Free Republic

Videos on YouTube indicate that unusual lights are again appearing on a Coptic Orthodox church in the Cairo metropolitan area, this time in a neighborhood known as Warraq. There are no details as yet as to when the phenomena began, but according to blog reports crowds began forming on December 9 -- a day after the Immaculate Conception feast -- and thousands are now gathering each night, chanting, singing Arabic-style Christian songs, and loudly exclaiming as forms or flashes of light materialize. The forms of light are vague as taken with what appear to be cell phones and presented on...

The internal threat from Muslim extremists in the military extends to high-level Defense Department aides who have undermined military policy. In fact, one top Muslim adviser pushed out an intelligence analyst who warned of the sudden jihad syndrome that led to the Fort Hood terrorist attack. An honored guest of the Ramadan dinner at the Pentagon this September was Hesham Islam, who infiltrated the highest echelons of the Ring despite proven ties to U.S. terror front groups and a shady past in his native Egypt. As senior adviser for international affairs to former deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, Islam ran...

The faithful say she comes in a flash of light amid a swirl of pigeons. Hundreds, if not thousands, have been lining up for hours every night at the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church in a Cairo neighborhood just off the Nile. Many of them claim that a mysterious light hovering above the church's domes is an apparition of the Virgin Mary who will bring Christian Copts prosperity and relief in a time of national and religious struggle. The crowds began appearing Thursday evening when a number of residents spotted a flickering light. No one was sure where the illumination was...

Monday, December 14, 2009 A Tale of Two Walls By Joseph Farah Egypt is building a huge metal wall along its border with the Gaza Strip to cut down on smuggling and penetration by terrorists. When it is finished in 18 months, the super-strength steel wall that cannot be cut or melted will be about seven miles long and extend 60 feet below the ground to inhibit tunnel-digging. It is said to be impenetrable – however, no one doubts that smugglers and terrorists won't try to burrow beneath it. But it is a deterrent – a big deterrent. Interestingly, I...

Leader Abdul Rahman Hamed states: “’The law of unconditional divorce has become a sword hanging over men’s heads’” per “Egypt men slam giving women right to divorce” at http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/12/09/93654.html

Breaking News: Pakistan Reportedly Detains Five D.C.-Area Muslims on Suspicion of Terror IPT News December 8, 2009 **Updated December 9, 9:00 a.m. EST A Pakistani newspaper reports the arrest of five foreign nationals after a raid in a town called Sargodha. The raid took place at the home of a member of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, a Pakistani movement designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2001. According to the report, "The DPO told that these people had been living in Sargodha since Nov 30 and it was quite a possibility that they were engaged in acts of...

“Your body language has to be strong,” ... “The moment they start trouble, you send a harsh message letting them know that their behaviour is not acceptable.” Her class, which meets once a week in the upper-class Cairo neighbourhood of Maadi, is one of dozens that has been started across Cairo... All the women said that they faced harassment daily. “I thought it was so normal for us to take this abuse. We’ve let the men get away with it for too long,” ... She decided to learn how to defend herself after a man tried to grope her on...

[no excerpt, the miserable curs at AP, who digitized Sarah's entire book and published large chunks of it, claiming "fair use", don't like to be hoist on their own petard, whatever. The gist of the original AP story is, the Jews start all wars.]

Worn teeth, periodontal diseases, abscesses and cavities tormented the ancient Egyptians, according to the first systematic review of all studies performed on Egyptian mummies in the past 30 years. After examining research of more than 3,000 mummies, anatomists and paleopathologists at the University of Zurich concluded that 18 percent of all mummies in case reports showed a nightmare array of dental diseases... Published in the Journal of Comparative Human Biology (HOMO), the review takes into consideration all studies published since 1977, when computed tomography was first applied to ancient Egyptian mummies. CT imaging revealed an impressive collection of diseases, including...

Cairo, December 2nd, 2009 – Egypt’s leading Egyptologist, Dr Zahi Hawass, has revealed that an excavation team under his charge are investigating an ancient tomb at the centre of claims regarding the alleged discovery of a cave underworld beneath the Pyramids of Giza. In August British writer and explorer Andrew Collins announced that he had rediscovered the entrance to a previously unexplored cave system, entered via a mysterious tomb several hundred meters west of the Great Pyramid. The cave entrance was found following clues left in the 200-year-old memoirs of British diplomat and explorer Henry Salt, who recorded how in...

