A speeding train has crashed into a bus carrying children to their kindergarten in southern Egypt, killing at least 49, officials said. Distraught families searched for signs of their loved ones along the tracks and angry villagers berated officials in the aftermath of the latest disaster to hit the country's railway system.

Thousands of Egyptians gathered outside mosques and in squares across the country on Friday to call on Egypt and the Arab world to back the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel.

Even as the international community's calls for "de-escalation" are becoming more urgent, the fighting in Gaza is only intensifying. Following Wednesday's killing of the head of Hamas's military wing, the air strikes on Gaza and the rocket attacks into Israel have been steadily increasing, and the death toll with them.

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Egypt’s Islamist president today denounced Israel’s shelling of Gaza as an “unacceptable aggression,” ordering his prime minister to visit the Hamas-governed enclave in what could emerge as the first major test for the country’s leader.

Every day our travel guru answers your travel questions

Every day our travel guru answers your travel questions

Every day our travel guru answers your travel questions

An Egyptian Islamist leader with ties to the Taliban has called for the "destruction of the Sphinx and Giza pyramids", suggesting these "idols" contravene the laws of Islam, reports Al Arabiya.

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It is pleasing to see the Labour Party inching towards a stronger policy on the living wage (Ed Miliband exclusive interview, 4 November), but disappointing that the movement is so small. If this is a "central part" of Mr Miliband's vision, then enforcing a living wage clause in Whitehall contracts and "naming and shaming" big companies are rather small steps.

Altar boy Bishoy Massad looked a little awestruck as he stepped up to the podium at the front of the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo today.

Damage from breath of visitors forces closure of chamber

Rival Palestinian officials from Fatah and Hamas sparred publicly today over reports that the two sides were once again on the brink of signing a power-sharing agreement before a new bid for state recognition at the United Nations this month.