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eb798404c2c76122ef7264413168ed8a | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecb-policy/unexpected-euro-zone-slack-could-slow-inflation-rebound-ecbs-praet-idUSKCN1GS0L2 | Unexpected euro zone slack could slow inflation rebound: ECB's Praet | Unexpected euro zone slack could slow inflation rebound: ECB's Praet
By Balazs Koranyi, Frank Siebelt5 Min Read
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Europe may be regaining some of its long-lost growth potential, European Central Bank chief economist Peter Praet said, a boon for the bloc’s five-year expansion but a potential drag on already weak inflation.
European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Peter Praet speaks during an interview with Reuters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
The 19-member currency bloc may have more unexploited capacity, particularly in the labor market, which could mean that inflation might take longer to rise back to the ECB’s target of almost 2 percent, Praet, 69, told Reuters in an interview.
Having revived growth with years of stimulus, the ECB is now slowly clawing back support and investors are searching for clues about its next move after a token change in its policy language earlier this month.
Markets expect the ECB to end its 2.55 trillion euro bond purchase scheme this year and Praet’s comments suggest that policymakers will continue to take a gradualist approach, moving by small increments, fearing that abrupt moves could upset markets and unravel its efforts to keep borrowing conditions loose.
“It is clear that if you believe that the degree of slack is higher, then the process of convergence to below, but close to, 2 percent over the medium term would be drawn out,” the Belgian economist told Reuters in an interview. “Other things being equal, it would (mean a) shallower (inflation path)”.
“Mario Draghi was opening the conversation on the possibility that there may be more slack in the economy,” Praet said, referring to recent comments from the ECB President. “That still needs to be confirmed but we already have strong evidence of a strong labor supply reaction.”
More women, elderly workers and qualified labor from Central Europe coming into the market could be among the explanations for this unexpected labor supply, Praet added.
Inflation has undershot the ECB’s target for five years and will continue to miss it at least through the end of the decade, a risk to the ECB’s credibility as price stability is the bank’s singular objective.
While Praet said the debate was open about this slack, it would explain why growth and employment continue to surprise on the upside and inflation on the downside, seemingly contradicting a long-proven interaction between jobs and price growth.
Launched three years ago, the ECB’s bond purchase scheme is set to run until the end of September at 30 billion euros per month, already well below peak purchases at 80 billion euros.
‘WELL PAST’
Related CoverageReuters interview with ECB chief economist Praet
Even if slack is bigger, the ECB is seeing an improvement in the path of inflation so the bank will eventually need to provide more much more clarity on its interest rate path, Praet argued.
The ECB’s guidance now stipulates that rates will stay at their current level until ‘well past’ the end of asset buys, a clause that will lose its potency as that point approaches.
“Markets quantify the ‘well past’ interval as ‘up to next spring’,” Praet said. “Once you stop net asset purchases the signaling aspect of the asset purchase program disappears and you therefore have to be much more precise about the future path of the short term rates.”
“As we move forward in time, as is natural, the relative importance of the three policy tools will change, and the main tool for shaping the policy stance will become the path of our key interest rates and the forward guidance about their likely evolution,” Praet said.
“As in the past, we will ensure that monetary policy controls the short end of the yield curve.”
The bank’s key deposit rate stands at -0.4 percent and markets see the first rate hike next spring with the rate moving to zero by the end of 2019.
“Market prices seem to be coherent with the narrowing of the gap between market-based inflation expectations and our objective. It’s a good sign. There is a convergence between market expectations and our intended end date, with the optionality,” he said.
The ECB earlier flagged a discussion about a new policy guidance and Praet argued that openly discussing life after bond buys is already a signal about such an exercise.
“The fact that the two of us are talking about this now is already very telling,” Praet said. “I would not revise the guidance too early, because that could send wrong signals about the end of our net asset purchases, which in any case are intended to run until the Governing Council sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation.”
But he said the ECB has time to take its decision on the guidance and the future of bond buys so it can still examine incoming data.
“We will proceed at a gradual pace, or a measured pace,” he said.
Weighing in on the topic of whether the ECB should end the bond buys in a single step or wind it down over several months, Praet said markets expect no cliff edge from the bank.
“Markets expect us to avoid cliff effects,” he said. “So people can judge what is coherent with a notion of prudence and could conclude that we will gradually bring net asset purchases to an end once the Governing Council sees a sustained adjustment path. I think it is well understood by the market.”
Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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6347a7f88313ddc5e54ccca2038ec45b | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecb-trichet-sb-idUSTRE52T4F920090330 | ECB's Trichet at European Parliament | ECB's Trichet at European Parliament
By Reuters Staff5 Min Read
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The following are comments by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet during his testimony on Monday at an economic committee of the European Parliament.
On forecasts:
“All international institutions are reviewing economic forecasts.”
“We are clearly in a world which remains uncertain.”
“And then growth in 2010 depends on us. And it depends on our capacity to reintroduce confidence.”
Corporate bonds:
“On corporate bonds -- we will see what we decide, and if and when we decide, we will go public.”
On policy implementation:
“We all have the same goal, the goal is to have growth and jobs. The questions is what do you do.”
“I don’t think it is justified to say we are doing less on this side of the Atlantic. We have automatic stabilizers.”
“The masterword is implementation, execution (of economic stimulus). We have to deliver now, and it’s true also for public spending.”
On forex, reserve currencies:
“I continue to refer to the agreed statement of the G7, which I signed, which on this extremely important issue says that we reaffirm our shared interest in a strong and stable international financial system, that excess volatility and disorderly moves in exchange rates have adverse implications for economic and financial stability. I stick to that, it is what has been signed by the governors, my friend Ben Bernanke and the other governors and the ministers that participated in this meeting.”
“I have noted with great, great interest that on the occasion of the last declaration, statements, Tim Geithner said a strong dollar was in America’s national interest and President Obama said ... there is no need for a global currency.”
“These are very, very important statements and I would not envisage anything else in the present circumstances, which are extraordinarily touchy and extraordinarily demanding.”
On implementing decisions:
“What is necessary now is not to pile up new decisions, new avenues, but to execute and implement what has been decided.”
On adopting euro:
“The adoption of the euro cannot be a substitute for the need of domestic policy adjustment.”
“And it is important to bear in mind that the premature adoption of the euro can make it more difficult for a country to cope with the challenges ahead.”
“Without sustainable convergence, the monetary policy stance of the ECB would be inappropriate for the country concerned.”
“In this case, the country in question could face the risk of excessive output and inflation volatility, as it would lack important tools to stabilize economic conditions at home.
“Thus, euro adoption cannot take place until major imbalances in the country have been eliminated and provided appropriate sustainable convergence has been achieved as required by the (EU) treaty.”
On price stability, liquidity:
“Overall, we expect price stability to be maintained over the medium term. We will continue to deliver on our mandate and ensure the firm anchoring of inflation expectations over longer-term horizons.”
“Let me recall that the ECB has adjusted its liquidity management framework in order to counter the dysfunctional nature of the euro area money market.”
“We have provided the euro banking system with unlimited liquidity support at fixed rates with maturities up to six months.”
On housing finance, central and eastern Europe:
“Housing finance in the euro area should be more resilient to shocks.”
“Some eastern and central European countries have been hit hard, thus highlighting previous vulnerabilities.”
“These weaknesses relate in particular to domestic and external imbalances, external and domestic debt positions.”
“However, it is very important to differentiate between various countries in the region.”
“A number of countries have shown a significant degree of resilience.”
“The crisis has highlighted the importance of avoiding macroeconomic imbalances.”
On economic outlook, inflation:
“Latest information suggests economic activity has deteriorated further in the first quarter of 2009. Looking ahead, we expect demand to remain very weak throughout 2009, both at the global level and in the euro area, before gradually recovering in the course of 2010. As in the case for inflation, this outlook remains surrounded by uncertainty.”
“Since my appearance before the European Parliament on January 21, the economic situation and outlook have weakened further.”
“Inflationary pressures have diminished further.”
“Looking ahead, we expect the inflation rate to remain well below 2 percent for this year and 2010.”
“The risks to this outlook are broadly balanced.”
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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f92e0205beaaf8fb27f35c53d7d877c2 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecb-vasle/ecbs-vasle-urges-fiscal-policy-action-to-boost-economy-idUSKBN1WZ08W | ECB's Vasle urges fiscal policy action to boost economy | ECB's Vasle urges fiscal policy action to boost economy
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - The current challenging global economic conditions demand broad macroeconomic policy actions in the euro zone and not just monetary policy actions, ECB Governing Council member Bostjan Vasle said on Sunday.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the European Central Bank outside its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, April 26, 2018. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
Vasle, who is also the governor of the Bank of Slovenia, issued a statement after he attended the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank meeting.
He said the IMF believed there were significant risks for a faster slowdown of global economic growth than expected so far.
These include trade conflicts, uncertainties regarding Brexit and slower economic growth in China.
He said present economic conditions indicate there will be a longer period of low interest rates, high liquidity and lax conditions of financing.
“The behavior of participants of financial markets in a longer period of such conditions can reduce financial stability of some countries and with that the whole of the euro zone,” the statement said.
Vasle’s statement said too high valuations in financial markets could lead to “sudden worsening of financing conditions and worse macroeconomic situation particularly in financially vulnerable countries.”
He pointed out the IMF highlighted that pension groups and insurers were more vulnerable due to low yields amid low interest rates.
He said banks were also spreading their activities into more risky areas which is why the Bank of Slovenia recently imposed restriction on banks’ loans to consumers.
Vasle said that the IMF was urging the euro zone countries with fiscal capacity to ease fiscal policy and stimulate economic growth with the help of public investments while countries with limited fiscal capacity should introduce gradual fiscal consolidation and reforms that would improve growth potential, including labor market reforms.
“Similar to the ECB, the IMF also stressed that to increase low inflation in the euro zone there was a need for other policy actions, not just the monetary policy,” the statement said.
Reporting By Marja Novak. Editing by Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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9e62473a51658356f29d41c3508023cb | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecb-weidmann-deflation-idUSKCN0VX1OS | Bundesbank chief warns of zero-rate impact on banks | Bundesbank chief warns of zero-rate impact on banks
By John O’Donnell3 Min Read
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Bank profits will shrink if rock-bottom interest rates stay in place for too long, the head of Germany’s central bank warned on Wednesday, signaling that he favors an eventual change in tack.
German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann adddresses the European Banking Congress at the Old Opera house in Frankfurt, Germany November 20, 2015. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
The remarks from the Bundesbank's influential president, Jens Weidmann, illustrate how seriously Germany is taking the fallout from years of low borrowing rates after a recent crash in bank stocks sucked in the country's flagship Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE .
“The low interest-rate environment particularly weighs on banks’ earnings potential,” Weidmann told journalists, referring to the market slump.
“The longer the low-interest-rate phase stays, the steeper interest rates fall, the ... smaller banks’ profit,” said Weidmann, who also sits on the European Central Bank’s decision-taking Governing Council.
Early next month, ECB governors will meet to decide whether to loosen monetary policy further, for instance, by extending a 1.5 trillion euro money printing scheme to buy government bonds or by cutting interest rates further.
A cut to the deposit rate, which translates into a charge on banks that park money with the ECB, would penalize banks.
Weidmann referred to a survey of German banks that concluded they would see pre-tax profits shrivel by 25 percent by 2019 as a result.
Should low interest rates remain in place until 2019, he said, profits could fall by up to half. Further cuts to borrowing rates during this time would make their results worse still.
The former adviser to German chancellor Angela Merkel, saying that he hoped interest rates would eventually rise again, played down any threat of deflation or falling prices and predicted that a modest economic recovery would continue.
Falling price inflation is generally considered an economic alarm bell and is typically used as a trigger for ECB action. In talking down such a problem, Weidmann is also playing down the need for any action.
He also voiced scepticism about the proposal to scrap the 500-euro note, saying that Germans still wanted to be free to pay in cash.
“It would be fatal if the impression were to be created ... that the discussion about the scrapping of the 500-euro note ... was a step towards ending the use of cash generally.”
Reporting by John O’Donnell; Editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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bc4be4e2ea08f7102acc7c7449d51b7f | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecigarettes-teens-tricks-insight/as-youth-vaping-rises-teens-cite-the-allure-of-tricks-idUSKBN0NM49020150501 | As youth vaping rises, teens cite the allure of tricks | As youth vaping rises, teens cite the allure of tricks
By Jilian Mincer6 Min Read
NEW YORK (Reuters) - On a recent morning, Roger Tarazon and several friends gathered a few blocks from their Queens, New York high school. Some smoked traditional cigarettes, but Tarazon and a few others puffed on electronic vaping devices.
A man uses an E-cigarette, an electronic substitute in the form of a rod, slightly longer than a normal cigarette, in this illustration picture taken in Paris, March 5, 2013. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
“Sometimes I use it to relax,” the 18-year-old senior said of the device. He also uses it to perform tricks with the vapor, blowing smoke rings or creating funnels of smoke that look like miniature tornadoes.
“I don’t do it to show off,” he said. “I just do them because I’m bored.”
Tarazon’s embrace of such tricks reflects a growing trend among U.S. teenagers, whose use of e-cigarettes tripled in the last year alone. New research provided to Reuters has found that performing tricks is one of the top two reasons young users say they consider the devices cool.
Public health officials have warned for several years of the attraction of flavored nicotine liquid to teens and tweens, and have urged regulators to ban them. Consumers have a wide range of flavor choices, including menthol, single-malt scotch, cappuccino and pomegranate.
But the role of tricks in enticing young people to use e-cigarettes has not previously been explored. Now researchers are asking whether they could help hook a new generation who otherwise would not have used nicotine.
“We expected the flavors were attractive,” said Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, a psychiatry professor at the Yale School of Medicine. “But smoke tricks were a surprise to us.”
Krishnan-Sarin and her team, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, asked 5,400 Connecticut teens to identify what they found “cool about e-cigarettes?”
The top two answers were: the flavors of the vaping liquids, and the “ability to do tricks.”
Electronic devices produce much more vapor, especially when adjusted to operate at high temperatures, than conventional cigarettes, which helps facilitate the vapor tricks. Teen interest in performing them comes as “cloud competitions,” are increasing in popularity.
The contests, in which adult vapers, as they call themsleves, compete to perform the best tricks and create the biggest and densest vapor clouds, are becoming a regular feature at local vape shops. Some regional competitions offer thousands of dollars in prize money.
Thousands of videos demonstrating expert vaping and how to perform tricks have been posted on YouTube and Instagram. “Even if (teenagers) don’t attend these events they are exposed to a lot of these issues,” Krishnan-Sarin said.
ALARM OVER TEEN USE
E-cigarette use by U.S. tweens and teens tripled in 2014 to 13.4 percent from 4.5 percent in 2013, according to data released in April by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall tobacco use during that period dropped to 9.2 percent from 12.7 percent. For a graphic, see: link.reuters.com/fes54w
The data prompted new alarm among public health advocates, who urged the Obama administration to quickly finalize proposed rules that will allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate e-cigarettes for the first time.
Using e-cigarettes is considered less risky than smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes, which increase the likelihood of lung cancer and other disease. But several studies have found that heating the liquids used in electronic devices to very high temperatures could release formaldehyde, a carcinogen.
“If you don’t smoke, if you don’t use tobacco products, there is no reason to experiment with electronic cigarettes,” said Maciej L. Goniewicz, a professor at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, who has done some of the formaldehyde research.
Tarazon and other teens said their favorite tricks include something called the “dragon,” in which vapor is exhaled from both nostrils and sides of their mouth. They learn the tricks from each other or by watching online videos with demonstrations set to popular music.
Many are of cloud competitions, which started on the West Coast a few years ago but are now popular nationwide. The majority are low-key events at vape shops where winners typically are awarded devices or gift cards.
But there are also beginning to be far more serious competitions. The Vape Capitol Cloud Championship, for example, will offer $10,000 for the Biggest Cloud and the best Vape Tricks.
The competitors – mostly men in their 20s and 30s - train to increase their lung capacity by blowing up balloons and by using diving equipment and plastic breathing devices typically used after surgery. The events bar minors from competing, and often from attending, too, though there is no law prohibiting them from being part of the audience.
“We’re aware that there is a niche group that enjoys participating in vaper competitions,” said Phil Daman, president of the Smoke-Free Alternative Trade Association. “Any use of these products should be strictly limited to adults.”
Chris Esker, at Fogwind Vapor in Effingham, Illinois said he’d rather not have minors attend the store’s events, but he can’t prevent parents from bringing their kids.
Esker converted his T-shirt store into a vape shop about a year ago. Sales have been so strong that he hopes to open this year two more stores.
“There are kids doing back flips on dirt bikes,” said Esker, who began smoking at age 12 but now vapes. “There are way worse things they can be doing.”
Reporting by Jilian Mincer; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Sue HortonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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bd3335ce145d1e4abc90d399ecfa2963 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-economy-poll-latam-idUSKCN0US1SA20160114 | Latin America to host worst global recessions this year: poll | Latin America to host worst global recessions this year: poll
By Silvio Cascione5 Min Read
BRASILIA (Reuters) - The worst recessions in the world this year will take place in Latin America, with little room for policymakers to try and avoid them as global commodity prices flounder, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
Economists slashed growth forecasts for most of the region in a survey conducted Jan. 8-13 compared with an October poll. They also forecast more interest rate hikes in what is set to be another volatile year for markets from Sao Paulo to Mexico City.
Venezuela, with an expected catastrophic economic contraction of 4.8 percent in 2016, and Brazil, set to shrink 2.8 percent, had the weakest outlook by far among all seven Latin American countries covered in the global poll.
The intensity of Brazil’s downturn, with no parallel in the country’s history, has sent the government of President Dilma Rousseff to the brink of collapse and shocked investors who had poured funds into the world’s seventh-largest economy until very recently.
“Instead of a budget surplus, Brazil had a deficit. The recession, started almost a year ago, only deepened,” said José Francisco de Lima Gonçalves, chief economist at Banco Fator.
“Rating downgrades were the inevitable consequence of the trends in place, and of promising the impossible.”
Other Latin American countries are in for another tough year as their economies struggle with weak Chinese demand for their raw materials.
Growth forecasts for Chile, Colombia and Peru, exporters of metals and oil, were revised lower, and yet there were no expectations for any monetary stimulus from central banks as a historic drop in their currencies has kept inflation above the official targets.
In 2016, Chile is forecast to grow 2.4 percent, Peru 3.5 percent, and Colombia 2.6 percent.
“Colombia is in a much more fragile position than a year ago, more vulnerable to external shocks and without as many policy tools,” Credit Suisse economist Juan Lorenzo Maldonado wrote in a research report.
SOME BRIGHT SPOTS
Fiscal policy is also unlikely to provide support. Lower commodity prices have dented tax revenues, most notably in Venezuela, hit by a plunge of more than 70 percent in the price of oil over the past year and half.
Political gridlock, particularly in Brazil, has also blocked government attempts to cut a ballooning budget deficit.
Brazil’s Rousseff is likely to defeat impeachment attempts and stay in office through the end of her term in 2018, according to seven economists in the poll who responded to an extra question. They estimated the odds of Rousseff not finishing her term at 30 percent, despite the worst recession since at least 1901.
Economists forecast the national unemployment rate to rise to 11 percent this year, from 9 percent at the latest reading, and the primary budget deficit to stay at 1.0 percent in 2016 - well short of the government’s target for a surplus.
The brightest spots in Latin America were Mexico and Argentina.
Mexico’s growth has picked up to the fastest in two years in the third-quarter while inflation fell to a record low, helped by government efforts to spur competition. Mexico’s growth remained unchanged in the poll at 2.8 percent.
The wide gap between the inflation rate in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America should narrow a bit in 2016, but not totally. A recent drop in the Mexican peso should probably start to have a more meaningful impact on consumer prices, pushing the inflation rate up to 3.3 percent at end-2016.
Brazil’s inflation rate, now above 10 percent, is forecast to ease to 6.8 percent as the recession bites.
Argentina, in turn, was the only Latin American country in the poll to have its growth outlook revised higher. The small upgrade to estimated growth of 0.3 percent from 0.1 percent previously means it remains dangerously near recession.
Still, it represented market optimism with newly elected President Mauricio Macri and his liberal economic agenda after years of heavy market intervention and data rigging.
“We are convinced that there will be a significant improvement in the quality of policymaking in Argentina,” HSBC economists Javier Finkman and Jorge Morgenstern wrote in a report. “Yet investors should not underestimate the difficulties of the transition.”
Additional polling by Aaradhana Ramesh in Bengaluru, Miguel Gutierrez in Mexico City, Corina Pons in Caracas, Gabriel Burin in Buenos Aires, Ursula Scollo in Lima; Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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fa966299dec5777a6bdab7cdcd892184 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-economy-poll-usa-idUSKCN10M1FI?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28Business+News%29 | Fed to raise rates this year, likely in Dec after election: Reuters poll | Fed to raise rates this year, likely in Dec after election: Reuters poll
By Sumanta Dey, Deepti Govind3 Min Read
(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates in December, after the Nov. 8 presidential election, according to a Reuters poll that also predicted a pickup in economic growth but with still relatively subdued inflation.
A man walks past the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington, D.C., U.S. December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
That would be one full year after the last rate increase, something most Fed policymakers and private forecasters had not expected.
The poll forecast two more rises next year, taking the federal funds rate to 1.00-1.25 percent at the end of 2017.
A move in 2016 has been delayed, first on a sharp fall in global markets and then after Britain voted to leave the European Union.
But the Fed’s continued eagerness to tighten monetary policy underscores both the relative strength of the world’s largest economy as well as how tough the central bank is finding such a move.
Its peers from Europe to Asia are easing policy. New Zealand on Thursday cut interest rates to record lows, joining Australia, to stave off deflation and stem the rise in its currency. [ECILT/EZ] [ECILT/GB]
Of the 95 economists surveyed over the past week, 69 expect the federal funds target rate to rise to 0.50-0.75 percent by the fourth quarter from 0.25-0.50 percent currently. One forecast rates at 0.75-1.00 by year-end.
With a subdued inflation outlook, however, a slim majority of economists said a Fed rate hike this year would serve more as a confidence boost rather than a measure to quell pressure from rising prices.
After a weaker-than-expected 1.2 percent annualized pace of expansion in the second quarter, the U.S. economy is expected to grow 2.5 percent this quarter and slightly more than 2 percent in each quarter until the end of 2017, the poll found.
But respondents expected the core personal consumption expenditure price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, to average just 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter and stay below the central bank’s 2 percent target even at the end of 2017.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Justin Lederer said he expected one interest-rate move, in December.
“The election is one of the reasons why they can’t go sooner,” he said. “We don’t think the Fed will want to disrupt the election.”
The Fed’s November policy meeting is only days before the election. Economists gave a median probability of 58 percent of a move the next month, in December, up 8 percentage points from a poll last month.
Financial markets, however, are placing only a little more than one-in-three chance of a hike at the Dec. 14 meeting, according to data on the CME Group website.
A majority of economists said the probability of a September hike had risen after a report last week showed 255,000 new jobs were created in July and wage growth picked up pace, although that was still not their central view.
Respondents gave just a 25 percent chance of a hike for September, with only a handful of economists calling for one then.
A few banks said there would be no increase at all this year.
Polling and analysis by Vartika Sahu; Editing by Lisa Von AhnOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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2964dcf068f9d8ee4efd2dc91921202c | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-assange-plea/wikileaks-assange-convicted-of-breaking-bail-terms-at-uk-court-idUSKCN1RN1Y4 | WikiLeaks' Assange convicted of breaking bail terms at UK court | WikiLeaks' Assange convicted of breaking bail terms at UK court
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was convicted on Thursday by a London court of skipping bail in 2012 after an extradition order to Sweden over an allegation of rape.
Assange, who pleaded not guilty, will be sentenced a later date when he will face a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison for the offense.
Assange was arrested by British police and carried out of the Ecuadorean embassy earlier on Thursday after his South American hosts abruptly revoked his seven-year asylum, paving the way for his extradition to the United States.
Reporting By Alistair Smout; Editing by William SchombergOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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42e3826b660620287d5a5843738a2659 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-election-idUSKBN1601UN | Ecuador presidential election goes to runoff between leftist, ex-banker | Ecuador presidential election goes to runoff between leftist, ex-banker
By Alexandra Ulmer, Alexandra Valencia5 Min Read
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador’s presidential election will go to an April runoff between leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno and ex-banker Guillermo Lasso, the electoral body said on Tuesday, after a nail-biter first round over the weekend.
Moreno needed 40 percent of valid votes and a 10 percentage-point difference over his nearest rival to win outright. He was the clear leader of Sunday’s election, pocketing 39.21 percent of valid votes versus 28.34 percent for Lasso, with 95.3 percent of votes counted.
With the Andean country on tenterhooks and the opposition protesting for prompt results, the electoral body said the results could not change although it was waiting for all ballots to be counted before officially proclaiming a second round.
“No, it’s not possible,” electoral council president Juan Pablo Pozo told reporters, when asked if a runoff could be avoided. “But we have to wait for official results to be 100 percent.”
Opposition protesters had massed in front of the electoral council headquarters in mountainous capital Quito since Sunday to denounce what they say were fraud attempts. The government retorted they were inciting violence and urged patience.
Ecuador’s fragmented opposition is now expected to close ranks around Lasso in a runoff amid anger over an economic downturn and a series of corruption scandals, potentially ending a decade of leftist rule in Ecuador.
Should Ecuador move to the right with a second-round victory for Lasso, it would follow on the heels of Argentina, Brazil and Peru which have all swerved away from the left as a China-led commodities boom ended.
Related CoverageEcuador vote goes to April runoff between leftist, ex-banker: official
Lasso has campaigned on a platform to revive the economy, which is dependent on exports of oil, flowers and shrimp, by slashing taxes, fostering foreign investment and creating a million jobs in four years.
He has also vowed to remove Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy in London and denounce Venezuela’s Socialist government.
Some Lasso supporters honked their horns in Quito, but others were more cautious.
“We can’t celebrate until they’ve officially announced a second round,” said Maria Isabel Pino, 36, in the coastal city of Guayaquil.
LASSO VS. MORENO
Still, some disillusioned Correa supporters see Lasso as an elitist who might slash social programs, and the ruling Country Alliance remains popular with many of the country’s rural poor.
Slideshow ( 11 images )
“The second round will be tight,” said pollster Blasco Penaherrera, who has not yet run any surveys about the runoff.
Moreno, who is paraplegic since being shot during a robbery some two decades ago while he was out buying bread, on Tuesday expressed confidence he would become one of the world’s rare disabled presidents.
“Do you see me desperate? It’s because we’re going to win the elections just like we won the first round,” said Moreno, who promises support for single mothers, the elderly, and disabled Ecuadoreans.
Slideshow ( 11 images )
Many Ecuadoreans link Lasso with the 1999 banking crisis when hundreds of thousands lost their savings and many migrated to Spain or the United States.
“We don’t want a corrupt banker as president,” said Moreno supporter Tatiana Manosalvas, a 45 year-old taxi driver.
“We can’t return to our history of instability when the richest stole our money with impunity.”
Lasso has defended himself by saying the bank he ran for almost 20 years, Banco de Guayaquil, was solid and survived the meltdown. He says it is Ecuador’s leftist government that is hiding corruption behind a false rhetoric of helping the poor.
Bribery scandals at state oil company Petroecuador and Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht are indeed weighing on the ruling party.
A fugitive former oil minister regularly accuses Moreno’s running mate Jorge Glas, the former head of Strategic Sectors, of being “the ringleader” of a graft operation at Petroecuador. Glas has denied the accusations.
Under pressure, Moreno has vowed “major surgery” to remove malfeasance and Glas has kept a low profile towards the end of the campaign. But corruption is now one of the top issues for Ecuadoreans alongside the economy and jobs.
And after a decade of governance by mercurial president Rafael Correa, many in the country of 16 million say they are also tired of his confrontational style and alliances with Cuba and Venezuela.
“This has to end, it’s ended in Argentina, now it will end in Ecuador, and next up is Venezuela,” said student Carlos Vallarino, 24, who voted for Lasso.
Additional reporting by Yury Garcia, Jose Llangari, Diego Ore and Andrew Cawthorne; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by James Dalgleish and Phil BerlowitzOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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7438b69be519d1ce2082cb269c2fd53b | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-oil-yasuni-idUKKCN11D2SQ?edition-redirect=uk | Ecuador begins drilling for oil in pristine corner of Amazon | Ecuador begins drilling for oil in pristine corner of Amazon
By Jose Llangari3 Min Read
TIPUTINI, Ecuador (Reuters) - Ecuador began drilling for oil on Wednesday near an Amazon nature reserve known as Yasuni, a site that President Rafael Correa had previously sought to protect from development and pollution under a pioneering conservation plan.