Muslim reaction across the world to Sunday’s Swiss referendum banning the construction of further minarets for mosques in the tiny Alpine nation has been almost entirely negative. Indonesia’s Maskuri Abdillah, leader of the largest Muslim organization in the world’s most populous Muslim nation said the vote reflected Swiss “hatred” of Islam and Muslims. Egyptian Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, close to the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, said the ban was an attempt to “insult the feelings of the Muslim community in and outside Switzerland.” Yet the referendums outcome pales in comparison to restrictions on non-Muslims who aim to practice their...

Photos included. # SNIPPET: "Cairo (AINA) -- In an effort to cover up the Muslim mob violence against the Copts which broke out last week in the town of Farshoot and neighboring villages (AINA 11-22-2009, 11-23-2009), and in view of the complete news blackout imposed by the Egyptian government, Egyptian State Security has intensified its pressure on the Coptic Church in Nag Hammadi and the victims of the violence into accepting extrajudicial reconciliation with the perpetrators, and opening their businesses without any compensation. Similar State Security scenarios have been experienced by Copts in all sectarian incidents in the past, in...

An IDF bomb squad detonated a 15-kilogram explosive seized during a search conducted along the Egyptian border on Thursday. Late Wednesday night, IDF troops on a routine patrol of the border area spotted a suspicious figure carrying a bag containing what was later discovered to be a 15-kilogram bomb. The soldiers ordered him to stop and fired several shots in the air. However, the man fled the scene back into Egypt, dropping the bag in his haste.

Uniformed and plain-clothed Egyptian policemen clash with a demonstrator in al-Mukatam neighbourhood in Cairo on May 2009. Hundreds of Muslim protesters on Saturday burnt Christian-owned shops in southern Egypt and attacked a police station where they believed a Christian accused of raping a Muslim girl was being held, a police official said. Cairo, Egypt, Nov 25, 2009 / 10:36 am (CNA).- For several days massive mobs of Muslims have been attacking Coptic Christians in the Egyptian town of Farshoot 300 miles south of Cairo. The mobs’ looting, vandalism and arson have caused at least $1 million in damage as Copts...

Egyptian Muslim Mob Attacks Thousands of Coptic Christians in Egypt Contact: Ihab Aziz, Executive Director, Coptic American Friendship Association (CAFA), 703-337-5217, Coptic.American@yahoo.com MEDIA ADVISORY, Nov. 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- As of Saturday, November 21, 2009 the Egyptian town of Farshoot, located 300 miles south of Cairo, and the neighboring villages of Kom Ahmar, Shakiki and Ezbet Waziri, have been the scenes of massive Muslim mob attacks against Coptic Christian inhabitants. The mob looted, vandalized and burnt Coptic properties estimated for six million Egyptian pounds (over one million dollars), while Copts are still hiding indoors fearing for their lives. There are...

Egypt's president basically acknowledged that to Peres. "A Jew cannot even build a bathroom in Jerusalem without International condemnation"-Dov Hikind, NY Assemblyman Israel's president Shimon Peres was in Cairo, Egypt for talks with Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian president, who has been Egypt's head of state for at least a quarter of a century, warned that Israel would anger all Muslims if it did not resolve what was refered to as Jerusalem's "disputed status". But the real kicker came when Mubarak emphasized that the future of Jerusalem is "an issue for the entire Islamic world". Did you get that? "...an issue...

A 15-year-old Egyptian girl, Dina el-Gohary, has written an emotional appeal to President Obama asking him to use his influence to save her father, Maher el-Gohary, who is being persecuted for his beliefs. "Mr. President Obama, we are a minority in Egypt," Dina writes, according to a report from the Assyrian International News Agency. "We are treated very badly. ... We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned in our own country." Dina and her father are...

One of the Arab world's biggest pop stars has provoked a torrent of outrage after releasing a song which refers to black Egyptians as monkeys. Haifa Wehbe, an award-winning Lebanese diva who has been voted one of the world's most beautiful people, is now facing a lawsuit from Egyptian Nubians claiming the song has fuelled discrimination against them and made some Nubian children too afraid to attend school. The row has cast fresh light on the position within Egyptian society of Nubians, who are descended from one of Africa's most ancient black civilisations and yet often face marginalisation in modern...

President Opts To Ignore Persecution Christians Face Death thelastcrusade.org 15-year-old Egyptian girl Dina el-Gowhary, who converted from Islam to Christianity, has sent a plea to President Obama, complaining of mistreatment by the Egyptian Government and asking for his mediation. “Mr. President Obama,” she writes, “we are a minority in Egypt. We are treated very badly. You said that the Muslim minority in America are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise? We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for...

