Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party which won last month’s election and its two coalition partners have reached agreement in principle to share out the top government posts between its leaders. Under the deal, the key post, of prime minister, will go to Hamadi Jbeli, secretary-general of the Islamist Ennahda party. Moncef Marzouki, leader of the secularist Congress for the Republic, a junior coalition partner, is to be appointed president, and Mustafa Ben Jaaf... Read more »

Thousands of Islamist and secular demonstrators have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a mass rally to press the ruling military council to hand power to a civilian government. As referendum draw near, the first elections since a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak, protesters are demanding more control over the constitution the new parliament is to draft. Friday's demonstration was called over a document drafted by the government which declares the ... Read more »

Thousands of Kuwaiti oppositionists stormed parliament yesterday after police beat up protesters marching on the prime minister’s home to demand he step down. “Now, we have entered the house of the people,” Alarabiya.net quotes protesters’ leader Mussallam al-Barrak as saying. Activists also calling for the dissolution of allegedly corruption parliament. The protesters broke open parliament’s gates and entered the main chamber, where they sang the national ... Read more »

Series of grenade attacks killing a child and wounded nine other people have swept through the Somali capital, as Islamists rebels today warned Kenyan forces of "hellfire" if they did not pull out of the country. The warning came from Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, spokesman for Shebab rebels. Kenyan troops crossed into southern Somalia a month ago. "We are telling Kenya that they still have the opportunity to back away from the hellfire it was dragged into and l... Read more »

Al-Qaeda rebels have freed three French aid workers they kidnapped in Yemen in May, the French presidency and tribal leaders have said. "The president was informed tonight of the liberation of the three aid workers held in Yemen since May 28, 2011," Aljazeera.net quotes the presidential palace statement as saying. "They are with me in Ataq, an hour after they were freed by al-Qaeda," he added. Ataq is the administrative capital of Yemen's southern province ... Read more »

Bahrain says it has broken up a terrorist cell which was planning to carry out attacks in the Gulf kingdom. Four members of the group were held in neighbouring Qatar after crossing of Saudi border and one in Bahrain. The group had reportedly planned to attack the interior ministry building in the capital city of Manama, the Saudi embassy and also the causeway linking the island kingdom with Saudi Arabia. The names and nationalities of the suspects have not ... Read more »

Human Rights Watch (HRW) activists on Friday accused Syrian authorities of "crimes against humanity" based on the systematic abuses against civilians in their eight-month crackdown. In a report issued a day before the Arab League holds an extraordinary meeting on the situation in Syria, HRW urged the organization to suspend Syria's membership and to ask the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo and sanctions against responsible individua... Read more »

Sudanese military aircraft crossed the new international border with South Sudan and dropped bombs yesterday in and around a refugee camp killing at least 12 people. The violence in and near the Yida camp, located 15 kilometers south of the border, came one day after attacks were reported in another region of South Sudan. Those bombings provoked strong condemnation from the U.S. State Department. The president of South Sudan, which became an independent cou... Read more »

A Tunisian appeals court has approved the extradition of Libya's former Prime Minister, al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, back to Libya. "It's an unfair decision, a political decision," Bbc.co.uk quotes Mr al-Mahmoudi’s lawyer as saying. The extradition was requested by Libya's new government, the National Transitional Council (NTC). "If any harm comes to him in Libya, the Tunisian justice system will be a party to that" he added

The Kuwaiti defense minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah has denied rumours about plans to support U.S. troops in the Gulf state after their withdrawal from Iraq by year’s end. “Not at all. We have (no plan) to relocate U.S. troops to Kuwait or increase their numbers,” - Alarabiya.net quotes Kuwaiti defense minister as saying. “They (U.S. troops) will only pass through Kuwait from Iraq (on their way) to the United States. Their presence is governed by the... Read more »