Slideshow ( 9 images )
Correa in 2007 asked wealthy countries to donate $3.6 billion to offset revenue lost by not drilling in the Yasuni National Park. But the initiative was scrapped in 2013 after it brought in less than 4 percent of the amount requested.
Correa’s government blamed the international community for the failure of a plan once seen as a possible model for other developing countries seeking to resist the lure of oil money.
Wednesday’s drilling by the state oil company Petroamazonas began in the ITT (Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini) block at Tiputini, which is just outside Yasuni. Ishpingo and Tambococha are within the Yasuni reserve itself.
Correra has said previously that drilling would affect less than 1 percent of the reserve.
“It’s the start of a new era for Ecuadorean oil,” said Vice President Jorge Glas after a tour of the site on Wednesday.
“In this new era, first comes care for the environment and second responsibility for the communities and the economy, for the Ecuadorean people,” he told reporters, adding that the cost of production was less than $12 per barrel.
Ecuador is OPEC’s smallest member and has suffered heavily from the fall in oil prices. Around half its income comes from oil, according to the World Bank.
It is also one of the world’s most biodiverse nations, boasting Amazon rainforest, Andean mountains and the Galapagos Islands.
The end of Ecuador’s conservation initiative for the eastern Yasuni, a vast swath of rainforest on the equator, drew outrage from environmentalists when it was first announced.
“This is the worst imaginable place to be drilling for oil. The world can simply not afford to lose a place like Yasuni,” said Kevin Koenig, Ecuador program director at Amazon Watch, in a statement.
About 1.67 billion barrels of oil lie under Yasuni’s soil.
With output from the Tiputini field, Ecuador’s oil production will rise to some 570,000 barrels per day (bpd) from a current level of about 550,000 bpd, government officials say.
Additional reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Girish Gupta; Editing by Tom BrownOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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38e0592600a682542c97cceb9da16cec | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-protests/ecuador-national-strike-raises-pressure-on-defiant-moreno-idUSKBN1WO1NS | Ecuadorean protesters raise heat on defiant Moreno, police crack down | Ecuadorean protesters raise heat on defiant Moreno, police crack down
By Alexandra Valencia, Mitra Taj6 Min Read
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean security forces cracked down on protesters in a massive national strike on Wednesday as President Lenin Moreno stuck by austerity measures that have triggered the worst unrest in a decade.
In Latin America’s latest flare-up over unpopular structural economic reforms, protests cleared many streets of traffic, while schools closed and businesses shuttered from the highland capital Quito to coastal city Guayaquil.
The indigenous-led demonstrations were mostly peaceful, but clashes erupted in several parts of Quito and other cities, with masked youth throwing rocks and police firing tear gas.
Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo apologized to the country after police fired tear gas near two universities and a cultural center in Quito where safe areas for protesters had been set up.
“They were after a group of protesters but in no way is this admissible. I’m sorry,” Romo said in a televised press conference after video of the incidents sparked criticism on social media. “This is not going to happen again.”
The protests first erupted in the Andean nation of 17 million people a week ago when Moreno cut fuel subsidies here as part of a package of measures in line with a $4.2 billion IMF loan.
“What the government has done is reward the big banks, the capitalists, and punish poor Ecuadoreans,” said Mesias Tatamuez, head of the Workers’ United Front umbrella union.
The main indigenous group CONAIE, which has mobilized several thousands members to Quito from outlying areas, demanded Romo step down and said the government was behaving like a “military dictatorship” by declaring a state of emergency and setting an overnight curfew.
Protesters barricaded roads in various parts of Ecuador from Wednesday morning with debris, while security forces blocked a major bridge in Guayaquil to thwart them.
Related CoverageEcuador's streets rumble with indigenous wrathEcuador halts major oil pipeline due to protests, eyes force majeure
Moreno, 66, who succeeded leftist leader Rafael Correa in 2017, has relocated his government base to Guayaquil where there has been less trouble than in Quito.
The demonstrators’ main demand is the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy cut, which has sent transport and food prices soaring, though some were also urging Moreno to quit.
“I don’t see why I should if I’m making the right decisions,” Moreno said late on Tuesday, arguing Ecuador’s large debt and fiscal deficit necessitated belt-tightening reforms.
For seven days, protesters have been marching and barricading roads with burning tires, while police in armored vehicles have responded with water cannon and gas.
“Moreno out!” and “Police murderers!”, demonstrators shouted on Wednesday.
JAILBREAK
The unrest was the second major challenge to a South American leader this year over opposition to the IMF. Argentine President Mauricio Macri was trounced in an August primary vote amid stiff opposition to an IMF deal he signed last year.
Authorities in Ecuador have arrested more than 700 people in a week of unrest. Some 86 police and 360 civilians have been wounded in the unrest so far, Romo said.
Slideshow ( 35 images )
One man died after he was hit by a car and an ambulance could not reach him amid the chaos, while another two people fell off a bridge during protests, with some unconfirmed reports that they died.
Amid the chaos, prisoners escaped from a jail in Manabi province, though officials said they were being rounded up.
Oil Minister Carlos Perez said the OPEC member nation had lost 232,000 barrels of production from the unrest, worth more than $12.5 million, after protesters entered some fields.
State firm Petroecuador, which normally transports 360,000 barrels per day to the Pacific Coast, halted its Trans-Ecuadorean Pipeline System (SOTE) and declared force majeure on international contracts.
Slideshow ( 35 images )
Ecuador's debt sold off. The March 2022 bond EC145851467= was down nearly 6 cents to its lowest since February, its yield briefly topping 9% for the first time in eight months.
Moreno said he hoped dialogue could help end the dispute, promising measures to offset prices rises, including extra welfare benefits for the poor and credits for farmers.
The United Nations said it had held preliminary meetings with some social organizations at the request of the government, but stressed that they were not negotiations.
“If all actors are willing, the United Nations System is willing to collaborate as a facilitator,” it said on Wednesday.
Some relief for Moreno’s government came for the government in Guayaquil, where thousands dressed in white held a “peace march”, outnumbering protesters scuffling with police and soldiers elsewhere.
Moreno has accused former friend, mentor and boss Correa of seeking a coup with the help of fellow socialist President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. But no evidence has been given.
Moreno had enthusiastically backed Correa during his decade-long rule, serving as his vice-president, but broke with him after winning election and moved economic policies to the right.
From Belgium where he lives, Correa has been applauding the demonstrators but scoffed at accusations of seeking a coup. Maduro, himself immersed in economic crisis in Venezuela, also denied involvement in Ecuador.
Moreno has support from the business elite and the military appears to remain loyal, but his popularity is less than half of what it was two years ago and he knows that indigenous protests helped topple three presidents before Correa.
“I don’t want him to quit,” said printer and father-of-eight Luis Calvopina, 53. “But I do want him to reverse this stupidity.”
Reporting by Alexandra Valencia, Mitra Taj, Carlos Garcia Rawlins and Jose Llangari in Quito, Yury Garcia in Guayaquil, Rodrigo Campos in New York; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Tom Brown & Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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e293d062334d14b0e9fcafdcbdb2577d | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-protests/ecuadors-moreno-announces-tax-reform-after-rolling-back-fuel-price-hike-idUSKBN1WX2R5 | Ecuador's Moreno announces tax reform after rolling back fuel price hike | Ecuador's Moreno announces tax reform after rolling back fuel price hike
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno on Friday proposed a new tax on corporations and a simplification of the tax system to improve government finances after a plan to eliminate fuel subsidies was met with violent demonstrations.
FILE PHOTO: Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno visits areas affected by protests, in Quito, Ecuador October 17, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Romero
Indigenous protesters led almost two weeks of demonstrations after Moreno announced he would eliminate decades-old subsidies on diesel and gasoline. He walked back the measure and promised dialogue to find different ways to close the fiscal deficit.
“Today a tax reform proposal was sent to the legislature ... We will not raise the Value Added Tax,” Moreno said in a televised address.
“We will ask those who have more to pay more.”
The proposal includes a new tax on companies with annual revenue of more than $1 million, which he said would raise about $532 million over three years.
Citizens with annual income above $100,000 will not be able to deduct personal expenses from their income tax. The plan also includes a tax on plastic bags and electronic cigarettes.
The measures will need congressional approval.
The tax reform proposal had been part of a broad agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for about $4.2 billion in financing that had also included changes to labor regulations.
Moreno said the plan would provide incentives for small and medium exporters, as well as aid for companies affected by looting and damage during the protests.
The president said he will continue with the dialogue to define a new scheme for fuel subsidies, which according to official data cost about $1.4 billion per year.
“The new decree must contain a fuel subsidy policy, a policy that is fair, efficient and protects the poorest and that allocates a good part of the resources for its benefit,” he added.
Reporting by Alexandra Valencia and Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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dd23c516a355a9a4b230badf95a08ced | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-protests/protest-leaders-in-ecuador-accept-talks-with-government-president-imposes-quito-curfew-idUSKBN1WR0JA | Talks on austerity emerge from unrest in Ecuador as capital on lockdown | Talks on austerity emerge from unrest in Ecuador as capital on lockdown
By Alexandra Valencia, Mitra Taj4 Min Read
QUITO (Reuters) - An indigenous group in Ecuador behind mass protests against cuts to fuel subsidies agreed to hold talks with President Lenin Moreno, who ordered a curfew in the capital on Saturday after the latest wave of violence in the city.
The announcement by the group, Conaie, was the first sign of a possible breakthrough in a dispute that has sparked national security concerns and cast doubt on Moreno’s ability to carry out an austerity plan that is still in early stages.
But the group was angered by Moreno’s decision to impose a military-enforced curfew in Quito and surrounding valleys shortly after it signaled its willingness to talk. He also ordered the armed forces to restore order nationwide, blaming unrest on extremists he said had infiltrated protests.
Conaie - an umbrella organization of indigenous groups across Ecuador - stopped short of calling off talks and said its members would continue to protest.
“There’s no real dialogue without necessary guarantees” of physical safety, Conaie said on Twitter.
In a late-night speech to the nation, Moreno defended the curfew and thanked indigenous leaders for being open to dialogue and said together they would look at the impact of a law he passed last week that ended a decades-old fuel subsidy.
“Whoever has the disposition to talk, we’ll do it. This process has made advances and I hope to give you good news soon,” he said.
Related CoverageFIFPro calls for halt to women's football tournament in Quito amid unrestEcuador's Moreno orders military-backed curfew starting in QuitoSee more stories
He did not indicate any plans to repeal the law, which has triggered a backlash and protests that have spun out of control.
On Saturday, the tenth day of marches scheduled in Quito, police and protesters clashed amid clouds of tear gas as vandals set fire to the comptroller’s office and a TV station.
Roads to Quito’s airport were blocked and flights canceled.
Local media reported violent protests in other parts of the country, including the coastal city of Guayaquil, where Moreno has moved his government for safety reasons.
The United Nations in Ecuador, which has offered to mediate talks to end the unrest, announced late on Saturday that a first round of dialogue with indigenous groups would be held in Quito on Sunday at 3 p.m. local time (2000 GMT). It did not say if Moreno and Conaie would take part.
Slideshow ( 12 images )
PUBLIC TALKS
Earlier on Saturday, one of Conaie’s leaders told TV channel Ecuavisa that one of the group’s conditions for talks included making them public.
“We’re not going to talk behind closed doors,” Leonidas Iza said. “There has to be large screens so every bit of input from our members is heard.”
Moreno, 66, has defended his decision to slash fuel subsidies as a key part of his bid to clean up the country’s finances, after signing a $4.2 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this year.
Slideshow ( 12 images )
But the measure has pushed up prices on other products and opponents say it will hit the poor the hardest.
Protesters have taken aim at the IMF and Moreno’s turn to the right since being elected in 2017 as the left-leaning successor to Rafael Correa.
Five people have been killed in the unrest since it began on Oct. 3 and nearly 1,000 wounded, according to the latest report the office of the country’s ombudsman, which monitors conflicts. More than a 1,100 people have been arrested.
It was unclear what impact the curfew had after it went into effect at 3pm (20:00pm GMT) on Saturday. In his late-night message, Moreno said it had yielded “tangible” results.
“We’ve recovered calm in a good part of the city,” Moreno told Ecuadoreans.
Shuttered inside for several hours, many residents of the city of more than 2 million people banged on pots at night on their roofs in a collective call for peace.
Reporting By Alexandra Valencia and Alberto Fajardo, Additional Reporting and Writing By Mitra Taj; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Grant McCool and Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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d9bf57e8ac77b29ec6ac6da24d50a6ca | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-quake-idUSKCN0XK0GQ | Death toll from Ecuador earthquake surpasses 650 | Death toll from Ecuador earthquake surpasses 650
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
Slideshow ( 5 images )
QUITO (Reuters) - The death toll from Ecuador’s devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake last week has risen to 654 people, the country’s emergency management authority said on Saturday.
Last Saturday’s quake, the worst in nearly seven decades, injured around 16,600 people and left 58 missing along the country’s ravaged Pacific coast. One hundred and thirteen people were rescued from damaged buildings.
“These have been sad days for the homeland,” President Rafael Correa said during his weekly television broadcast earlier on Saturday. “The country is in crisis.”
Several strong tremors and more than 700 aftershocks have continued to shake the country since the major quake, sparking momentary panic but little additional damage. Tremors are expected to continue for several weeks.
With close to 7,000 buildings destroyed, more than 25,000 people were living in shelters. Some 14,000 security personnel were keeping order in quake-hit areas, with only sporadic looting reported.
Survivors in the quake zone were receiving food, water and medicine from the government and scores of foreign aid workers, although Correa has acknowledged that bad roads delayed aid reaching some communities.
Correa’s leftist government, facing mammoth rebuilding at a time of greatly reduced oil revenues for the OPEC country, has said it would temporarily increase some taxes, offer assets for sale and possibly issue bonds abroad to fund reconstruction. Congress will begin debate on the tax proposal on Tuesday.
Correa has estimated damage at $2 billion to $3 billion. Lower oil revenue has already left the country of 16 million people facing near-zero growth and lower investment.
The country’s private banking association said on Saturday its member banks would defer payments on credit cards, loans and mortgages for clients in the quake zone for three months, to help reconstruction efforts.
Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb and Diego Ore; Editing by David Evans and Bill TrottOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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0bd3b4ff7e0cc7a8f65ed5adea9493d5 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-sexual-violence-girls-trfn/americas-human-rights-court-hears-deadly-sexual-violence-case-from-ecuador-idUSKBN1ZR2W8 | Americas' human rights court hears deadly sexual violence case from Ecuador | Americas' human rights court hears deadly sexual violence case from Ecuador
By Anastasia Moloney4 Min Read
BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An Ecuadorian mother who said her 16-year-old daughter killed herself after being sexually abused by staff in school took her 18-year battle for justice to the top Americas court on Tuesday in the region’s first case of its kind.
Paola Guzman was sexually abused by a vice-principal from the age of 14 and became pregnant, and the school doctor told her he would perform an abortion if she had sex with him, her lawyers said.
The girl swallowed a toxic chemical, telling her friends on her way to school, but teachers told her to pray for forgiveness instead of getting timely medical help, they said. She died later in a hospital.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, holding a hearing in Costa Rica where it is based, will determine if Ecuador was responsible for failing to prevent and protect Guzman from sexual violence in a state school and failing to provide her with proper medical care.
It is the first time the court has considered a case involving sexual violence in a school, according to the Guzman family attorneys, and its rulings are binding.
Guzman’s mother Petita Albarracin said Ecuador did not investigate her daughter’s abuse properly and did not punish those involved.
“She was desperate ... the abuse my daughter suffered, she lived through at school,” Albarracin said, wiping away tears in an emotional testimony at the court hearing.
“The man was 65-years-old,” she said, referring to the vice-principal.
At the public hearing, prosecutors representing the Ecuadorian government acknowledged that the state did not have policies in place that would prevent such a case from occurring.
They said the state had not carried out an “adequate and effective” investigation into the case and said Ecuador was committed to implementing measures to make sure it would not happen again.
One of the three prosecutors offered Guzman’s mother a public apology on behalf of the Ecuadorian government.
In Latin America, three out of 10 students aged 13 to 15 have experienced sexual harassment in schools, according to the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF.
Guzman swallowed white phosphorus, a chemical used in weaponry, fertilizer and cleaning compounds, and died in 2002 when she was 16-years-old.
Her mother has been waging a legal battle since then, seeking to bring those responsible to justice. She also is seeking financial compensation.
Guzman’s case originally was dismissed by a court in Ecuador, prompting lawyers to turn to a regional court, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States, which rules on whether a government has violated human rights.
“Sexual harassment and violence in schools is a reality,” said lawyer Catalina Martinez, regional director for Latin America at the Center for Reproductive Rights, one of two groups representing Guzman.
“The judicial and school system treated this case as an adolescent in love. It wasn’t a relationship,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
They want the court to order Ecuador to implement measures to protect girls from sexual violence in schools.
“We need to address this with public policy, so that there are no more Paolas in the region,” Martinez said.
The court is expected to rule on the case within a year.
Reporting by Anastasia Moloney @anastasiabogota, additional reporting by Christine Murray, Editing by Katy Migiro and Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit news.trust.orgOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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b86168f1aec95a4021bf7b3ecebb74de | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-sweden-assange-idINKBN17Z0P2?edition-redirect=in | Assange lawyer asks Swedish court to tear up detention order | Assange lawyer asks Swedish court to tear up detention order
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Julian Assange’s lawyer has requested a Swedish court rescind a detention order against the WikiLeaks founder over an alleged rape and allow him to go to Ecuador to be safe from extradition to the United States.
FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, in central London, Britain February 5, 2016. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo
Assange, 45, has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, after taking refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of rape, which he denies.
He fears Sweden would in turn hand him over to the United States to face prosecution over WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in one of the largest information leaks in U.S. history.
Lawyer Per Samuelson said the United States had now openly said it wants to arrest Assange. “Given that the U.S. is obviously hunting him now, he has to make use of his political asylum and it is Sweden’s duty to make sure that Sweden is no longer a reason for that fact he has to stay in the embassy,” Samuelson said.
“If they rescind the detention order, there is a possibility he can go to Ecuador and then he can use political asylum in an entire country.”
CIA Director Mike Pompeo last month called WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service”, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, responding to a question about Assange, said the administration was stepping up its efforts against all leaks of sensitive information.
“Whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail,” Sessions said.
Samuelson said Sweden’s Supreme Court had previously rejected a similar request for the detention order to be torn up on the grounds that there was little chance that Assange would be handed over to the United States.
“With the Supreme Court’s own reasoning, his detention should now be rescinded because we can now prove that the U.S. is hunting Julian Assange,” he said.
He said it was unreasonable to demand that he should give up the 100 percent security of political asylum in Ecuador in exchange for the lower protection given by Swedish rules on extradition to the United States.
Samuelson said he expected the High Court to consider the request in the next few weeks.
Assange was questioned in November in Ecuador’s London embassy over the alleged rape, and Sweden is now considering whether to proceed with its preliminary investigation. The offence is alleged to have occurred in 2010.
Samuelson said Swedish prosecutors would still be able to pursue their investigation against Assange even were he to be allowed to go to Ecuador.
“If they want to charge him and go to trial, that can happen just as well with him at liberty in Ecuador since that’s the only place he can be,” Samuelson said.
“It does not mean there would be any disadvantage to Sweden.”
Reporting by Simon Johnson; Editing by Mark TrevelyanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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689027dec69111ea6f4436e35bf3a017 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-sweden-assange-idUSKCN12D0A0?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews | Ecuador moves Assange questioning to November | Ecuador moves Assange questioning to November
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks speaks via video link during a press conference on the occasion of the ten year anniversary celebration of WikiLeaks in Berlin, Germany, October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador has delayed until Nov. 14 its questioning of Julian Assange in a Swedish rape investigation, at the Wikileaks founder’s request, the prosecutor’s office of the Andean country said on Wednesday.
The questioning, led by an Ecuadorian prosecutor and originally scheduled for Monday, could help end a four-year-long deadlock since Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy.
“He made the request in a document, via the Ecuadorian ambassador in the United Kingdom, in which he sets out his reasons pertaining to protection guarantees and self-defense,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Swedish chief prosecutor Ingrid Isgren and a police investigator will be allowed to be present to ask questions through the Ecuadorian prosecutor, who will later report the findings to Sweden, the European country’s prosecutors have previously said. Swedish authorities want to question Assange, 45, over allegations that he committed rape in 2010. Assange denies the allegations.
Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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95ade9bb3e2a854711a44d61f27db82d | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-wikileaks-idUSKCN1TM06G | Ecuador judge frees Swedish programer close to Assange; probe continues | Ecuador judge frees Swedish programer close to Assange; probe continues
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Swedish software developer Ola Bini (L) sits at court in Quito, Ecuador May 2, 2019. REUTERS/Daniel Tapia
QUITO (Reuters) - An Ecuadorean judge on Thursday ordered that a Swedish citizen and personal friend of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be freed, two months after he was detained for alleged participation in a hacking attempt on the government.
But Ola Bini, a 36-year-old software developer who has lived in Ecuador for five years, remains under investigation in the case and will be barred from leaving the country, according to the court ruling.
Bini was detained in April at the Quito airport before boarding a flight to Japan, hours after Ecuador withdrew asylum for Assange, who had lived at its London embassy for almost seven years while facing spying charges related to WikLeaks’ 2010 publication of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.
Ecuador’s Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo had accused him of seeking to destabilize the Andean country’s government and compromising its national security. Bini has denied those allegations, but has acknowledged being close to Assange.
“His right to freedom was violated,” judge Patricio Vaca said, reading the Thursday court ruling. “We accept the habeas corpus action proposed by the Swedish citizen Ola Bini, who can be immediately freed.”
Bini worked at the Quito-based Center for Digital Autonomy, an organization focusing on cybersecurity and data privacy. His lawyer, Carlos Soria, told journalists on Thursday that he would ask “international courts” to determine any “prejudice” to the case that may have resulted from his arrest.
“We will take actions against everyone because the court has determined that his detention was arbitrary. Now they will have to pay,” Soria said. “We will demonstrate Ola Bini’s innocence.”
Assange is now under arrest in the United Kingdom, and an extradition hearing to decide whether he should be sent to the United States is scheduled for early next year.
Reporting by Jose Llangari; Writing by Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Luc Cohen and Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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867c580520c87c3bd2458564cbe72a2f | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-wikileaks/ecuadorean-judge-orders-swedish-citizen-close-to-assange-jailed-pending-trial-idUSKCN1RP0HA | Ecuadorean judge orders Swedish citizen close to Assange jailed pending trial | Ecuadorean judge orders Swedish citizen close to Assange jailed pending trial
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
QUITO (Reuters) - An Ecuadorean judge ordered a Swedish citizen, who according to the Andean country’s government was linked to WikiLeaks, jailed pending trial for alleged involvement in hacking government computer systems, the prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
Ola Bini, who has lived in Ecuador for five years, was detained at Quito airport on Thursday as he prepared to board a flight to Japan, after the country’s interior minister said three foreign citizens had been leaking private information related to the South American country.
That announcement came the same day Ecuador ended its asylum for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who had lived in the country’s London embassy since 2012, avoiding possible extradition to the United States, where he has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
More recently, Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno had accused WikiLeaks and Assange of violating his privacy by publishing private family photographs. WikiLeaks has denied those allegations, arguing that Moreno was attempting to deflect attention from corruption allegations against him.
Bini, a 36-year-old software developer, works at the Quito-based Center for Digital Autonomy, an organization focusing on cybersecurity and data privacy. Bini had visited Assange at the embassy some 12 times in recent years, interior minister Maria Paulo Romo said in a local television interview on Friday.
Bini’s lawyer, Carlos Soria, called the judge’s decision “incomprehensible and surprising,” and said he planned to appeal the decision, arguing that the justice system “has allowed itself to be influenced by non-judicial factors.”
“They are trying to link him with some sort of possible espionage case without any proof or evidence,” Soria told Reuters in a telephone interview. “He is a personal friend of Julian Assange, he is not a member of WikiLeaks, and being friends with somebody is not a crime - neither is having computers in your home.”
The prosecutor’s office said it had found “a large quantity” of electronic equipment and credit cards in Bini’s suitcase and during a raid of his home.
It also presented a report showing he had paid more than $230,000 for internet services between 2015 and 2019.
Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by James DalgleishOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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80d6c67f88a93f2dec2b650047246b99 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-women-abortion/big-step-but-not-enough-ecuador-debates-easing-abortion-law-in-rape-cases-idUSKCN1QM0J9 | 'Big step but not enough': Ecuador debates easing abortion law in rape cases | 'Big step but not enough': Ecuador debates easing abortion law in rape cases
By Kimberley Brown6 Min Read
QUITO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Gabriela doesn’t remember when she was raped, because she was passed out when it happened.
The 27-year-old Ecuadorian psychology student had been taking anti-depressants and sleeping pills on a regular basis. One night, when staying at a friend’s house, she took the usual combination that “makes me not feel a thing,” she said.
Her friend, a former lover who she thought she could trust, decided to take advantage.
It wasn’t until three months later when she found out she was pregnant that she realized what had happened.
“I denied it. I didn’t want to accept it, because it meant I would have to confront something horrible,” said Gabriela, who asked that her real name not be used.
When a doctor friend confirmed her pregnancy and asked what she wanted to do, she told him she wanted an abortion.
Abortions are illegal in Ecuador, except under two circumstances: if the life of the pregnant woman is at risk, or if the pregnancy is the result of the rape of a woman with mental disabilities.
Gabriela knew that if she sought an abortion she wouldn’t be able to press charges against her rapist, because the police would find out in their investigation and she could be charged and sent to prison. But she wanted a termination anyway.
“He already used and threw away my body, but I wasn’t going to give him the power to hurt the rest of my life,” Gabriela said of her abuser.
In January, Ecuador’s national assembly began to debate a bill on decriminalizing abortion in cases of rape, incest and forced artificial insemination.
If passed, Ecuador will join other Latin American countries that already allow abortion for cases of rape, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Panama and Mexico.
Other countries in the region have banned it entirely, including Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
Ecuador’s current abortion laws have been in place since 1938. The last time the country debated whether or not to legalize abortion in cases of rape, in 2013, the assembly voted against it.
The then president Rafael Correa said he would never approve the reforms and even threatened to resign if the assembly voted in favor.
The new legislation, if passed, would be a “fundamental step” for women’s rights in the country, said Wilma Andrade, a lawmaker with the Democratic Left party, and one of the most prominent supporters of the bill.
“It’s not enough, but it’s a big step,” she said.
RAPE AND PREGNANCY
The reforms have been strongly opposed by the influential Roman Catholic Church and more conservative members of the assembly. Many of their arguments focus on increasing penalties for rapists, instead of easing access to abortion.
In a debate in February, Pedro Curichumbi of the right wing party CREO said if abortion was made legal for cases of rape, “it would turn (rape) into a sport, or a hobby” - encouraging men and boys to continue to violate women.
But supporters of the abortion reforms have focused on Ecuador’s twin epidemics of rapes of girls and underage pregnancies.
Over the last three years, there have been almost 14,000 reported cases of rape in the country, 718 of them of girls under 10 years old, said Andrade, speaking in the assembly in January, quoting numbers from the attorney general’s office.
Between 2008 and 2018, over 20,000 girls under 14 have given birth, according to statistics from the attorney general’s office, according to the same data.
“Here we talk about child pregnancies, but these are rapes. It’s not that a child just gets pregnant,” said Andrade, the lawmaker. “A lot of times it’s done by fathers or other family members, so they never get reported.”
DANGEROUS ABORTIONS
For almost five years, Veronica Vera has been working with the women’s rights groups Las Comadres (The Godmothers), who offer support to women who have decided on early-term home abortions.
The group advises women on how to access the abortion pill Misoprostol and a “Godmother” will stay with them while they take it, to explain the side effects they can expect as well as their legal rights if they have to go into hospital.
“I have never (supported a woman) in a case of rape that wasn’t inside the close social circle,” said Vera - meaning the rapist was a friend, family or colleague.
Women’s rights groups argue that the outlawing of abortion affects working class women the most. Wealthier women still face sexual assault and seek abortions, said Vera, but they have the resources to pay the $1,500 to $3,000 for a termination under safe conditions or travel to other countries to get an abortion.
Poorer women are forced to seek out backstreet abortions which can lead to complications, infections and death.
Unsafe abortions accounted for 15.6 percent of all deaths in Ecuador in 2014 the fifth biggest cause of mortality for women and the third largest cause of maternal deaths, said the Ministry of Health in a study released in 2017.
When women go to public hospitals to seek help for complications after abortions they risk being reported to the police by doctors.
Between 2013 and 2018 more than 300 women were prosecuted for terminating their pregnancies, according to Surkuna, a non-profit group of lawyers focused on women’s rights.
The abortion bill must go through two rounds of debates in the assembly before lawmakers cast their votes.
The legislation must then be approved by President Lenin Moreno, who also had veto power. The process is expected to be complete by June, according to Andrade.