Cairo (AINA) -- 15-year-old Egyptian girl Dina el-Gowhary, who converted from Islam to Christianity, has sent a plea to President Obama, complaining of mistreatment by the Egyptian Government and asking for his mediation. "Mr President Obama," she writes, "we are a minority in Egypt. We are treated very badly. You said that the Muslim minority in America are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise? We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned...

MEMRI: Palestinian Historian Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: Ancient Egyptians Had the Right to Force the Jews to Work Building Pithom and Raamses; Benjamin Franklin Warned against the Jews MEMRI No. 2260| November 16, 2009 Palestinian Historian Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: Ancient Egyptians Had the Right to Force the Jews to Work Building Pithom and Raamses; Benjamin Franklin Warned against the Jews Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar, a lecturer on Islamic history at the Islamic University of Gaza. The interview aired on Al-Aqsa TV on July 31, 2009. To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2260.htm Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: The...

Scientists have uncovered heart disease in 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummies, suggesting the risk factors behind it are not just modern in nature. Heart disease is often ascribed to modern risk factors, such as smoking, unhealthy diets rich in saturated fats, salt and processed sugars, or sedentary lifestyles. But then cardiologists touring the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo during a medical conference last year noticed the nameplate of the pharoah Merenptah, who ruled from 1213 B.C. to 1203 B.C. It read that when Merenptah died at roughly age 60, he was afflicted with atherosclerosis, or thickening of the arteries due...

REUTERS - Three players from Algeria’s national football team were slightly hurt on Thursday when youths stoned their bus as they arrived in Cairo for a World Cup qualifier against Egypt, Algerian state radio reported. Algeria’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing its “consternation” at the attack, which came two days before the match to decide which of the two teams will take part in the World Cup finals in South Africa next year. A reporter for Algerian state radio said that about 200 young people appeared just as the bus arrived at the team hotel and launched a hail...

The Islamic terrorist responsible for plotting the first WTC bombing, blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, held a degree and once taught as a professor at the Al-Ahzar school in Cairo, Egypt.This is the same Islamic university Obama made his speech from to the Moslem world.The same school attended by Salamat Hashim, founder of the jihadist terror group in the Philippines, the Moro National Liberation Front [MNLF]. Who would later break from that Islamist outfit and start another called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front [MILF]. Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch has an article about how the curriculim at Al-Azhar university encourages terrorism. Other famous...

2,500 years ago, an army of 50,000 men left an oasis in western Egypt and were never heard from again. Now, archaeologists think they may have uncovered the missing troops, who were probably killed in a sandstorm. ...the team decided to investigate Bedouin stories about thousands of white bones that would have emerged decades ago during particular wind conditions in a nearby area. Indeed, they found a mass grave with hundreds of bleached bones and skulls. "We learned that the remains had been exposed by tomb robbers and that a beautiful sword which was found among the bones was sold...

I have been reading the history of Egypt and the Nile Valley, stretching some 6,000 years back, in preparation for my teaching lectures, and I must say I am thoroughly impressed. Diehard racists can say what they like, but there is no doubt, from solid evidence, that the Nile Valley was the cradle of human civilisations. While Western Europe was still steeped in slumber and darkness, the communities of the Nile — Egypt, Nubia, Kush, Aksum and Meroe — were teaching their children reading and writing, mathematics, philosophy, algebra, trigonometry and fine art. For a long time, the truth about...

Austrian archaeologists have found a Babylonian seal in Egypt that confirms contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos during the second millennium B.C. Irene Forstner-Müller, the head of the Austrian Archaeological Institute's (ÖAI) branch office in Cairo, said today (Thurs) the find had occurred at the site of the ancient town of Avaris near what is today the city of Tell el-Dab'a in the eastern Nile delta. The Hyksos conquered Egypt and reigned there from 1640 to 1530 B.C. She said a recently-discovered cuneiform tablet had led archaeologists to suspect there had been contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos....

The legend of the lost Persian army has survived over two and a half millennia - despite a blatant lack of hard evidence. But now two Italian experts believe they have found its remains. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni uncovered hundreds of human bones, weapons and jewelery in the Sahara desert, west Egypt, that they believe belonged to the 50,000-strong army.

Herodotus wrote of a 50,000-man strong army that set out on foot into the Egyptian desert in 525 B.C. and was never heard from again ... until today.A pair of Italian archaeologists have uncovered bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are hopeful that they've finally found the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Cambyses II and his armied were buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C. He wrote, "a wind...

