MENA reported that Sheikh Muhammed Sayyid Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar; the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world, died today (Wednesday morning) of a heart attack while he was in an airport in Saudi Arabia heading back to Egypt. He was in Riyadh to participate in the global King Faisal's Awards Festival on Tuesday.

Sheikh Tantawi was appointed by the Egyptian...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has joined the US in condemning Israel's decision to build 1600 new homes for settlers in East Jerusalem, saying all settlement activity is "illegal".

The timing of the Israeli announcement caused a diplomatic storm as it coincided with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's arrival in the region to kick start indirect peace talks.

International media mogul Rupert Murdoch has told an Arab industry summit that he strongly supports Arab creativity.

The Fox News owner told Arab governments to reject media censorship in an address at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit.

In a sign of Murdoch's growing interest in the region, News Corp recently revealed it bought a share of the Saudi Rotana media group at...

The US State Department has apologized for comments made about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's call for jihad against Switzerland.

Department spokesman PJ Crowley, who made the dismissive comments, said, "I regret that my comments have become an obstacle to further progress in our bilateral relationship."

Mr. Crowley described Gaddafi's call for jihad...

The US government will ease sanctions on the export of software and services to Cuban, Sudan and Iran to allow their citizens freedom of expression via the Internet, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

A recent BBC poll has indicated that across cultures people believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right.

Highlighting Iran, Clinton said that,...

Far-right Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders will be inaugurated into the new municipal council in The Hague on Thursday after his Freedom Party (PVV) took eight out of 45 seats in municipal elections in the country’s third largest city.

A highly controversial figure, Wilders’ Freedom Party has gained momentum since the launching of its ‘stop the Islamisation of...

The restrictions imposed by Israel on entry visas are the biggest obstacle to foreign investment in the Palestinian territories, according to The Palestinian Trade Center (Pal Trade).

The World Bank-funded Center report says Israel systematically rejects entry visas to foreign investors even if they are American or European.

The report highlights the difficulties...

Celebrations and demonstrations took place yesterday around the world to mark the annual International Women's Day.

In the Middle East, the celebrations and a wider discussion over women's rights in the region attracted considerable press coverage.

Last week, rights organization Freedom House's published a report on women's rights showing that the situation was...

At a Paris energy forum, Israeli infrastructure minister Uzi Landau is expected to announce Israel’s plans to officially look into building a nuclear power plant to avoid creating a new coal-fired plant for environmental reasons.

Israel currently has two nuclear reactors, one secret, and one open to international inspection.

This plan may draw fresh...

Pakistani security officials have denied initial reports that the American Al Qaeda member arrested in Karachi was the organisation’s American-born spokesperson Adam Gadahn.

The 31 year old Gadahn is wanted by the FBI on charges of treason and for materially supporting the terrorist network. The reward offered is up to USD $1 million for his arrest or for information...

An earthquake struck Elazig district in the east of Turkey Monday morning killing 57 and injuring dozens of citizens.

The 6.0 magnitude quake had an epicenter near Basyurt-Karakocan and was followed by a series of some 40 aftershocks.

Local residents fled their homes fearing aftershocks of over 4.0 magnitude.

Following a government-sponsored 2 million US$ restoration project, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiques reopened the Jewish Moshe Ben Maimon synagogue in Cairo.

The synagogue is located in "Haret Elyahoud", or the Jewish district, in Cairo.

It is reported that the 19th-century synagogue stands on the site where Rabbi Moses ben Maimon who fled...

The Prince of the Holy Mecca region, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, described the railway link with the underconstruction al-Mashaaer al-Muqaddasa metro as highly "important", highliting the importance of the integration of this plan with the two holy cities railway project.


For his part, the Transport Minister said that Saudi King Abdullah had ordered the approval to...

Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that hard-line groups and foreign criminal organizations are a growing threat to the security of the United States as they target government and private computer networks.

Muller said in a speech to an Internet security conference that extremist groups like al-Qaeda use means, most significantly the Internet,...

Hezbollah has stated that disarmament is not a topic for debate at a Lebanese governmental security meeting scheduled for later this week.

According to Israeli estimates, Hezbollah has been building its arsenal and now has over 40,000 rockets at its disposal.

Last month, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed to unleash the group's military might on northern...

