A big majority of Egyptians approved amendments to the constitution in a referendum, results showed, opening the door to early elections seen as favouring Islamists and figures affiliated with the old ruling party. Decades of oppression under Hosni Mubarak crushed Egypt's political life and secular activists who mobilised to oust him from the presidency say

Russian business could be worth EUR 2.1 bln per year, or 12% of GDP, according to a presentation made by Sapienta Economics Director, Fiona Mullen, at the Economist Conference in Nicosia on Friday, although there are huge differences between Cypriot and Russian figures. Mullen said that Russians are the now the second largest tourism market,

France has as many as 20 warplanes operating over Libya at the moment, a French military source said on Saturday, operating in an area some 100 km by 150 km around the rebel stronghold of Banghazi. The French force comprised an AWACS reconnaissance plane, as well as Rafales and Mirages attack aircraft. President Nicolas Sarkozy

Japan is considering whether to halt sales of food products from near a crippled nuclear plant because of contamination by a radioactive element which can pose a short-term health risk, the U.N. atomic agency said. In what it called another “critical” measure to counter contamination of food, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Japanese

Allied warplanes have gone into in action to stop Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces attacking the rebel-held city of Benghazi, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Saturday. Gaddafi's troops on Saturday morning pushed into the outskirts of Benghazi, a city of 670,000 people, in an apparent attempt to pre-empt Western military intervention expected after a

Bahrain cut curfew hours on Saturday and urged Bahrainis to return to work after a crackdown on mainly Shi'ite Muslim protesters this week raised tensions in the world's largest oil-producing region. The call came as a fourth protester died of wounds sustained when troops and police moved on Wednesday to end weeks of unrest that

Thousands of mourners called on Saturday for “revolution” at the funeral of protesters killed by Syrian security forces, the boldest challenge to Syria's rulers since uprisings began sweeping the Arab world. Security forces responded by firing tear gas to disperse crowds in Deraa, a tribal region south of the capital where at least 10,000 people

Conditions at a badly damaged Japanese nuclear power plant are grave but not deteriorating badly, the U.N. atomic agency said on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency gave its assessment after Japanese engineers conceded that burying the plant in sand and concrete may be a last resort to prevent a large radiation release, the method