Egypt (AINA) -- On October 24, 2009 Egyptian State Security arrested a Christian Copt in the village of Deir Samalout, Samalout, Minia province, for praying "without a license." He was held in prison for two days before being released on "compassionate grounds." Maurice Salama Sharkawy, 37 years old, had invited Pastor Elia Shafik, to conduct the sacrament of the 'Anointing of the Sick' for his sick father, who had suffered a stroke. State Security broke into his house while the prayers were ongoing, handcuffed Maurice, put him into a police car and took him to a police station for interrogation....

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is welcomed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, right, during a press conference following her meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, not pictured, at the Presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. Clinton is holding hastily arranged meetings with Egyptian leaders to discuss the stalemate over restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. An veiled Egyptian journalist looks at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during a news conference following her meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, not pictured, at the Presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009....

Christian critical of Islamization of society, Orthodox church jailed without charges. A Coptic Christian blogger in Egypt entering his second year of prison without charge is being pressured to convert to Islam in exchange for his freedom... On Oct. 3, 2008, Hani Nazeer, a 28-year-old high school social worker from Qena, Egypt and author of the blog “Karz El Hob” (“Love Cherries”), was arrested by Egypt’s State Security Investigations (SSI) and sent to Burj Al-Arab prison. Although police never charged him with any crime, Nazeer has been detained for more than a year under Egypt’s administrative imprisonment law. Gamel Eid,...

Egypt (AINA) -- Egyptian security forces have intensified their presence in the Upper Egyptian town of Dairout, in anticipation of a recurrence of Muslim violence against Christians. Copts expressed their fear over leaflets entitled "These have to Die!" which are being distributed to all Muslims in Dairout and neighborhoods, enticing them to "burn, vandalize and clean the country of these evil immoral infidels." Reports from Dairout, 313 km south of Cairo, confirm that Christian Copts are afraid to leave their homes and have stayed indoors since violence against them erupted on October 24, 2009. This collective punishment of Copts was...

Ex-Egyptian Chief of Staff: Arabs will definitely defeat the Jews .

(See all these news nuggets and more by clicking the excerpt link below): 1. BBC News: “Darwin Teaching ‘Divides Opinion’” Darwinism is a controversial topic, and many believe creation should be taught in the classroom. But why is that news? 2. ScienceDaily: “Junk DNA Mechanism that Prevents Two Species from Reproducing Discovered” Has the U.S. government finally supported creationist research? Alas, no, but the results of a National Institutes of Health study fit squarely within the young-earth creation framework. 3. PhysOrg: “Charles Darwin Really Did Have Advanced Ideas about the Origin of Life” Charles Darwin was convinced that life’s origin...

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine, Oct 26 (Reuters) - SNIPPET: "Yuri Lutsenko said the men, Ukrainian citizens from the southern Crimean peninsula, were suspected of belonging to al-Takfir wal-Hijra, which originated in Egypt and is linked with activities in North Africa. Lutsenko said explosive materials, detonators, a Kalashnikov rifle and cartridges, firearms instruction manuals, and propaganda material propagating extreme Islam were found in seven places. Pamphlets also linked the men to Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a group that has said it wants to establish a global Islamic caliphate by peaceful means and is well known in Central Asia. "A network of the extreme Islamic movement al-Takfir...

Egypt's chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, announced that his country wanted its queen handed back forthwith, unless Germany could prove that the 3,500-year-old bust of Akhenaten's wife wasn't spirited illegally out of Egypt nearly a century ago... Then he said he was sure the work had been stolen... Mr. Hawass also recently fired a shot at France, demanding the Louvre return five fresco fragments it purchased in 2000 and 2003 from a gallery and at auction. They belonged to a 3,200-year-old tomb near Luxor and had been in storage at the museum. Egypt had made the demand before, but this time...

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 23, 2009 (Zenit.org).- When priests are given the choice between marriage and celibacy, the tendency is to choose celibacy, at least according to the experience of the bishop of Cairo of the Chaldeans.Bishop Youssef Ibrahim Sarraf said this today in response to a question concerning married priests at a press conference to present the final message of the synod on Africa. The question was asked in light of the announcement this week that Benedict XVI will publish an apostolic constitution that will allow groups of Anglicans seeking communion with the Church to do so through personal ordinariates....

