Protesters hurled stones and firebombs at riot police near the Algerian Embassy in Cairo on Friday, leaving dozens of officers injured and triggering a diplomatic spat following a crucial soccer match.Several hundred demonstrators took to the streets following reports of attacks on Egyptian fans in Khartoum soon after their team missed out on a place at the 2010 World Cup finals to bitter rivals Algeria.

Major world powers expressed disappointment Friday that Iran has “not responded positively” to a plan for resolving the standoff over its nuclear program or agreed to new talks.“We are disappointed by the lack of follow-up” to understandings reached when the six powers met with Iranian officials in Geneva on October 1, they said in a statement after a meeting in Brussels.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said presidential and legislative elections scheduled for January will be postponed, confirming that he has accepted advice not to hold the vote.Abbas, speaking to BBC Arabic, said the Palestinian leadership would take measures to avoid a constitutional vacuum – although he did not spell these out.

The Middle East nowadays seems at the epicenter of most international crises, so the question is how should this chaos be dealt with? Divided and paralyzed, Europe appears to have given up on any involvement either in stabilizing the region or in the peace process itself. Yet it was not ever thus. From 1980 to 2001, Europe played a leading role in the Middle East.

Tens of thousands of Gazans living in tents and damaged homes face a wet, cold and miserable winter as Israel’s blockade of the coastal territory continues to prevent the importation of building and reconstruction material.During the last few weeks Gazans were given a brief reprieve from the oncoming winter as an unseasonal snap of warmish.

The United Nations Committee against Torture called on Yemen on Friday to end the widespread torture of detainees and investigate allegations of unlawful killings by its security forces.It voiced concern at reports of grave violations “committed in the context of [Yemen’s] fight against terrorism.”

Turkey is investigating a suspected plot by Naval officers to attack non-Muslim minorities to discredit the ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party, the prime minister’s office said on Friday.The alleged plan, one of several reported in Turkish media, could add to strains between the secularist military and the government, which is already at odds with the judiciary.

When government workmen came in a truck to take Ahmad Mohammad’s furniture to his new home just outside Cairo, the 32-year-old fisherman was overjoyed: His dream of quitting the slum where he had lived for years seemed to be coming true.However, when he got to a new residential area called October 6, 50 kilometers southwest of the city center, he realized there was a problem:

The Spanish trawler Alakrana and its crew of 36 docked safely in the Seychelles Friday, three days after being released by the Somali pirates who captured them six weeks earlier.“We are all very relieved to be back … We cannot say that we were treated badly,” said the only Seychellois member of the crew, Wilson Pilate, upon arrival in Port Victoria.

A top aide to Iraq’s Shiite spiritual leader on Friday urged the country’s fractious political blocs to resolve a crisis over a key election law that threatens to delay national polls planned for January.Sheikh Abdel-Mehdi al-Karbalaie, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Kerbala, told worshippers during his regular Friday sermon.

Italian prosecutors began their closing arguments Friday in the trial of an American student accused of killing her British roommate more than two years ago.Prosecutors outlined the evidence they have presented in the trial against Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Lifeboats and military helicopters rescued hundreds of people overnight in northern England as torrential rain flooded homes and washed away bridges.Police in the picturesque Lake District county of Cumbria said on Friday a search was under way for a police officer who disappeared when one bridge collapsed under the weight of water.

After years of effort the European Union named its first full-time president and powerful foreign policy chief on Thursday – but handed the jobs to two little-known compromise figures instead of global heavy hitters.Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday congratulated the European Union for creating the new posts of president and foreign policy chief, calling it a “step forward” for EU integration.

“Peace of the heart and mind and peace of society are intrinsically linked. Peace and justice are inseparable as are truth and reconciliation. Peace is for the hungry to be fed, the poor to be sustained, the sick to experience care, the oppressed to be released and the marginalized to have a voice. Peace is protection against violence.