Gabriela says she doesn’t expect to see justice for her rape. She now wants to work with other women who have had similar experiences to empower them to share their stories because “there are so many of these cases here”.
“The people who I tell this story to say that I’m really strong, but I don’t think I’m strong,” Gabriela said. “I think I’m a survivor.”
Reporting by Kimberley Brown; Editing by Ros Russell. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit news.trust.orgOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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15512969ba621c41f7e2c1735a4458a2 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-edf-emirates/edf-jinko-power-consortium-wins-deal-for-major-solar-project-in-abu-dhabi-idINKCN24S0IK?edition-redirect=in | EDF-Jinko Power consortium wins deal for major solar project in Abu Dhabi | EDF-Jinko Power consortium wins deal for major solar project in Abu Dhabi
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
PARIS (Reuters) - A consortium formed by French state-controlled power group EDF EDF.PA and its Chinese partner Jinko Power Technology has been awarded the Al Dhafra solar project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, EDF said on Monday.
EDF said the Abu Dhabi solar photovoltaic plant would have a capacity of 2 GW, which would make it the largest single-project solar plant in the world, generating the equivalent electricity to power more than 160,000 households each year.
EDF and Jinko Power will each hold a 20% stake in the project, while the remaining 60% will be held by Abu Dhabi firms TAQA and Masdar. The companies are set to start construction by the end of 2020, and the project is expected to generate more than 4,000 jobs during the construction phase.
Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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f2331e6fd2c95ae58f43d6a763189a1c | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-edf-nuclearpower-greenpeace/greenpeace-protesters-break-into-edfs-tricastin-nuclear-plant-idUSKBN20F0WB | Greenpeace protesters break into EDF's Tricastin nuclear plant | Greenpeace protesters break into EDF's Tricastin nuclear plant
By Bate Felix3 Min Read
PARIS (Reuters) - Greenpeace activists broke into an ageing Tricastin nuclear plant in France on Friday to demand its closure, a day ahead of the planned shutdown the country’s oldest nuclear reactor at Fessenheim near the German border.
FILE PHOTO: The EDF logo is seen on a reactor building at the Tricastin nuclear power plant site in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux, France, June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Benjamin Mallet/File Photo
About 50 Greenpeace militants broke into the grounds of the Tricastin power station in southern France armed with jackhammers made from foam for a mock dismantling of the plant.
State-run utility EDFPA> confirmed there had been an unauthorised entry into the administrative area of Tricastin, and said 18 activists were arrested. EDF said there was no intrusion into the nuclear part of the plant and its safety was not compromised.
All four reactors at the Tricastin nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 3,600 MW , were online at 0950 GMT, according data from French electricity grid operator RTE.
France gets about 75% of its electricity from nuclear plants, but many are old and the country has set a target of reducing this to 50% by 2035, bringing in more renewable power.
“We are protesting and drawing attention to an aging nuclear power plant that is dangerous and should be shut down,” said Greenpeace spokeswoman Cecile Genot.
Greenpeace said in a statement Tricastin, like Fessenheim’s number 1 reactor, would reach its 40-year lifespan this year and should be unplugged.
“40 years is the maximum operating time for which French reactors have been designed and tested,” Greenpeace said. “Beyond 40 years, the consequences of aging power plants are unpredictable.”
Last June, EDF carried out maintenance and upgrade works at the Tricastin’s 900-megawatt (MW) reactor number 1, which it said would enable it operate for another ten years.
French nuclear safety authority ASN, will rule by the end of the year on the potential lifespan extension of 32 of EDF’s 900-megawatt capacity reactors. This would be followed by in depth assessment, reactor by reactor starting with Tricastin 1.
The closure of Fessenheim comes at a time of intense debate in France over the future role of nuclear in the country’s energy mix as well as efforts to curb carbon emissions while ensuring power supply.
After 43 years of service, Fessenheim’s number 1 reactor will be powered down and disconnected from the electricity grid on Saturday. Fessenheim 2 will shutdown on June 30.
Those against the shutdown of Fessenheim, particularly from nuclear industry, France’s third largest industrial sector, say the move could jeopardise the security of electricity supply, and the availability of cheap low-carbon energy.
Fessenheim’s two reactors produce around 12 terawatt hour (TWh) of electricity per year, equivalent to about 3% of output.
At the plant’s entrance on Friday, a trade union banner read: “No! To closing Fessenheim”.
Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Bate Felix; Editing by Jan Harvey and Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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8c8cb25f9be32839184a51dce1dfc720 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-edf-restructuring-protest/french-power-output-down-10-as-a-third-of-workforce-strikes-idUSKBN1W417C | French power output down 10% as over a third of workforce strikes | French power output down 10% as over a third of workforce strikes
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
PARIS (Reuters) - More than a third of EDF's EDF.PA workforce in France was on strike on Thursday in protest against a restructuring plan, the state-controlled utility said, reducing French power generation by more than 10%.
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EDF said about 23,700 workers in France had joined the industrial action by Thursday evening in one of the biggest strike turnouts at the company in eight years.
The strike has reduced power generation by some 6 gigawatts, affecting output in several nuclear, hydro and gas-fired power plants. The strike is due to end on Thursday evening.
Power station outages will not knock out the grid or hit households, though cuts in power output are costly for EDF, as it has to import any shortfall.
After the strike started on Wednesday night, there was a loss of power generation of over 8%, and by Thursday midday it had fallen another two percentage points, according to data from EDF and grid operator RTE.
EDF workers are protesting plans steered by the French government to restructure and potentially split the heavily indebted group, with its nuclear power generation business set to one side.
The strike was more disruptive than previous stoppages, with four unions representing a majority of France’s energy workers joining forces behind the walkout. Previously, the unions have not acted together.
Related CoverageEDF says a third of its French workforce is on strike
Unions leaders are expected to meet later on Thursday to decide whether further action is needed. The hard-left CGT has said it wants another strike on Sept. 24.
It is not yet clear whether job cuts would be involved under the restructuring plan, which is known as “Project Hercule” and was requested by President Emmanuel Macron.
But unions hope to pile pressure on EDF’s management and the government to delay the project, arguing that a split would only weaken the group. The company is to present a final proposal by the end of the year.
“Nobody should forget that the one primarily responsible for EDF’s situation today is undoubtedly the state (...) Dismantling EDF cannot be the answer”, the unions said in a statement.
EDF operates all 58 French nuclear reactors, which account for around 75% of the country’s electricity needs.
Reporting by Paris Newsroom; Writing by Benoit van Overstraeten; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Dan GreblerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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363a45aa55ca4e225d76a22612d9c2d3 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-edp-ceo-investigation/portuguese-judge-suspends-edp-boss-in-corruption-probe-cfo-named-interim-head-idUSKBN2471R9 | Portuguese judge suspends EDP boss in corruption probe, CFO named interim head | Portuguese judge suspends EDP boss in corruption probe, CFO named interim head
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
LISBON (Reuters) - A Lisbon judge ordered the chief executive of EDP-Energias de Portugal EDP.LS, Antonio Mexia, to be suspended along with the CEO of subsidiary EDP Renovaveis as part of a corruption investigation, a source familiar with the decision said.
FILE PHOTO: Antonio Mexia, the CEO of Portuguese power utility EDP, speaks to a reporter in Washington, DC, U.S., April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Timothy Gardner
The ruling was reported by news website ECO earlier on Monday.
Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, currently chief financial officer of EDP, will take over as interim CEO while Mexia is suspended, according an EDP statement published by Portugal’s market regulator CMVM.
Portugal's public prosecutor indicted Mexia and EDP Renovaveis EDPR.LS CEO Joao Manso Neto three years ago on suspicion of corruption in a case that involved former Portuguese Economy Minister Manuel Pinho in 2007. EDP, the two executives and Pinho have always denied any wrongdoing.
Court officials were not immediately available for comment.
“EDP reaffirms that regarding these matters there was no irregularity that can be attributed to the company,” the company’s statement on Monday evening read.
ECO and media outlets, including the Expresso weekly’s website, said the decision to suspend the executives with immediate effect was taken by Judge Carlos Alexandre, who is separately presiding over another corruption case involving former Prime Minister Jose Socrates.
CMVM suspended trading in shares of both companies. In separate statements, the market regulator said it awaited their disclosure of relevant information to the market.
EDP shares fell 2.4% in afternoon trading while the broader market in Lisbon was up 0.09%.
The public prosecutor has alleged that Pinho personally benefited when he approved a scheme to compensate EDP for the early end of fixed multi-annual Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), and a 25-year extension of 27 dam concessions without public tender.
The public prosecutor has said EDP subsequently sponsored a renewable energy course at a major U.S. university, taught by Pinho, as a reward.
In a court document seen by Reuters, Mexia and Manso Neto rejected the prosecutor’s claims, calling them “fictional narrative” and said the proposed suspension was “illegal” as a manager can only be dismissed by shareholders.
Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Additional reporting by Catarina Demony; Writing by Andrei Khalip, Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Susan Fenton, David Evansn and Tom BrownOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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807f06ccf8c80e979883049d8e6f7d12 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-education-debt-millennials-idUSKCN0X426M | Millennials face debt - and denial | Millennials face debt - and denial
By Bobbi Rebell4 Min Read
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Debt may be a drag for millennials, but apparently not as much as cooking their own dinner.
A food delivery-man rides a bicycle up 9th Avenue as snow continues to fall in New York February 10, 2010. REUTERS/Chip East
A survey from Citizens Bank found that fewer than half (47 percent) of millennials, those in the 18-35 age group, who are college graduates, would be willing to limit their online food delivery in return for reducing their student loans.
Other priorities? Concerts, sporting events and lattes, as well as travel and vacations.
The prospect of limiting any of these luxuries got the “no thanks” from the majority of millennials who were asked if they would cut back to lower their student loans. The same holds true for cutting Internet service.
Despite being so unwilling to give up life’s little pleasures, more than half (57 percent) said they regret taking out as many student loans as they did, and about a third said they would not have even gone to college if they knew how much it was going to cost them.
That is a big conflict, says Brendan Coughlin, president of consumer lending at Citizens Bank.
“They are very committed to living their life the way they want to live their life, and as frustrated as they are by student loans, they are not willing to make those lifestyle tradeoffs,” he said.
Part of the problem may be one of denial and math. The same survey found that nearly half of millennials (45 percent) with student loans do not even know how much of their annual salary they spend on them. It is 18 percent on average, for the record.
On the upside, the vast majority do at least know what they owe - over $40,000 for most. But more than a third (37 percent) are clueless on the interest rate they pay.
Some suggestions for getting that number down:
KNOW WHAT YOU OWE
The National Student Loan Data System tracks federal loans (www.nslds.ed.gov or 1-800-4-FED-AID). For private student loans, borrowers should check out their annual credit reports (www.annualcreditreport.com).
REFINANCE
Three-quarters of millennial graduates told Citizens Bank that refinancing is not part of their plan to pay off their student loans. Millennials who have graduated and have jobs often qualify for better rates than they did when they had no income at the start of school.
In addition to Citizens Bank, SoFi, CommonBond, Wells Fargo, Earnest and other institutions offer refinancing programs. There is also an opportunity for students to move from variable-rate loans to fixed-rate ones as a hedge against rising interest rates.
At Citizens, a regular undergraduate loan ranges from 5.25 percent to 11.75 percent. Refinancing loans start as low as 4.74 percent. Variable rates range from 2.44 percent to 9.44 percent. On average, a customer will save 1.5 percent APR when refinancing, or $147 a month, according to Citizens.
GET HELP AT WORK
A number of companies, including Fidelity and PwC, are offering help to pay down student debt. This is becoming a more mainstream perk and is worth looking into with your current employer, and keeping in mind if you are looking for a job.
While only about 3 percent of employers are offering this perk, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, it is gaining steam as companies work to attract and retain millennial workers.
SEEK FORGIVENESS
Some professions, such as public service jobs, offer student loan forgiveness. They include public defenders, law enforcement officers, doctors, nurses and some teachers.
For example, teachers who work in low-income school districts and teach certain needed subjects may qualify for even full cancellation of some types of loans.
Volunteering can also pay off. Many organizations like the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps offer eligibility for student loan payments through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or other options.
(Fixes typo in word “move,” paragraph 13, no other changes to text.)
Editing by Beth Pinsker and Dan GreblerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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acbd6bba0fb4f51749bfa12d9a8a8d14 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-education-global-prize/to-sir-with-love-winner-of-1-million-teacher-prize-changed-girls-lives-in-india-idINKBN28D27J?edition-redirect=in | To Sir With Love - Winner of $1 million teacher prize changed girls' lives in India | To Sir With Love - Winner of $1 million teacher prize changed girls' lives in India
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - This year’s Global Teacher Prize has been awarded to Ranjitsinh Disale for his work helping girls, most of then from poor tribal communities, at a village school in western India.
Disale immediately announced he would share the $1 million prize money with the nine other finalists.
He was honoured for having “transformed the life chances” of girls at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Paritewadi, in Maharashtra state, prize organizers said.
The announcement was made by actor and writer Stephen Fry at a virtual ceremony broadcast from the Natural History Museum in London. A jubilant Disale heard the news at home in India, surrounded by his family.
He started teaching at the school in 2009, when it was in a rundown building next to a cattle shed, according to organizers. School attendance was low and teenage marriage common.
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The curriculum was not even in the girls’ main language, Kannada. Disale moved to the village, learned the language and translated the class text books.
He also introduced digital learning tools and came up with personalized programmes for each student. His system of QR Coded Textbooks is now used across India.
School attendance is now 100 per cent, and one girl from the village has graduated from university, the organizers said.
Disale also initiated environmental projects in the drought-prone district, while his “Let’s Cross the Borders” project connects young people from India and Pakistan, Palestine and Israel, Iraq and Iran, and the United States and North Korea to promote world peace.
In his winner’s speech, Disale said he would share half the prize money with his nine fellow finalists, meaning they would receive about $55,000 each. The award was established by the Varkey Foundation and is given in partnership with UNESCO.
Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Mike Collett-WhiteOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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1c750db8aa85614003af16dd99b08d1e | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-antiquities-idCAKCN1LW0NO | Egyptian archaeologists find sandstone sphinx in temple at Aswan | Egyptian archaeologists find sandstone sphinx in temple at Aswan
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian archaeologists draining water from a temple in the southern city of Aswan have uncovered a sandstone sphinx likely dating to the Ptolemaic era, the antiquities ministry said on Sunday.
The sphinx, a mythical being with the head of a human and the body of a lion, was discovered at the Kom Ombo temple, where two engraved sandstone reliefs of King Ptolemy V had also recently been found, the ministry said in statement.
Ptolemaic rule spanned about three centuries until the Roman conquest in 30 BC.
Reporting by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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65c9efdcd79685417fd69cedd405b463 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-antiquities-museum/cairos-mother-of-egyptian-museums-set-for-revamp-idUSKCN1TH0V2 | Cairo's 'mother of Egyptian museums' set for revamp | Cairo's 'mother of Egyptian museums' set for revamp
By Aidan Lewis4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt on Sunday launched a revamp of the Egyptian Museum, promising to preserve and enhance the storied site even as it loses its most famous collection.
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
Located in the heart of Cairo on Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum has long been the foremost home for the country’s bounteous collection of antiquities.
But it will soon lose some of the treasure from King Tutankhamun’s tomb to the Grand Egyptian Museum, due to open next year next to the Giza pyramids, while a collection of royal mummies is being transferred to another new site in Cairo, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
The initial restructuring of the Egyptian Museum will include the redisplay of several galleries near the entrance and the relocation of the Tanis Royal Tombs to the space vacated by the Tutankhamun collection.
Financed by 3.1 million euros of EU funding and backed by a consortium of five European museums including the British Museum and the Louvre, the project will also develop a long-term vision for the museum and, officials hope, allow it to win a listing as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany repeated a promise that new museums would not pose a threat, and that the Egyptian Museum, which houses more than 150,000 objects, should get “all the support and attention it deserves”.
“The time has come to shed a new light on the museum’s rich collection, upgrade its physical structure and improve its research and programing activities to reach the highest international standards,” he told a launch event in the museum’s garden.
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The apparently casual management and display of artefacts at the Egyptian Museum surprises some visitors. In 2014 employees damaged King Tutankhamun’s golden burial mask by gluing its dislodged beard back on.
But it charms many others with its old-fashioned feel.
Some display cases date back to the mid-19th century when the collections were displayed elsewhere in Cairo, and there are signs have not been changed since the museum opened in 1902, museum director Sabah Abdel Razek Saddik said.
For Egyptologists, the museum is the “mother” of Egyptian museums, said Friederike Seyfried, director of the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, which is also participating in the project.
“Nothing can be compared with the Egyptian Museum at Tahrir and this will never change,” she said.
“New-build museums will be beacons of modern achievements in museology but the Egyptian museum at Tahrir reflects the history of our science.”
Tourism is a key sector in Egypt’s economy and a major source of foreign revenue. It has been gradually recovering from the political turmoil and security problems that followed the “Arab Spring” civil unrest of 2011.
Enany said he was aggrieved that Egypt had to confront the continued loss of antiquities through looting and smuggling.
The government is currently battling to prevent the auction of an 18th Dynasty quartzite sculpture god Amen in the likeness of King Tutankhamun scheduled for next month at Christie’s in London.
“I’m deeply saddened to see every now and then some Egyptian antiquities put on sale in the international market. We have succeeded in the ministry in the last few years in repatriating thousands of objects and will continue to do so,” Enany said.
He appealed to foreign ambassadors and cultural attaches, international organizations, and UNESCO “to join efforts to stop the looting, selling and illicit trafficking of antiquities”.
Editing by Sonya HepinstallOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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2c06689174409b0c8e6563c3768eebb3 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-archaeology-luxor-idUSKBN1WY0C5 | Egypt unveils biggest ancient coffin find in over a century | Egypt unveils biggest ancient coffin find in over a century
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
LUXOR, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt on Saturday unveiled the details of 30 ancient wooden coffins with mummies inside discovered in the southern city of Luxor in the biggest find of its kind in more than a century.
A team of Egyptian archaeologists discovered a “distinctive group of 30 colored wooden coffins for men, women and children” in a cache at Al-Asasif cemetery on Luxor’s west bank, the Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement on Saturday.
“It is the first large human coffin cache ever discovered since the end of the 19th century,” the Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany was quoted as saying during a ceremony in Luxor.
The intricately carved and painted coffins, three thousand years old, were closed with mummies inside and were in “a good condition of preservation, colors and complete inscriptions,” the statement added.
They were for male and female priests and children, said Mostafa Waziri, the excavation team leader, dating back to the 10th century BC under the rule of the 22nd Pharaonic dynasty.
The coffins will undergo restoration before being moved to a showroom at the Grand Egyptian Museum, due to open next year next to the Giza pyramids, the ministry said.
The discovery is the latest in a series of major finds of ancient relics that Egypt hopes will revive its tourism sector, which has been badly hit by political instability since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
Earlier this month, Egypt unveiled two archaeological discoveries in Luxor including an industrial zone at the city’s West Valley, also known as the Valley of the Monkeys.
Reporting by Mai Shams El-Din and Ahmed Fahmy in Luxor; Writing by Mahmoud Mourad;Editing by Ros RussellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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d0a90c2b38bb777ec94fd1b8f83f2b95 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-archaeology-tutankhamun-idCAKCN1UC27L | Tutankhamun golden coffin under restoration for the first time | Tutankhamun golden coffin under restoration for the first time
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Experts have begun restoration work on the golden-plated coffin of Egypt’s boy-king Tutankhamun for the first time since the discovery of the tomb in 1922, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said on Wednesday.
The coffin and the treasured collection of Tutankhamun’s tomb are expected to be the centerpiece of the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) that Egypt will open next year near the Pyramids of Giza.
British archaeologist Haward Carter discovered the tomb of the 18th dynasty king in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor in 1922. The tomb was untouched and included about 5,000 artefacts.
The ministry said the coffin was transported from southern Egypt to the GEM three days ago “in order to be restored for the first time since the tomb’s discovery”.
“The coffin has suffered a lot of damage, including cracks in the golden layers of plaster and a general weakness in all golden layers,” said Eissa Zidan, Head of the First Aid Restoration Department at the GEM.
“The restoration work will take about eight months” he added.
Egypt has previously announced that the GEM, which has been under construction for about 15 years and is partially funded by Japan, will officially open by the end of 2020.
Writting by Sameh Elkhatib; editing by Sami Aboudi and Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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6f559c374928524a3323113129f4080d | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-archaeology/egypt-reveals-artifacts-mummy-from-tombs-in-ancient-city-of-luxor-idUSKBN1E30NE?feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt | Egypt reveals artifacts, mummy from tombs in ancient city of Luxor | Egypt reveals artifacts, mummy from tombs in ancient city of Luxor
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
LUXOR, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt’s authorities on Saturday revealed artifacts and a linen-wrapped mummified body, possibly that of a top official, from two tombs that were discovered two decades ago in the Nile city of Luxor but had not been fully unexplored.
The Ministry of Antiquities said the tombs, located in the Draa Abul Naga necropolis on Luxor’s west bank, had been noted by German archaeologist Frederica Kampp in 1990s and were either unexcavated or had never been entered.
Along with the mummy, archaeologists found painted wooden funeral masks and several hundred carved statues, likely dating around the end of Egypt’s 17th Dynasty or the start of the 18th Dynasty, the ministry said.
Egypt’s relics are a draw for foreign visitors and authorities hope new finds can help attract more as a way to help revive tourism hit by unrest that followed the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
In September, Egyptian archaeologists announced the discovery of a tomb of a prominent goldsmith who lived more than 3,000 years ago, unearthing statues, mummies and jewelry in the latest major find near Luxor.
Reporting Sherif Fahmy; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Edmund BlairOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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56287f28470824cb77ebd95af573767a | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-arrest/egyptian-lawyer-held-for-wearing-yellow-vest-as-sales-restricted-activist-idUSKBN1OA28V | Egyptian lawyer held for wearing yellow vest as sales restricted: activist | Egyptian lawyer held for wearing yellow vest as sales restricted: activist
By Mohamed Abdellah4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian prosecutor ordered on Tuesday that a lawyer be detained for 15 days after the publication of a picture of him wearing a yellow vest similar to those worn by protesters in France, a local rights activist said.
A yellow vest is seen in a display of a shop at downtown in Cairo, Egypt, December 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
The arrest in the northern city of Alexandria came as traders said authorities were blocking the sale of the vests to forestall any copycat protests ahead of the Jan. 25 anniversary of Egypt’s 2011 uprising.
Since the election of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2014, Egypt has seen a crackdown on political opposition and dissent that activists say is the most severe for decades.
The yellow safety vests have been the trademark of French demonstrators whose violent weekend protests since Nov. 17 forced President Emmanuel Macron to cancel planned fuel tax increases and grant wage rises for the poor.
Alexandria’s public prosecutor ordered the detention of rights lawyer Mohamed Ramadan after the publication of a picture of him sporting a yellow vest in solidarity with the French protesters, said Mahienour El Masry, an activist in the city.
Authorities considered the photo an incitement to hold similar protests, she said, adding that Ramadan was also accused of charges including “spreading false news” and “spreading the ideology of a terrorist group”.
Two security sources said Ramadan had been found in possession of eight such vests. The Alexandria prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In downtown Cairo traders said they had been stopped from selling the vests to walk-in customers.
“They made us sign statements that we won’t sell yellow vests,” said one trader who like others declined to give his name. “Anyone who sells a single vest will put himself in big trouble.”
He refused to sell any of the yellow vests in his shop window, which were priced at just over $1. “Now they’re for display only,” he said.
UPRISING ANNIVERSARY
An employee at another downtown shop said the restriction on selling the vests had started on Saturday and would continue until Jan. 25, the eighth anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled then-president Hosni Mubarak.
At a third shop, a worker said the vests could only be supplied for commercial orders.
Security sources confirmed that authorities had prevented industrial security suppliers from selling the yellow vests.
“It is a question of caution, rather than fear,” said one of the sources, when asked if authorities were afraid of protests ahead of the anniversary.
In the crackdown since Sisi’s 2014 election, thousands of his opponents and critics as well as alleged Islamist militants and secular rights activists have been arrested.
Sisi’s backers say he is working to keep Egypt stable as it recovers from political turmoil after the 2011 uprising and tackles deep economic challenges.
One activist contacted by Reuters said spontaneous protests such as those in France were now impossible in Egypt.
“Opposition political movements do not have a presence on the ground and current political parties are part of the regime,” said the activist, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Mustafa.
“More importantly, the location of all activists is now known...They are either in prison or in their houses subject to police supervision.”
Additional reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan in Cairo and Ahmed Salem in Alexandria; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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890d908005810e36e89e912ad1c38c97 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-arrest/supporters-of-egypt-presidential-hopeful-arrested-say-security-sources-family-idUSKBN1E72CU | Supporters of Egypt presidential hopeful arrested, say security sources, family | Supporters of Egypt presidential hopeful arrested, say security sources, family
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces have arrested three supporters of presidential hopeful and former prime minister Ahmed Shafik, security sources and members of his party said on Wednesday.
The men were charged with spreading false information harmful to national security, two security sources familiar with the incident said, on condition of anonymity.
Egypt’s interior ministry could not be reached for comment after several attempts to contact it on Wednesday.
Shafik announced last month his intention to run against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt’s upcoming presidential election early next year. No date has been set for the vote.
The former premier and ex-air force commander is seen by Sisi’s critics as the most serious potential challenger to the incumbent. Those arrested were all members of Shafik’s Egyptian National Movement party.
One of them, Hany Fouad, was arrested at his family’s home on the outskirts of Cairo, his brother Wael Fouad said.
“Hany is very close to (Shafik),” he said.
Security forces entered the family home around 3 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) and searched the house, confiscating two mobile phones and giving no reason for the arrest, he said.
Sisi has yet to announce that he will seek a second term but is widely expected to do so.
Shafik made his announcement from the United Arab Emirates where he has lived in exile since 2012, when he fled Egypt after a narrow electoral defeat to former president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was removed from office in a military takeover led by Sisi in 2013.
Shafik returned to Cairo ten days ago and said he was still deciding whether to run. He has not made any public appearances since.
Reporting by Amina Ismail, additional reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hasssan; Writing by John Davison; Editing by Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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56dfa24dcc47648c8cd584dd94c04b92 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-blast-idUSKCN1OR1DK | Bomb kills three Vietnamese tourists, Egyptian guide near pyramids: officials | Bomb kills three Vietnamese tourists, Egyptian guide near pyramids: officials
By Amina Ismail4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide were killed and at least 10 others injured when a roadside bomb blast hit their tour bus on Friday less than 4 km (2.5 miles) from Egypt’s world-famous Giza pyramids, authorities said.
The bombing is the first deadly attack against foreign tourists in Egypt for over a year and comes as the tourism sector, a vital source of foreign currency revenue, recovers from a sharp drop in visitor numbers since the country’s 2011 uprising.
No immediate claim of responsibility was reported.
Islamist extremists, including militants linked to Islamic State, are active in Egypt and have targeted foreign visitors in the past.
At least nine Vietnamese tourists were wounded, as well as the Egyptian driver, according to official statements.
The tourists were heading to a sound and light show at the pyramids, which they had visited earlier in the day, said Lan Le, 41, who was also aboard the bus but unhurt.
“We were going to the sound and light show and then suddenly we heard a bomb. It was terrible, people screaming,” she told Reuters, speaking at Al Haram hospital, where the injured were taken. “I don’t remember anything after.”
Slideshow ( 9 images )
Egypt’s interior ministry said the bus was hit by an explosion from an improvised device hidden near a wall at around 6.15 p.m. (1615 GMT).
About two hours later, the vehicle could be seen behind a police cordon with one of its sides badly damaged and the windows blown out, a Reuters reporter said.
Dozens of police, military and firefighters were at the site, on a narrow side street close to the ring road, where traffic was moving normally.
Shortly afterward, workers brought a pick-up truck to tow the bus away.
An investigator at the scene said the device had likely been planted near the wall.
The interior ministry confirmed the death of two of the tourists, and the state prosecutor’s office later said a third had died. In total, 14 Vietnamese tourists had been traveling on the bus, it said.
Slideshow ( 9 images )
WRONG ROUTE?
Vietnam called on Egypt to find those behind the attack.
“Vietnam is extremely angered by and strongly condemns this act of terrorism that killed and injured innocent Vietnamese people,” foreign ministry spokeswoman, Le Thi Thu Hang, said in a statement.
“Vietnam requests that Egypt promptly launch an investigation into the case and track down those responsible.”
Egypt’s prime minister, Mostafa Madbouly, told media from Al Haram hospital that the bus had taken an unexpected route.
“The bus deviated from the route secured by the security forces,” Madbouly told Extra News channel, an assertion also made by the owner of the company that organized the bus tour.
