More than seven years after the horrendous terrorist attacks on New York Citys World Trade Center and the Pentagon the "war on terror," as U.S. President George W. Bush likes to call it, still rages. And while Bush is due to leave the White House in about 100 days, the threats posed by al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden remain. In fact, a recent world poll conducted for the BBC found that people in 22 out of 23 countries believe U.S. efforts to weaken the terrorist organization have failed.

CAIRO -- Egypts most outspoken journalist Ibrahim Eissa stands to see the inside of a government prison after he lost an appeal in a controversial case over his coverage of rumors in September 2007 that President Hosni Mubaraks health was deteriorating.

AMMAN -- A leading Muslim Arab cleric has raised a political and religious storm across the region by speaking out audaciously on a subject that many Islamic scholars refuse to discuss because of political considerations - the "Shiite invasion" of Muslim societies.

CAIRO -- The kidnapping of 19 people, including 11 foreign tourists, on Sept. 19 in southern Egypt has sparked frustration among the countrys media, who complain that the governments lack of professionalism in dealing with the story was another attempt to further restrict the local press.

CAIRO -- Markets across the globe are feeling the heat of the near financial disaster of the U.S. financial markets last week. Egypt, however, is a country already in the doldrums with the rising cost of food and immense poverty. And although the U.S. and global markets have begun to recover, the impact of the near crash is being felt in Egypt.

CAIRO -- Egypts parliament is due to examine a new broadcasting bill in November that is of growing concern for journalists and press rights groups in the country and abroad. Broadcast journalists are already under severe threat from the government, with censorship running high.

Billows of black and gray smoke towered above Cairos skyline Tuesday afternoon as the countrys upper house of Parliament went up in flames. Police officials confirmed that the Shura Councils three-storey building was on fire after what they called a short-circuit set off the blaze.

CAIRO -- Egyptian human rights organizations are urging the government not to give impunity to the people held responsible for an armed attack against the Abu Fana Coptic Monastery in the city of Minya in Upper Egypt last May as part of government reconciliation efforts.

CAIRO -- A request by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for an arrest warrant to be issued against Sudans President Omar al-Bashir has left Egypt, its northern neighbor, in a quandary, prompting the Cairo leadership to reiterate that Bashirs arrest on war crimes charges should be delayed.

CAIRO – When it seemed that all was going smoothly on the Cairo-Tehran diplomatic front and full relations were not far off after a near 30-year hiatus, out comes a movie in Iran praising the assassins of late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat that throws both governments into a bitter row.