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An Egyptian court on Sunday ruled as unconstitutional a clause in the election law that draws voting districts, a verdict that is almost certain to delay parliamentary elections scheduled to start later this month. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in a statement that he has ordered the government to adopt the “necessary legislative amendments” within a month to comply with the Supreme Constitutional Court's ruling. Another court is likely to rule later this month on whether the election should be delayed, but a date for the new vote would be decided by the Supreme Electoral Commission, which went into an emergency...

Egypt’s highest court said Wednesday it will determine next week whether the laws regulating the country’s parliamentary elections are constitutional—a decision that could further delay the vote scheduled for next month. The elections are the last phase in Egypt’s transitional plan, which was put into effect following the July 2013 military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi after mass protests against him. Egypt has been without a parliament since 2012, when a court ordered the first democratically elected house dissolved, saying the law governing the balloting was unconstitutional and violated the principle of equality among candidates. At the time, dissolving...

The Egyptian president has issued a law that broadens the state’s definition of terrorism to include anyone who threatens public order “by any means,” and gives authorities powers to draw up lists of alleged terrorists with little judicial recourse. Under the new law, prosecutors can name someone a terrorist, freezing their assets, and barring them from public life or travel, with only simple approval from a panel of judges, and without a trial. The listing is valid for three years and can be renewed. The legislation was signed in the form of a decree by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi last week...

Egypt’s president said Sunday that the need for a joint Arab military force is growing every day as the region faces the threat of Islamic militancy. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in an address to the nation aired by local TV that Egypt’s military has no interest in invading or attacking other nations, but will defend Egypt as well as the region “if required and in coordination with our Arab brothers.” A soldier-turned-politician, the Egyptian leader said both Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have offered to dispatch military forces to aid Egypt following last week's beheading in Libya of 21...

In the wake of the Paris shootings and the horrors visited by ISIS upon Syria and Iraq and the genocide of Boko Haram, finally there seems to be an awakening even among some in the western mainstream media that there could be something endemic to Islam itself that accounts for violence occurring nearly everywhere Muslims abound. Since 9/11, there have been 25,000 attacks by Muslims worldwide.I posit in my book, Lessons from Fallen Civilizations, that if Islam is to undergo a reformation, it will require millions of Muslims to renounce Islam, and proclaim that they will not allow the faith to...

'Muslim Brotherhood call for ‘long, uncompromising jihad’ The Muslim Brotherhood called for “a long, uncompromising jihad” in Egypt just days after a delegation of the Islamist group’s key leaders and allies met with the State Department, according to an official statement released this week. Just days after a delegation that included two top Brotherhood leaders was hosted at the State Department, the organization released an official statement calling on its supporters to “prepare” for jihad, according to an independent translation of the statement first posted on Tuesday. The statement also was issued just two days before a major terror attack...

Egypt held its “Badr 2014” military maneuver between October 11 and November 6, its largest exercise since 1996 which was only half the size—according to a senior security expert the Nile state has its sights on Israel, despite the peace treaty. Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Shay, former deputy head of the Israel National Security Council, detailed the maneuver in Israel Defense on Saturday, analyzing the massive military preparations. According to Shay, Egypt wants not only to improve security domestically, but also “it hopes to reassert its historic leadership role and become the regional hegemony. …With the rise of (President) Abdel...

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says a law is being drafted to criminalize insulting the uprisings that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and his Islamist successor Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Criminalizing insulting the uprisings would help appease both sides of a widening rift over whether the two popular movements expressed the genuine will of Egyptians. …

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in remarks published Sunday that Egypt is prepared to send troops into a future Palestinian state to assist local police and guarantee Israel’s security. In comments to Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, el-Sissi said the troops would be stationed there temporarily to establish confidence. In a clarifying statement later, his office said the idea is a way to encourage Israel to accept a two-state solution. …

Egyptian president General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi has offered Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas to cede 160 square kilometers of the Sinai Peninsula adjoining Gaza to the PA, thus creating a Palestinian state five times the present size of Gaza. In return, the PA would stop demanding that Israel return to the 1967 borders. The offer was revealed on IDF Radio. Al-Sisi reportedly suggested that Palestinian “refugees” be allowed to settle in the new, much enlarged Gaza, which would be demilitarized. …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi blamed Israel for fueling terrorism in the Middle East by not making peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday, in light of the tensions between the West and the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). The lack of a “peace process” in Israel contributes to a “fertile environment for the growth and spread of extremism, violence and terrorism,” claimed Sisi, who violently overthrew former President Mohammed Morsi last July 3. […] Sisi has been critical towards Israel, despite serving as mediator between the Jewish state and the terrorist organization Hamas in negotiations that led to...