“We have been in contact with the embassy of Vietnam to contain the impact of the incident, and what is important now is to take care of the injured,” the prime minister said.
The bus driver later told media he had not deviated from the route.
Egypt’s army and police launched a major campaign against militant groups in February, targeting the Sinai Peninsula as well as southern areas and the border with Libya.
The government says fighting Islamist militants is a priority as it works to restore stability after the years of turmoil that followed the “Arab Spring” protests of 2011.
Those events and the bombing of a Russian airliner shortly after it took off from Sharm el Sheikh in 2015 caused tourist numbers to plunge.
The last deadly attack on foreign tourists in Egypt was in July 2017, when two Germans were stabbed to death in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
Additional reporting by Hesham Hajali, James Pearson in HANOI; Writing by Aidan Lewis and Yousef Saba; editing by William Maclean, Hugh Lawson and G CrosseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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13cc27506b335fd326239dc96f4dae1b | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-blast/egypt-kills-six-militants-from-group-it-accuses-over-alexandria-bombing-idUSKBN1H10V0 | Egypt kills six militants from group it accuses over Alexandria bombing | Egypt kills six militants from group it accuses over Alexandria bombing
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
A security personnel stands guard, during the forensics team investigation of a bombing in Alexandria, Egypt March 24, 2018. REUTERS/Fawzy Abdel Hamied
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s police killed six militants on Sunday belonging to a group the authorities accuse of a bombing in the coastal city of Alexandria that targeted a security chief two days before the country holds a presidential election.
Two policemen were killed in Egypt’s second city on Saturday by a bomb that was left under a car and blew up as police Major General Mostafa al-Nemr drove past. He escaped unhurt.
“The interior ministry has dealt an effective blow to the armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Hasam movement, on the dawn of March 25. The ministry uncovered a terrorist den ... and exchanged fire with its elements which led to the killing of six,” it said in a statement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which the state news agency blamed on the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization. Islamic State released a video last month in which it warned Egyptians against voting and urged Islamists to attack security forces and leaders.
Police identified three of those killed. The ministry said its investigations showed the same group had carried out Saturday’s bombing. The ministry did not indicate if those killed on Sunday took part in the bombing.
The militant Hasam Movement emerged in 2016 and has claimed several attacks on security forces and judges, including the fatal shooting of a policeman. Egyptian authorities say the group is the Brotherhood’s armed wing, but the Brotherhood says it rejects violence.
Egypt on Monday begins three days of voting in a presidential election which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is widely expected to win.
Reporting by Mostafa Hashem and Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Matthew Mpoke BiggOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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9a076ab2a9428d6f3154424a1a4d4e45 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-bomb-idUSKBN0TD0BC20151124 | IS militants claim hotel attack that killed seven in Egypt's Sinai | IS militants claim hotel attack that killed seven in Egypt's Sinai
By Mostafa Hashem3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State’s Egyptian branch claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least seven people in a hotel in North Sinai on Tuesday where judges overseeing a parliamentary election were staying.
A militant tried to drive a car bomb into the hotel in the provincial capital al-Arish before security forces opened fire, causing the car to explode, the military and a witness said.
A suicide bomber broke into the hotel restaurant and blew himself up and a gunman entered the guest rooms area and killed a judge, they said. Seventeen people were wounded, the Health Ministry said.
“A brother ... seeking martyrdom hit with his car bomb the security force protecting the Swiss (Inn) hotel where 50 judges were staying, only to be followed by a lion ... who broke into the judges’ base with his automatic weapon ... then blew up his explosive belt among them,” Sinai Province said in a statement circulated by its followers on Twitter.
The group has carried out similar attacks in the region as part of its bid to topple the Cairo government.
It said two of its members carried out the attack. The Interior Ministry said there were two attackers but the military and a witness said there were three militants. It was not immediately possible to clarify the contradiction.
Two judges, four policemen and a civilian were killed, the Interior Ministry said. The military said the three militants were killed.
The blasts followed Monday’s second round of voting in Egypt’s parliamentary election.
Egyptian elections are monitored by the judiciary with judges running polling stations, observing the voting and counting ballots.
“This brutal incident is a failed attempt to hinder the state from building its institution but we assure all that it will increase the drive and insistence of the armed forces and the Interior Ministry to weed out the roots of terrorism in North Sinai,” a military statement read.
The attack happened early in the morning and started with the car bomb, Swiss Inn manager Mohamed Mahana told Reuters.
“The security forces shot the suicide bomber and his car and his tyres blew up but he kept driving until he got to the hotel entrance then the explosion happened. It was huge.”
A second suicide bomber came in through the beach and into the hotel restaurant, breaking its window, before blowing himself up, said Mahana. The restaurant was empty.
“A third attacker sneaked into the hotel through the side where the guest rooms are and shot passers by, killing one judge, before a security official shot him.”
Additonal reporting by Youssry Ahmad in Ismailia, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Ali Abdeladty in Cairo; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Michael Georgy and Janet LawrenceOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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c0b0ef2e3fbec07741b2e8e2905d24e2 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-british-airways/british-airways-suspends-flights-to-cairo-for-seven-days-idUSKCN1UF0K3 | British Airways suspends flights to Cairo for seven days | British Airways suspends flights to Cairo for seven days
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - British Airways and Lufthansa abruptly suspended flights to Cairo from Saturday over security concerns, but giving no details about what may have prompted the move.
“We constantly review our security arrangements at all our airports around the world, and have suspended flights to Cairo for seven days as a precaution to allow for further assessment,” British Airways said in a statement.
Lufthansa LHAG.DE later said it had canceled its flights to Cairo on Saturday from Munich and Frankfurt and will resume its flights on Sunday
British Airways, a unit of IAG ICAG.L, also said that it would never operate an aircraft unless it was safe to do so. When asked for more details about why flights had been suspended and what security arrangements the airline was reviewing, a spokeswoman responded: "We never discuss matters of security."
Three Egyptian airport security sources told Reuters that British staff had been checking security at Cairo airport on Wednesday and Thursday. They gave no further details.
Related CoverageEgypt expresses dismay to UK envoy over British Airways flight suspension
The British Foreign Office updated its travel advisory on Saturday to add a reference to the British Airways’ suspension, advising travelers affected to contact the airline.
Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement late on Saturday that it had contacted the British Embassy in Cairo which had confirmed that the decision to suspend the flights was not issued by Britain’s transport or foreign ministries.
The Egyptian ministry added that it will add more flights from Cairo to London starting on Sunday “to facilitate transporting passengers during this period.”
The British government has long advised against all but essential travel by air to and from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where a Russian passenger jet was bombed in 2015, but has not issued similar warnings against air travel to and from Cairo.
Slideshow ( 4 images )
“There’s a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation. Additional security measures are in place for flights departing from Egypt to the UK,” the British advisory says.
Tourism, a key source of foreign revenue for Egypt, has been recovering after tourist numbers dropped in the wake of a 2011 uprising and the 2015 bombing of the Russian jet, which killed all 224 people on board shortly after takeoff.
That attack, which was claimed by Islamic State, prompted Russia to halt all flights to Egypt for several years and a number of countries including Britain to cease flights to Sharm el Sheikh, which have yet to resume.
Reporting by Lena Masri and Amina Ismail; editing by Peter Graff, Diane Craft and G CrosseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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07450db07f3df8a75dfa8aa37d2784e7 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-censorship/egypt-warns-citizens-from-participating-in-foreign-polls-idUSKBN13O2NG | Egypt warns citizens from participating in foreign polls | Egypt warns citizens from participating in foreign polls
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian government warned citizens on Tuesday against taking part in surveys conducted by foreign media organizations, saying it was a threat to national security.
The interior ministry said on Facebook that it had received complaints indicating that Egyptians had been getting telephone calls from media companies abroad asking their opinions on the country’s political, economic and security situation.
“In this regard, the ministry calls on citizens to be cautious around those twisted methods of gathering information about the situation inside the country that aim to harm Egyptian national security,” the statement read.
The warning comes amid efforts to quell rising dissent against army general-turned-President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Egypt’s parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly endorsed a law on non-governmental organizations that human rights groups say effectively bans their work and makes it harder for charities to operate.
The law bans NGOs from conducting fieldwork or polls without permission or “from cooperating in any way with any international body without the necessary approval”. Human rights groups say that includes the United Nations.
Reporting by Amina Ismail; Editing by Robin PomeroyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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d022f66234b9a7fe5516f4635ec11dfd | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-church/egypt-church-blast-death-toll-rises-to-23-idUSTRE7010M020110104 | Egypt church blast death toll rises to 23 | Egypt church blast death toll rises to 23
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - The death toll from a New Year bombing outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria has risen by two to 23, the official news agency MENA said on Tuesday.
Dozens of people were wounded when a presumed suicide bomber detonated a device during a midnight service.
No clear official account has emerged of how the attack was carried out but political analysts point to a small cell, not a large militant group such as those behind an Islamist insurgency that flared more than a decade ago.
A Health Ministry official said 18 bodies had been identified but put the possible number of dead at 22, based on studies of body parts found at the scene.
Billionaire Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, one of Egypt’s biggest listed companies, has offered 1 million Egyptian pounds ($172,500) for information on those behind the January 1 attack, a state newspaper said on Tuesday.
Related CoverageFactbox: Sectarian violence in Egypt
The Dutch anti-terrorism agency NCTb has urged police to keep an eye on Coptic churches in three Dutch cities after they were included in Internet threats against Coptic churches in Europe, including France and Britain.
The bombing provoked protests and some clashes with police in Alexandria and the capital, Cairo, by young Christians calling for more protection.
Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 79 million, which is mostly Muslim. Sectarian violence is rare but disputes on issues from church building to religious conversions and divorce have grown in the past year.
Early last year, a drive-by shooting of six Christians and a Muslim policeman at a church in southern Egypt led to protests.
Slideshow ( 22 images )
Egyptian officials have said there are indications “foreign elements” were behind the January 1 blast. An Iraqi group linked to al Qaeda threatened in November to attack Egyptian Christians.
Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; Additional reporting by Sherine El Madany and Amsterdam bureau; Editing by Andrew DobbieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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3fe993c45118c071b81efe009a21a62b | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-court-rights/egyptian-singer-jailed-over-video-inciting-debauchery-idUSKBN1E62XL | Egyptian singer jailed over video inciting debauchery | Egyptian singer jailed over video inciting debauchery
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court jailed a little-known singer for two years on Tuesday for inciting debauchery, judicial sources said, after she appeared in a music video in her underwear and suggestively eating a banana.
Shyma’s song, titled “I have issues”, sparked controversy on social media in the conservative country.
The singer, who was fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($560), can appeal the verdict to a higher court.
The director of the video was also fined and sentenced to two years in prison, but in absentia. Both defendants were accused of inciting debauchery and producing a video harming public morality.
Shyma, whose real name is Shaimaa Ahmed, was arrested on Nov. 18 before being referred to the prosecution for investigation. She denied the accusations, saying the director included the controversial scenes without her consent.
Tens of young Egyptians were arrested in September for attending a concert in Cairo where a rainbow flag was raised. They were also accused of debauchery, harming public morality and other accusations.
Reporting by Haitham Ahmed; Writing by Arwa Gaballa; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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4060a9771ab97c241286b6cc4d044e88 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-court/egypt-court-upholds-death-sentences-for-three-suspected-militants-idUSKCN1MO0HP | Egypt court upholds death sentences for three suspected militants | Egypt court upholds death sentences for three suspected militants
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court on Sunday upheld death sentences for three people for establishing and running a militant group known as Ansar al-Sharia, two judicial sources and state news agency MENA said.
The charges included killing at least 10 police officers and attempting to kill more in a series of attacks between August 2013 and May 2014. The court upheld sentences issued in August. The decision can be appealed within 60 days.
Four people were sentenced to life in prison while seven received 15-year prison terms, the sources said. Nine of the 23 defendants were acquitted.
Egypt has cracked down on suspected Islamists since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the overthrow of former president Mohamed Mursi of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Authorities say a crackdown on dissent and freedoms is directed at terrorists and saboteurs trying to undermine the state.
Death sentences have been handed down to hundreds of Islamists, including Muslim Brotherhood supporters and members.
Last month, 75 were sentenced to death over a 2013 sit-in which ended with security forces killing hundreds of protesters.
Reporting by Haitham Ahmed; writing by Lena Masri; editing by Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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07f7799ddd6a8bfd09251cbc5ef2a4a1 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-court/egypt-sentences-two-to-death-over-church-attack-idUSKCN1SI09F | Egypt sentences two to death over church attack | Egypt sentences two to death over church attack
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced two men to death and eight others to between three years and life in prison over an attack on a church and Christian-owned shop in Cairo that killed 10 people.
Policemen inspect the site of attack on Mar Mina church in Helwan district on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, December 29, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
A gunman opened fire in December 2017 on Christians in a shop in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan, killing two people, before firing on the entrance to the nearby Mar Mina church, where he killed seven Christian worshippers and a policeman.
The emergency state security court sentenced the main suspect, who is in custody, and another suspect, who is on the run, to death.
Two defendants were handed life sentences, four were given four years in prison and two were handed three years in jail. One suspect was acquitted and two others are still at large.
The authorities had said the gunman was wounded by security forces during the attack. Islamic State claimed responsibility.
The main suspect appeared in court on Sunday wearing death row prison clothes, having also been handed two death sentences in military trials after being convicted of attacking military buildings.
The main suspect embraced the other defendants in the court after the verdict.
Under Egypt’s state of emergency law, the defendants can appeal to have the sentence by the security court reduced.
Egypt’s Coptic Christians, who make up about 10% of the population, have been targeted by Islamist militants in recent years.
In November, militants killed seven people when they attacked a bus returning from a baptism at a desert monastery in the governorate of Minya, about 260 km (160 miles) south of Cairo.
Reporting by Haitham Ahmed; Writing by Yousef SabaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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c34551f8d8c67a51d532c4aed5acf3a3 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-court/egyptian-court-sentences-activist-to-jail-for-false-news-over-sexual-harassment-video-idUSKCN1M90GU | Egyptian court sentences activist to jail for 'false news' over sexual harassment video | Egyptian court sentences activist to jail for 'false news' over sexual harassment video
By Amina Ismail3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court has sentenced an activist to two years in jail over a video she posted on social media criticizing the government for failing to protect women against sexual harassment and over poor living conditions, her lawyer said.
Amal Fathy, a member of the now banned April 6 youth movement which played a role in 2011 protests that forced President Hosni Mubarak from office, was also fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($562), her lawyer Tarek Abuel Nasr and state news agency MENA said.
She was charged with spreading false news that threatened national security and disseminating a video that violated public decency. She also faces other charges including joining an illegal group.
“This is injustice, unjustified and incomprehensible. We have provided all the evidence to prove that she didn’t spread false news,” said her husband, Mohamed Lotfy, a human rights activist and executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF).
“When a woman is subjected to sexual harassment and gets sentenced to two years and fined then this means we are telling all Egyptian women ‘shut your mouths ...if you don’t want to go to prison’.”
Government officials were not immediately available to comment.
Fathy will appeal the ruling, her lawyer said.
Rights groups have repeatedly criticized Egypt’s human rights situation, saying conditions have continued to deteriorate under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power in 2013 after the army overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi following protests against his rule.
Seventeen U.N. human rights experts criticized Egypt on Friday for its use of anti-terrorism laws to detain activists fighting for women’s rights and against graft, torture and extra-judicial killings.
Fathy was detained in May, days after she posted a 12-minute video in which she expressed her anger at poor public services at a local bank, heavy traffic, sexual harassment by a taxi driver and over a general deterioration in living conditions.
At the time a security source said Fathy had been detained over a complaint that she had insulted the Egyptian state through an offensive social media posting.
Egypt passed a law in July giving the state powers to block social media accounts and penalize journalists held to be publishing fake news.
Additional reporting by Mohamed Abdellah and Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Janet LawrenceOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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fb420e2a148eef5f66bd73b7f3628a4e | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-crash-investigation/egypt-says-has-found-no-evidence-criminal-action-behind-plane-crash-idUSKCN0T61WI20151117 | Egypt says has found no evidence criminal action behind plane crash | Egypt says has found no evidence criminal action behind plane crash
By Ahmed Aboulenein3 Min Read
SHARM AL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - The Kremlin said for the first time on Tuesday that a bomb brought down a Russian passenger plane that crashed over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing 224 people, but Cairo said its investigation had yet to find any evidence of criminal action.
The debris from a Russian airliner is seen at its crash site at the Hassana area in Arish city, north Egypt, November 1, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Egypt’s government held its weekly meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh to show solidarity with a tourism industry hit by cancellations following the crash. The cabinet had already arrived in Sharm when Moscow made its announcement.
The prime minister and several members of the government, appearing at a news conference, would not be drawn into endorsing Russia’s conclusions.
“The Egyptian authorities affirm they will take into consideration the investigations that the Russian side reached ... in the comprehensive investigation,” Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said.
Interior Minister Magid Abdel Ghaffar, speaking at the same news conference, promised that if a security lapse were to blame for the crash the culprits would be punished. But he said it was too early to draw that conclusion.
“Regarding Sharm al-Sheikh airport, when we discover that there have been security lapses action will be taken, but up to now we have no information about lapses in the search and security procedures,” he said.
The minister added that Egyptian authorities had increased security at all airports and were now searching all bags, passengers and staff and conducting regular security sweeps.
Egypt was also allowing foreign experts to review security measures at its airports to ensure they met their standards.
Egypt has stopped short of denying that an attack brought down the plane, however, with the civil aviation and interior ministers saying all scenarios for the cause of the Oct. 31 crash were being investigated.
Russia had taken samples of sand from the crash site for analysis, sources at the civil aviation ministry confirmed, and Egypt would include the conclusions of that analysis in the official investigation once they had been formally received.
Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s FSB security service, said in televised comments that traces of foreign-made explosive had been found on fragments of the downed plane and on passengers’ personal belongings.
“We can unequivocally say it was a terrorist act,” Bortnikov said.
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Hosam Kamel told the news conference the investigation had not reached a conclusion.
“Up until this moment, there is no evidence of crime,” he said.
Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Michael GeorgyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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72c990d5faf27f9759db119cdc510840 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-crash-islamicstate/islamic-state-affiliate-in-egypt-insists-it-brought-down-russian-plane-idUSKCN0ST1O920151104 | Islamic State affiliate in Egypt insists it brought down Russian plane | Islamic State affiliate in Egypt insists it brought down Russian plane
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate dismissed in an audio message on Wednesday doubts that it had downed a Russian passenger plane over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all aboard, and said it would tell the world how it did so in its own time.
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The Russian-operated Airbus A321M crashed on Saturday shortly after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh on its way to St Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.
Sinai Province, an Egyptian group loyal to Islamic State, said in a statement the same day that it had brought down the airliner “in response to Russian air strikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land”.
The claim was dismissed by Russian and Egyptian officials. Security experts and investigators have said the plane is unlikely to have been struck from the outside and Sinai-based militants are not believed to possess the technology to shoot down a jet from a cruising altitude above 30,000 feet.
Russian officials have, however, said the plane probably broke up in the air, leaving open the prospect of some kind of explosion on board.
Asked to comment on those remarks and local press reports that the black box voice recorders had picked up unusual sounds before it crashed, Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kemal said the facts had yet to be established.
“This is all speculation. There is nothing definitive until the investigation commission completes its probe,” he said.
Related CoverageOne of two black boxes from Russian plane damaged: Egyptian ministry
In an audio message posted on a Twitter account used by the group, Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate insisted it was behind the crash. The claim could not immediately be authenticated.
“We say to the deniers and the doubters: Die from your frustration. We, with God’s grace, are the ones who brought it down, and we are not obliged to disclose the mechanism of its demise,” the speaker said.
“So go to the wreckage, search, bring your black boxes and analyze, give us the summary of your research and the product of your expertise and prove that we did not bring it down or how it came down,” he said.
“We will disclose the mechanism of its demise at the time that we want and in the way that we want.”
Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launched air raids against opposition groups in Syria including Islamic State on Sept. 30.
The hardline group has called for war against both Russia and the United States in response to their air strikes in Syria.
Islamic State backers in Iraq issued a video on Tuesday congratulating their Egyptian colleagues and warning Russian President Vladimir Putin that more was to come. They handed out sweets to celebrate the crash.
Sinai-based militants have killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police in recent years and have also attacked Western targets. Egypt has carried out air strikes on them.
Islamic State websites have in the past claimed responsibility for actions that have not been conclusively attributed to them. Officials say there is no evidence to suggest so far that a bomb brought down the plane.
Reporting by Lin Noueihed and Omar Fahmy; Editing by Michael Georgy and Dominic EvansOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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75dbf77fc19cea7c7cc0cd41d16fce59 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-crime-organs-idUSKBN13V1IZ?wpsrc=theweek | Egypt busts organ trading racket, arrests 45 people | Egypt busts organ trading racket, arrests 45 people
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has uncovered a network accused of illicit international trafficking in human organs, arresting 45 people and recovering millions of dollars in a dawn raid on Tuesday, the health ministry said.
Among those held were doctors, nurses, middlemen and organ-buyers, involved in what the ministry described as the largest organ-trafficking network exposed in Egypt to date.
“The accused who were arrested exploited the economic situation of some Egyptians and the suffering of some patients and their need for treatment to take large financial sums from them, thus breaking the law,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said the investigation, which involved the Health Ministry and Administrative Control Authority, a powerful anti-corruption body, focused on a group of private hospitals and health centers, both licensed and unlicensed, where transplants and organ harvesting took place.
It said those premises had been shut by authorities while doctors involved were suspended from practice pending investigation by public prosecutors.
Some of the doctors arrested worked at well-known institutions including the medical faculties of Cairo and Ain Shams universities -- Egypt’s two largest state universities.
The statement did not give any details about the amount of money recovered or the magnitude of the trade. It was not immediately possible to identify or reach the doctors and others arrested in the government crackdown.
Organ purchase is banned in Egypt, but poverty drives some Egyptians to sell body parts, often to wealthy foreigners, in illicit transactions.
Media reports have emerged this year of organ traders targeting African migrants desperate for money to pay their way to Europe on rickety boats. Reuters has not been able to verify those reports.
Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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98b162004db911ad37da7b0b6156fb81 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-brotherhood-idUSBRE89G10L20121017?edition-redirect=uk | Islamist businessmen challenge Egypt's old money | Islamist businessmen challenge Egypt's old money
By Marwa Awad7 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - A business association founded by a financier for Egypt’s new Islamist rulers says it can democratize an economy long dominated by associates of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, but skeptics fear the emergence of just another clique.
A view of the Egyptian branch of a Turkish furniture company, Istikbal, in Cairo October 16, 2012. Hassan Malek, owner of the Egyptian franchise for Turkish furniture trader Istikbal and a tycoon and Brotherhood member, insists his goal has been promoting equal opportunity since he founded the Egyptian Business Development Association in March, three months before the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi won Egypt's presidency. Picture taken October 16, 2012. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
The Muslim Brotherhood dominates post-Mubarak politics. It has less traction in an economy long dominated by an inner circle of businessmen around Mubarak’s now jailed son Gamal.
Opponents say the Brotherhood wants to replicate in business its firm grip on politics, with a view to rewarding those who supported the movement financially through the long years it was banned. That dismays liberals who saw in Mubarak’s overthrow last year an opportunity for a more meritocratic economy.
Hassan Malek, a tycoon and Brotherhood member, insists his goal has been promoting equal opportunity since he founded the Egyptian Business Development Association in March, three months before the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi won Egypt’s presidency.
He has modeled EBDA, whose acronym means “start” in Arabic, on Turkey’s MUSIAD, an association of religiously oriented small businesses which share information and contracts to challenge the traditional dominance of larger groups.
“We welcome everyone who wants to work with us,” said Malek, who has a family background in business and made his money in software, textiles and furniture. “Unequal distribution of opportunity is what we seek to change in the new Egypt.”
Businesses, many of them smaller enterprises struggling in an anemic economy, have rushed to join EBDA, which now has over 400 members. It says 1,000 companies are waiting to join.
Some members represent leading businesses such as cable maker El Sewedy Electric, food producer Juhayna and Egyptian Steel. These flourished during Mubarak’s three-decade rule but were not caught up in the corruption lawsuits that emerged after his overthrow in February 2011.
In a mark of its ambitions - and good contacts in powerful new places - EBDA sent a delegation of 80 businesspeople, many of them young entrepreneurs without personal ties to the Brotherhood, to accompany Mursi on a trip to China in August.
Many of those also joined him on visits to Italy, Turkey and Qatar as Egypt tries to end a drought in inward investment.
Slideshow ( 2 images )
JAIL TIME
Osama Farid, head of international cooperation at EBDA, said Mursi’s visit to China marked a break with the past when Mubarak would typically take only as few as 10 favored businessmen on foreign trips to capture the opportunities available.
“Within EBDA there are businessmen who did very well under Mubarak and new ones looking to prosper in the new Egypt. We are not trying to replace what exists but to offer an alternative” Farid said.
Malek has multiplied his meetings with foreign diplomats and business people and representatives of international banks. Brotherhood officials credit him with facilitating a $2-billion loan to Egypt from Turkey last month.
Since Mubarak’s overthrow, the change of fortunes for men like Malek has been dramatic.
Brotherhood-linked businessmen were forced to operate under restrictions on how much wealth they could amass. Some had property confiscated during the 1990s or were detained on suspicion of money laundering or funding the Brotherhood.
Malek and former partner Khairat al-Shater, another Brotherhood tycoon and financial strategist, spent more than four years in jail together under Mubarak, who sought to curtail the Brotherhood and formally banned it from operating.
The two men are now vying for economic influence within the movement, Brotherhood sources told Reuters. While Malek seeks to extend the reach of EBDA, Shater has established a chain of supermarkets and recently held talks in Dubai to establish a bank there to help manage the Brotherhood’s finances.
Some executives are suspicious of EBDA’s motives. One agribusiness manager told Reuters he was still trying to decide whether to accept its offer of membership: “I agree with their goals to expand the business climate,” he said.
“But my concern is that EBDA could turn into another clique close to the Islamist presidency, mirroring Gamal Mubarak’s.”
TURKISH CONNECTION
In Turkey, admired by some in the Brotherhood for showing that Islamist democrats can take over from military rulers, the business organization MUSIAD forged ties with Egyptian peers more than a decade ago, when Turkish entrepreneurs were trying to find ways to better exploit markets in the region.
Its emergence as a lobby for a growing entrepreneurial middle class came in tandem with the rise of the AK Party, which arrived in government in 2002 and which has roots in political Islam. MUSIAD promotes itself as a partner for foreign investors looking not only at Turkey but the wider Islamic world.
“EBDA and MUSIAD represent a huge coming together of smaller capital,” said Koray Caliskan, political science professor at Bosphorus University in Istanbul. “Those people who were with the Mubarak regime were a small coming together of big capital.”
With thousands of members, and favored by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of AK, MUSIAD now poses a challenge to the dominant secular business group in Turkey, TUSIAD.
“Erdogan said capital is changing hands in Turkey,” Caliskan said. “Ten years ago everyone wanted to be TUSIAD chairman. Now everyone is away from it. Even members do not go to meetings, as Erdogan takes aim at them very frequently.”
With Mubarak gone, Egyptian business ties with Turkey, the biggest economy in the Middle East, are now growing to match the Brotherhood’s links with the AK Party.
But Turkey’s enduring tradition of secular rule could limit the scope for political cooperation. Egypt’s new political landscape is dominated by Islamists and ultraconservative groups for whom secularism is synonymous with atheism.
One Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new Egyptian government sees Turkey “not as a model but an inspiration ... and Turkey reciprocates this”.
EBDA officials say Egypt’s business landscape needs leveling through a focus on small enterprise, vocational training and cutting red tape. They say they favor broad-based, sustainable growth that reduces widespread poverty instead of just rewarding government cronies.
Some business experts say, however, that EBDA’s leadership lacks the expertise to transform Egypt’s economy.
“You will find that most of them lack the know-how and experience in dealing with the state,” said Wael Nahaas, a financial market analyst.
“Most of these businessmen are at heart traders, not economists. Until now they have not provided a clear economic vision of where they are trying to steer Egypt.”
Additional reporting by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer and Alastair MacdonaldOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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100bb486a4e85252e8926f3535ecfd4a | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-imf/egypt-to-slash-fuel-subsidies-as-it-nears-end-of-imf-program-idUSKCN1RI032 | Egypt to slash fuel subsidies as it nears end of IMF program | Egypt to slash fuel subsidies as it nears end of IMF program
By Patrick Werr, Aidan Lewis, Yousef Saba4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will remove subsidies on most energy products by June 15, it told the International Monetary Fund in a January letter released by the IMF on Saturday as part of a review of Cairo’s three-year, $12 billion loan program with the lender.
FILE PHOTO: A microbus is filled up with fuel by an employe at a petrol station in Cairo, Egypt June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
This will mean increasing the price to consumers of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and fuel oil, which are now at 85-90 percent of their international cost, said the letter, which is dated Jan. 27.
