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Just in time for Easter, from The New York Daily News: Two historians claim the search for the Holy Grail is over.The famous cup used by Jesus Christ during the Last Supper was identified in a book written by Margarita Torres Jose Manuel Ortega del Rio, titled “Kings of the Grail” and published last week, as the jewel-encrusted goblet on display at the San Isidro Basilica in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon.News of the discovery caused masses of people to flock to the historic church to view the precious chalice – forcing the operators of the museum to pull...

Spanish historians say they have discovered what Monty Python could not – the Holy Grail, the legendary cup Jesus supposedly drank from at the Last Supper. The Spaniards – Margarita Torres and José Ortega del Río – believe the 2,000-year-old vessel is in a church in León in northern Spain. The pair spent three years studying the history of the chalice and last week published a book, “The Kings of the Grail,” making their case. The onyx chalice, they explained, was concealed within another antique vessel known as the Chalice of Doña Urruca, which is located in León’s basilica of...

Arab foreign ministers on Sunday rejected Israel’s demands that the Palestinians recognize it as a Jewish state, saying such a move would undermine the rights of Palestinian refugees. In a resolution released at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, the foreign ministers called the issue of Palestinian refugees an integral part of a comprehensive and just peace. It blamed Israel for the floundering of peace negotiations. The Arab statement offers strong backing to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who said publicly last week he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state despite facing strong international pressure. Abbas did...

The recent Modern Language Association (MLA) held a session called, “Vulnerable Expression and the Arab Uprisings” to take a closer look at the post-Arab Spring world. Nineteen people attended the session, and the four-member panel was made up of College of State Island professor Suha Kudsieh, Miami graduate student Walter Temple, Nathaniel Greenberg of the University of Washington at Seattle and the University of Arizona’s Carine Bourget. Temple’s presentation seemed ill-suited for the discussion since he wrote on the gay fantasies and writings of a prominent gay Moroccan writer. His writing, said Temple, introduced “a new era of queer writing...

Marking the third anniversary of the uprising, as well as National Police Day Photo's at the link.

There has been a large explosion in the Egyptian capital Cairo, near the city's police headquarters, state TV reports. There are reports of casualties. The AFP news agency has reported one person has been killed. Eyewitnesses speak of smoke rising over the city centre, and there are reports of gunfire after the blast. It is unclear what caused the explosion.

Yet a trip this week by tea party Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann, Steve King and Louie Gohmert has been quite hush-hush, even though they went to iffy places like Beirut, Cairo and even to Tripoli — where the U.S. embassy last week issued a “warning” notice “strongly advis(ing) against all but essential travel to Tripoli and against all travel . . outside Tripoli because of ongoing instability and violence.” And, as best we can figure, they even flew commercial, not only to the region but even within the region. They even went to embassy briefings and such. So this is...

An Egyptian army vehicle fired live rounds in the direction of Muslim Brotherhood supporters who had been pushed away from Cairo's Tahrir Square by security forces on Friday, a Reuters witness said.

Egypt’s Attorney General Hisham Barakat is looking into evidence that arrested Muslim Brotherhood leaders accepted bribes from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, according to a report from Almesryoon, an Egyptian newspaper that cites a “judicial source”. The trials that are scheduled to begin in Cairo on August 25th will feature a litany of charges against the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Included among them are murders, assassinations, prison escapes, sniping, indiscriminate killing of demonstrators, and collaborating with foreign governments, to include both the United States and Qatar. Evidence we have obtained lends credibility to the charges of “gifts (bribes) being taken in...

A mob marched nuns through the battle-torn streets of Cairo ‘like prisoners of war’ in the latest outrage against Egypt’s Christian minority. Sister Manal, principal of a Franciscan school in suburban Cairo, watched for six hours as a mob looted the building, knocked the cross off the gate and replaced it with a black banner resembling the flag of Al Qaeda. The classrooms were then burned to the ground and the women taken away, attracting a crowd of abusive onlookers. Police told Sister Manal that the nuns had been targeted by hardline Islamists, convinced that they had given Muslim children...

Please note: Clicking on link will take you to Al Jazeera website

 There was a lot of smoke in Cairo as their annual “day of rage” carnival continued into the weekend.And there was a lot of smoke in Seattle as their annual celebration of hemp got under way. Bongs and gas masks: leave it to Seattle to find a way to recycle cannabis smoke  “Sanctuary Seattle” welcomed aliens to the “hash bash” (via American Digest)Butt here on Martha’s Vineyard, it was just another day in paradise.”Another Day In Paradise”: Phil CollinsA little golf with enlightened Hollywood guru Larry David and 2 other white guys.No wait, that’s not Larry – here he is:After 5 hours...