Egypt’s deposed President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday denied that he ordered protesters killed during an uprising in 2011, in his first lengthy speech to a court as his year-old retrial draws to an end. The 86-year-old Mubarak was speaking from a gurney inside a cage that holds defendants, listing the achievements of his 29-year rule. He said he was not forced from power in 2011 but gave it up voluntarily so that Egypt would avert an “abyss.” “Mohammed Hosni Mubarak would never order the killing of protesters … or shedding the blood of Egyptians,” he said in an emotional plea...

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi focused on boosting trade and military cooperation on his first presidential visit to Russia, where he was greeted with a display of weapons right upon arrival. Russia has signaled its desire to expand ties with Egypt, an important U.S. ally in the Middle East. When el-Sissi visited Moscow in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin wished him success in the presidential election—though el-Sissi hadn’t yet announced his candidacy. […] Under el-Sissi, Egypt has shown a renewed interest in Russian arms. An array of weapons, including new armored vehicles and missile systems, was displayed at the airport in...

Viet Nam Swift Boater, Secretary of State, big brave John Kerry defied a Federal Aviation Administration ban by flying into into Israel’s main airport Wednesday. TEL AVIV, Israel (CBS News/CBSDC/AP) Some called it a sign of “sheer” will to achieve a cease-fire agreement in the warring Gaza Strip. Others, who called it so much hooey, remembered that the previous Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at least underwent “sniper fire” when landing in Bosnia.

Egypt’s president has issued a decree raising the sales tax on cigarettes by up to 50 percent and on beer by 200 percent. […] President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, former military chief elected last month, vowed to take tough decisions to address the country’s battered economy. This weekend, el-Sissi also partially lifted subsidies on fuel, a politically sensitive issue that Egypt’s previous leaders had avoided. …

Egypt’s prime minister on Saturday defended his government’s decision to introduce a steep rise in fuel prices, saying energy subsidies have over the past decade cost the treasury a staggering E£687 billion (nearly $100 billion) that could have been used to bolster essential services. The fuel price hikes of up to 80 percent came into force early on Saturday and follow promises to cut subsidies that eat up nearly a quarter of the state budget. They also come after an increase in electricity prices that were put in effect at the start of July. Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, addressing a...

Sisi won the presidential election in Egypt with remarkable results that demonstrate a high level of national confidence in the former general. While head of the Egyptian army, he played a key role in ousting the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammad Mursi in July 2013, following mass protests against the Islamist president and his government. […] After making his appearance on the Egyptian political scene as well as in the global arena, al-Sisi has been compared more often than not with Gamal Abdel Nasser. Many experts and journalists debate the possibility and reasonability of such a comparison, while al-Sisi, now president elect,...

An Egyptian court that sentenced to death 37 Islamists and handed life terms to 492 others defended its verdict on Sunday, saying the men were “demons” who followed Jewish scripture. […] In one trial in March, 529 were sentenced to death for the killing of a police officer but the court later upheld the sentencing against only 37 of them, while the rest were jailed for life. […] In a statement Sunday to justify its decision, the court […] described the men as “enemies of the nation” who used mosques to promote the teachings of “their holy book, the Talmud,”...

Egypt’s new strongman drew up a blueprint for the army to seize power in case of a revolution against ex-president Hosni Mubarak as long ago as 2010, senior advisers have revealed. Abdulfattah el-Sisi, who won 97 percent of the vote in last week’s presidential election, was little known to either Egyptians or the outside world before his swift rise to power. […] Mr. Sisi was seen as Mr. (Mohammed) Morsi’s choice because of his well-documented religious piety. No Brotherhood supporter could have risen so high in the army, but a thesis that Mr. Sisi wrote in 2006 while on secondment...

Egypt’s presidential election fell short of international standards of democracy, two teams of foreign observers said Thursday, a day after the former military officer who led last summer’s military takeover won a landslide victory with more than 95 percent of the vote. “Egypt’s repressive political environment made a genuinely democratic presidential election impossible,” Eric Bjornlund, president of Democracy International, an election-monitoring organization funded by the United States, said in a statement. In an interview, he called the political context “hugely troubling.” A team of European Union observers said in a statement that, despite guarantees in Egypt’s Constitution, respect for the...