The letter from Egypt’s finance minister and central bank governor was included in an IMF staff report dated Jan. 28 and published following the disbursement in February of the fifth out of six tranches of the loan.
The loan program began in 2016 and is tied to reforms that have included a sharp devaluation of the Egyptian pound and the introduction of a value-added tax. They have helped steady Egypt’s economy but also put millions of Egyptians under increased economic strain.
Fuel prices have increased steadily over the past three years. LPG and fuel oil used for electricity generation and bakeries are not included in the commitment to reaching full cost recovery through subsidy cuts, the letter said.
The government said in its letter that after starting to link less-used Octane 95 petrol to international prices - which it accomplished in April - it would introduce similar indexation mechanisms for other products in June, with the first price adjustments expected in mid-September.
The government noted it had also put in place a hedging mechanism to protect against shocks in oil and other commodities. In its review, however, the IMF “advised caution in using financial instruments with upfront costs that protect only temporarily against extreme price movements”, referring to hedging.
DEBT TARGET
Since starting the IMF loan program, Egypt has borrowed heavily from abroad.
In its letter, the government said it intended to reduce its general debt from a projected 86 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the end of June to 72 percent by June 2023. Debt was equal to 93 percent of GDP in June 2018.
It also committed to fully eliminating arrears held by the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC) by the end of June this year. The arrears stood at $1.043 billion at the end of 2018.
Egypt said it had capped the government’s ability to borrow from the central bank via an overdraft account at 66 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.82 billion) in 2018/19, equal to 10 pct of the previous three years’ revenue, as a way of managing liquidity and reducing inflation.
The central bank would gradually phase out subsidized lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises and social housing programs and instead these programs would be financed directly from the state budget, the letter said.
The sale of stakes in at least 23 state-owned enterprises over between 24 and 30 months starting in April 2018 was expected to raise around 80 billion Egyptian pounds, it added.
The IMF said in its review that Egypt’s reform program was “broadly on track”.
“The progress on structural reforms has been mixed, but the program objectives remain achievable,” it said.
“Sustained efforts are needed to advance critical reforms in competition, industrial land allocation, transparency and governance of state-owned enterprises, and public procurement.”
A recent tightening of global financial conditions had worsened the balance of risks, with Egypt vulnerable to any unexpected increase in oil prices, the IMF said.
“Calls on state-guaranteed loans, which have been increasingly used to finance large infrastructure projects by public entities, or other contingent liabilities could also put pressure on public debt,” the report said.
The IMF did not explain the delay in publishing the review.
Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Sonya HepinstallOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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8a830d86a0fef4f74eacc7846f6ee3ac | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-inflation-idUSKBN19V1I7 | Egypt's inflation rises again, and is expected to keep going up | Egypt's inflation rises again, and is expected to keep going up
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s core inflation rose in June and is expected to rise even more after the government’s recent decision to increase fuel and electricity prices.
Import-dependent Egypt has been hit by soaring inflation since it floated its currency in November, allowing the pound to roughly halve in value. The float marked the opening of a three-year, $12 billion International Monetary Fund reform program that includes tax increases and subsidy cuts.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile items like food, increased to 31.95 percent year on year in June from 30.57 percent in May, the central bank said on Monday.
Annual urban consumer price inflation rose slightly in June to 29.8 percent from 29.7 percent in May, the official statistics agency, CAPMAS, said on Monday.
Last week, the government increased electricity prices by up to 42 percent this fiscal year for households. A week earlier, it raised fuel prices by up to 50 percent to help meet the terms of its IMF loan agreement [nL8N1JQ1G5].
Rising prices present a challenge for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his government, which have pledged to push ahead with sensitive austerity measures like fuel and electricity price increases.
Although the monthly inflation rate in Egyptian cities eased to 0.8 percent in June from 1.7 percent in May, government officials and analysts expect the higher fuel prices to add 3 to 4.5 percentage points to year-on-year inflation in the coming months [nL8N1JU2LP].
“Based on our rough calculation, headline inflation should rise above 35 percent starting July/August. However, some of this could get offset ... if the Egyptian pound strengthens,” said Allen Sandeep, head of research at Naeem Brokerage in Cairo.
“Invariably, most goods and services are impacted by energy costs ... be it in the form of energy input, transportation, feed stock ...,” Sandeep added.
Egypt’s central bank, faced with accelerating inflation, raised its key interest rates by 200 basis points for the second policy meeting in a row on Thursday, surprising economists who had forecast no change.[nL8N1JX5WF}
The bank raised interest rates by three percentage points after the currency flotation. The IMF has said lowering inflation is crucial to keeping the reform program on track and that raising interest rates could be an appropriate tool for doing so.
The central bank has said it aims to cut inflation to 13 percent by the end of next year.
The IMF is expected to disburse a second loan installment of $1.25 billion this month.
Reporting by Amina Ismail, addtional reporting by Eric Knecht; writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Larry KingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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c3c6bb5793e6c5f86f6c22e9ea1fd2d7 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-metro/egypt-hikes-fare-on-third-cairo-metro-line-idUSKCN1TE3BN | Egypt hikes fare on third Cairo metro line | Egypt hikes fare on third Cairo metro line
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Commuters are seen inside Sadat metro station underneath Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, June 17, 2015. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will raise the price of tickets on Cairo’s third metro line to as much as 10 Egyptian pounds (60 U.S. cents) starting on Saturday, the transport ministry said on Thursday, after it extended the line with the opening of three new stations.
The new rates come ahead of expected increases in fuel and electricity prices in the coming days which were proposed under a 2016 IMF-backed austerity program.
With the opening of three new stations, the third line, which begins at Ataba in downtown Cairo, extends eastwards beyond the suburb of Heliopolis. It will eventually help connect central Cairo to Egypt’s new administrative capital now under construction 45 km (28 miles) east of the city.
Ticket prices on the two other Cairo metro lines will remain unchanged, the ministry said.
Egypt last year raised metro ticket prices to a maximum of 7 Egyptian pounds per trip to the end of the line, from a base fare of 2 pounds, in a move that angered millions of commuters.
Egypt is pushing ahead with austerity measures tied to a $12 billion three-year IMF loan agreement signed in late 2016 that have included energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes aimed at reining in Egypt’s budget deficit and luring back investors who fled after its 2011 uprising.
This month’s fuel price increases will effectively end subsidies on most fuel products, a financial burden that has crippled state finances for decades.
Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by James DalgleishOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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9b20f8d7a7ffa440a8c42f881713af85 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-pmi/egypt-non-oil-private-sector-shrinks-faster-in-january-pmi-idUSKBN1ZY0CS | Egypt non-oil private sector shrinks faster in January: PMI | Egypt non-oil private sector shrinks faster in January: PMI
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Non-oil private economic activity in Egypt contracted at the quickest rate in almost three years in January as sales and new export orders slumped, a survey showed on Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO: The Egyptian Exchange bell is seen at the stock exchange in Cairo, Egypt September 23, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
The IHS Markit Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the non-oil private sector slid to 46.0 in January from 48.2 in December, well below the 50.0 threshold that separates growth from contraction.
“Firms squarely linked this to falling sales, with customers increasingly cautious about their expenditure and new contracts dwindling,” IHS Markit economist David Owen said. “This led to softer output, reduced employment and a marked drop in overall purchases.”
The January reading was the worst since the months immediately following a November 2016 IMF-backed economic reform plan that included a halving of the value of Egypt’s currency, a sharp increase in fuel prices and the imposition of a 13% value-added tax.
It was also the sixth consecutive month of decline for private non-oil business activity. Activity has expanded in only six of the last 54 months, according to the PMI.
The January survey said output at Egyptian firms contracted sharply, as did new orders.
“Employment and purchases were also down solidly, leading to only a slight uptick in input costs and driving firms to offer discounts for the third month in a row,” the survey said.
Export orders received by the non-oil companies shrank for a fourth successive month, with the index registering 38.5, its lowest reading in three and a half years.
“Softer trade conditions reportedly led to less foreign contracts,” the survey said. “Moreover, the latest decline was steep and the fastest observed since October 2016.”
- Detailed PMI data are only available under license from IHS Markit and customers need to apply for a license.
To subscribe to the full data, click on the link below: here
For further information, please phone IHS Markit on +800 6275 4800 or email economics@ihsmarkit.com
Reporting by Patrick Werr; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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533909506f29186da1cdca7e403cfea1 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-poll/egypts-gdp-growth-seen-slowing-to-5-5-in-current-fiscal-year-reuters-poll-idUKKCN1UJ09L?edition-redirect=uk | Egypt's GDP growth seen slowing to 5.5% in current fiscal year: Reuters poll | Egypt's GDP growth seen slowing to 5.5% in current fiscal year: Reuters poll
By Yousef Saba4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s economic growth is expected to slow to 5.5% in the fiscal year that began this month, below the government’s target, and 5.8% the following year, a Reuters poll showed, as Cairo nears the end of an IMF-backed economic reform program.
The forecasts were similar to a Reuters survey of economists released three months ago but fiscal 2019/20 growth was seen lower than the government’s target of 6%.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said last week Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.6% in the 2018/19 fiscal year, a bit higher than the 5.5% expected in the April Reuters poll.
Barring the oil industry, Egypt’s economy has struggled to attract foreign investors since the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
Egypt’s non-oil private-sector activity contracted for the second consecutive month in June, according to the Emirates NBD Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). Private-sector activity has expanded in only five months over the last three years.
“Even as leading economic indicators point toward weak consumer spending and stress on local firms, rising investment and government spending are supporting higher economic growth,” said Nadene Johnson, an economist at NKC African Economics.
“Medium-term growth prospects remain promising thanks to the natural gas sector and higher investment, while consumption is expected to recover following the completion of inflationary reforms.”
FUEL SUBSIDY CUTS
Earlier this month, Egypt introduced its latest round of fuel subsidy cuts, raising prices by 16-30%, as it nears the end of the IMF program.
Scaling back fuel subsidies that have been a strain on the budget for decades was a key plank of the three-year, $12 billion reform package signed with the International Monetary Fund in 2016, as Egypt’s economy struggled to recover from the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising.
Other reforms included a sharp devaluation of the Egyptian pound and the introduction of a value-added tax.
“Rising fuel and electricity prices in association with energy subsidy reforms will keep inflation elevated in the coming months,” Johnson said. She expects the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to cut rates by 100 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Median forecasts from the poll showed predicted 5.8% GDP growth in the fiscal year ending in June 2021 and 5.5% in the 2021/2022 fiscal year.
To fuel growth, “interest rates need to be cut by at least 300 basis points,” said Allen Sandeep, head of research at Naeem Brokerage.
“And hopefully, that would increase spending and investments, and also ease the tightness in liquidity which we are currently witnessing,” he said.
INFLATION
The new consensus sees Egypt’s urban consumer inflation at 13.0% in the 2019/20 fiscal year, down from the 14.2% predicted three months ago for the prior fiscal year.
Annual urban consumer price inflation plunged unexpectedly to 9.4% in June from 14.1% in May, before fuel prices were raised.
Analysts expect headline inflation to decelerate to 10.9% in the 2020/21 fiscal year and 9.0% in the 2021/2022 fiscal year.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food, fell to 6.4% in June from 7.8% in May.
Millions of Egyptians live below the poverty line and struggle to meet basic needs. They have faced rising costs since the pound was devalued in November 2016.
Angus Blair, chairman of business and economic forecasting think-tank Signet, said Egypt’s inflation has long been higher than global averages.
“There has been some success in bringing the inflation rate down,” he said.
“But concerns will remain around food price inflation pressures, particularly due to potential temperature changes affecting agricultural supplies within Egypt and globally.”
Polling by Md Manzer Hussain in BENGALURU; Reporting by Yousef Saba in CAIRO; Editing by Jonathan CableOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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19b939af008a0d22dd6f1b93ad20161b | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-poll/egypts-growth-seen-at-5-5-in-fiscal-year-2019-20-5-7-next-fiscal-year-reuetrs-poll-idUSKBN1X20DG | Egypt's growth seen at 5.5% in fiscal year 2019/20, 5.7% next fiscal year: Reuetrs poll | Egypt's growth seen at 5.5% in fiscal year 2019/20, 5.7% next fiscal year: Reuetrs poll
By Yousef Saba4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s economy is expected to grow 5.5% in the fiscal year that began on July 1 and 5.7% the following year, a Reuters poll showed, as Cairo wraps up an IMF-backed economic reform program.
FILE PHOTO: Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly gestures during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt July 17, 2019. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
The forecast growth for the current fiscal year was below the government’s target of 6-7% and slightly under last year’s reported growth of 5.6%.
Forecasts were similar to a Reuters survey of economists released three months ago but analysts’ median forecast for fiscal 2020/21 was lowered marginally to 5.7% from 5.8%.
Analysts expected Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth to slow to 5.5% in the 2021/22 fiscal year. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said last month he expected GDP growth to accelerate to 8% by 2022.
Egypt’s economic growth has been boosted by improving tourism, strong remittances from Egyptian workers abroad and newly discovered natural gas fields coming onstream.
Next month, Egypt will complete a three-year economic reform program tied to a November 2016 IMF loan which has been disbursed in full. The program was designed to reduce Egypt’s budget and current account deficits.
The reforms included letting the Egyptian pound depreciate sharply, removing almost all fuel subsidies, introducing a value-added tax and raising electricity and transport prices.
The measures hit Egyptians hard, and the private sector has struggled to create enough jobs for Egypt’s booming population of 100 million. The government said in July about a third of Egyptians lived below the poverty line of 8,827 Egyptian pounds ($546) a year in fiscal 2017/18.
PRIVATE SECTOR STRUGGLES
Egypt’s non-oil private sector contracted for the second consecutive month in September, according to the IHS Markit Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). It has expanded in only six months since the 2016 IMF accord, according to the PMI.
The country will need to create jobs for 3.5 million people over the next five years, the IMF said in its fifth review of the reform program released this month.
Egypt has also struggled to attract foreign investment since the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule, except in its oil industry which has seen renewed interest after the Mediterranean’s largest gas field was discovered off Egypt in 2015.
“As of now, capex growth indications still remain muted,” said Allen Sandeep, head of research at Naeem Brokerage. “Assuming interest rates are cut by another 300 basis points, the hope for 2020 and 2021 is that pent-up demand finally kicks in.”
“Retail lending growth has now crossed 20% and could rise to more than 30% next year - for us, an indirect sign that the private non-oil economy could finally flourish,” Sandeep added.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) made two consecutive cuts to Egypt’s overnight lending and deposit rates in August and September. It cut rates by a cumulative 250 basis points, with deposits now at 13.25% and lending at 14.25%.
Analysts expect the CBE to make further rate cuts before the end of 2019 as inflation decelerates.
Analysts forecast Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation slowing to 10.2% in the 2019/20 fiscal year from as high as 33% in July 2017. They saw inflation falling to 9.2% in fiscal 2020/21 and 8.9% the following year.
The new consensus saw a marked improvement in expectations from three months ago, when analysts foresaw inflation this fiscal year at 13.0%.
“We expect prices to continue to decelerate in October 2019 before rising to high single digits by the end of the calendar year (2019) as they come off a lower base from the previous year,” said Jacques Verreynne, an economist at NKC African Economics.
Polling by Md Manzer Hussain in Bengaluru; reporting and writing by Yousef Saba; editing by Patrick Werr and Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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d9f04812b6e9853a1f4212a6390a1c27 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-ports-weather-idINKBN1Z308K | Egypt reopens two Mediterranean ports which were shut due to bad weather | Egypt reopens two Mediterranean ports which were shut due to bad weather
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt on Saturday reopened the harbors of two of its Mediterranean ports, Alexandria and Dekheila, which had been shut due to bad weather, the Alexandria Port Authority said.
The harbors were shut on Friday due to high waves and wind speeds, preventing ships from entering or leaving the ports, though loading and unloading within the ports was continuing normally, the authority said in a statement.
The port authorities on Saturday ordered moored ships to enter the harbors according to their mooring order, it added.
Reporting by Ahmed Salem in Alexandria, writing by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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c66fa97dbec6612eabefbbd9ed247d9b | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-tax-idUSKCN1141LM | Egyptian parliament approves value-added tax at 13 percent | Egyptian parliament approves value-added tax at 13 percent
By Eric Knecht, Ahmed Aboulenein3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s parliament approved on Monday a long-awaited law introducing a value-added tax of 13 percent, rising to 14 percent in the next fiscal year, a key part of the government’s plan to reform the economy and cut its deficit.
Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy at a news conference in Cairo, Egypt August 11, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Parliament had been debating the law for weeks, with dozens of lawmakers opposing the government’s initial proposal of 14 percent, for fear of stoking inflation in a country where tens of millions live one pay check away from hunger. The house budget committee had pushed to reduce the rate to 12 percent.
The deadlock was broken on Sunday when Finance Minister Amr El Garhy proposed a compromise of 13 percent for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
“The law was passed and got final approval. It will be 13 percent for this year, and at the start of the next financial year will be 14 percent,” Yasser Omar, an MP on the house budget committee, told Reuters.
“It’s a tax reform that Egypt needed to begin its economic reform process. This is the start of an economic reform program that will see Egypt have a stronger tax regime that will make the economic system stronger, and will allow it to draw foreign investment.”
The VAT law is part of a reform program that formed the basis of a $12 billion, three-year loan agreed with the International Monetary Fund earlier this month.
The IMF deal has yet to be approved by its executive board, but the IMF mission chief for Egypt, Chris Jarvis, has told Reuters previously that disbursement of the first installment was not contingent on passage of the VAT law.
Egypt also agreed a $3 billion, three-year loan program with the World Bank in December, but the first tranche has been delayed pending parliamentary approval of measures including VAT.
Economists welcomed the news, which they said showed the government continue with politically sensitive reforms that could spark unrest in a country that has seen street protests unseat two presidents since 2011.
“It’s positive for revenue generation and the budget deficit. This shows government commitment to reforms,” said Reham ElDesoki, senior economist at Arqaam Capital.
“They are going ahead with one of the difficult reforms that has been pending for a decade and should be followed by the other reforms, such as a devaluation and other fiscal reforms.”
VAT will replace the current sales tax, which economists say creates market distortions. It is expected to broaden the tax base in a country where the government struggles to collect income tax because of a large informal economy and widespread avoidance.
The VAT law exempts basic goods and services to protect the poor.
Egypt’s economy has been struggling since an uprising in 2011 ushered in political instability that drove away tourists and foreign investors, major earners of foreign currency.
Additional reporting by Asma Al Sharif and Mohamed el Sherif; Editing by Lin Noueihed, Larry KingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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5248376a8165943841cbc92878b3a640 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-economy-worldbank/world-bank-shifts-focus-to-egypts-private-sector-with-1-billion-loan-idUSKBN1O80NG | World Bank shifts focus to Egypt's private sector with $1 billion loan | World Bank shifts focus to Egypt's private sector with $1 billion loan
By Aidan Lewis4 Min Read
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - The World Bank is pushing to prise open more space for Egypt’s private sector with $1 billion in new funding, part of a second phase of support that follows two years of painful economic reforms, the bank’s regional vice-president said.
FILE PHOTO: A view of the city skyline and River Nile from Cairo tower building, October 27, 2011. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
The funding, signed on Sunday, comes on top of $3.15 billion of World Bank budget support provided since 2015 as Egypt floated its exchange rate and cut subsidies, triggering steep inflation that has since eased.
“This is an economy that is now standing on its two feet after a few years of heavy, extremely daring economic reforms,” Ferid Belhaj, World Bank vice-president for the Middle East and North Africa told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an Africa business forum in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
“The economy’s standing, now it needs to walk, and we believe that the private sector is really the driver.”
Egypt’s macro-economic indicators have improved since the country began implementing a reform program drawn up with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2016, but the economy remains fragile.
The reforms have strained ordinary Egyptians, tens of millions of whom live under the poverty line. An estimated 700,000 people join the labor market each year - one of the challenges the World Bank support is meant to address.
“We have engaged with what one can call a second generation of reforms that would really push the private sector, deconstrain the private sector, open more space for the private sector and sequentially I guess move the state from a doer to an enabler,” said Belhaj.
The state still controls vast swathes of Egypt’s economy, including three of its largest banks along with much of its oil industry and real estate sector.
The government is planning its first share offers in state-owned companies for more than a decade, though an initial five out of 23 sales have been postponed to next year because of market conditions.
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Sunday he hoped the five sales could be launched at “the beginning of 2019”.
Egypt’s economy is weighed down by a legacy of heavy bureaucracy, and a lack of transparency deters investors, analysts and businesspeople say.
Belhaj said boosting the digital economy and enabling competition was key to resolving such problems.
“You basically go after monopolies and places where rent has been leading for years … you’re basically making a system disrupted, disrupted in a positive and forward-looking way,” he said.
“If you are giving more space to private entrepreneurs, at some point the balance gets tilted ... and frankly when you talk to the government these days you feel there is a strong belief that this is the way to go.”
The World Bank does not have further commitments for new funding for Egypt and is still “having a conversation” with the government about what support could be offered for economic development in the Sinai peninsula, where Egypt’s security forces have been fighting a militant insurgency, Belhaj said.
Reporting by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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5d6080af6a5f19012bdb60cfe362ec30 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-election-arrests/egyptian-prosecutor-summons-nine-journalists-over-election-coverage-idUSKBN1HJ2ZB | Egyptian prosecutor summons nine journalists over election coverage | Egyptian prosecutor summons nine journalists over election coverage
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
A voter's finger is marked with ink at a polling station during the second day of the presidential election in Alexandria, Egypt March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s state security prosecutor has summoned the former editor of a local newspaper and eight of its reporters for questioning over their coverage of the presidential election, the general secretary of the journalists syndicate said Thursday.
The summons follows a complaint by the National Election Commission against journalists at the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm for publishing what it called false news about the election, syndicate secretary general Hatem Zakaria said
The journalists are due to appear in front of the prosecutor on April 19.
The National Election Commission was not immediately available for comment, but it had warned it would act against those who published false information about the election, won by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with 97 percent of the vote on a turnout of 41 percent.
The election featured only one other candidate - an ardent Sisi supporter - after serious opposition contenders pulled out in January.
Al-Masry Al-Youm published a story on March 29 which detailed attempts by state officials to encourage voters to head to the polls in several provinces on the final day of voting.
The paper was fined 150,000 Egyptian pounds ($8,500) by the Supreme Media Council, a media regulator.
“The story ... was aimed at insulting the presidential elections and questioning their integrity,” state news agency MENA reported at the time, citing the election commission’s complaint.
The election commission said the vote was held according to the “highest international standards of integrity and transparency”.
Reporting by Mohamed Abdellah; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Robin PomeroyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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e57d60d0eb97f49d4dd8393298c8a0c1 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-energy-schlumberger/egypt-says-signs-seismic-survey-deal-with-schlumberger-idUSKCN1FY1JQ | Egypt says signs seismic survey deal with Schlumberger | Egypt says signs seismic survey deal with Schlumberger
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: The exterior of a Schlumberger Corporation building is pictured in West Houston, Texas, U.S. on January 16, 2015. REUTERS/Richard Carson/File Photo
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has signed a deal with oilfield services company Schlumberger to conduct a seismic survey in the Gulf of Suez, the oil ministry said on Wednesday, part of efforts to encourage firms to invest in exploration work in the area.
The oil ministry announced an agreement with an international company on Monday to conduct a seismic survey of the Gulf of Suez to attract exploration investment, but did not identify the company and gave no details.
The deal, signed on the sidelines of an energy conference in Cairo, allows Schlumberger to start work on the survey.
The ministry did not give the value of the deal.
Egypt has been on a drive to attract more investment in its energy sector and speed up production at recent discoveries in order to become gas self-sufficient by the end of 2018.
“The region is still full of promising petroleum prospects that require further work and studies to re-discover the gulf’s petroleum reservoirs and those that have not yet been discovered,” Egyptian petroleum minister Tarek El Molla said in a statement.
Molla also oversaw the signing of another agreement with Schlumberger that included a data center on areas open for exploration in Egypt, also part of the country’s efforts to make it easier for foreign companies to invest in exploration work.
Egypt last year began production at its mammoth offshore Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean, with initial output of 350 million cubic feet per day. Discovered in 2015 by Italy’s Eni, the field contains an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Reporting by Ehad Farouk; Writing by Sami Aboudi, editing by David EvansOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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be916274afa4c4c075afd9cb5ca3461e | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-energy/egypt-signs-oil-and-gas-exploration-deals-with-shell-apex-idUSKCN1B90ZO | Egypt signs oil and gas exploration deals with Shell, Apex | Egypt signs oil and gas exploration deals with Shell, Apex
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
Logo of Shell is seen at the 20th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference (MOES 2017) in Manama, Bahrain, March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El Molla has signed three oil and gas exploration deals for 16 new fields in the Western Desert worth at least $81.4 million in total with Royal Dutch Shell and the U.S.-based Apex International Energy.
The Petroleum Ministry said in a statement that the first deal would see Shell invest $35.5 million, and the other two would see Apex, which is operating in Egypt for the first time, invest a combined $45.9 million on two projects.
Egypt, which used to be a net energy exporter, has become a net importer in recent years as consumption has increased while production has fallen.
The government has been on a drive to lure back foreign investors to its energy sector in an effort to address a squeeze on public finances.
In December, Egypt accepted six bids for oil and gas exploration worth up to $200 million
(This version of the story corrects name of company to Apex International Energy)
Reporting by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Ahmed Aboulenein and Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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d4a729c880796dfbec2abac2737bda29 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-ethiopia-dam/egypt-wants-to-speed-up-ethiopia-dam-negotiations-idUSKBN1I00RZ | Egypt wants to speed up Ethiopia dam negotiations | Egypt wants to speed up Ethiopia dam negotiations
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam seen under construction during a media tour in Benishangul Gumuz Region, Guba Woreda, Ethiopia, in this March 31, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/Files/File Photo
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt said on Sunday it wants talks over a dam Ethiopia is building speeded up in a sign of its apparent frustration over what it sees as footdragging by Addis Ababa over the dispute.
Egypt and Ethiopia are at loggerheads over the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam, a $4 billion-hydroelectric project that Cairo fears will reduce waters that run to its fields and reservoirs from Ethiopia’s highlands and via Sudan.
Addis Ababa hopes the dam will make it a hub for the electricity-hungry region and denies it will undermine Egypt’s access to water.
Ties between Egypt and Sudan were strained when Khartoum backed the dam because of its need for electricity.
“There’s a need to accelerate the pace of negotiations after some three years or more have passed since the signing of the preliminary agreement in Khartoum and things have remained frozen,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told a joint news conference with his visiting French counterpart in Cairo.
The three African neighbors are set to meet on May 15 for further talks, Shoukry said, adding that Egypt had initially proposed several nearer dates for negotiations, but they were turned down by the two other countries.
“We continue to show flexibility and continue in a positive direction, but taking into account that we must achieve the progress that leads to achieving common interests, and also that there is a time frame for all countries that must be taken into consideration,” Shoukry said.
Earlier this month, talks in Khartoum between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan failed to reach agreement, but were described by the Sudanese foreign minister as “constructive”.
The countries’ technical committees will meet on May 4, Shoukry said.
Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Arwa Gaballa; Editing by Matthew Mpoke BiggOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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ddeef159afe13d8f85288481187906cc | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-ethiopia/egypt-ethiopia-agree-to-settle-differences-over-nile-mega-dam-idUKKBN1J60YL?edition-redirect=uk | Egypt, Ethiopia agree to settle differences over Nile mega-dam | Egypt, Ethiopia agree to settle differences over Nile mega-dam
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
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CAIRO (Reuters) - The leaders of Ethiopia and Egypt vowed on Sunday to iron out their differences over a dam Addis Ababa is building on the Nile River that Cairo fears threatens its water supplies.
Talks over the Grand Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia’s $4 billion hydroelectric project, have been deadlocked for months. But at a press conferee in Cairo, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signaled they had made a breakthrough.
“We have come a long way in building confidence and strengthening bilateral cooperation,” Sisi said.
Ahmed, speaking in his native Amharic language, said Ethiopia was committed to ensuring Egypt’s share of Nile water.
“We will take care of the Nile and we will preserve your share and we will work to increase this quota and President Sisi and I will work on this,” Ahmed said, addressing Egyptians.
Safeguarding Egypt’s share of the Nile, its main source of drinking water and water for industry and farming, is at the top of Sisi’s agenda as he begins his second term in office.
The two sides agreed to take steps to put into effect an agreement - which also includes Sudan - to set up a fund for investing in infrastructure in the three countries.
Toward the end of their news conference, Sisi asked Ahmed to swear to God before the Egyptian people that he will not hurt Egypt’s share of the Nile.
“I swear to God, we will never harm you,” Ahmed repeated the words in Arabic after Sisi, who thanked him for releasing jailed Ethiopians.
