[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Egypt and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Egypt Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week's roundup to egypt@jadaliyya.com by Sunday night of every week.]
Political Rights
Ahmed Shafiq withdraws his bid for Egypt’s presidency Mubarak-era Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq announced on Sunday that he was backing out of running in Egypt’s upcoming presidential elections.
Presidential hopeful Khaled Ali’s court appeal adjourned after alleged video evidence is inconclusive An appeal hearing for potential presidential candidate and human rights lawyer Khaled Ali concerning a verdict issued against him for “public indecency” was adjourned to 7 March on Wednesday, after video evidence against him appeared to have been manipulated.
Timeline for 2018 presidential elections to be announced on Monday The National Electoral Commission announced on Tuesday that it will release the timeline for the upcoming presidential elections on 8 January.
Sisi sends message of 'peace, love, unity' during Christmas mass at new cathedral Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi attended Christmas mass on Saturday evening – along with top officials including the ministers of interior and foreign affairs as well as army officials – at the partial opening of the new Nativity of Christ Cathedral in the new administrative capital.
Egyptian Copts express joy over new cathedral, still concerned by repeated terrorist attacks At 7:30 pm on Saturday, many Copts tuned in to TV channels to watch the soft inauguration of the New Nativity of Christ Cathedral at the New Administrative Capital.
Pope Tawadros II to lead first ever mass at Egypt's new Nativity of Christ Cathedral Pope Tawadros II of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church will lead on Saturday evening the first mass ever at the new Nativity of Christ Cathedral in the new administrative capital on the occasion of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas.
Sara Hegazy, Ahmed Alaa released on bail after 3 months in pretrial detention in ‘rainbow flag’ case Giza Criminal Court released Sara Hegazy and Ahmed Alaa on Tuesday on 1,000 LE bail each, pending further investigations into their alleged involvement in raising a rainbow flag in support of LGBTQ rights at a concert in Cairo, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression.
Trial of detainees arrested outside Alexandria courthouse adjourned to January 9 Egypt’s State Security Misdemeanor Emergency Court adjourned Tuesday’s trial session for three men detained in Alexandria following the verdicts issued against activists Mahienour al-Massry and Moatasem Medhat on Saturday.
Journalist Ismail Alexandrani referred to military prosecution after more than 2 years in pre-trial detention The State Security Prosecution referred journalist and researcher Ismail Alexandrani to the military prosecutor in mid December, after he had spent more than two years in pre-trial detention, according to lawyer Mokhtar Mounir, who learned of the referral on Saturday.
Pilot and travel agency officials ordered to be detained after death of tourist in Luxor hot air balloon crash Several figures connected to Friday’s hot air balloon crash in Luxor, which left one person dead and fifteen others injured, were ordered by the Luxor prosecutor on Saturday to be taken into detention, including the pilot of the hot air balloon and the manager and two other employees at the travel agency that arranged the flight.
Authorities execute 5 people in Borg al-Arab Prison Authorities executed four people in Borg al-Arab Prison on Tuesday convicted of carrying out a 2015 bombing, according to lawyer Ezzat Ghoneim. A fifth detainee charged in a separate criminal case, whose identity lawyers were unable to disclose, was also executed.
Military court sentences 1 to death, 4 to life in prison for attack on Niger Embassy The West Cairo Military Court sentenced one person to death and four others to life in prison in relation to an attack on the Embassy of Niger in Giza in July 2015, in which one policeman was killed.
Egypt police arrest 75 members of human trafficking ring, including government officials Egypt's Administrative Control Authority arrested on Thursday seventy-five members of a large human trafficking ring made up of Egyptian citizens – including governmental officials – and foreign nationals.
Extension of Egypt's state of emergency to be voted in parliament Monday A decree issued by President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi 2 January extending Egypt's nationwide state of emergency for further three months will be discussed and voted on in parliament Monday.
Alexandria at Risk of Being Submerged Due to Worsening Climate Change: Study Over the past fifty years, worries over climate change have been raising more concerns in regards to the future of coastal cities around the world. Today, more studies show that Egypt’s coastal city Alexandria, the second largest city, is at risk of being submerged due to rising sea levels.
Economy
Egypt paid $30 bln in external debts in 2017: CBE source Egypt repaid nearly thirty billion USD in external debt in 2017 and will pay around twelve billion USD in 2018.
Surge in foreign fund inflows sets stage for Egyptian boom: Reuters Encouraged by Egypt's economic reforms, a major gas find, streamlined business rules and a devalued currency, investors are increasingly optimistic about prospects for the North African country after years of political turmoil.
Egypt plans global petroleum and gas drilling auction for southern, Red Sea areas in 2018 Egypt is planning a 2018 global auction for petroleum and gas drilling in the country’s southern and Red Sea areas, Petroleum Minister Tarek al-Molla announced in Monday.