The glamorous young wife of Gamal Mubarak, son of the Egyptian president, is set to become the first lady of the Middle East if, as expected, her husband becomes Egypt’s next leader. ***Gamal’s 27-year-old wife Khadija, a wealthy society beauty with a business degree from the American University in Cairo, has kept a low profile and refused all interviews since their wedding two years ago. She rarely appears in the glossy magazines that chronicle Cairo’s elite and is seldom photographed at social events. That may be about to change if her husband stands for president. In a rare public appearance...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release October 23, 2009 White House Announces Global Technology and Innovation Fund During his speech in Cairo on June 4, the President announced that the United States would "launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries." As the latest step in delivering on this commitment, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced this week a call for proposals for a Global Technology and Innovation Fund. This fund will help catalyze and facilitate private sector investments that promote...

Daniel Joseph Maldonado, a former Houston resident who convereted to Islam and admitted training with terrorists, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison and given a $1,000 fine. Maldonado, 28, pleaded guilty in April to training with al-Qaida in East Africa. He is the first American charged with joining the terrorist organization in Somalia. The charge carried a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000. He admitted his association with terrorists in exchange for no further prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston. Maldonado came to the attention of federal investigators in late...

BOSTON - A pharmacy college graduate conspired with two other men on a terror plot to kill two prominent U.S. politicians and carry out a holy war by attacking shoppers in U.S. malls and American troops in Iraq, prosecutors said Wednesday. But their plans — in which the men used code words like "peanut butter and jelly" for fighting in Somalia and "culinary school" for terrorist camps — were thwarted in part when they could not find training and were unable to buy automatic weapons, authorities said. Tarek Mehanna worked with the men from 2001 to May 2008 on the...

An attempted hijacking by a man wielding a knife from an in-flight meal has been thwarted by guards, EgyptAir officials said. The incident happened shortly after the plane, carrying almost 90 people, took off from Istanbul, Turkey, heading to Cairo. The Sudanese man threatened crew members and demanded that the flight be diverted to Jerusalem, officials said. He was detained by air marshals, and the flight landed in Cairo.

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt is opposed to hardline Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman attending a meeting of the Mediterranean Union which it co-chairs with France, diplomats said on Wednesday. Foreign ministers of the 43-strong grouping, which brings European Union members together with states from north Africa, the Balkans, Arab countries, Israel and Turkey, are due to gather in November in Istanbul. An Egyptian diplomat told AFP that Cairo "did not want to send an invitation to the Israeli (foreign) minister," but could accept that Lieberman be represented by someone else. Egyptian officials refused anything to do with Lieberman after he...

The crowded, bustling streets of Cairo can be an intimidating environment for women who venture out alone or even in groups. It is well known that sexual harassment is a pervasive problem in Egypt, from touching to lewd and abusive cat calls. But it seems there is another phenomenon that goes largely unreported, phone stalking. With the advance of modern technology a large number of women complain they receive the unwelcome and relentless attention of men they have never met. One of our colleagues in the BBC office has had a number of phone stalkers, who call repeatedly through the...

On October 1, 2009, the Obama administration in conjunction with the Egyptian government, introduced an anti-free speech measure to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council (HRC). It was adopted the next day without a vote. Earlier this year, when the United States sought a seat on the HRC, it was a controversial decision. Many who found the HRC neither credible nor useful, opposed the move. Yet, others were more optimistic that America could change the HRC from within. Perhaps the U.S. could spur debate stemming from its opposition to China, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia on critical human rights...

IDF units responsible for guarding Israel's expansive western border with Egypt said Thursday that there are one million would-be infiltrators from Africa waiting to cross the mostly barrier-less border and enter Israel illegally...

As I read online, I notice that there are plenty of people who believe that Egypt is some kind of "moderate" Islamic country where non-Muslims are treated fairly. The reality is that Muslims of Egypt, preach hatred towards Jews, and have been persecuting the Coptic Christians there for centuries. Yet the US government has poured billions of dollars into Egypt. Unfortunately we ask for little in return.

Christian Arrested for Distributing Tracts in Egypt Protestant Copt, 61, illegally detained then released without charges after four days. ISTANBUL, October 6 (CDN) — An Egyptian Christian arrested in Cairo for handing out gospel leaflets and held in prison illegally for four days has been released, the freed Protestant Copt told Compass. Abdel Kamel, 61, was arrested on Sept. 23 in downtown Cairo for handing out copies of a Christian leaflet. As they arrested him, police told Kamel it was “unlawful” to hand out religious information on public roads. When Kamel countered that Muslims commonly hand out Islamic literature, police...

News to Note, October 10, 2009: A weekly feature examining news from the biblical viewpoint...