Reporting by Omar Fahmy, writing by Amina Ismail, editing by Larry KingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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9abdc383e126c3545d1d3f20d6158ec6 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-ethiopia/egypt-ethiopia-sudan-say-final-agreement-on-blue-nile-dam-ready-by-next-month-idUSKBN1ZU2YU | Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan say final agreement on Blue Nile dam ready by next month | Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan say final agreement on Blue Nile dam ready by next month
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan said on Friday a final agreement will be signed by the end of February on the giant Blue Nile hydropower dam that sparked a years-long diplomatic crisis between Cairo and Addis Ababa.
The countries have been at odds over the filling and operation of the $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), under construction near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan on the Blue Nile, which flows into the Nile river.
The three regional powers convened in Washington for what were supposed to be two days of meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday to complete an agreement after talks earlier this month, but negotiations dragged into Friday and disbanded without a final accord.
In a joint statement with the United States and the World Bank after the talks, the nations said they had agreed on a schedule for staged filling of the dam and mitigation mechanisms to adjust its filling and operation during dry periods and drought.
The nations still have to finalize several aspects of the dam, including its safety and provisions for the resolution of disputes, the statement said. But it added that a final agreement on the dam would be signed by all three countries by the end of February.
“Documents to be signed will be further deliberated by legal team supported by technical team. This will continue next week to complete comprehensive document within 30 days,” Sileshi Bekele, Ethiopian minister for water, irrigation and energy, said on Twitter.
The United States has hosted several rounds of talks in Washington with ministers from the three regional powers and the World Bank after years of trilateral negotiations failed.
U.S. President Donald Trump, in a call with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday, expressed optimism that an agreement on the dam was near and would benefit all parties involved, a White House spokesman said.
The dam is the centerpiece in Ethiopia’s bid to become Africa’s biggest power exporter but has sparked fears in Cairo that Egypt’s already scarce supplies of Nile waters, on which its population of more than 100 million people is almost entirely dependent, would be further restricted.
Even without taking the dam into account, largely desert Egypt is short of water. It imports about half its food products and recycles about 25 billion cubic meters of water annually.
Addis Ababa, which announced the project in 2011 as Egypt was beset by political upheaval, denies the dam will undermine Egypt’s access to water.
Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, David Lawder and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mary Milliken and Tom BrownOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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904fd1cc67f75cf6928327728319089b | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-france-arms-idUSKBN0LK1KK20150216 | Egypt signs 5.2 billion-euro deal for French jets, ships and missiles | Egypt signs 5.2 billion-euro deal for French jets, ships and missiles
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt signed a 5.2 billion-euro deal to buy French weaponry on Monday, Egyptian media said, in a move Cairo hopes will boost its military power as fears grow of conflict in neighboring Libya spilling over its border.
The agreement is for 24 Rafale combat jets made by Dassault Aviation, a multi-mission naval frigate, and air-to-air missiles.
Egyptian defense minister Sidqi Sobqi signed the deal with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in a ceremony in the presence of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and a French delegation that included the manufacturers, state news agency MENA said.
Reporting Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Shadi Bushra; Editing by Andrew RocheOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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55115f905a22654d17370fa5554f9bd9 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-france-loan-idUSKBN0LW0ZN20150228 | 3.2 billion euros of Egypt-French arms deal financed by loan from Paris: Sisi | 3.2 billion euros of Egypt-French arms deal financed by loan from Paris: Sisi
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a military ceremony in the courtyard of the Invalides in Paris, November 26, 2014. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
CAIRO (Reuters) - The French government loaned Egypt 3.2 billion euros to finance the recent multibillion-euro purchase of French military equipment, Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview on al-Arabiya TV on Saturday.
Egypt signed an agreement this month to buy 5.2 billion euros worth of French weapons, including 24 Rafale combat jets made by Dassault Aviation, a multi-mission naval frigate, and air-to-air missiles.
“The last equipment we got from France was with a French loan worth 3.2 billion euros and this loan was extended from the French government,” President Abdel Fatatah al-Sisi said in the interview.
France said at the time the deal was agreed to that more than half the purchase price would be financed by French banks with a state-backed Coface guarantee.
Reporting By Shadi Bushra and Ali Abdelatti; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Steve OrlofskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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3ce63e264478395ece56448e145a7d58 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-france/egypts-rights-record-seen-as-worse-than-under-mubarak-macron-idUSKCN1PL0RQ | Egypt's rights record seen as worse than under Mubarak: Macron | Egypt's rights record seen as worse than under Mubarak: Macron
By Marine Pennetier3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday human rights in Egypt were perceived as worse now than under former strongman Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by protests in 2011.
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His comments marked a hardening after he said in 2017 he would not “lecture” President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over civil liberties, which activists say are being eroded.
“I think current policies are perceived by intellectuals and Egypt’s civil society as tougher than under the Mubarak regime,” Macron told reporters on the sidelines of a trip to Egypt.
Mubarak, a former air force commander, was jailed for conspiring to kill demonstrators who ended his three-decade rule, but he was freed on appeal in 2017.
“I can’t see how you can pretend to ensure long-term stability in this country, which was at the heart of the Arab Spring and showed its taste for freedom, and think you can continue to harden beyond what’s acceptable or justified for security reasons,” Macron added.
“I think that’s becoming paradoxical and harmful for Egypt itself.”
Non-governmental organizations are pressuring Macron to be firm with the Egyptian president, who in April secured a second term, shoring up his position as a power-broker in the region.
Macron said he would be more outspoken during the three-day trip, which began on Sunday, and would also mention individual cases in private. He was to meet Sisi on Monday.
Sisi’s critics accuse him of cracking down on all dissent, but supporters say tough measures are needed to stabilize Egypt, rocked by years of unrest after the fall of Mubarak.
In an interview earlier this month, Sisi denied that Egypt was holding political prisoners, though one rights group estimates the number at 60,000.
In October 2017, Macron gave Sisi, who was visiting Paris, a list of activists he believed could be released from prison.
On Sunday, he said only two of them had been freed, which he considered “unsatisfactory.”
“I will at the same time have a confidential dialogue on individual cases and speak out more distinctly, as well as have symbolic exchanges, because I think that’s in the interest of President Sisi and Egypt’s stability,” Macron said.
“In Egypt, we’re not only talking about political opponents who are being imprisoned, but opponents who are part of the traditional democratic sphere and are not threatening the regime. Journalists, homosexuals, women and men of conviction.”
Reporting by Marine Pennetier in Cairo; Writing by Michel Rose in Paris; Editing by Andrew CawthorneOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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a7ea8c8da22db4d0d2e4d0c198f7a6e0 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-housing-idUSKCN0YZ1D9?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social | Egypt builds new homes to replace crumbling slums | Egypt builds new homes to replace crumbling slums
By Mahmoud Mourad4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Bayada Mohamed has left her old slum on a crumbling cliffside and moved into a new flat in a Cairo residential complex, making her among the first to benefit from a government plan to rehouse residents of Egypt’s most dangerous slums.
A man shows cracks in walls at his home in Al-Assal, one of the oldest slums in the Shubra district of Cairo, Egypt June 1, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Like other residents of the Doueyka slum where homes have no running water and a rockslide killed about 130 people in 2008, Bayada's family has been offered a rental flat in the recently-opened Tahiya Misr development in the Moqattam area, as pictured in this photo essay - reut.rs/21hyvjc.
“Where was I and where am I now?” exclaimed Bayada, sitting in her new flat surrounded by new furniture.
There are 351 slums deemed unsafe in Egypt, most of them in the sprawling capital where the poorest have built ramshackle homes that lack basic amenities such as mains sewage and water. Some 850,000 people are believed to live in dangerous slums.
Building collapses are common in Cairo, home to some 20 million people, and the shortage of affordable housing is so acute that 1.5 to 2 million are believed to live in tombs in an area known as the City of the Dead.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promised last month to move all those living in unsafe slums to new flats over the next three years in an ambitious project expected to cost about 14 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.58 billion).
The first two phases of Tahya Misr, which is dedicated to rehousing slumdwellers, were completed in 11 months and comprise 12,000 flats. The third phase opens in 2017, bringing the number of flats to 20,000. The completed complex will house 100,000.
Government efforts to eradicate the worst slums come as Sisi faces growing pressure to revive the economy and avoid the kind of protests that toppled two presidents in the last five years.
But rising prices are eroding living standards in a country where tens of millions rely on state-subsidised food and complicating efforts to rid Egypt of its slums.
MORE SLUMS
Not all slum residents have been as enthusiastic as Bayada about leaving behind their communities and seeing their old homes demolished.
“Most of the residents of these areas wish to be in areas close to where they are actually living now and this for us is a problem,” Sisi said at the recent opening of a low-income housing project in the Madinat Badr area of Cairo.
While it evacuates dangerous areas, the government is upgrading other informal settlements, connecting them to basic services and paving roads.
But many residents are disappointed with the upgrades.
Magdi Mahmoud, a factory worker who lives with his family in the informal settlement of Abu Dahruj in southern Cairo, said the work should have stretched to schools and clinics.
“The improvements are not bad but the important thing is people look after them,” he said.
And on Cairo’s dusty and desolate fringes, the city’s poorest are building more illegal homes on land they do not own.
As the Tahya Misr development nears completion, Ahmed, a vegetable seller, is working with neighbors to complete a new slum near Arab al Barawi, an older informal settlement in southern Cairo, after struggling to afford the rent there.
His new house is built with scavenged materials.
“Thank God, today he blessed us with a bit of wood that was left on the street ... to roof my house,” Ahmed said.
Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Andrew HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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b2f2f8916838cb34ea86c6191561a527 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-interior-specialreport-idUSBRE99908D20131010?edition-redirect=uk | Special Report: The real force behind Egypt's 'revolution of the state' | Special Report: The real force behind Egypt's 'revolution of the state'
By Asma Alsharif, Yasmine Saleh19 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - In Hosni Mubarak’s final days in office in 2011, the world’s gaze focused on Cairo, where hundreds of thousands of protesters demanded the resignation of one of the Arab world’s longest serving autocrats.
An injured supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi carries a poster of Mursi as they run from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes on the Sixth of October Bridge over the Ramsis square area in central Cairo in this July 15, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Files
Little attention was paid when a group of Muslim Brotherhood leaders broke free from their cells in a prison in the far off Wadi el-Natroun desert. But the incident, which triggered a series of prison breaks by members of the Islamist group around the country, caused panic among police officers fast losing their grip on Egypt.
One officer pleaded with his comrades for help as his police station was torched. “I am faced with more than 2,000 people and I am dealing with them alone in Dar al Salam, please hurry,” the policeman radioed to colleagues as trouble spread. “Now they have machine guns, the youth are firing machine guns at me, send me reinforcements.”
In all, 200 policemen and security officers were killed that day, Jan 28, called the Friday of Rage by anti-Mubarak demonstrators. Some had their throats slit. One of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders to escape was Mohamed Mursi, who would become president the following year.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry, which controls all of the country’s police forces including state security and riot police, never forgot the chaos. In particular the Wadi el-Natroun prison break became a powerful symbol inside the security apparatus of its lost power. Officers swore revenge on the Brotherhood and Mursi, according to security officials.
When army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appeared on television in July this year to announce the end of Mursi’s presidency and plans for elections, it was widely assumed that Egypt’s military leaders were the prime movers behind the country’s counter revolution. But dozens of interviews with officials from the army, state security and police, as well as diplomats and politicians, show the Interior Ministry was the key force behind removing Egypt’s first democratically elected president.
Senior officials in Egypt’s General Intelligence Service (GIS) identified young activists unhappy with Mursi’s rule, according to four Interior Ministry sources, who like most people interviewed for this story, asked to remain anonymous. The intelligence officials met with the activists, who told them they thought the army and Interior Ministry were “handing the country to the Brotherhood.”
The intelligence officials advised the activists to take to the streets and challenge Mursi, who many felt had given himself sweeping powers and was mismanaging the economy, allegations he has denied. Six weeks later, a youth movement called Tamarud - “rebellion” in Arabic - began a petition calling for Mursi to step down.
Though that group’s leaders were not among the youth who met the intelligence officials, they enjoyed the support of the Interior Ministry, according to the Interior Ministry sources. Ministry officials and police officers helped collect signatures for the petition, helped distribute the petitions, signed the petition themselves, and joined the protests.
“They are Egyptians like us and we were all upset by the Brotherhood and their horrible rule,” said a 23-year-old woman in the Tamarud movement who asked not to be named.
For the Interior Ministry, Tamarud offered a chance to avenge Wadi el-Natroun; the reversal of fortunes has been remarkable. The state security force, both feared and despised during Mubarak’s 30-year rule, has not only regained control of the country two and half years after losing power, but has won broad public support by staging one of the fiercest crackdowns on the Muslim Brotherhood in years.
The interior minister openly speaks of restoring the kind of security seen under Mubarak. A renewed confidence permeates the police force, whose reputation for brutality helped fuel the 2011 uprising. Egyptians now lionize the police. Television stations praise the Interior Ministry and the army, depicting them as heroes and saviors of the country.
The Interior Ministry’s most dreaded unit, the Political Security Unit, has been revived to deal with the Brotherhood. Under Mubarak, officers in that department were notorious for treating citizens with a heavy hand and intruding into their lives. When activists broke into the agency’s premises shortly after Mubarak was forced to quit on February 11, 2011, they found and posted online documents, videos and pictures of what they described as a torture chamber with a blood-stained floor and equipped with chains.
The Interior Ministry has apologized for “violations” in the past and has said they will not be repeated.
Key to the turnaround has been the Interior Ministry’s ability to forge much closer ties to the army, the most powerful and respected institution in Egypt. It was a tactic that began almost as soon as Mubarak stepped down.
FUMING SILENTLY
Weeks after Mubarak was overthrown, the Interior Ministry called a meeting at the police academy in Cairo. The gathering, headed by the interior minister and senior security officials, was the first in a series that discussed how to handle the Brotherhood, according to two policemen who attended some of the gatherings.
Thousands of mid- and lower-ranking officers were angry and said they could not serve under a president they regarded as a terrorist. Senior officers tried to calm them, arguing that the men needed to wait for the right moment to move against Mursi. “We tried to reassure them but the message did not get through,” said a senior police official. “They just fumed silently.”
The senior state security officer told Reuters there were no explicit orders to disobey Mursi but that a large number of officers decided they would not be “tools” for the Brotherhood.
“I worked during Mursi’s time. I never failed to show up at any mission. This included securing his convoys. Yet I never felt I was doing it from the heart,” said one major in state security.
“It was hard to feel that you are doing a national job for your country while what you are really doing was securing a terrorist.”
Resentment grew when Mursi pardoned 17 Islamist militants held since the 1990s for attacks on soldiers and policemen. One of the militants had killed dozens of policemen in an attack in the Sinai. None of them publicly denied the charges or even commented on them.
Mursi’s decision last November to grant himself sweeping powers triggered a wave of public protest. On December 5, protesters rallied in front of the Ittihadiya, the main presidential palace in Cairo. As the crowd grew, Mursi ordered security forces to disperse them. They refused. A senior security officer said there was no explicit order to disobey Mursi but they all acted “according to their conscience.”
The Muslim Brotherhood brought in its own forces to try and quell the unrest and Brotherhood supporters tried to hand some protesters to police to be arrested. But the police refused, Brotherhood officials said at the time.
“Do they think the police forgot? Our colleagues are in jail because of the Brotherhood,” said a state security officer.
Ten people were killed in the ensuing clashes, most of them Brotherhood supporters. Liberal activists accused Brotherhood members of beating and torturing anti-Mursi protesters.
Mursi miscalculated further by calling off a meeting sought by the army to discuss how to calm the storm, according to two army sources.
“It was a veiled message to stay out of politics, and we got it, as we understood that Mursi was an elected leader and (it) would be hard to defy that,” said an army colonel. “But it was clear by then where his rule was driving the state.”
“CONSTANT FIGHTS”
In January 2013, Mursi fired Ahmed Gamal, former senior state security officer, as interior minister and replaced him with Mohamed Ibrahim who was the senior-most official with the least exposure to the anti-Brotherhood factions inside the ministry, security sources said. Ibrahim was seen as weaker and more malleable than Gamal, who was blamed by the Brotherhood for not acting harshly enough against anti-Mursi protests.
But appointing Ibrahim, who was previously an assistant to the interior minister for prison affairs, proved to be a costly mistake. He moved to get close to the army, attending events to establish direct contact with army chief Sisi and regularly complimenting the general on his management techniques, said the police major.
Sisi had served as head of military intelligence under Mubarak. He was known to be religious and had the charisma to inspire younger army officers. Mursi believed those younger officers posed less of a threat than the old generals who had served under Mubarak and whom he fired in August 2012, two months after he took office.
But the country’s police chiefs had one message for the military: The Brotherhood is bad news.
“We are in constant fights on the streets. This made us tougher than the army and ruthless,” said the police major. “We don’t understand the language of negotiating with terrorists. We wanted to handle them from day one.”
Ibrahim rejected requests by Reuters for an interview and would not answer questions sent by email. Sisi could not be reached for comment.
By early 2013, army officers and Interior Ministry officials had begun meeting in the military’s lavish social and sports clubs, some of which overlook the Nile. Over lunch or steak dinners, officials would discuss the Brotherhood and Egypt’s future, according to senior state security officers and army officers who took part in the meetings.
The Interior Ministry argued that the Brotherhood was a threat to national security and had to go, according to one senior security officer. In the 1990s, during the Interior Ministry’s battle with the Muslim Brotherhood, the ministry had referred to all Islamists as terrorists. It urged the army to adopt the same terminology.
“I have gone to some of those meetings with the army and we spoke a lot about the Muslim Brotherhood. We had more experience with them then the army. We shared those experiences and the army became more and more convinced that those people have to go and are bad for Egypt,” the senior security officer said.
“The army like many people who have not dealt directly with the Brotherhood and seen their dirtiness wanted to believe that they have something to offer to Egypt. But for us it was a waste of time.”
Officials in the Interior Ministry warned the military that Mursi’s maneuverings were merely a way to shore up his power. The Muslim Brotherhood, they told their army colleagues, was more interested in creating an Islamic caliphate across the region than serving Egypt.
“The Brotherhood have a problem with the Egyptian state,” said the state security officer. “I am certain that Mursi came to implement the plan of the Brotherhood ... They don’t believe in the nation of Egypt to begin with.”
Over time, middle-ranking Interior Ministry officers became more vocal with the military. The message got through at the highest level. Early this year, army chief Sisi warned Mursi that his government would not last.
“I told Mursi in February you failed and your project is finished,” Sisi was quoted as saying in an interview published this month in the newspaper al-Masry al-Youm.
Interior Ministry officials believed that the Brotherhood planned to restructure the ministry, one state security officer said. Concerned officials discussed the issue in a private meeting in the parliament. One option was the cancellation of the police academy. Many saw that as a threat to their institution and careers.
“The news became known to young officers. This action is against the interest of the officers. He was fighting their future,” said the state security officer.
Muslim Brotherhood officials have denied plotting against the Interior Ministry and say there were no plans to dismantle the police academy. They have previously accused Interior Ministry officials of working to undermine the government, refusing to protect Brotherhood leaders, and trying to turn the public against the group’s rule.
“We cooperated with the Interior Ministry all along. We never had plans to undermine it or the police academy. It was the Interior Ministry that refused to work with us,” said Brotherhood official Kamal Fahim. “All along they resisted us and tried to turn Egyptians against us.”
“DOWN, DOWN”
Pressure from the Interior Ministry on Sisi and the military grew, helped by the emergence in May of the Tamarud.
At first the group was not taken seriously. But as it gathered signatures, Egyptians who had lost faith in Mursi took notice, including Interior Ministry officials. Some of those officials and police officers helped collect signatures and joined the protests.
“Of course we joined and helped the movement, as we are Egyptians like them and everyone else. Everyone saw that the whole Mursi phenomena is not working for Egypt and everyone from his place did what they can to remove this man and group,” said a security official.
“The only difference was that the police and state security saw the end right from the start but the rest of the Egyptians did not and had to experience one year of their failed rule to agree with us.”
On June 15, the Interior Ministry held a meeting of 3,000 officers, including generals and lieutenants, at its social club in the Medinat Nasr district of Cairo to discuss the death of a police officer killed by militants in Sinai. Islamist militancy in Sinai, mainly targeting police and army officers, had risen sharply after Mursi’s election.
Some at the meeting blamed “terrorist elements ... released by Mohamed Mursi,” said the state security officer.
Police officers started chanting “Down, down with the rule of the General Guide,” a reference to Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Mohamed Badie, now in jail on charges of inciting violence during the Ittihadiya protests.
On June 30 - the anniversary of Mursi’s first year in office - angry Interior Ministry officers joined Tamarud members and millions of other Egyptians to demand the president’s resignation. Four days later, Sisi appeared on television and announced what amounted to a military takeover. Some security officials called the move “the revolution of the state.”
TEARGAS, BULLETS AND BULLDOZERS
For weeks after Mursi’s overthrow, Western officials tried to persuade Sisi to refrain from using force to break up Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo. But the hardline Interior Ministry, which had quickly regained its old swagger, pressed for a crackdown. Police officials argued that Brotherhood members had weapons.
“For us, negotiations were a waste of time,” said the state security major. “We know what was coming: terrorism. And now after this horrible experience I think everyone learned a lesson and appreciates us and that we were right about those people.”
Early on the morning of August 14 policemen in black uniforms and hoods stormed the Rabaa al-Adawiya camp, one of two main vigils of Brotherhood supporters in Cairo.
The police ignored a plan by the army-backed cabinet to issue warnings and use water cannons to disperse protesters, instead using teargas, bullets and bulldozers. Hundreds died there and many more died in clashes that erupted across the country after the raid.
Army officers later asked the police why the death toll was so high, according to a military source. The interior minister said his forces were fired on first.
“It is one thing for decisions to be taken by officials in suits and sitting in air-conditioned rooms,” said a state security officer in charge of some top Brotherhood cases. “But we as troops on the ground knew that this decision can never be implemented when dealing with anything related to this terrorist organization. Force had to be used and that can never be avoided with those people.”
Despite the use of force and the deaths, liberal Egyptians who had risen up against Mubarak seemed sanguine.
The liberal National Salvation Front (NSF) alliance praised the actions of security forces. “Today Egypt raised its head up high,” said the NSF in a statement after the raid. “The National Salvation Front salutes the police and army forces.”
Two years after the Wadi el-Natroun prison break, the Interior Ministry had power again. It announced it would use live ammunition when dealing with protesters it accused of “scaring citizens.” Trucks used by the once-dreaded anti-riot security forces now have signs on them which read “The People’s Police.”
The government has jailed the Brotherhood’s top leaders in a bid to crush Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement. Muslim Brotherhood officials now face trial in connection with the Ittihadiya protests.
Senior security officers say their suspicions about the Brotherhood were confirmed in documents they found when they raided the group’s headquarters. The documents suggested that Mursi planned to dismantle the army under the guise of restructuring, they said. One of the documents, which a state security officer showed to Reuters, calls for the building of an Islamic state “in any eligible spot.”
Muslim Brotherhood leaders could not be reached to comment on this document because most of them are either in jail or hiding.
Police officials say they no longer abuse Egyptians and have learned from their mistakes under Mubarak. But not everyone is buying that line.
Muslim Brotherhood leader Murad Ali, who was recently imprisoned, wrote in a letter smuggled out of prison and seen by Reuters that he was put in a foul-smelling, darkened cell on death row and forced to sleep on a concrete floor. Lawyers for other Brotherhood members say prisoners are crammed into small cells and face psychological abuse. One elderly Brotherhood prisoner said guards shaved his head and brought vicious dogs around to scare him, inmates near his cell told Reuters.
There were no complaints of the type of whipping or electrocution seen in Mubarak’s days. But Brotherhood members say the current crackdown is more intense. “The pressure never subsides. None of my Brotherhood colleagues sleep at the same place for too long and neither do I,” said Waleed Ali, a lawyer who acts for the Brotherhood.
(This story is refiled to clarify in seventh paragraph that GIS is not part of Interior Ministry)
Writing by Michael Georgy; Edited by Richard Woods and Simon RobinsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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6adf6a6e161af9fb7fb13da52b3af1a7 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-investment-analysis-idUSKCN24S0KU | Economic pitfalls risk cooling Egypt's hot money inflows | Economic pitfalls risk cooling Egypt's hot money inflows
By Ulf Laessing, Tom Arnold, Davide Barbuscia5 Min Read
CAIRO/LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - The threat of conflict in Libya, water security worries and a flatlining tourist sector risk upending a nascent rally in Egyptian bonds, bankers and economists say.
FILE PHOTO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attends the funeral of former President Hosni Mubarak east of Cairo, Egypt February 26, 2020. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
The North African country has attracted a wave of foreign investor interest in the past three months, emboldened by fresh financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and short-term local debt offering yields of around 13%, among the highest in emerging markets.
Bankers and economists warn, however, that the yield bonanza masks an economy with weak prospects and heightened political risk, with the Cairo bourse .EGX.30 falling on several days this month on fears of a Libya intervention. Parliament gave President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi last week the green light for possible military intervention in Libya.
A deployment of armed forces into Libya could lead to higher military spending at a time when COVID-19 is already hitting the budget deficit.
“Obviously the IMF support package has reassured foreign investors and that is why there has been an improvement in flows, but the fundamentals are still weak,” said Zeina Rizk, executive fixed income director at Arqaam Capital.
“The virus is raging, tourism is down, and government spending – needed to boost the economy – will add further leverage,” she added.
Adding further uncertainty, Egypt has failed so far to reach a deal with Ethiopia to regulate flows from its Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD) which threatens its main water source.
“The political risk has deteriorated,” said Hasnain Malik, head of equity research at Tellimer Research.
The tourism industry, meanwhile, which makes up as much as 15% of GDP, is unlikely to recover soon, analysts said. Egypt, unlike Tunisia and Morocco, has not been added to the European Union’s list of safe COVID-19 countries.
Egypt’s reported COVID-19 cases have been falling in the past weeks but the number of new infections remains too high for now to lift the travel warning, diplomats said.
Tourist flights to Red Sea resorts have been rising since airports reopened on July 1, but normal occupancy rates would be only back by March or April next year, said Alaa Akel, head of the Egyptian Hotels Association Red Sea.
More than half of the hotels are back in business after two months of lockdown and those still closed will probably re-open by November, he added.
The central bank and state press centre did not respond to questions sent by Reuters.
The government expected growth of 3.5% in the fiscal year 2020/21, which began in July, but growth could slow to 2% if the coronavirus crisis continues until year-end, Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said in May.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
Sisi in March approved a 100 billion pound ($6 billion) plan to stem the economic fallout, including support for the tourism sector, payments of salaries for staff sent home by their employers and cash for informal workers.
With foreign reserves standing at $38 billion, Egypt’s finances are in much better shape than in 2011 after the toppling of Hosni Mubarak.
This is down from $45 billion from before the pandemic, but the central bank has been able to support the currency, which strengthened in July after a dip the month before, a gain that helped buyers of short-term debt make a profit, bankers say.
“We have been seeing significant flows back into Egypt,” said Farouk Soussa, senior Middle East and North Africa economist at Goldman Sachs. “The inflows have indeed been at the short end of the curve, reflecting higher short term yields and the potential for near-term strengthening in the pound, which make the carry trade the most lucrative in Egypt at the moment,” said Soussa.
He was referring to a strategy which involves investors borrowing in currencies where interest rates are low to invest in countries where yields are high.
Egypt’s international bonds have performed better than some other similarly rated emerging market sovereigns, such as El Salvador and Sri Lanka, since the March sell-off.
Egypt's 2025 EG198006530=, 2027 EG155807873= and 2040 EG050547868= issues are trading around 12% or less from pre-pandemic highs, Refinitiv data shows.
But analysts say the inflow of “hot money” -- or investments made for short periods -- does not translate into new jobs in the real economy and might disappear if the currency slips.
Barring its energy sector, Egypt had been struggling to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), a predicament blamed by analysts on bureaucracy and an expansion of army-owned firms in sectors from food production to cement.
“Increasing long term foreign direct investment further will require improvement in Doing Business indicators, maintaining a sound, predictable macroeconomic framework and political stability,” Raza Agha, head of emerging markets credit strategy, Legal & General Investment Management.
Additional reporting by Ehab Farouk and Marc Jones, Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by William Maclean and Carmel CrimminsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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329bf17d14327cbfd919d830497a5bae | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-islamicstate-idUSKCN10F24W?il=0 | Egypt military says killed leader of Islamic State in Sinai | Egypt military says killed leader of Islamic State in Sinai
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s military said on Thursday it had killed Abu Duaa al-Ansari, whom it identified as the leader of the Sinai branch of Islamic State.
It said on its Facebook page that a series of air strikes near Arish, the largest town on the Sinai peninsula, had also killed 45 other Islamic State fighters.