As film fans around the world tonight keep their eyes fixed on Hollywood for the 82nd annual Academy Award ceremony, comments made by the co-director of Israeli nominee 'Ajami' may provide a compelling sub-plot to the high-profile film competition.

In a statement made yesterday Christian-Arab director Scandar Copti told a press conference that he would not represent Israel at the...

Ninety-nine percent of youth in the Arab world say living in a democratic society is key to the region’s future, says a recent survey released in Dubai on Sunday.

The reports, which was conducted by the public relations firm ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, is said to be the largest study to target the regions largest demographic – Arab youth.

Access to...

Polls for Iraq’s second full parliamentary elections opened on Sunday as potentially 19 million eligible voters cast their ballots to elect 325 representatives out of 6,200 candidates to lead Iraq’s new parliament.

During the early hours sporadic bomb and mortar attacks were reported throughout the country leaving at 24 dead in a bid to deter high voter turnout.

Random House Publishing Firm has announced that former Prime Minister Tony Blair's Memoirs are to be released next September.

"I have tried to write a book which describes the human as much as the political dimensions of life as prime minister," said Blair, who became the British Prime Minister after leading the Labour Party to a sweeping victory in 1997, stepping down...

A popular Turkish TV and film company which had once produced a movie depicting a Jewish doctor stealing organs from Iraqi prisoners in Iraq now has plans to release another movie, set in Palestine this time.

Scheduled for a November release, the new movie follows the 2006 feature 'Valley of the Wolves: Iraq'

That movie, which showed American soldiers wreaking...

The biggest vaccination campaign against Polio has been launched by the World Health Organization in Central and Western Africa, targeting 85 million children in 19 countries in the Black Continent, in a bid to fight the disease that began to spread again a year ago.

Spokesman for the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI), Rod Curtis, has said that some countries lack the skills and...

Google announced that it will start automatically captioning YouTube videos, opening up a huge share of its content to people who are hearing-impaired.


YouTube's audience are now able to apply for machine transcription on their own videos. And for videos that have not yet been transcribed, a user can request it for English videos where then it can be translated into 50...

At the arrival of Dutch far-right MP, Geert wilders, to the headquarters of the British House of Commons at Westminster, London, he was received with two demonstrations.
The first was opposed to his visit and to his film "Fitna" at the headquarters of the Council. It was organized by a group of anti-racist groups and organizations against what they called "racism against...

With crucial parliamentary elections set to take place across Iraq tomorrow, the country has been hit with a wave of violence as insurgents look to disrupt the elections and scare people into not voting.

Dozens have been killed in a series of suicide attacks this week mainly targeting the capital Baghdad. Today, at least 4 were killed in an attack in the city of Najaf.

American officials said senior members in the Obama administration were moving forward with Khaled El Sheikh's trial in view of military court. El Sheikh is believed to be the master-mind behind the September 11th attacks in 2001.

The US administration said it was considering changing the court due to expense consideration. It is also critical that suspects get their legal...

Egyptian television recently announced that the Egyptian President delegated full constitutional authority to Egypt's Prime Minister, prior to undergoing a medical procedure.

Reports said Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was given full presidential authority until Mubarak returns to Egypt. Mubarak will be accompanied by Suzan Mubarak and other members of family.

Mubarak...

Churches Together, an organization based in Camberley, has voiced opposition to the proposed building of a traditional style mosque with two 100ft minarets in their neighborhood, which they say could cause relations to sour between Muslims and Christians.

According to local Muslim community leaders, the proposed Islamic center is to offer spiritual guidance to residence. However,...

A new draft Pension Law proposed by Egypt’s cabinet to increase the retirement age to 65 would offer Egyptians unemployment welfare, higher pension for employees and raise the country’s savings rate, Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali said in a statement.

According to analysts, the new law would allow the government to make good on it’s current pension debt.

The Freedoms Committee of Egypt's Journalists' Syndicate has given its support to Al-Masry Al-Youm journalist Saha el-Ga'ara's calls to shut down "atheist" blogs and prosecute their writers.

According to el-Ga'ara, the blogs represent a call for sedition: “With freedom of expression comes a great responsibility; we as intellects, journalists, writers call for...

Hamas has banned male hairdressers from working in women's salons in the Gaza strip, according to reports.

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has been in power in Gaza since 2007, and it is thought they are now trying to introduce a more conservative Islamic system of values.

The Interior Ministry has said that anyone caught breaking the ban will face legal...