Egypt's president named a moderate, Western-educated Islamic scholar the country's new top cleric on Friday, the state news agency reported. The appointment makes Ahmed el-Tayeb the new grand sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar, the pre-eminent theological institute of Sunni Islam, the faith's majority sect. He takes over ...

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday appointed a new head of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institution, after the death of its top cleric last week, the official MENA agency reported. Mubarak, who is recovering from surgery in Germany, "has issued a presidential decree appointing Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed al-Tayeb to head Al-Azhar," MENA reported. Tayeb, president of Al-Azhar ...

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was in Gaza City on Thursday for an hours-long visit to the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave. Her first stop was a UN-run girls school in the Jabalya refugee camp. The English baroness was also due to hold talks with UN officials during her brief visit to the coastal territory which is still struggling ...

More than 300 reporters for Islam Online camped out in their Cairo offices on Wednesday in protest at alleged efforts by the management in Qatar to assume editorial control of the Islamic website. The Qatari-based website, which has its editorial offices in Egypt, was founded by popular exiled Egyptian cleric Yusef al-Qardawi and posts news items as well as sections ...