CAIRO (Reuters) – A deft businessman and politician tempered by years in Hosni Mubarak’s prisons, Khairat al-Shater is aiming to bring Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to the pinnacle of power for the first time in its 84-year history. But his candidacy for the presidency has exposed rifts in the Islamist group’s ranks, worried liberals and could turn up the heat in a row with Egypt’s ruling army.

Without even a day of campaigning under his belt but by virtue of the Brotherhood’s broad grassroots network, Shater, 61, moves straight into the ranks of frontrunners for the job Mubarak held for 30 years until he was ousted last year.

CAIRO (Reuters) – The Muslim Brotherhood has quietly spread its influence far beyond Egypt in its 84-year history, but Arab revolts have opened broad new political horizons the group hopes will reflect its founder’s vision for the Arab and Islamic world.

“There is no doubt that Hassan al-Banna believed in Islamic unity and not just Arab unity. But with such a vision we must consider reality and what is possible,” said Mahmoud Ghozlan, a member of the Brotherhood’s executive bureau.

CAIRO (Reuters) – The Muslim Brotherhood has quietly spread its influence far beyond Egypt in its 84-year history, but Arab revolts have opened broad new political horizons the group hopes will reflect its founder’s vision for the Arab and Islamic world.

“There is no doubt that Hassan al-Banna believed in Islamic unity and not just Arab unity. But with such a vision we must consider reality and what is possible,” said Mahmoud Ghozlan, a member of the Brotherhood’s executive bureau.

CAIRO (Reuters) – The Muslim Brotherhood’s efforts to shape Egypt’s political future plunged it into confrontation on Monday with both the ruling military and liberals angry at perceived Islamist attempts to dominate the country.

Liberals quit a 100-person body tasked with writing a new constitution in protest at what they said were Islamist attempts to control the process, a walk-out that cast a shadow over a major component of Egypt’s transition from years of autocracy.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on Tuesday it recognized its demand to sack Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri’s cabinet is unlikely to be heeded by the ruling generals but that it did not want a standoff with the army, toning down tough talk by some of its MPs.

The Brotherhood is the biggest bloc in parliament which this week voted to begin steps to withdraw confidence from the army-appointed cabinet, a move that would take Egypt into uncharted political waters shortly before the military is due to relinquish power. The army says it will hand over to a new president by July 1.

CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian army court acquitted an army doctor on Sunday of forcing a virginity test on a pro-democracy protester, setting back hopes of reining in a military establishment that has cracked down on the movement that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The case of Samira Ibrahim, who defied taboos in the conservative Muslim country to challenge the military over her treatment in detention, was seen as a test by activists of the army’s pledge to investigate abuses and prosecute culprits.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Gulf Arabs told Russia in blunt language on Saturday its failure to take a tough line on Syria had allowed killing to continue and urged Moscow to back an Arab peace effort that includes a call for Russian ally President Bashar al-Assad to step aside.

Qatar, which with Saudi Arabia has led efforts to isolate Assad, also told Arab ministers in Cairo and the Russian foreign minister who joined them, it was time to recognize the exiled Syrian National Council as Syria’s legitimate representative.

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, said he would urge President Bashar al-Assad and his foes to stop fighting and seek a political solution, drawing angry rebukes from dissidents.

“The killing has to stop and we need to find a way of putting in the appropriate reforms and moving forward,” Annan said on Thursday in Cairo ahead of his trip to Damascus on Saturday.

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, said on Thursday he would urge President Bashar al-Assad and his foes to stop fighting and seek a political solution, drawing angry rebukes from dissidents.

“The killing has to stop and we need to find a way of putting in the appropriate reforms and moving forward,” Annan, who is due in Damascus on Saturday, said in Cairo.