There was no immediate confirmation from Sinai Province, Islamic State’s offshoot in the peninsula that borders Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal.
“This successful operation confirms the pledges of the armed forces to avenge their martyrs and ... pursue all the terrorist elements and leaders wherever they are found until Egypt and its great people enjoy security and stability,” the military said.
Hundreds of soldiers and policemen have been killed by an insurgency since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi following mass protests.
Most of the violence has taken place in northern Sinai, where Islamic State loyalists are based.
The military has conducted several campaigns to crush insurgents and cut off their arms supplies, demolishing border villages and tunnels it said were used to smuggle arms and fighters from the Gaza Strip.
Locals say the tunnels were used to smuggle consumer goods to Gaza to ease the consequences of the Israeli blockade.
In 2014, an Egyptian militant group called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to Islamic State and changed its name to Sinai Province.
The army, which still refers to the group by its former name, did not say when the air strikes took place.
Reporting by Mostafa Hashem; Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Robin PomeroyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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bde0a4efb3dd551d3c2f68aa4c40aae2 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-italy/italy-praises-egypt-over-ongoing-investigation-into-students-death-idUSKBN1KQ0NG | Italy praises Egypt over ongoing investigation into student's death | Italy praises Egypt over ongoing investigation into student's death
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Italy praised Egypt on Sunday for its “excellent cooperation” in an investigation into the 2016 death of an Italian student whose killing threatened to severely damage relations with Europe.
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Giulio Regeni disappeared on Jan. 25, 2016 while doing postgraduate research on Egyptian trade unions. His body was discovered on Feb. 3 and Egyptian investigators found signs of extensive torture.
Intelligence and security sources told Reuters in 2016 that police had arrested Regeni outside a Cairo metro station on Jan. 25 of that year and then transferred him to a compound run by Homeland Security.
Egyptian officials have denied any involvement and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said last month that Egypt was determined to conclude a joint investigation and bring Regeni’s killers to justice.
In a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo on Sunday, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi expressed confidence in the ongoing investigation.
“We appreciate the excellent cooperation that we have seen between the judiciaries of both countries and we are confident that justice will come to light on this painful issue,” Moavero Milanesi said in comments broadcast on state television in Arabic translation.
“I was pleased to hear from the Egyptian minister of the strong will on the part of the Egyptian government to achieve concrete results from the judicial investigations,” he said.
Egyptian and Italian investigators have been working together to retrieve CCTV recordings from Cairo metro stations. They said in June they had found gaps in the footage and were trying to discover the cause.
Italy is an important trade partner for Egypt, with 4.75 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in trade per year according to Egypt's foreign ministry. Italian oil major Eni ENI.MI is among Egypt's top foreign investors.
Though no new agreements were announced, Moavero Milanesi spoke of the countries’ cooperation on migration, an issue that has dominated Italian politics since hundreds of thousands of migrants landed on Italy’s shores in recent years, helping bring Italy’s anti-establishment government to power in June.
Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Mike Collett-WhiteOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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3607c5b2ebe190ed39bdb5b639e045fa | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-life-marriage/in-egypt-weddings-get-costlier-as-economic-hardships-deepen-idUSKCN1OK1SS | In Egypt, weddings get costlier as economic hardships deepen | In Egypt, weddings get costlier as economic hardships deepen
By Lena Masri2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Nadia Mohammad Salem started saving up for her wedding long before she got engaged. But getting married proved far more stressful than she’d imagined when her husband proposed a year ago.
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The number of marriages across Egypt fell by nearly 3 percent in 2017, according to official data, and a lot of that appears to be down to rising costs.
“Things were very expensive,” said Nadia, 30. “I was feeling nervous and concerned.”
Tough economic reforms including a devaluation of the country’s pound in late 2016 have led to a dramatic increase in prices, notably for the imported goods bought by many newly-weds to equip their homes.
“All of the necessities that come with getting married are going to be more expensive,” said Rania Salem, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s sociology department. “Therefore I would expect people to stay in the single state or engagement period longer and longer.”
In 2012, the average cost of a wedding was 61,000 Egyptian pounds, Salem said. Back then the currency traded at around 6.15 to the dollar, compared with nearly 18 now.
This year, Nadia spent around 80,000 pounds ($4,500) on just her “gehaz” - the kitchen equipment and other items a bride purchases ahead of her marriage. Despite help from her family, she had to save up for years.
On their wedding day in November, she and her husband had a small celebration on the street rather than a formal party.
A week later, she put on a cheap, second-hand dress and gathered with her husband and a few relatives in a garden, where they posed for pictures.
Nadia said she hoped her children would find getting married less of a financial burden.
“If I have a daughter, I hope things will be much easier for her,” she said. “I want her to have everything she wants.”
Reporting and writing by Lena Masri, additional reporting by Hayam Adel, editing by John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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a5a95ed10c484dda2108f73ef8b8218e | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-migrants-women/african-refugee-women-report-surge-of-sex-attacks-in-egypt-idUSKBN1WW255 | African refugee women report surge of sex attacks in Egypt | African refugee women report surge of sex attacks in Egypt
By Nadeen Ebrahim, Ulf Laessing4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - The 17-year-old South Sudanese refugee finally managed to escape after three months as a prisoner in a Cairo apartment where she was repeatedly gang raped, only to realize that she had become pregnant by one of her attackers.
A female refugee speaks about violent sexual assault in Cairo, Egypt, October 16, 2019. Picture taken October 16, 2019. REUTERS/staff
She is one of a growing number of African migrant and refugee women in the Egyptian capital who report abuse, in what rights groups say has become an epidemic of sexual violence that has worsened in recent months.
Reuters met five women from Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia at a community center in Cairo, each of whom said she was a victim of violent sexual assault.
The 17-year old South Sudanese woman said she was snatched by strangers in a poor neighborhood and brought by a taxi to another area, where a man locked her up in an apartment for three months and repeatedly raped her with friends.
“I tried several times to escape,” she said, adding that she finally managed to flee when her captor left a key in the house. She asked not to be identified but agreed to be filmed provided that her face was not visible.
A Sudanese woman who gave her name as Bakhtia said she was assaulted by a stranger on the street in what then became a gang attack.
“He touched me, after which I slapped him on the face,” she said. “Immediately, around four other people (came over), each one grabbing me from a different body part. I tried to defend myself, but how can I defend myself?”
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Three other women who spoke to Reuters said they were attacked while cleaning houses as domestic workers. Two were raped and one sexually assaulted. They asked not to be filmed or quoted directly.
The United Nations estimates around 500,000 migrants, half of them refugees, live in Egypt. Many arrived aiming to reach Europe via Israel or by boat to Turkey, routes that have been largely closed by tougher security measures.
Jobs are scarce. With austerity measures having driven up inflation since last year, many have found it more difficult to pay rent. Increasingly they have become homeless or are forced to share rooms with strangers, making them more vulnerable to sexual assault.
Cairo was named most dangerous megacity for women in an international perception poll carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2017.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered a crackdown on sexual harassment after seven men were arrested for attacking women near Cairo’s Tahrir Square during his inauguration celebrations in 2014. Tougher sentences have been imposed for sex crimes.
But rights groups say such measures have done little to deter attacks against African migrants, who often have no recourse to the police or family to protect them.
“From two to three (complaints of abuse) a week they were going to seven a week,” said Laurent De Boeck, head of the International Organization for Migration in Egypt, who blamed the surging cost of renting a room.
“The situation of them not having protection of a house, made them more vulnerable to the situation because they were basically in families in the street.”
Fatma Abdelkader, who works with local aid group Tadamon which runs the community center, said cases of sex abuse had increased in the past six months, with attackers seeming to seek out African women as prey.
“The darker the skin tone, the more susceptible the women are to violence,” she said.
Reporting by Nadeen Ebrahim and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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09ae3201bdc56fc82ee11a3364a3be1c | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-mubarak-idUSKBN1691AR | In final ruling, Egypt court finds Mubarak innocent in killing of protesters | In final ruling, Egypt court finds Mubarak innocent in killing of protesters
By Mahmoud Mourad, Haitham Ahmed5 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s top appeals court found former president Hosni Mubarak innocent on Thursday of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule, the final ruling in a landmark case.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak lies on a stretcher while being transported ahead of his trial in Cairo, Egypt, March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
The trial of Mubarak, who was toppled in one of the tumultuous uprisings which shook the Arab world, captivated viewers as he appeared in a courtroom cage on charges ranging from corruption to complicity in the murder of protesters.
Mubarak was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt - an uprising that sowed chaos and created a security vacuum but also inspired hope for democracy and social justice.
But an appeals court ordered a retrial that culminated in 2014 in the case against the ageing former president and his senior officials being dropped. An appeal by the public prosecution led to Thursday’s final retrial by the Court of Cassation.
After a hearing that took most of the day, Judge Ahmed Abdel Qawi announced to cheers of approval from Mubarak supporters who filled the court room: “The court has found the defendant innocent.”
The court also rejected demands by lawyers of the victims to reopen civil suits. That left no remaining option for appeal or retrial, according to a judicial source.
The families of those killed, who had attended the trial early on, were not present on Thursday.
Taha Hussein Mahmoud, whose 19-year-old son was killed during the protests in Alexandria, told Reuters by phone that the decision came as no surprise.
“In the January revolution those who won, won, and those who lost, lost. Unfortunately the blood of our family was lost in vain...they’re in a better place than we are now,” said Mahmoud.
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Lawyers of the families condemned the verdict as politically motivated. “This ruling is not fair and not just. The judiciary is politicized,” said lawyer Osman al-Hefnawy.
The courtroom was filled with Mubarak supporters who cheered “long live justice” as the verdict was read out and unfurled posters of their former leader.
TO REMAIN IN HOSPITAL?
Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak’s rule view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism. His overthrow led to Egypt’s first free election, which brought in Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.
Mursi only lasted a year in office, however, after mass protests against his rule in 2013 prompted an overthrow by then army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who went on to win a presidential election in 2014.
Sisi has since launched a crackdown on Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned as a terrorist organization.
Hundreds of Mursi supporters were killed in a single day and thousands were jailed, with the dragnet quickly widening to include secular activists who were at the forefront of the 2011 uprising but opposed Muslim Brotherhood rule.
By contrast, Mubarak-era figures are gradually being cleared of charges and a series of laws limiting political freedoms has raised fears among activists that the old regime is back.
Mubarak has long maintained his innocence in the case and has said history would judge him a patriot who served his country selflessly. He waved at supporters among the journalists and others in the courtroom, who included his son Alaa.
Sitting in a wheelchair in the defendant’s cage earlier in the day, without his trademark dark sunglasses, Mubarak denied involvement in the killing of protesters.
“It did not happen,” he answered when the presiding judge read out charges of providing vehicles and weapons used to assault protesters and failing to take action to prevent deaths.
Mubarak, 88, got into a helicopter after the verdict to return to the hospital in the leafy Cairo suburb of Maadi where he has already completed a three year sentence in a separate corruption case -- the only one in which he was convicted.
A source with knowledge of the matter said that although Mubarak was free to go home, he preferred to remain at the military hospital, under constant medical supervision.
Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Larry King and Dominic EvansOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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4ff61e1e4e84155eb9a1d06e102cc103 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-mubarak/egypts-high-court-overturns-last-conviction-against-mubarak-idUSKBN0KM0O620150113 | Egypt's high court overturns last conviction against Mubarak | Egypt's high court overturns last conviction against Mubarak
By Reuters Staff4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s high court on Tuesday overturned the only remaining conviction against former president Hosni Mubarak, opening the way for his possible release four years after the revolution that toppled him.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak waves to his supporters inside a cage in a courtroom at the police academy in Cairo April 13, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer
Mubarak, 86, was sentenced to three years in prison last May for diverting public funds earmarked to renovate presidential palaces and using the money to upgrade family properties. His two sons were given four-year jail terms in the same case.
Suffering from ill health, he has been serving his sentence in a military hospital in the upscale Maadi district of Cairo.
Mubarak remains detained for now, but judicial sources say he could soon walk free as no convictions remain against him after the high court ordered a retrial in the embezzlement case.
His release, while thousands of his political opponents languish in jail, would be a further blow to activists who had hoped his downfall in the 2011 Arab Spring marked the dawn of a new era of political freedom in Egypt.
Tuesday’s verdict follows a court decision in November to drop charges against Mubarak of conspiring to kill protesters in the uprising that ended his 30-year rule.
That ruling led to protests in which at least two people were killed.
“After the release of police officers charged with killing demonstrators and of Mubarak aides, and his acquittal over the killing of protesters, this is not shocking news,” said Khaled Dawoud, spokesman for the opposition Dostour Party, 10 of whose members are behind bars for taking part in peaceful protests.
“But I don’t think Mubarak is the issue any more. The Egyptian people gave their verdict against him four years ago.”
Related CoverageEgypt's Mubarak and sons remain in detention: state news agency
CRACKDOWN ON ISLAMISTS
Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak’s rule view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.
His overthrow led to Egypt’s first free election. But the Islamist victor, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted in 2013 by then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, following protests against his rule.
Sisi, who went on to win a presidential election last May, launched a crackdown on Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Security forces have rounded up thousands of Brotherhood supporters and courts have sentenced hundreds to death in mass trials that have drawn international criticism.
Liberal activists have also found themselves on the wrong side of Egypt’s new rulers, facing jail for breaking a law that curtails the freedom to protest.
By contrast, Mubarak-era figures are slowly being cleared of charges and a series of laws curbing political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the rights won during 18 days of protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the revolution, are being eroded.
The Court of Cassation, which ordered the retrial, did not say if Mubarak should be freed on bail in the meantime.
Mubarak also faces retrial for a third and final time over charges of involvement in the death of demonstrators in 2011.
The official MENA news agency quoted an interior ministry source as saying Mubarak and his sons would only be released on orders from the public prosecution or the court that retries them.
A source in the public prosecutor’s office said it was up to the courts that retry Mubarak whether to release him on bail or to keep him in pretrial detention pending a verdict, suggesting he will remain incarcerated for the time being.
But his lawyer, Fareed el-Deeb, told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing that Mubarak had served the maximum permitted time in pretrial detention and should be freed.
Before his conviction in the presidential palaces embezzlement cases in May, Mubarak had been freed on that basis.
Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Mark TrevelyanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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fc00b9f151657a1d189c980e73c5761e | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-mursi-erdogan-idUSKCN1TK1QX | Turkey to push for trial of Egypt government over Mursi death | Turkey to push for trial of Egypt government over Mursi death
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
A woman holds a flag with a picture of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during a symbolic funeral prayer for the former Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi at the courtyard of Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, June 18, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday vowed to try to ensure the Egyptian government is tried in international courts for the death of former president Mohamed Mursi, who suffered a fatal heart attack in a Cairo court earlier this week.
“Muhammed Mursi flailed on the courtroom floor for 20 minutes and the authorities did not help him. This is why I say Mursi did not die, he was murdered,” Erdogan told supporters at an election rally in Istanbul.
“We, as Turkey, will follow this issue and do everything possible for Egypt to be tried in international courts for Mursi’s death,” he said, calling on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to take action toward this end.
He spoke a day after he called Mursi a “marytr” and said he did not believe the former president died due to natural causes.
Mursi, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist group which is now banned in Egypt, died on Monday after collapsing in a Cairo court while on trial on espionage charges.
The 67-year-old - the first democratically elected head of state in Egypt’s modern history - had been in jail since the army commanded by Egypt’s current president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled him in 2013 after barely a year in power following mass protests against his rule.
Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party supported Mursi’s short-lived Egyptian government, and many Brotherhood members and supporters have fled to Turkey since its activities were banned in Egypt.
Erdogan added he would raise the issue at the G20 summit in Japan at the end of the month.
Rights groups have called for an investigation into Mursi’s death and raised questions about his treatment in prison. Egypt’s government has dismissed accusations that he was badly treated.
Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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4b682fe88cf7eab11057b9b60424bdec | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-nefertiti/egypts-lost-queen-nefertiti-may-lie-concealed-in-king-tuts-tomb-idUKKCN0RV46G20151001?edition-redirect=uk | Egypt's lost Queen Nefertiti may lie concealed in King Tut's tomb | Egypt's lost Queen Nefertiti may lie concealed in King Tut's tomb
By Lin Noueihed4 Min Read
CAIRO(Reuters) - High-resolution scans suggest the tomb of Ancient Egypt’s boy-king Tutankhamun contains passages to two hidden chambers, including what one British archaeologist believes is the last resting place of Queen Nefertiti.
British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves speaks during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt, October 1, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
If proven, the discovery would be the most significant this century and shed light on what remains a mysterious period of Egyptian history despite frenzied international interest.
Nefertiti, whose chiseled cheek-bones and regal beauty were immortalized in a 3,300-year old bust now in a Berlin museum, died in the 14th century BC.
British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves told a news conference in Cairo on Thursday that he believes Tutankhamun’s mausoleum was originally occupied by Nefertiti, thought by experts to have been his step-mother, and that she has lain undisturbed behind what he believes is a partition wall for over 3,000 years.
“If it is true, we are facing a discovery that would overshadow the discovery of Tutankhamun himself,” Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty told reporters. “This would be the most important discovery of the 21st century.”
Reeves said radar and thermal imaging could help establish whether secret rooms were indeed hidden behind Tut’s burial chamber and what they might hold. Damaty said the next step would be to carry out radar studies at the site, which could begin in the next one to three months.
King Tut, as he is affectionately known, died around 1323 BC. His intact tomb, complete with his famous golden burial mask, was discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 by another British Egyptologist, Howard Carter.
Experts have long sought to understand why Tut’s tomb was smaller than that of other pharaohs and why its shape was more in keeping with that of the Egyptian queens of the time.
Egyptologists remain uncertain over where Nefertiti died and was buried. She was long believed to have passed away during her husband’s reign, suggesting she could be buried in Amarna, where her bust was found in 1912. More recently, most experts, including Reeves, have come to believe she outlived Akhenaten but changed her name and may have briefly ruled Egypt.
Slideshow ( 2 images )
HIGH-RESOLUTION SCANS
Reeves developed his theory about Nefertiti’s resting place after studying high-resolution scans he believes suggest the presence of two rooms hidden behind the northern and western walls of Tut’s burial chamber.
He thinks one is a Tutankhamun-era storage area and another may contain the remains of Nefertiti, whose name means “the beautiful one has come”.
But some archaeologists have urged caution. The evidence remains scant and others believe Nefertiti’s mummy was found in 1898 and already lies in the Egyptian Museum.
“The idea that one (room) might lead to a pre-existing burial chamber, let alone that of Nefertiti, is pure speculation,” Aidan Dodson, an Egyptologist at Bristol University, told Reuters.
Damaty, who recently returned from a tour of the Valley of the Kings with Reeves and other senior Egyptian experts, said he believed there was a hidden chamber which could contain a royal woman’s remains but thought it was likely to be Tut’s mother.
Nefertiti was the primary wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, who introduced a form of monotheism to Egypt in the 14th century BC. Many Egyptologists believe Tutankhamun was Akhenaten’s child with his own sister Kia.
Tut himself is believed to have married his own half-sister Ankhesenamun, one of the six daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
Nefertiti is believed to have survived her husband and ruled Egypt herself as pharaoh under the name Neferneferuaten.
If her tomb is found intact, it would likely contain hidden treasures and shed new light on a turbulent period rich in artistic and architectural accomplishments.
Editing by Michael Georgy and Tom HeneghanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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488fb9c9245021c5447dc947e08934b1 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-palestinians-kidnapping/four-palestinian-hamas-militants-abducted-in-egypts-sinai-sources-idUSKCN0QP1DS20150820 | Four Palestinian Hamas militants abducted in Egypt's Sinai: sources | Four Palestinian Hamas militants abducted in Egypt's Sinai: sources
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
GAZA/ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Four members of Hamas’ armed wing were abducted in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday after the bus they were on was stopped by unidentified gunmen, sources close to the Palestinian group and Egyptian security officials said.
Slideshow ( 2 images )
Egypt accuses Hamas of supporting militant groups seeking to topple the Cairo government, an allegation the movement denies.
Hamas warned in a statement that the abductions could strain ties with Egypt, which faces a serious security challenge from Islamist militants.
“The graveness of such an incident was that it was the first of its kind and it breaks all diplomatic and security norms of the state of Egypt,” said the group, which called on the authorities to quickly apprehend the kidnappers.
A bus with about fifty Palestinians on it was traveling from Rafah on the Egypt-Gaza border to Cairo airport when it was ambushed, the security sources said.
Hamas’ interior ministry confirmed that four Palestinians were kidnapped on their way to Cairo.
“We urge the Egyptian interior ministry to secure the lives of the kidnapped passengers and free them,” Gaza interior ministry spokesman Eyad al-Bazom said, adding that the bus was being escorted by Egyptian soldiers.
Spokesmen for Egypt’s military and interior ministry could not be reached for comment.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
Hamas has long had ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that was ousted from power when former president Mohamed Mursi was overthrown by the army in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
The Egyptian government has accused Hamas of helping Islamist militants in Egypt’s Sinai desert, which borders on Gaza, to attack its security forces. Hamas denies this.
A decision by an Egyptian court in June to cancel a previous ruling labeling Hamas a terrorist group raised speculation that relations between Egypt and Hamas may improve.
Sinai is the focal point of an Islamist insurgency that aims to overthrow the government, and the most active militant group in the area is the Egyptian affiliate of Islamic State, Sinai Province.
The insurgency has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers and Sinai Province recently killed an abducted Croatian hostage.
Reporting By Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia; Additional reporting and writing by Shadi Bushra; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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c5d7c8846c179c1f127d139d1db98572 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics-arrest/egypts-former-anti-graft-chief-taken-to-military-prosecutor-family-says-idUSKBN1FX15V?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29&rpc=401 | Egypt's former anti-graft chief ordered detained for 15 days: agency | Egypt's former anti-graft chief ordered detained for 15 days: agency
By Reuters Staff4 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian military prosecutors on Tuesday ordered a former anti-corruption chief detained for 15 days for questioning over allegations that he had threatened to publish documents damning the state, the official news agency MENA reported.
Hisham Genena, who had helped to run the election campaign of a potential challenger to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a March election, was taken from his home by police on Tuesday morning to the military prosecutors’ office, his family said.
“The military prosecution has decided to detain the former head of the Central Auditing Organization, Judge Hisham Genena, for 15 days for investigation,” MENA said.
It said Genena was being investigated over comments he had allegedly made that former military chief-of-staff Sami Anan possessed documents damning the state and its leadership.
Genena had run Anan’s short-lived election campaign before Anan was detained last month and accused by the army of running for office without permission, bringing his presidential bid to a halt. Egypt holds its election on March 26-28.
In a statement issued late on Monday evening, the military had said it would pursue all “legal measures” against anyone who tried to harm Egypt’s national security.
The statement appeared to refer to an interview Genena gave to the HuffPost Arabi news website, in which he said Anan possessed documents that were damning of senior Egyptian officials, without giving details.
Anan’s lawyer criticised Genena, writing on his Facebook page that statements Genena had made were “completely untrue”, without specifying which statements he was referring to.
“We will take all necessary legal measures against anyone who makes media statements on Anan’s words and actions which harm his legal position,” the lawyer Nasser Amin wrote.
ARREST
Genena’s detention came one day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, during a visit to Egypt, called for free and fair elections in the country..
Genena’s daughter Nada had earlier told Reuters by telephone that up to 30 policemen had taken her father from the family home in a Cairo suburb. His wife Wafaa Kedieh said he was taken to the military prosecutors.
An Interior Ministry official said he had no knowledge of the incident.
Amnesty International criticised Genena’s detention.
“The arbitrary arrest of Hisham Genena and his referral to the Office of the Military Prosecution show a blatant disregard for the rights to freedom of expression and the right to public participation,” Amnesty International’s North Africa branch said in a message on Twitter.
Genena was beaten up last month shortly after the detention of Anan, and he accused the government of being behind his assault. His alleged assailants said his injuries were the result of a fight after a car accident.
All main challengers to Sisi, who is seeking a second term in the March 26-28 vote, have pulled out of the race, citing intimidation of their supporters and other tactics designed to give the incumbent an easy win.
Egypt says the 2018 presidential election will be free and fair.
Editing by Larry King and Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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c9e745f35fcaaa149617229954f9c189 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics-religion/egyptian-parliament-approves-long-awaited-church-building-law-idUSKCN1152KK | Egyptian parliament approves long-awaited church building law | Egyptian parliament approves long-awaited church building law
By Ahmed Aboulenein, Mohamed Abdellah3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s parliament approved on Tuesday a long-awaited law that governs building and renovating churches, an issue that has led in the past to attacks on members the country’s Christian minority by Muslim militants.
A statue stands outside the Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Cairo, Egypt March 5, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Egyptian Christians make up about a tenth of the country’s 90 million population and are the Middle East’s largest Christian community. They have long complained of discrimination in the majority-Muslim country.
The new law empowers provincial governors to approve church building and renovation permits, previously the domain of security services.
Church officials see it as a step in the right direction but human rights advocates and some Christian Members of Parliament said it was prejudiced.
“This is a sectarian law that shows the state prefers the adherents of one religion over another,” Ishak Ibrahim of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told Reuters.
Activists have long campaigned for a unified places of worship law to govern mosques and churches.
“A unified law would show that the state protects the rights of all its citizens equally,” said Ibrahim. “It would send a message to extremists.”
The law on mosque building, issued in 2001, is much less restrictive and only discusses issues of land ownership and building regulations.
In contrast, the law approved on Tuesday stipulates that the size of a church must be proportional to the number of Christians in an area which Ibrahim says is problematic.
The government does not make the official number of Christians public in its census and Christians have long complained of being undercounted. Emad Gad, a Christian MP, demanded the stipulation be removed, but it made it into the final version of the law.
The law grants a governor the right to deny a building or renovation permit which was described as “poisonous” during the debate by MP Reda Nadeef, a Christian.
Sectarian violence often erupts on the back of suspicions that Christians are building churches.
Homes are burned, crops are razed, churches are attacked and, occasionally, Christians are forced to leave their villages, say human rights groups and residents.
The law is suitable provided officials are well intentioned, said Bishop Makarios, the highest Coptic Orthodox Church official in Minya, a southern province home to Egypt’s largest Christian community.
This was echoed by officials from other sects. The law is “a massive jump after 160 years of legislation governing church building and renovation,” said Father Rafik Greish, a spokesman for the Coptic Catholic Church, referring to the Ottoman-era laws governing this matter.
All nine representatives from the ultra-conservative Islamist Nour Party voted against the law.
“Our country is Islamic, the constitution does not say it is Christian. When the West treats mosques the way they treat churches we will say yes,” said Nour MP Ahmed al-Agrawy.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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d0743f34a39498a40f0fccddde83b332 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics/egypt-arrests-leave-few-vocal-critics-of-sisi-idUSKCN1J42AC | Egypt arrests leave few vocal critics of Sisi | Egypt arrests leave few vocal critics of Sisi
By John Davison, Amina Ismail6 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - A smiling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appeared on state television last month to pardon more than 330 prisoners, saying it was an act of clemency ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. This week, he pardoned another 712.
FILE PHOTO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi speaks at his swearing-in of the second presidential term, at a ceremony, at the House of Representatives in Cairo, Egypt, June 2, 2018 in this handout picture courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency. The Egyptian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Many were young Egyptians jailed for anti-government protests.
But with less fanfare, at least six prominent Sisi critics have been detained in recent weeks, in what opposition activists say is an intensifying effort to crush all dissent less than three months after his landslide election victory.
“I am being arrested,” Wael Abbas, one of the highest-profile detainees, wrote on Facebook around dawn on May 23.
The journalist, who won an international award in 2007 for reporting on police brutality, was charged with spreading fake news and involvement with an illegal organization, a phrase often used by the Egyptian authorities as a reference to Islamist groups. His lawyer, Gamal Eid, said Abbas denied the charges.
Abbas joined other high-profile figures in detention, all arrested in the space of three weeks. The group includes Hazem Abdelazim, a well-known Sisi supporter turned critic, as well as several leading figures from Egypt’s 2011 uprising, when mass protests forced then-president Hosni Mubarak from office. The activists had since turned their sights on Sisi, who they see as a return to an era of strong military control.
Egypt’s interior ministry and president’s office did not respond to phone calls or written questions about the arrests.
Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “no citizen in Egypt is arrested ... for directing criticism at the Egyptian government, but for committing crimes punishable by law.”
Sisi easily won re-election in March with 97 percent of the vote, but turnout was just 41 percent. All serious opponents had withdrawn beforehand from the race, citing intimidation.
Mohamed Zaree of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies said he knew of about 30 journalists or activists who had been arrested since the election. Reuters was not able to verify that figure.
