These amateur images were filmed just after a shooting which killed seven people, six of them Coptic Christians, in a town near Luxor, Upper Egypt. Watch the video...

Working among Hebrew inscriptions and Stars of David, the staff of the Ministry of Social Affairs in the east of Cairo are, effectively, squatting in a disused synagogue. Read more and see the photos...

Will you remember Barack Obama's inauguration in January or is it Michael Jackson's sudden death that's more likely to stick in your head in years to come? On the dawn of a new year, we ask our Observers what they think was the most significant event of 2009. Read more...

One protestor was killed and dozens wounded on Tuesday when clashes broke out during a demonstration in the east of Cairo. Local residents had gathered simply to protest a forced demolition operation ordered by the local council. Read more and see the video...

Slogans and partisan chants rang out all night in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, ahead of Wednesday’s much anticipated World Cup qualification play-off between Egypt and Algeria. Watch the videos...

After last weekend’s tense football game pitting Egypt’s Pharaohs against Algeria’s Fennecs (the Pharaohs won 2-0), irate Algerian football fans vandalised several Egyptian businesses in Algiers. Our Observer was there. Read more...

The Algerian team bus was attacked by stone-throwers last night as it made its way from Cairo airport to the hotel where the players are staying for Saturday's World Cup qualifier with the Egyptian Pharaohs. Five players were injured in the attack. Read more and see the videos...

Talk over Saturday's qualifier between Egypt and Algeria has long gone off topic. Football itself forgotten, web users have jumped at the chance to use the match as an excuse for a bitter quarrel, where no subject is off-limits. Read more...

The Algerian Fennecs take on the Egyptian Pharaohs for a place in the 2010 World Cup on November 14. With a week still to go before the game, things have already turned nasty, both countries accusing the other of corruption. Read more...

Question: What are these thin strips of plastic encapsulating a reddish liquid, and why have they prompted such outrage in Egypt? Answer: an artificial hymen, made in China and complete with fake blood. Read more...