year. The ceremony took place in the constitutional court rather than parliament, the result of an ongoing tussle with the military that took charge after Mubarak’s overthrow and insists on retaining broad powers now.

“I swear by the Almighty God to sincerely preserve the republican order and to res...

A Cairo airport official says Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister who was defeated by an Islamist in the race for Egypt’s new president has left the country for the United Arab Emirates. The official says Ahmed Shafiq flew out of Egypt at dawn Tuesday (June 26), just hours after the country’s prosecutor general opened an investigation into allegations that he wasted public funds during his eight-year-term as a civil aviation minister under Mubarak. The official says Shafiq w...

UN mediator Kofi Annan on June 30 warned that the conflict in Syria would enflame the Middle East and beyond unless world powers agreed on a peace plan but the United States said foreign ministers meeting in Geneva might fail in that task. International talks started with governments still in dispute over whether President Bashar Assad, reviled in the West for his assault on opponents but still supported by Russia, could have any role in a political transition. Annan, the former UN chief and ...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced tonight that a Washington, D.C. event featuring Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, who has been a source of threats against America’s national security and a key supporter of the brutal Syrian regime, has been cancelled. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad on June 25 contacted the U.S. State Department asking them not to allow Hassoun entry to the country because he has threatened the United States and Europe with suicide atta...