CAIRO — Gathering Thursday morning around a mosque used as a morgue for hundreds killed the day before, many Islamists waited confidently for a surge of sympathetic support from the broader public. But it failed to materialize. With their leaders jailed or silent, Islamists reeled in shock at the worst mass killing in Egypt’s modern history. By Thursday night, health officials had counted 638 dead and nearly 4,000 injured, but the final toll was expected to rise further. A tense quiet settled over Cairo as the city braced for new protests by the supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, after...

The State Department issued a new travel warning Thursday afternoon calling on U.S. citizens to leave Egypt as soon as possible because of the military’s bloody crackdown in the country that has taken the lives of 638 people. Americans who choose to stay should avoid all demonstrations in Egypt, the State Department said, “as even peaceful ones can quickly become violent, and a foreigner could become a target of harassment or worse.” The U.S. embassy near Tahrir Square in Cairo was closed to the public Thursday after the Egyptian government Wednesday declared a nationwide state of emergency and imposed night-time...

A little over two years ago, on July 8 2011, a convoy carrying the then US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford made its way through army checkpoints to the besieged city of Hama, then the center of protests against the rule of the Assad regime. The surprise visit was seen as the first concrete sign of US support for the Syrian opposition. … But these days, the veteran US diplomat is being showered with invective and diatribe—on Twitter. The latest social media campaign against Ford was sparked by media reports over the weekend that US Secretary of State John Kerry...

(original title, had to be shortened to fit):Bloodbath in Cairo: More than 120 dead and 1,000 injured after police 'shoot to kill' in violent clashes which have rocked Egypt More than 120 people are believed to have been killed at a protest in support of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi, according to the Muslim Brotherhood. Security forces are reported to have started shooting demonstrators shortly before pre-dawn morning prayers at a round-the-clock vigil in Cairo being staged by backers of Morsi, who was removed from power by the army three weeks ago. Makeshift field hospitals around the area near the...

This is one mad sick culture. Pro-Mursi protesters are awaiting signal for ‘sexual Jihad:’ report Al Arabiya, Saturday, 13 July 2013 Facebook page with suspected links to the Muslim Brotherhood pledges “sexual jihad” to people camping in a pro-Mursi sit-in in Cairo. (Photo credit: http://www.facebook.com/I5watNekab?filter=3) Al Arabiya Hardcore Muslim Brotherhood (MB) supporters are awaiting a signal to commence a campaign of 'sexual Jihad' within their sit-in camp in Cairo; which is something a Fatwa (religious edict) posted on a MB-affiliated Facebook paged suggests will soon be allowed. The fatwa came in response to a question by a female Brotherhood supporter...

Mohammed Morsi, in office only a year as the first democratically elected leader of Egypt, was rousted from power by the military Wednesday as a euphoric crowd in Tahrir Square cheered his exit. The commanding general of the armed forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said on Egyptian television that the military was suspending the constitution, which Morsi pushed through and which many Egyptians saw as slanted toward Islamists. He said the head of the constitutional court would be the acting president, with new elections to be held later. The general said that the military did not have designs on controlling...

Close to 100 women have fallen victim to "rampant" sexual attacks in Cairo's Tahrir Square during four days of protests against Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. "Mobs sexually assaulted and in some cases raped at least 91 women in Tahrir Square... amid a climate of impunity," HRW, which is based in New York, said in a statement. It cited figures from the Egyptian Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault, which runs a hotline for victims of sexual assault, showing that there were 46 such attacks against women on Sunday, 17 on Monday and 23 on Tuesday. Another...

July 1, 2013 US Embassy to Remain Closed Tuesday; Obama Says Protecting US Missions Top Priority by Patrick Goodenough (CNSNews.com) – As Egypt’s turmoil continued overnight the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said it will remain closed for a third consecutive day on Tuesday, and President Obama said that ensuring U.S. diplomatic facilities there are protected is his “number-one priority.”Demonstrators who are calling for President Mohammed Morsi to step down by Tuesday celebrated after the military leadership threatened to intervene if Egyptian politicians did not “meet the people's demands” in 48 hours. The statement was viewed by many as an ultimatum...