Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian blogger famed for his satirical videos on YouTube and Facebook has been arrested, his family said on Monday. Shadi Abuzeid was detained at home on Sunday, his sister Rula told AFP. “Lawyers told us that Shadi was currently held by the state security …
Read More »Nile dam won’t harm Egypt, says new Ethiopian leader
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Ethiopia’s newly appointed prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, said on Thursday that the controversial dam his country is building on the Nile will not harm Egypt’s share of water supplies. Egypt relies almost totally on the Nile for irrigation and drinking water, and says it has “historic …
Read More »On his home turf in Egypt, everyone wants piece of Liverpool’s Salah
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Patriotic statements, flashy commercials and an anti-drug campaign: Mohamed Salah’s dazzling displays for Liverpool have taken the football world by storm, and on his home turf in Egypt seemingly everyone wants a piece of him. Salah has shot to stardom thanks to his goal-scoring exploits …
Read More »Three soldiers, 30 jihadists killed in Egypt’s Sinai: army
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Three soldiers and 30 jihadists have been killed in the past week in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula where the military is battling the Islamic State group, the army said Wednesday. Around 200 jihadists and at least 33 government troops have now been killed since the launch …
Read More »Jailed Egyptian photographer wins UN press freedom prize
Paris, France | AFP | Detained Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, will be awarded UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Prize, the United Nations’ cultural body said Monday. Shawkan was arrested in August 2013 as he covered deadly clashes in Cairo between security forces and supporters of ousted …
Read More »Egypt fight against IS threatens humanitarian crisis: HRW
Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | Egypt’s military operations against an affiliate of the Islamic State group in North Sinai is threatening to spark a humanitarian crisis, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. The offensive launched on February 9 “has left up to 420,000 residents in four northeastern cities in urgent …
Read More »Egypt extends state of emergency
2106, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi extended for three months from Saturday a state of emergency for the fourth time since it was first declared last year, the official gazette said. A nationwide state of emergency was first imposed in April last year after two church bombings …
Read More »Russia, Egypt resume direct flights two years after attack
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia and Egypt are to resume direct flights on Wednesday following a more than two-year hiatus after a bomb downed a Russian charter over the Sinai peninsula in 2015. Moscow officials stopped direct flights citing security concerns after the attack, in a major blow for …
Read More »Egypt’s Sisi sweeps vote with 97 percent, turnout down
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi swept to a second term with 97 percent of valid votes, official results showed Monday, dominating an election last week that saw him face no serious rivals. The head of the election authority Lasheen Ibrahim said at a press conference that …
Read More »Egypt’s Sisi wins second term with 92% of vote: state media
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected for a second term with about 92 percent of the vote, preliminary results showed on Thursday, with just over 40 percent of voters casting ballots. Twenty-five million of the 60 million registered voters, or some 41.5 percent, …
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