CAIRO (Reuters) – Christians gathered on Sunday to pay final respects to Pope Shenouda III, who sought to soothe sectarian tension in his four decades atop Egypt’s Orthodox Church but saw increasing flareups in the majority Muslim nation in the last months of his life.

Friction has worsened since President Hosni Mubarak, who suppressed Islamists, was ousted last year. Since then Shenouda, who died on Saturday aged 88, often called for harmony and regularly met Muslim and other leaders.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of most of Egypt’s estimated 12 million Christians, died on Saturday from old age, his political adviser told Reuters.

Bells tolled in Cairo’s Abbasiya district, site of Egypt’s main Coptic cathedral, as the news spread.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Pope Shenouda, who died on Saturday at the age of 88, was Egypt’s highest Christian authority, working for more than 40 years to keep the peace between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority.

On the occasions when Christian protesters took to the streets to complain about discrimination against them, the late Coptic Pope chose to stay silent so as not to inflame tensions.

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 (Reuters) – Syria’s main exiled opposition must rebuild trust on the street at home by relying more on Syrians who recently lived there and it should seek foreign intervention to end bloodshed in the country, a senior group member said on Monday.

Walid al-Bunni, who fled Syria in October after years spent in and out of jail, told Reuters he and others backing a call for the group to clearly support rebels in Syria did not seek to split it up but instead wanted to bring change from within.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian lawmakers held a heated debate on Saturday as they began selecting 100 people tasked with writing a new constitution, a process crucial to future democracy in the country after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

The document will define the balance of power between the army-backed executive and parliament, which wants to curb broad presidential powers and may become the focus of confrontations over the role of Islam in Egyptian laws and society.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s presidential election will be held over two days starting May 23, the state election committee said on Wednesday, as the country’s military rulers prepare to hand power to civilians after last year’s overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

A run-off between the top two contenders will take place on June 16 and 17 if no candidate wins outright in the first round and final results will be released on June 21, the committee’s head, Farouk Soltan, told reporters.

DUBAI/CAIRO, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s bourse
extended its rally on Monday and trading value hit a new high
amid a trend of investment shift to equities, while most
regional markets fell in profit-taking.

The kingdom’s index rose 0.9 percent to its highest
close since September 2008.

CAIRO/AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian forces resumed their bombardment of the city of Homs Monday after Arab countries called for U.N. peacekeepers and pledged their firm support for the opposition battling President Bashar al-Assad.

Opposition campaigners said tank fire was concentrated on two large Sunni Muslim neighborhoods that have been at the forefront of opposition to Assad. They said 23 people were killed Sunday after a lull in shelling the previous day.