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Return to authoritarianism fuels anger in the Arab world
By Ezzedine Said A military coup in Sudan has dealt another blow to democracy in the Arab world, months after a power grab by the president of Tunisia, where the 2011 Arab uprisings were born. For some, the latest setbacks spell the end of the democratic experiment in...
Central African Republic’s presidential guards fire on Egyptian soldiers, wound 10
Members of the Central African Republic's presidential guard fired on Egyptian peacekeepers in capital Bangui, injuring 10 of them, the UN mission in the poor nation said Tuesday, just two weeks before the end of their mandate. The "deliberate and unspeakable attack"...
Egypt: Sisi uses Facebook to announce lifting of state of emergency
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday announced the lifting of the state of emergency in place since deadly jihadist attacks on Coptic Christian churches more than four years ago. The North African country has been under a state of emergency since April...
Lebanon: Deadly clashes in Beyrout after rally against port blast judge
By Rouba El Husseini and Hashem Osseiran: The health ministry said 32 people were wounded. Amal said three of its members were killed, while Hezbollah announced that funerals of two men and one woman would take place on Friday. A doctor at Beirut's Sahel hospital...
Disappointment in Italy after judges halt trial of Egyptian officers in murder of Giulio Regeni
By Ella Ide: The trial of four Egyptian security officers in Rome for the brutal killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni five years ago was thrown out by judges Thursday, "bitterly" disappointing his family which vowed not to give up on the case. The judges ruled...
Egypt: Looming environment disaster in the Red Sea
By Bassem Aboualabass: Standing on a boat bobbing gently in the Red Sea, Egyptian diving instructor Mohamed Abdelaziz looks on as tourists snorkel amid the brilliantly coloured corals, a natural wonder now under threat from climate change. "If they disappear, we'll...
Egypt: Sisi hosts Israeli PM Naftali Bennett
By Sarah Benhaida and Farid Farid: Israel's Naftali Bennett met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday, on the first visit to the North African country by a prime minister of the Jewish state in over a decade. Sisi was hosting Bennett in the Red Sea resort...
Egypt condemns 8 foreigners to death for smuggling heroin
A court in Egypt on Sunday sentenced eight foreigners and two Egyptians to death on charges of smuggling in over two tonnes of heroin by sea, a judicial source said. Authorities seized the drugs brought in via the Red Sea, worth around 2.5 billion pounds ($159...
Egypt: Bus crash kills dozen near Sharm El-Sheikh
Twelve people were killed on an Egyptian highway early Sunday when their bus overturned on their return from the popular Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh, medical and security sources said. Thirty-four other passengers were injured and transported to the port town of...
Egypt inks deal with Chinese Covid vaccine maker to manufacture a billion doses per year
Egypt said Wednesday it plans to manufacture one billion doses a year of China's Sinovac vaccine, claiming it would become the Middle East and Africa's "biggest vaccine producer". Under the deal with the Chinese pharmaceutical company, a factory in Cairo will produce...
International: Chaos in Lebanon
By Ibrahim Chalhoub with Hashem Osseiran in Beirut: A fuel tank explosion in Lebanon killed 28 people and injured 80 on Sunday as a crowd clamoured for petrol, authorities and medics said, the latest catastrophe to spark outrage in the crisis-hit country. The tragedy...
Egypt army says 13 jihadists killed in Sinai
Egyptian forces have killed 13 Islamist militants during clashes in the restive Sinai Peninsula, the army said. In a statement late Thursday, it said nine of its soldiers had been "killed or wounded", without indicating when the fighting had taken place. "In the...
Egyptian military accused of committing extra-judicial killings
Amnesty International called Thursday for an investigation after it said an Egyptian army video apparently showed soldiers carrying out "extrajudicial executions", including shooting a sleeping man. In the video, posted on Facebook on Sunday by the Egyptian army's...
Egypt: Intense violence in North Sinai
Egypt's military said Sunday it has killed 89 suspected insurgents in operations in North Sinai, a region where an affiliate of the Islamic State group has been active for nearly a decade. "Amid ongoing efforts in pursuing and defeating terrorist elements...during the...
Egypt: Sisi walking a risky road, announces increase in the price of bread
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Tuesday his administration is ready to raise the price of subsidised bread as part of its continued austerity push towards economic recovery. "The time has come for the price of a loaf of bread to increase from 5 piastres...
Egypt sentences 24 Muslim Brotherhood members to death
An Egyptian court on Thursday (29 July) sentenced 24 Muslim Brotherhood members to death for the killing of police officers in two separate cases, a judicial source said. The Damanhour Criminal Court, north of the capital Cairo, convicted the group of several crimes,...
Middle East: Carnage in Baghdad with dozens killed in suicide attack ahead of Eid
By Salam Faraj: Iraq was in mourning Tuesday for dozens of people killed when a bomb ripped through a crowded Baghdad market on the eve of a Muslim feast in what the Islamic State group claimed as a suicide attack. The bloody carnage Monday evening, one of the...
Under pressure, Egypt releases from prison six activists
By Mona Salem Egypt on Sunday freed six activists including journalist Esraa Abdel-Fattah, a symbol of the 2011 revolution, just days after Washington warned Cairo over a crackdown on rights activists. Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in 2014, the...
Egyptian law to punish state employees who show dissenting views
Egypt's parliament Monday authorised the dismissal of public workers listed as government opponents and "terrorists", after a string of deadly rail accidents blamed on the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, lawmakers said. The legislation stipulates that all public...
Brief: Egypt steps up penalties for sexual harassment
Egypt's parliament on Sunday passed a law toughening sentences for sexual harassment to at least five years in prison, Egyptian media outlets reported. The amendment makes sexual harassment a criminal offence, as opposed to a misdemeanour, and raises the minimum...
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