Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Pope Francis denounced “demagogic populism” on Friday and insisted that violence profanes God’s name, in a wide-ranging speech as he visited Egypt to push for tolerance. “Peace alone… is holy and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would …
Read More »Pope and Egypt’s Coptic patriarch pray at IS-bombed church
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | In a Cairo church bombed by the Islamic State group just months ago, Pope Francis and the Coptic Orthodox patriarch sat side by side Friday and prayed near tangible reminders of the horrific attack. The emotional mass came as the Catholic pontiff visits Egypt to …
Read More »Security tightened as Pope Francis heads for Egypt as ‘pilgrim of peace’
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Pope Francis flies to Egypt Friday for a visit aimed at fostering reconciliation with the Muslim world against the backdrop of recent jihadist attacks on the Middle East’s biggest Christian community. The 80-year-old pontiff is due in Cairo around 1400 (1200 GMT) and his 27 …
Read More »Egypt arrests church bombings suspect
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptian police on Tuesday arrested a man wanted for alleged involvement in twin church bombings this month claimed by the Islamic State group, an official said. Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Ali Mahmoud Mohamed Hassan, one of 19 suspects whose names police made public …
Read More »Egypt’s Sisi declares war on corruption
Sisi starts crack down as Egypt faces uphill battle against corruption Cairo, Egypt | AFP | When Egyptian real estate developer Hassan tried building an apartment block without paying bribes, officials stalled the project, going so far as to suggest there were ancient relics beneath the lot. Hassan buckled and …
Read More »Egypt’s Sisi declares three-month state of emergency
State of emergency in Egypt after IS church bombings kill 44 Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced a three-month state of emergency following twin church bombings by the Islamic State group that killed dozens on Palm Sunday, the deadliest attacks on the minority in recent …
Read More »Palm Sunday church bombing kills 22 in Egypt
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | A bomb blast at a church north of Cairo killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens who had gathered for Palm Sunday mass, officials said, in the latest apparent attack on Egypt’s Coptic Christians. Some 71 people were wounded in the blast, which struck …
Read More »Egypt asks for more time to consult in River Nile water disagreement
The extraordinary Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) meeting in Entebbe has rejected demands by Egypt for greater control of activities related to the flow of the river Nile. Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Sudan were unanimous on Monday in seeking a revision of proposals that Egypt, led by …
Read More »Egypts Hosni Mubarak is now a free man
Ousted Egypt president Mubarak freed from detention: lawyer Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak left a military hospital on Friday where he had spent much of his six-year detention, his lawyer said. Mubarak had been cleared for release earlier this month after a top court finally …
Read More »Pope Francis to visit Egypt on April 28-29
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis will visit Cairo on April 28-29 at the invitation of the Egyptian president and the grand imam of the capital’s famed Al-Azhar mosque, the Vatican said Saturday. The pontiff had hosted the grand imam, Ahmed al-Tayeb, at the Vatican last May, …
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