News features

Expert raises doubts surrounding Al-Qaeda rumors and bin Laden's death

A passer by looks at newspaper headlines reporting the death of Osama Bin Laden, in front of the Newseum, May 2, 2011 in Washington, DC. Last night U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the United States had killed the most-wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden in an operation led by U.S. Special Forces in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
06 May 2011
His name has been associated for years in the press with Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; Gamal Ismail, the Palestinian correspondent and author of "Bin Laden, Al-Jazeera, and I", who lives in Islamabad, uncovered many secrets...
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What’s behind the Palestinian reconciliation success?

Hamas and Fatah reconciliation
03 May 2011
“Egypt is Back!” wrote activist Shahir George on his Facebook page on 29 April, the day news broke that rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah were to sign a reconciliation accord brokered by Cairo. “One of the great...
Yes

Investigative report: Escape from Marg prison

البوابة الرئيسية لسجن المرج.
03 May 2011
Shots rang out as the prison lobby was hit with a hail of gunfire. Tariq Qotb and his prison mate stuck to the wall of the small prison cell in fear of being hit with a stray bullet through the window. The three exchanged glances. Hassan...
Yes

Scrubbing Egypt clean of Mubarak

File photo of toppled President Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne Thabet.
02 May 2011
It used to be that you couldn’t walk a block in Cairo before coming across some reminder that Hosni Mubarak was in charge and had been for almost 30 years. Since 11 February, the day Mubarak slinked away from his seat with a...
Yes

Egypt's Zawahiri likely to succeed bin Laden

Ayman al-Zawahiri
02 May 2011
For years, Osama bin Laden's charisma kept Al-Qaeda's ranks filled with zealous recruits.   But it was the strategic thinking and the organizational skills of his Egyptian right hand man that kept the terror network together...
Yes

The path to reform is long for official human rights council

National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) holds first meeting after the 25 January revolution presided by Deputy Chief Mohamed Fa'eq, Shura Council, Cairo, 20 April, 2011. The council decided during meeting that Mahmoud Karem, the NCHR secretary-general, will remain in office.
02 May 2011
Despite drastic changes to the composition of the semi-autonomous National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), many are skeptical of the council's ability to quickly turn from a state propaganda tool into an institution that can...
Yes

Workers push for independent union movement on Labor Day

01 May 2011
Egyptian workers and labor activists on Sunday celebrated Labor Day independently of the state for the first time in nearly 60 years. It was the first Labor Day in 30 years to be celebrated without former President Hosni Mubarak’s...
Yes

Egypt’s workers: On the political precipice

Workers strike of "Mahalla" on October 2008, which lasted several days and reached to the hunger strike and that were opposed to the arbitrary procedures by the General Coordinator of the company, this strike was one of a series of strikes carried out by the Workers Mahalla, which opened the door to Egypt's workers to start a new era to play an active role to preserve their rights
01 May 2011
“We joined [the union] because our rights are lost,” says Fahmy Adel Fahmy, a member of the Independent Bakers’ Union. “We never resorted to protesting or having strikes; we demand retirement plans and a better...
Yes

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood selects hawkish leaders

(R-L) Saad Al-Qatatni, Mohammad Morsi and Issam al-Aryan, leaders in Muslim Brotherhood, take part in a press conference, new headquarters, Moqattam, Cairo, April 30,2011, to announce Morsi as President for the new party, the Freedom and Justice Party, and Qata tni as Secretary General.
30 Apr 2011
In its first meeting since 1995, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Shura Council on Saturday announced the leaders of its would-be political party and pledged not to run for more than half the parliamentary seats in Egypt’s upcoming...
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Workers struggle against bureaucracy to create new unions

29 Apr 2011
At least a dozen independent unions have sprung up following Egypt's 18-day uprising, forming the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions and beginning to break the state's 54-year monopoly on labor organizations. The...
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