Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

US President Barack Obama raised the possibility Nov. 5 that a bomb brought down a Russian plane that crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, undermining efforts by Cairo and Moscow to downplay the suggestion of an attack.

Uncertainty over the possible causes of the Russian airplane crash in Egypt's Sinai peninsula has risen as US and UK intelligence suggested that the airplane might have been bombed.

Their suggestions are supported by the claims of militants affiliated to Islamic State (IS), who had accepted responsibility for taking down the airplane.

Evidence now suggests that a bomb planted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group is the likely cause of last weekend's crash of a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai peninsula, U.S. and European security sources said on Nov 4. 

Isis militants released an audio message repeating their claim to have brought down the Russian jet which crashed on Saturday and caused the death of hundreds Russian tourists and crew.

A car bomb targeting a policeman's club in the Egyptian city of El Arish killed six people and wounded 10 on Nov 4, security sources said.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) Egypt affiliate, Sinai Province, claimed responsibility for the attack, which it described as a suicide bombing. 

A ministerial-level summit on the future of Syria that has started on Oct. 29, less than a week after an initial four-way meeting, will bring together a wider range of countries, including ones with whom Turkey is at diplomatic loggerheads, as well as Iran.

Many Egyptian voters shunned the first phase of a parliamentary election on Oct. 18 that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has hailed as a milestone on the road to democracy but his critics have branded as a sham. 

Polling opened on Oct. 18 in Egypt for a much-delayed parliamentary election that will tighten President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's grip on power after he crushed all opposition since ousting his Islamist predecessor.

Egyptians begin voting on Oct. 18 for a parliament expected to step firmly in line behind President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has crushed all opposition since ousting his Islamist predecessor in 2013.

An Egyptian court Oct. 12 ordered the release of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's two sons who were sentenced to three years in jail for corruption, a judicial official and their lawyer said.