Cairo

CAIRO - Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday appointed as the country's intelligence chief a veteran official who was involved in the brokering of last year's release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants, the official news agency said. Mohammed Raafat Abdel-Wahed was key in the Cairo-mediated deal between Hamas and Israel that led to the freeing of Gilad Schalit in 2011 in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. His appointment was reported by the Middle East News Agency.

NEW YORK - Mitt Romney on Friday denounced an anti-Muslim film that is stirring unrest in the Middle East, even as he stood by his condemnation of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo for its implied denunciation of the film. Speaking to George Stephanopoulos of ABC's Good Morning America , Romney said he still believed it was "inappropriate" for the embassy to put out the statement, issued as anger rose in Egypt on Tuesday over a film that ridiculed the Muslim prophet Muhammad. He said the embassy should have taken the statement down after protesters breached the embassy grounds.

FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics Mitt Romney claims the Obama administration issued an "apology for American values" after U.S. embassies were attacked. Not true. Romney refers to a statement issued before mobs attacked either in Egypt or Libya, and faults U.S. diplomats for failing to condemn actions that hadn't yet happened. Furthermore, the word "sorry" or "apologize" doesn't appear in the statement.

THIS WEEK'S Islamic eruptions in Cairo and Benghazi came (coincidentally?) on the 11th anniversary of 9/11. In Cairo, crowds were ignited by a defamatory movie about Muhammad. Meanwhile, "film critics" also attempted to storm our embassy in Yemen on Thursday. In Benghazi, Libya, militants apparently used civilians protesting the film as cover for a pre-planned attack to mark 9/11. Not a whole lot has changed since crowds in the Arab world danced in the streets on 9/11, despite President Obama's overtures, which even go so far as to ban from official use the name of the enemy: radical Islam.

By Mimi Hanaoka The chaotic violence that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three American staffers in Libya, and that led to a mob storming the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, has been garbed in religious language and references. That distracts from the real issues: serious domestic political fragmentation in Libya and Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and America's place in the region. Media attention has focused on a polemic, anti-Muslim movie trailer posted on YouTube, which prompted protests in Benghazi and Cairo.

The murder of U.S. ambassador to Libya John Christopher Stevens was made more tragic by the irony that he was one of that country's biggest fans, and thoroughly committed to helping its democracy blossom. Initially, the attack Tuesday on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which left Stevens and three other Americans dead, was believed to be a spontaneous response by Muslims to an independent film made in America that depicts the prophet Muhammad as a sexual deviate. That film was also blamed for a similar attack on the U.S. embassy in Cairo; no one died in the Egyptian incident.

THE GARDENS of the Arab Spring are being watered by the blood of innocents. This week, American blood was added to the flow. U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three embassy staffers were murdered by Muslim jihadists who were presumably angry at a film that "defamed" Muhammad. The consulate in the city of Benghazi, site of last year's anti-Gaddafi insurgency, was set on fire, and the American victims were killed by a hail of rocket projectiles while attempting to flee to safety.

CAIRO - Egypt's president intervened to release a newspaper editor jailed over accusations of insulting him on Thursday, issuing a law for the first time since he assumed legislative powers this month. President Mohammed Morsi's ban on detention for journalists accused of publishing-related offenses overrides a court decision earlier in the day ordering newspaper editor Islam Afifi to remain in prison pending trial in September. The court's decision and case against Afifi, accused of slandering the president and undermining public interest, have caused an uproar in Egypt among journalists and intellectuals, with dozens holding a protest Thursday in Cairo demanding free-speech protection.

"Egypt! Isn't that dangerous? Are you sure you want to go there?" What were we going to encounter in Egypt? The troubles that followed the Arab Spring of 2011 had convinced most Americans that Egypt was unsafe and dangerous. Were we concerned? Perhaps a bit, so we checked with the most reliable sources we could find and decided to go. Any concerns we had disappeared when we stepped off the plane in Cairo and saw the warm smile of Yasser, our Deluxe Travel tour coordinator. For 12 days, we explored the sights of Egypt, astonished to be standing next to the Pyramids, amazed at the structures, statues, and even the paint that had survived centuries beyond our comprehension.

CAIRO - At a meeting Monday, the Arab League chief urged exiled Syrian opposition figures to unite as a new Western effort to force President Bashar Assad from power faltered. Meanwhile, an additional 85 soldiers, including a general, fled to Turkey in a growing wave of defections. Turkey's state-run Andolou news agency said the group of defectors also included 14 other officers, ranging from a colonel to seven captains. It is one of the largest groups of Syrian army defectors to cross into Turkey since the uprising against Assad began.