EGYPT COURT DELAYS RULINGS ON CHARTER, SENATE
CAIRO: Egypt’s top court postponed key rulings on the validity of the Islamist-dominated Senate and of the committee that drew up a controversial constitution approved by referendum last month.

It will rule on the constitutional panel on February 3 and has referred the legality of the upper house to its advisory body, the official MENA agency reported. Following several lawsuits arguing there were irregularities in the mechanics of the election, the court is to decide whether or not the upper house—which was given temporary legislative powers after the dissolution of the lower house—is legal. The court will also rule on the legality of an Islamist-dominated panel that drafted the country’s constitution, which is at the heart of the nation’s worst political crisis since the overthrow nearly two years ago of president Hosni Mubarak.

FRENCH TROOPS IN MALI HEAD NORTH TO CONFRONT ISLAMISTS
BAMAKO: France’s ground troops in Mali advanced on Wednesday towards the Islamist-held north in a bid to flush out jihadist fighters after days of air strikes, as the first Nigerian contingent of a regional force was expected to deploy. French armoured units and Malian government forces were heading towards the town of Diabaly, which Al Qaeda-linked groups seized earlier this week even as French gunships and fighter jets pounded their strongholds further north. Western countries had voiced fears that Mali’s north—a desert region larger than France—could become Al-Qaeda’s leading global safe haven and be used to launch attacks on targets in Europe. France had repeatedly ruled out a direct military intervention until Islamist fighters pushed further south last week and were seen as threatening the capital Bamako. AFP