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Egypt: Khaled Elbalshy of banned Darb news site, elected chief of Egypt’s journalist union
Egypt's journalist union said Saturday it had elected government critic Khaled Elbalshy as its head, amid a crackdown on the press with several reporters languishing in jail. "It's a breath of hope," said Lina Atalah, editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, an online newspaper...
Egypt and Turkey look for ways to mend fences
Turkey's top diplomat will visit Egypt on Saturday as relations ease after a decade of strained ties, Cairo's foreign ministry said. It follows a visit last month by Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Turkey in a show of solidarity after the devastating...
Egypt to sell citizenship for money to compensate for bankrupt economy
Egypt announced Wednesday it is offering citizenship to foreign investors willing to spend at least $250,000 in the country, as it struggles to fill its depleted coffers. According to state newspaper Al-Ahram, a decision by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli published in...
Egypt: Train crash kills four in Qalyub, government to give US$3K compensation for the families of victims
A train crash in Egypt killed four people and injured more than 20, officials said Wednesday about the latest in a series of deadly accidents blamed on ageing infrastructure and mismanagement. The train overshot the station and ran into the buffers at the end of the...
Egypt arrests 29 over alleged online crypto scam
Egyptian authorities have detained 29 people, including 13 foreigners, accused of running an online cryptocurrency scam that defrauded thousands of investors, state media reported Sunday. The network pocketed about $620,000 at the expense of its victims in the country...
Egyptian court labels veteran human rights activists “terrorists”, sentences them to 15 years in prison
A special Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced four veteran human rights activists to prison terms up to 15 years for "terrorism", several rights groups said. Mohammed Abu Horayra, a lawyer, received a 15-year sentence, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal...
Egypt to build high-speed rail link
French company NGE announced Thursday it had been awarded a contract to build Egypt's first high-speed rail link, a 330 kilometre section connecting the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts. The link will form the first section of a 660 kilometre (410 mile) line that will...
Egyptian Coptic Christians who were kidnapped in Libya are still detained in an illegal immigration center
Egypt's government said Friday it was "working around the clock" to secure the release of six Egyptian Coptic Christians who were kidnapped in conflict-ravaged Libya. "The six Egyptians are detained in an illegal immigration centre in western Libya," the foreign...
Egypt issues another death sentence for “terrorism”
An Egyptian court sentenced one man to death and 11 to life imprisonment after convicting them of joining a "terrorist group" linked to the Islamic State group, state media reported Wednesday. The same counter-terrorism court in Cairo also handed down three 15-year...
Egypt keeps social media influencers in prison, along with 60,000 political prisoners
Egypt has extended the pre-trial detention of three TikTok comedians after their online sketch about a prison visit had gone viral, a lawyer representing them told AFP on Monday. Mohamed Hossam al-Din, Basma Hegazy and Ahmed Tarek were arrested last month after...
Egypt’s Al-Azhar wants boycott of Swedish and Dutch products after desecration of Koran
Egypt's Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world's most prestigious educational institution, has called for the boycott of Swedish and Dutch products after far-right protesters destroyed Korans in those countries. Al-Azhar, in a statement issued Wednesday, called on "Muslims...
Egypt: Sisi visits India, paves way for greater bilateral cooperation
Egypt and India announced Thursday a "strategic partnership" to increase trade by billions of dollars and strengthen diplomatic ties, as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi concluded a visit to New Delhi. Facing a worsening economic crisis, Egypt is scrambling to boost...
Egypt: Channeling more than 1.4 billion tons of cargo, Suez Canal sees revenues up 77% in 2022
Egypt's Suez Canal Authority announced Wednesday an all-time annual revenue record, earning $8 billion in transit fees in 2022, as the country balks under a worsening economic crisis. The income from the vital waterway is about 25 percent higher than the $6.3 billion...
Egypt: Archaeologists announce discovery of 1,800-year-old Roman city
Egyptian archaeologists said Tuesday they had discovered an 1,800-year-old "complete residential city from the Roman-era" in the heart of the southern city of Luxor. The city, dating to the second and third centuries, is the "oldest and most important city found on...
Most Arab leaders were no-show in regional meeting in Libya, unwilling to deal with Tripoli
Major Arab states boycotted a ministerial meeting hosted by Libya's interim government on Sunday, with just five of the Arab League's 22 members sending their top diplomats and even the bloc's secretary general staying away. The snub underlines Arab divisions over the...
Egypt: Under pressure from striking lawyers, regime releases jailed attorneys
Members of the Egyptian Bar Association on Sunday called off a days-long strike held in protest against the jailing of six colleagues, a statement said. The association had announced Thursday an open-ended strike to condemn their colleagues' sentencing to two years in...
Egyptian regime releases businessmen Safwan and Seif El-Dine Thabet after 2 years in pretrial detention
Two leading Egyptian businessmen have been released after some two years in pretrial detention on terrorism-related charges, their family said Saturday. "My father Safwan Thabet and my brother Seif el-Din Thabet are with us," Safwan's daughter Mariam wrote on social...
Egyptian lawyers go on strike in solidarity with jailed colleagues
The Egyptian Bar Association announced Thursday an "unlimited" strike to condemn the imprisonment of six colleagues for a court brawl with three clerks earlier this month. "We are immediately suspending all of our activities, we will stop appearing before the courts...
Egypt: Businessman and fledgling actor Mohamed Ali gets life sentence in absentia for anti-Sisi campaign
An Egyptian military court on Sunday sentenced in absentia a Spain-based critic of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to life in prison over calls for anti-government protests, state media reported. Mohamed Ali, a construction contractor and fledged actor, burst onto...
Egypt faces major risks this year as economy continues to fall apart
“Chicken feet are good for you…” The Egyptian pound traded Wednesday at half its value from March after the central bank intervened for a third time as part of an International Monetary Fund loan agreement. The devaluation, representing a drop of around 50 percent...
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