North Africa | featured news

Egypt's liberal and secular opposition has urged its supporters to vote down a divisive constitution put forward by Islamists, and set conditions for taking part in the referendum that will be hard for organizers to meet.

The freshly scrawled graffiti depicting Mohammed Morsi as a pharaonic Saddam Hussein tells the tale of high hopes dashed with record speed: Barely six months after becoming Egypt's first democratically elected president, the Islamist is widely accused of abandoning pledges of inclusive government for doctrinaire and authoritarian ways....

Egypt's Islamist president has asked the army to help secure a constitutional referendum he is determined to push through despite the risk of more deadly violence between his supporters and opponents accusing him of a power grab.

'Leave, leave like Mubarak!' protesters chant as tens of thousands break through barbed wire at the presidential palace to denounce President Mohamed Morsi. Tens of thousands of Egyptians broke through barbed wire and marched to the presidential palace Friday demanding that President Mohamed Morsi step down even as government officials appeared to offer a slight concession on a controversial proposed constitution.

Police have fired tear gas to stop protesters from approaching the presidential palace in Cairo as tens of thousands take to the streets to demonstrate against the assumption of nearly absolute powers by the nation's Islamist leader....

Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council has agreed to supervise a referendum on a draft constitution, a legal adviser to President Mohamed Mursi said on Monday, although some judges have called for a boycott.

Protests by Islamists allied to President Mohamed Morsi forced Egypt's highest court to adjourn its work indefinitely on Sunday, intensifying a conflict between some of the country's top judges and the head of state.

Egypt's Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly passed a rushed draft of a constitution early Friday to ease public anger against President Mohamed Morsi's expanded powers and preempt an expected court decision to disband the chamber this weekend.

The two highest appellate courts went on strike, and Islamist leaders of the constitutional assembly rushed to complete the charter by the end of the day.

An Egyptian court convicted in absentia Wednesday seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor, sentencing them to death on charges linked to an anti-Islam film that had sparked riots in parts of the Muslim world.