EGYPT: ‘Invisible Hand’ Playing With Sectarian Fire

Violent clashes in Cairo that left at least 25 Egyptians dead and over 300 injured on Sunday have deepened suspicions that unseen forces are manipulating the country's sectarian divisions for political gain.

Egypt Army Seeks Probe into Cairo Clashes

Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has called for a speedy investigation into Sunday night's deadly clashes in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, that left at least 26 dead and more than 300 injured, mostly Coptic Christians.

ISRAEL: Showing Tolerance for Intolerance

"On Saturday, we as a nation atoned for our sins. I as a Jew feel ashamed of myself. I'm asking for forgiveness," declared Ron Hulday, mayor of this mixed city, immediately at the closing of the Day of Atonement.

EGYPT: Islamists and Secularists Draw Closer

Egypt, routinely the cradle for new Arab and Islamic ideologies, is now witnessing the birth of yet another line of thought - Islamic Liberalism. The term is touted now as a panacea for the eight-month impasse that has locked Islamists and their secularist rivals in bitter bickering over how this Arab nation should be governed after the fall of former dictator Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.

DEATH PENALTY: On Popular Demand

The image endures of the death penalty in force across the Arab world because it is considered somehow Islamic, and because most regimes are undeniably autocratic. But campaigners on the ground say the death penalty might just be in place because the people want it. Which would make it in essence a democratic institution.

Foreign Fighters Support Israel’s Settlements

Two weeks ago, an announcement appeared on a French website, calling for "militants with military experience" to participate in a solidarity trip to Israel between Sep. 19 and 25.

Polio Spreading Out From Pakistan

Despite two decades of mass oral polio vaccination (OPV) drives, Pakistan has failed to control the crippling paediatric disease. Health authorities now fear that it is exporting the virus and setting back global eradication plans.

BAHRAIN: Elections Will Test Shia Resolve

Bahrain’s by-elections on Saturday are a test of will to see if majority Shias will turn out to vote in areas where they are dominant or heed a boycott call by the powerful opposition Al-Wefaq (National Islamic Society) party.

PAKISTAN: Fighting a Taliban-Polio Alliance

With Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province turning into the ‘polio capital of the world’, authorities are warning parents that heeding Taliban propaganda against oral polio vaccination (OPV) could earn them a prison sentence.

DEATH PENALTY: Not in the Name of the Quran

Islamic regimes look for provisions and precedents to carry out the death sentence in the name of Islam. But, says Dr. Mohammad Al-Habash, director of the Islamic Studies Centre in Damascus, they are not looking enough at 13 provisions within the Quran to commute the death sentence to a lesser punishment.

“Identities Do Not Have Borders”

Sep. 11, 2001 deeply affected the relations between the United States and Europe on one hand and North Africa and the Middle East on the other.

Q&A: “Things Are Bound to Change in China”

Before 1999, she was best known as the richest woman in China. Her business empire included a trading firm, real estate investments and a department store, putting her among the top 10 wealthiest individuals in the Asian nation.

PAKISTAN: Flood Relief by Caste, Creed

With just the clothes on their backs, Moora Sanafdhano, 68, and his family of nine waded through waist-deep flood waters swirling through their village of Allah Ditto Leghari, saving themselves in the nick of time.

U.S.: Ten Years Later, Still Equating Terrorism with Islam

Karen Keyworth is frustrated by the racial profiling and ignorance frequently displayed towards Muslims and Arabs in the United States after 9/11.

Q&A: “We Have to Find a Way to Communicate”

"The anger that rushes through me goes well beyond the hellish night I've just lived through. In a flash, I feel a terrible bond not only with the victims of September 11th but also with the kids brainwashed to become instruments of death in the name of an invented Islam," Mariane Pearl wrote in her 2003 book "A Mighty Heart".

U.S.: A Dark Decade for Civil Rights and Liberties

The tenth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center's Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sep. 11, 2001 is marked by mourning.

U.S.: Tea Party, Fox News Viewers Outliers on Immigration, Islam

While 10 years after the 9/11 Al- Qaeda attacks, most U.S. citizens say they respect diversity and the freedom of religion, they don't always apply those principles to Islam and immigrants, according to a report released here Tuesday by two major think tanks.

CUBA: Catholic Church Takes the Pulse of Religious Sentiment

The Catholic Church seems to be expecting a rise in religious sentiment among the Cuban population as a result of the climate of dialogue and more relaxed relations with the government seen since the 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II.

MEDIA-PAKISTAN: Caught Between the Army and the Taliban

Journalists covering the United States-led ‘war-on-terror’ in Pakistan’s turbulent northwest are not sure who wants them out of the way more – the Taliban or the Pakistan army.

OP-ED: Al-Qaeda Lost the Battle Long Ago

Osama bin Laden didn't live to see the 10th anniversary of Sep. 11. And his organisation, according to many U.S. government insiders, is on its last legs since his death at the hands of U.S. Special Forces in May. "We're within reach of strategically defeating Al-Qaeda," Defence Secretary Leon Panetta recently observed. Others disagree, pointing to the strength of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

U.S. Muslims Upbeat Despite Scrutiny Since 9/11

Despite increased public scrutiny since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and well-funded campaigns promoting Islamophobia, U.S. Muslims express a significantly higher level of satisfaction with their lives, their local communities, and the country's general direction than does the public at large, according to a major new survey released here Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.