Egypt's Zohr: Towards self-sufficiency in gas? Egypt’s Zohr Field, the largest offshore natural gas field in the Mediterranean, started production on 16 December. It could prove to be a permanent remedy to Egypt’s power needs and bring it closer to the goal of self-sufficiency in the energy sector in 2018.
Powering Egypt: More solar solutions Three new solar power plants have started operations recently under the first round of Egypt’s feed-in tariff system. Seventeen companies have signed power purchase agreements with the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy under the second phase that ended in October 2017.
Egypt stock values back to pre-devaluation levels: Bloomberg The Egyptian market capitalization of stocks has risen to fifty billion USD for the first time since the Central Bank of Egypt devalued the Egyptian currency in November 2016, Bloomberg news agency reported on Thursday.
Foreign Relations
Egyptian state, media personalities deny authenticity of New York Times’ Jerusalem tapes The Egyptian state, three talk-show hosts and a well-known actor have denied claims by the New York Times that an Egyptian intelligence officer urged them to promote last month’s decision by the United States to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
Putin agrees to resume suspended flights between Cairo and Moscow Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a presidential decree to resume flights between Cairo and Moscow.
Egypt's FM Shoukry to attend meeting of Arab FMs in Jordan to discuss Jerusalem developments Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry will travel to Amman, Jordan on Saturday to attend a meeting of six Arab FMs to discuss the latest developments concerning the city of Jerusalem, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Egypt's Shoukry, Saudi's Al-Jubeir discuss Jerusalem, Arab national security in Amman meeting Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry met with Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir on Saturday in Jordan's capital Amman where they discussed regional and bilateral cooperation, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.
Domestic Security
4 killed in militant ambush near North Sinai capital Three security personnel and one civilian were shot to death on Thursday in a militant ambush in the Sebeika area west of Arish.
Two killed in attack on alcohol shop in Giza Two people were shot dead in front of an alcohol shop in Omraneya in the Giza governorate in the early hours of Monday as New Year’s eve celebrations were taking place.
Arabic
أرشيف القهر في ديسمبر 2017 Al Nadeem Center issued a detailed report on human rights abuses during December 2017.
"استمرار حبس الصحفي أحمد عبد العزيز.. التهمة "لا والنبي يا عبدو The Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the detention of the Egyptian journalist Ahmed Abdel Aziz for another fifteen days over charges of joining a terrorist group and launching a campaign against president Sisi.
حجب المواقع 2007.. معركة انحاز فيها القضاء للمنطق Almanassa examines the role of the state in blocking websites from 2007 to 2017.
الشركات تضغط لزيادة أسعار الأدوية.. و«الصحة» ترفض The increase in drug prices escalated tension between drug companies and the Health Ministry.
الأطباء» تخاطب الرئاسة لتعديل «التأمين الصحي».. وغضب برلماني» The members of the Health Committee in the parliament were angered by the Doctors' Union demand to the Presidency to re-discuss the Health Insurance bill, regarding this act as a bid to obstruct the implementation of the law.
التلويح بطرح 25% من «الأهرام».. والأصول تمثل عائقًا The government's Initial Public Offering program includes twenty five percent of Al-Ahram shares to eliminate the accumulated financial losses of the institution, estimated at 1.6 billion LE.
مطالب برلمانية بـ«محاكمات عسكرية» لمعتدي دور العبادة A number of MPs called on Al-Awqaf Minister to quicken the issuance of the bill on the referral of abusers of places of worship to military courts.
الداخلية» تغلق 5 صفحات تحرض على العنف والإرهاب على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي» The Interior Ministry filed 269 cases of incitement to violence and extremism perpetrated on the internet.
إعدام 19 مدنيًّا على الأقل في خلال أسبوع استنادًا إلى أحكام صادرة عن القضاء العسكري تفتقر إلى الحد الأدنى من ضمانات المحاكمة العادلة تزامنًا مع تزايد الاستهداف المسلح للمدنيين والعسكريين The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights condemned in a statement the execution of four people on Tuesday, 2 January, who were tried in case 22 of 2015 before Tanta Military Criminal Court, in the case known as “Kafr al-Sheikh Stadium”, raising the number of people executed by the Egyptian government within just one week to nineteen people — an unprecedented death toll in Egypt’s modern history.
مطالب بمراقبة بؤر «الإخوان» والإرهابيين خلال انتخابات الرئاسة The Interior Ministry is drawing up a new list of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist groups to ban them from the voter database in preparation for the 2018 presidential elections, according to security sources.
عمال مصر»: إنشاء نقابة عامة جديدة للعاملين بالمحاكم والنيابات لتضم 70 ألف عامل» The Board of Directors of Egypt's Trade Unions reviewed on Tuesday the draft regulation for the implementation of the Trade Unions Law before submitting it to the Cabinet.
الحكومة توافق على تحويل القرار الجمهورى بإنشاء مجلس مكافحة الإرهاب إلى قانون The Cabinet approved the bill on the formation of the Supreme Council to Combat Terrorism and Extremism N 355 of 2017.