The recent arrests have raised alarm, including in the United States and United Nations, partly because those detained are prominent figures whose open criticism of the authorities had not triggered such strong reprisals until now.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence praised last month’s pardons, but also expressed concern to Sisi on May 24 over the new arrests. On Tuesday, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani urged Egypt to “respect ... obligations under international human rights law.”
International and local rights groups have said the arrests were made without warrants and detainees were denied access to lawyers.
‘TARGETED FOR WRITING’
Since coming to power in 2014, Sisi has presided over a sweeping crackdown on Islamist opponents and liberal activists, which rights groups say is the worst period of political repression in modern Egyptian history.
The former military chief toppled elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Thousands of supporters of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood were arrested and Egypt passed a law requiring interior ministry permission for any public gathering of more than 10 people.
Sisi’s supporters say such measures are needed to keep Egypt stable as it recovers from political chaos and tackles grave economic challenges. It also faces an Islamic State insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula and has imposed a nationwide state of emergency.
Sisi, who denies there are political prisoners in Egypt, has issued pardons several times a year, including on major holidays, often releasing students and young protesters.
Some lawyers, rights researchers and diplomats said they are at a loss to explain the latest arrests. Those detained had mainly avoided incarceration for years despite their online activism.
“Before the election (there was) the logical explanation that it was to scare (opposition) supporters,” Mohamed Lotfy, director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, told Reuters.
“The latest (arrests) have just targeted those writing on the internet,” he said, adding that Sisi’s critics were increasingly engaging in self-censorship for fear of arrest.
Lotfy’s wife, Amal Fathy, was detained last month for insulting the state after posting a expletive-filled video criticizing the government for failing to protect women against sexual harassment.
TWITTER POSTINGS
Another detainee, Hazem Abdelazim, had complained on Twitter about a deepening crackdown days before his arrest on May 27.
“People are being arrested every day ... oppression is increasing,” he wrote. In his Twitter postings, he criticized the release of more than 300 prisoners by Sisi as not including any political opponents or prominent critics. A full list of those pardoned was not made available by the authorities.
Abdelazim served as a government official under Mubarak and campaigned for Sisi’s first term in 2014, but has since said that this was his “biggest sin”.
Like Abbas, the journalist, Abdelazim faces charges of spreading fake news and involvement with an illegal organization, charges which his lawyer said he denies.
Satirist Shady Abu Zeid and lawyer Haitham Mohamedeen were among other prominent Egyptians arrested in May. Abu Zeid’s lawyer said he faced the same charges as Abbas and Abdelazim, charges which he denies. Mohamedeen’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
Shady Ghazaly Harb, a leading opposition figure in 2011 when mass protests forced Mubarak from office, was also detained last month. He had taken to Twitter to criticize the detention of demonstrators taking part in a rare public protest against an increase in fares on the Cairo metro.
Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by John Davison; Editing by Giles Elgood and Nick TattersallOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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ff76f6f9b3cb8404ddc66789765f7898 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics/egypt-state-security-orders-prominent-blogger-wael-abbas-detained-for-15-days-idUSKCN1IP3B8 | Egypt state security orders prominent blogger Wael Abbas detained for 15 days | Egypt state security orders prominent blogger Wael Abbas detained for 15 days
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s state security prosecutor on Thursday ordered a prominent blogger and journalist Wael Abbas detained for 15 days for investigation on charges including involvement with an illegal organization and publishing false news, state news agency MENA said.
Abbas, an award-winning journalist and rights activist, was arrested at dawn on Wednesday when armed police raided his home without presenting an arrest warrant, blind-folded him and took him in his pyjamas to an unknown location.
“Wael Abbas is a secular pro-democracy, not a terrorist, 15 days imprisonment!! Egypt is a country with no justice,” said Gamal Eid, one of his lawyers, on his twitter account.
Abbas first became known in activist circles after posting videos showing police brutality. One such video, published in 2006, caused such uproar that it prompted an investigation resulting in a rare conviction of two policemen.
Abbas was awarded the International Center for Journalists’ Knight International Journalism Award in 2007.
In recent weeks Egypt has stepped up a crackdown on political critics, arresting a series of prominent activists, which has drawn international attention.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday that the United States was concerned about certain activists who have been arrested even as other prisoners were recently released, the White House said in a statement.
“Pence expressed support for President Sisi’s release of more than 300 prisoners, including American citizen Ahmed Etiwy,” the White House said.
Pence also raised concerns about arrests of other non-violent activists in Egypt.
Rights groups accuse the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of a sweeping crackdown on dissent which they say is the worst ever for Egypt.
Since 2013 when Sisi ousted President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist, thousands of Islamist opponents, as well as scores of liberal activists and journalists have been imprisoned by the authorities.
Sisi denies that there are political prisoners in Egypt.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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55ea29a4ba13e78540080f79cd959a50 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics/egypt-to-hold-long-awaited-local-elections-next-year-idUSKCN1HB20W | Egypt to hold long-awaited local elections next year | Egypt to hold long-awaited local elections next year
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt plans to hold its first local elections in a decade in the first half of next year, the state news agency MENA reported on Wednesday.
Egypt has been without local councils since June 2011, when a court dissolved them after the popular uprising that ended the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak. Government-appointed officials have run local affairs without council oversight since then.
The last local elections in 2008 were won overwhelmingly by the now dissolved National Democratic Party, the ruling party of the Mubarak era.
Local elections were scheduled for the first quarter of last year, prime minister Sherif Ismail told parliament in March 2016, but they did not take place. Parliament is now expected to pass a law that will allow the local polls to be held.
“The local elections will be held during the first half of 2019 after the local administrative draft law is passed by parliament,” parliamentary spokesman Salah Hassaballah told reporters, according to MENA.
“The House of Representatives is keen to pass the draft law during the current legislative period.”
Supporters of recently re-elected President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are expected to sweep the local elections, as they did in parliamentary elections in 2015.
Sisi won a second term in last week’s presidential election with 97 percent of the vote on a turnout of 41 percent, official results showed on Monday.
Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Giles Elgood/Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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f95b5d4904c7c313b91fbfe16b8940cd | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics/egypts-military-production-minister-dies-idUSKBN2472QA | Egypt's military production minister dies | Egypt's military production minister dies
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Egyptian Minister of Defense and Military Production Mohammed al-Assar speaks during the first day of Egypt Defense Expo, showcasing military systems and hardware in Cairo, Egypt, December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s state minister of military production, Mohamed al-Assar, one of the country’s most prominent government and military figures, died on Monday, state media said. He was 74.
Local media said he died after a long illness.
Assar was a close ally of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who promoted him last month to honorary Lieutenant General.
Under Sisi and Assar the military has further expanded into the wider economy and signed business deals with foreign firms and countries.
Assar was also a prominent member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which briefly ruled Egypt after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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f8321e7da7e88deed9595cf86513bbaa | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics/egypts-sisi-facing-online-backlash-says-country-is-on-the-right-track-idUSKBN1JQ0HX | Egypt's Sisi, facing online backlash, says country is on the 'right track' | Egypt's Sisi, facing online backlash, says country is on the 'right track'
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday Egypt was on the “right track” to rebuild its economy after years of instability that had nearly brought the country to its knees.
FILE PHOTO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, October 24, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
Speaking on the anniversary of 2013 mass protests that helped propel him into power, Sisi said Egypt had faced challenges, including political instability, armed insurgency and an economic meltdown since 2011 protests forced President Hosni Mubarak from power after more than 30 years in office.
“I tell you in all objectivity, every Egyptian man and woman is entitled to feel proud for what his country has achieved in facing the three challenges, and in record time,” Sisi said in a televised speech.
Sisi, who was elected for a second term in March, has been pushing ahead with economic reforms required under a three-year, $12 billion IMF loan that have left many of Egypt’s 100 million people struggling to make ends meet. [nL8N1TL2RJ]
Spurred by the painful reforms, an online campaign calling for Sisi to step down has gathered momentum in recent weeks.
“The results that have been achieved until now indicate we are on the right path,” Sisi said, citing positive economic indicators, including a record $44 billion in foreign reserves and economic growth of 5.4 percent.
Human rights groups accuse Sisi of presiding over a crackdown on dissent as he pushes ahead with the reforms, that have included raising prices for fuel, electricity and public transportation.
The Egyptian military and security forces, under Sisi’s orders, have been conducting a major operation in Sinai this year, trying to crush Islamist militants behind a wave of attacks that had killed hundreds.
Analysts say the reforms have eroded his once soaring popularity, but to what extent is hard to gauge since scores of websites have been banned in the past year and opponents rounded up, often on charges of spreading fake news. [nL5N1T23ID]
In an unprecedented show of digital dissent, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have taken to Twitter in recent weeks, to voice their discontent and call for Sisi to step down.
The hashtag campaign that translates roughly to #Sisi_leave gathered strength after the government announced the fuel and electricity subsidy cuts.
But in his speech on Saturday, Sisi said Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, could not afford to put off implementing the reforms even if they cause pain.
“It is without a doubt that the road to true reform is difficult and cruel and that it causes much suffering, but it is also without a doubt that the suffering which comes from the lack of reform if much greater,” Sisi said.
Reporting by Ahmed Tolba, Eric Knecht and Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Sami Aboudi and Ros RussellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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af96314381b92a268fbc994016d46ee5 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics/egypts-sisi-says-false-rumors-main-threat-to-arab-countries-idUSKBN1KC0NM | Egypt's Sisi says false rumors main threat to Arab countries | Egypt's Sisi says false rumors main threat to Arab countries
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned on Sunday that Arab countries, including Egypt, were vulnerable to imploding from within under what he described as a barrage of rumors aimed at spreading instability.
FILE PHOTO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a military ceremony in the courtyard of the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, France, November 26, 2014. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo
Addressing a military academy graduation ceremony in Cairo, Sisi said that his government had detected 21,000 false rumors over a period of three months.
Sisi, who was elected president after he led the army in ousting Mohamed Mursi following mass protests against the Islamist president’s one year in office, sees himself as trying to rebuild Egypt following years of turmoil that began in 2011.
“The real danger is blowing up countries from within. Rumors, acts of terrorism, loss of hope and feeling of frustration, all these work in a grand network aimed at one objective, only one objective, and that is to move people to destroy their country,” Sisi said, speaking in Arabic.
“Destroying our countries will not happen unless it came from within. We must be alert and pay attention to what is being spun against us in secret,” he added, without naming any party.
He said that while he understood the economic hardships that ordinary Egyptians are enduring due to economic reforms, nothing justifies “causing chaos and destroying the state”.
Sisi’s government has faced criticism from ordinary Egyptians over the raising of fuel, electricity and transportation prices, part of IMF-backed reforms that called for lifting subsidies on fuel prices causing economic hardships to many Egyptians.
Critics accuse Sisi’s government of presiding over the most serious crackdown on dissent since 2011, jailing thousands of people, most of them Islamists but also including liberals who opposed his policies.
Supporters say Sisi’s policies were necessary to bring stability to the most populous country in the Arab world and save it from the anarchy and destruction witnessed by other Arab countries such as Syria and Libya.
At the ceremony, which was attended by senior army officers including former army chief Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Sisi also lavished praise on army officers who overthrew the monarchy in 1952 in what is known as the “July 23 Revolution”, including the late presidents Mohammed Naguib, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat.
Sisi also decorated Youssef Siddiq, one of the Free Officers who fell out of favor with the Revolutionary Command Council due to differences over running the country after 1952 until he died in 1975, with the Nile Medal, the country’s highest honor.
“My dad had no medals or any decorations. This is the first medal to be placed in the history of Youssef Siddiq,” Siddiq’s daughter, Laila, who received the medal, told Reuters.
“What happened today was an act of justice to Youssef Siqqiq and his history, which had been deliberately suppressed,” she added.
Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Mahmoud Mourad, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Adrian CroftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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1dbc2e40bfce9ae3ad12250e85491edf | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-politics/lebanese-tourist-sentenced-to-eight-years-in-prison-for-facebook-post-against-egypt-idUSKBN1JX0NJ | Lebanese tourist sentenced to eight years in prison for Facebook post against Egypt | Lebanese tourist sentenced to eight years in prison for Facebook post against Egypt
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - (Please note offensive language in paragraph 2.)
A Lebanese tourist who was arrested last month for posting a video on Facebook complaining of sexual harassment and conditions in Egypt was sentenced to eight years in prison by a Cairo court on Saturday, her lawyer told Reuters.
Mona el-Mazboh was arrested at Cairo airport at the end of her stay in Egypt after a 10-minute video in which she called Egypt a “son of a bitch country” went viral on social media.
The 24-year-old Mazboh complains of being sexually harassed by taxi drivers and young men in the street, as well as poor restaurant service during the holy month of Ramadan and an incident in which money was stolen from her during a previous stay.
A Cairo court found her guilty of deliberately spreading false rumors that would harm society, attacking religion, and public indecency, judicial sources said.
An appeal court will now hear the case on July 29, according to Mazboh’s lawyer, Emad Kamal.
“Of course, God willing, the verdict will change. With all due respect to the judiciary, this is a severe ruling. It is in the context of the law, but the court was applying the maximum penalty,” he said.
Kamal said a surgery Mazboh underwent in 2006 to remove a brain clot has impaired her ability to control anger, a condition documented in a medical report he submitted to the court. She also suffers from depression, he said.
Egyptian rights activists say they face the worst crackdown in their history under Sisi, accusing him of erasing freedoms won in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
Supporters say such measures are needed to stabilize Egypt after years of turmoil that drove away foreign investors and amid an Islamist insurgency concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula.
Reporting by Haitham Ahmed and Eric Knecht; Editing by Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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e7e9b12fce1d1c3456a7cf7c86ad89ed | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-qatar-idUSKCN0JC20J20141128 | Egypt pays back $2.5 billion deposit to Qatar: central bank official | Egypt pays back $2.5 billion deposit to Qatar: central bank official
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has paid back $2.5 billion that Qatar deposited with it to help prop up the Egyptian central bank’s hard currency reserves, a central bank official said on Friday night, as the Qatari foreign minister arrived in Cairo for Arab League talks.
The payment brings the amount Egypt has returned to Qatar to $6 billion, leaving $500 million outstanding, which the official said would be paid back in the second half of 2015.
Qatar helped support the Egyptian economy in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak, but relations have soured since the ouster of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year.
Other Gulf countries have filled the void, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait providing $10.6 billion in aid last fiscal year, Egypt’s finance minister says.
A government source said earlier this month that Egypt had received another $1 billion grant from Kuwait.
Qatar, a small gas-exporting country which provided billions of dollars in grants, loans, and energy supplies to the Egyptian government under Mursi, asked that the central bank deposits be paid back earlier this month.
Qatari foreign minister Khaled al-Attiya arrived in Cairo on Friday night for a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers.
Qatar has had a fraught relationship with its Gulf neighbours and Egypt, partly because of Doha’s alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood, though relations have begun to thaw recently.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Mursi’s ouster, has relied on political and economic support from Qatar’s rivals in the Gulf, which support his crackdown on the Brotherhood that has seen hundreds killed and thousands jailed.
Egypt has been hit by more than three years of political and economic turmoil following the 2011 uprising.
The government is trying to strike a balance between cutting its deficit while reviving economic growth, which remains too slow to create enough jobs for a youthful population of 86 million.
In an effort to ease the burden on its swelling budget deficit and minimise its need for Gulf aid, Egypt’s government has introduced a raft of long-delayed reforms in recent months including subsidy cuts and tax hikes.
Reporting by Nadia El Gowely; Writing by Shadi Bushra; Editing by Andrew RocheOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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aa844038c9db9df304a5406e6f2fb4dc | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-regeni-spcialreport-idUSKCN10F0SO?sp=alcms | Special Report: In Egypt, an Italian student stirred suspicion before he died | Special Report: In Egypt, an Italian student stirred suspicion before he died
By Michael Georgy18 Min Read
CAMBRIDGE, England (Reuters) - Ten days before he vanished, Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni made a Skype call from his Cairo flat to an academic in Germany.
An Egyptian activist holds a poster calling for justice to be done in the case of the recently murdered Italian student Giulio Regeni during a demonstration protesting the government's decision to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo, Egypt, April 15, 2016. To match Special Report EGYPT-REGENI/ REUTERS/Staff/File Photo
It was the middle of January and Egyptian police were braced for political protests ahead of the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Regeni sounded anxious.
“We did not talk very much as it was expected that we will catch up at some point later,” said Georgeta Auktor, a researcher at the German Development Institute in Bonn, where Regeni had spent a few weeks in 2015.
“He said he feels he needs to be careful where he goes in the city and whom he meets.”
They did not speak again.
Regeni’s body was found on the side of the Cairo-Alexandria highway on Feb. 3 by passengers on a bus that had broken down, according to a police source. Egyptian forensics officials said the body showed signs of torture, including cigarette burns and beatings.
Regeni’s mother, Paola, later told Italy’s parliament that her son’s injuries were so bad she identified him only by the tip of his nose. Egyptian human rights groups said the torture suggested Egyptian security services had killed the student, allegations those services and the government have strongly denied.
In April, intelligence and security sources told Reuters that police had arrested Regeni outside a Cairo metro station on Jan. 25 and then transferred him to a compound run by Homeland Security. The government and security services deny he was ever in custody.
It remains unclear who killed Regeni or why. But piecing together his activity in the months leading up to his death, it is apparent that two factors put the student at risk: his passionate interest in political and economic issues and his belief that Egypt needed change. Three Egyptian security sources have told Reuters that Regeni raised the suspicions of Egypt’s security services because he met unionists and was researching politically sensitive subjects.
“Homeland Security had monitored Regeni with a number of opposition leaders and labor unions. He attended several meetings,” one of the sources said.
A second security source said: “He is a foreigner and does not work in the media ... and this is what made Homeland Security follow and monitor him.”
A third security source said that Regeni’s meetings were suspicious because they took place at “a time in which many nations were intervening in what is happening in Egypt.” This, he said, raised the possibility that the Italian was gathering information for a foreign nation.
But other Egyptian security officials said that even if agents were watching Regeni’s activities they played no role in his death.
Two Egyptian officials – one in security, one in government – said that if security services had suspected Regeni was a spy he would simply have been deported.
A Western ambassador said that may have been true in the past, but no longer. “That is what happened in the Cold War. This is Egypt under Sisi. They are very suspicious,” he said, referring to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army general who is now Egypt’s president.
Reuters has also learned that a personal disagreement may have fueled the official suspicion. The leader of one union said that another union figure likely talked to the police about Regeni after the Italian refused to buy the second man a mobile phone and overseas flights.
Regeni, who was 28, had been researching Egypt’s independent unions for his doctoral thesis. Associates say he was also interested in alternatives to the long-standing domination by the state and the military of Egypt’s economy.
Both subjects are sensitive in Egypt. The military’s grip on the economy is a subject rarely talked about in a country that has been ruled almost entirely by military men since the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952.
And independent unions helped orchestrate the industrial unrest and strikes that paved the way for the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak. Two years later, union activists supported the mass protests that led to the ouster of Mubarak’s democratically elected successor, Mohamed Mursi.
Academic Auktor, who is also an associate fellow at University Erlangen-Nuremberg Institute of Economics, was working with Regeni on a paper called “Developmental State in the 21st Century – Calling for a New Social Contract.” She said the Italian longed to “see the fruits of 2011. He thought a more inclusive state was necessary. He believed that the involvement of more social groups would be beneficial.”
But the government of Sisi, the one-time head of military intelligence who seized power from Mursi, is wary of unions, regularly breaking up strikes and arresting laborers.
Though many independent trade unions emerged after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, they have been fragmented since Sisi took control. Human Rights Watch, a lobby group, has criticized Sisi’s government, saying it had stopped “dealing with the de-facto independent trade unions, which has led labor activists to fear that labor rights gains since 2011 are facing erosion.”
LEEDS AND OXFORD
Regeni’s desire for a better world had been apparent for years.
Born in the small town of Fiumicello, near Udine in Italy’s north-east, Regeni was always curious about how things worked, according to Mike Hatlee, his dorm supervisor at a high school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for two years.
Hatlee remembers Regeni returning to the school for a visit in 2014. The pair chatted for three hours. “Giulio could deal with any difficulties, whether it was an argument with someone or the fact that he had four roommates. He had more gravitas than anyone his age,” Hatlee said.
At Britain’s Leeds University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Arabic and politics, Regeni followed the unfolding revolutions in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt with rapt interest.
Hendrik Kraetzschmar, an associate professor in Middle East studies at Leeds, said the young student had a “critical mind” and challenged conventional wisdom. Though quiet, he was self assured. Kraetzschmar remembers him writing on the bottom of an exam paper that he deserved the top grade. He graduated with a first class degree.
In 2013, Regeni joined Oxford Analytica, a consultancy that advises governments and corporations. His talent made him “restlessly ambitious,” said Hannah Waddilove, a colleague at the consultancy. Another colleague said he was clear about what he wanted to specialize in: “Trade unions as a channel for reform and development in Egypt.”
“He was a life force,” the colleague said. “So much drive and intellectual ferocity and a sense of social justice.”
Oxford Analytica was founded by David Young, a member of Richard Nixon’s National Security staff. Employees have included the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte. Its headquarters is an elegant building on a narrow street in the English city of Oxford. Regeni worked on a political risk newsletter. He also looked after freelancers at the think tank.
Paz Zarate, a Chilean human rights lawyer, became a close friend. The pair would buy ice creams and stroll around Oxford’s neat lawns discussing everything from what Regeni should study next to his personal life.
CAMBRIDGE
Regeni decided to study for his doctorate at Cambridge, in part because he had been impressed by the work of an Egyptian-Dutch lecturer there named Maha Abdel Rahman.
Abdel Rahman became his thesis adviser, and Regeni settled on his focus: The formation of independent trade unions – specifically the street vendors’ union – in Egypt after Mubarak’s fall, and democratic institutional development.
Abdel Rahman, who would not comment for this story, had spent time in Cairo researching human rights groups. Such groups are viewed with suspicion by Sisi’s government.
In one of her writings, Abdel Rahman focused on how Egypt’s security services created a narrative in which they were the savior of Egyptians who face a growing threat from terrorism.
“A regime bereft of any source of legitimacy, save for its promise of guaranteeing security to the nation, stops at nothing to inflate a discourse of national security around which to rally an otherwise disgruntled citizenry,” Abdel Rahman wrote last year in Reset Dialogues on Civilizations, an online magazine.
“Central to cementing this security discourse is the enlisting of large sectors of the population into becoming active players in the surveillance and reporting of society.”
Egyptian officials and Western diplomats say such sentiments reinforce the Egyptian government’s view that the country is under attack from multiple angles.
EGYPT
By late last year, Egypt was in a state of paranoia. Government television and radio stations and newspapers had been consistently portraying the country as a victim of foreign conspiracies. Press reports described critics of the government as traitors or terrorists, and security forces were rounding up alleged opponents.
The government made protesting without permission a crime, and the number of people arrested on political grounds reached 40,000, according to human rights groups. Those groups say state torture is widespread, an allegation the government denies.
Before conducting research abroad, Cambridge University students complete a rigorous risk assessment with their thesis advisers, according to academics. Regeni had agreed to avoid interaction with political activists, according to associates. He decided to focus on the street vendors’ union, which he thought would be less controversial because it is not politically active like other unions. He also planned to interview Egyptian labor ministry officials, to show balance.
Still, his passion could sometimes make him seem obsessed.
Tilman Altenburg, head of the Sustainable Economic and Social Development department at the German Development Institute, said Regeni was “idealistic” and could be fixated. The young Italian had been a visiting researcher at the Institute for a few weeks in the summer of 2015. Altenburg remembers a staff outing – a walk along the Rhine – during which Regeni only wanted to discuss the economic model that has dominated Egypt for decades and how it might be changed.
“Everyone else was enjoying the day,” said Altenburg.
Regeni was not the only academic from Cambridge hoping for change in Egypt. In early November, a few weeks after he left for Cairo, a small group of people gathered in London to protest against an upcoming visit by Sisi. Abdel Rahman was not at the rally, but fellow Cambridge academic and activist Anne Alexander was.
In a speech captured on video and now posted on YouTube, Alexander said: “I think we have sent a clear message tonight but we need to say it louder and more urgently. We need to make sure that Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cannot go around the world pretending that he is a statesman. He is not a statesman. He is a killer. He is not just a killer, he should be a pariah.”
In the crowd, people held up posters backing the Muslim Brotherhood, which Sisi has banned. He describes it as a terrorist group and an existential threat to Egypt.
Alexander, who was not close to Regeni, would not publicly comment on his case.
Egyptian security officials said they take note of such protests abroad and anyone strongly opposed to the Cairo government would likely be monitored if they visited Egypt.
RESEARCH
Egypt has expelled several Western academics in the past few years. Others conducting research there have fled, fearing arrest.
Fanny Ohier, a 23-year-old student from France, spent time in Egypt researching the April 6 movement, a driving force in the 2011 uprising. It was established in 2008, to support workers who were planning to strike in an industrial town, but has now been outlawed.
In July last year she was staying in a hotel in the town of Ras al Bar.
After a day meeting April 6 members, she was back in her hotel room when there was a knock on the door. Seven police and soldiers with pistols entered her room, she said. Her Arabic was limited, but she could make out that she had been followed in the city of Alexandria two weeks earlier.
Ohier was transported to Cairo and then deported, without being told why. “When I heard about Giulio Regeni I thought: I was lucky and he was unlucky,” she said.
Another Cambridge student, who asked not to be named, said she fled Egypt in 2014 because she suspected the security services of following her.
When Regeni arrived, he immersed himself in the street vendors’ world. As well as research, he wanted to help the vendors, according to friends and family. “We know he took to heart the difficult life that these people had, and hoped that things would improve for them,” his parents wrote in an email to Reuters.
The street vendors’ union is not an overtly political group. Its members sell everything from children’s coloring books to underwear and slippers. The union has tried to gain rights for vendors, who have seen authorities remove many of their stalls from Cairo in recent years.
The vendors were not completely risk-free: In the past few years, some members have served as police informers, say security officials.
Amr Khalil, an artist whom Regeni befriended in Cairo, said the Italian was aware that police regularly used informers in Egypt. But that did not stop him trying to help the street vendors “by connecting them with organizations that could support them,” Khalil said, referring to charities and financial organizations.
Regeni visited street vendors in downtown Cairo and the east of the city. He was interested in how unions recruited laborers and how they helped them, said several union members whom Regeni interviewed.
After Regeni died, Italian newspaper Il Manifesto published a short article he had co-authored with another Italian academic. Independent trade unions, the authors wrote, were “refusing to give up” despite a big rise in the number of police and military personnel, and the fact Egypt “ranks among the worst offenders with respect to press freedom.”
AN INFORMER?
On Dec. 11, Regeni attended a general meeting of the Center for Trade Unions and Workers’ Services in downtown Cairo, according to a source in the group, one of Egypt’s oldest independent groups advocating workers’ rights.
Three of Regeni’s friends and others he worked with said Regeni told them later that a man at the meeting had stood, pointed his phone at him, and taken his photo.
One union leader said security services may have been interested in Regeni because “he was looking into workers’ unions, not actors or footballers. And as you know, workers are what is needed for any mobilization.”
A leader of the street vendors’ union told Reuters that the head of its West Cairo branch, Mohamed Abdallah, had asked Regeni to buy Abdallah a mobile phone and overseas flights. Regeni refused. The union leader said he suspected Abdallah talked to the police about Regeni after that rebuff.
Khalil remembers Regeni mentioning Abdallah’s request for a phone and flights. After that, Khalil said, the Italian began to limit his contact with the union.
Abdallah said he liked Regeni but now regrets associating with him. He said he met Regeni six times in all. At one of those meetings, he said, the Italian “offered to set up a (training) workshop for the syndicate.”
Abdallah said he worried the workshop used foreign funding, which is frowned upon by the government. Over the past few years, foreign NGOs have had staff questioned and assets frozen amid accusations they helped destabilize the country ahead of the 2011 uprising.
“You know how we feel about foreign funding here in Egypt,” Abdallah told Reuters.
Abdallah said Regeni had assured him it was okay.
After the Italian turned up dead, Abdallah said he was questioned by Egyptian authorities several times, including by the interior ministry’s Homeland Security Agency. Italian investigators have also spoken with him.
“They asked me the same questions that everybody had asked me since this all happened. When and where have I met him,” said Abdallah. “I didn’t meet him in any hidden place. It was all in the market.”
Two Homeland Security sources said Abdallah frequently visited one of the main security compounds in central Cairo. He had also met with a Homeland Security officer six months before Regeni’s death, they said.
“I am not sure if he was cooperating with security or not. But he was monitored for sure,” one of the sources told Reuters.
“A person like that would have a mutually beneficial relationship with security. Meaning security would help him continue being the head of the union and release any of the street vendors if they get arrested.”
ITALY
After Regeni’s death, his parents traveled to Cairo and spent a few days staying in his apartment with his roommate, Mohamed al-Sayad. Italian newspapers have alleged that Sayad, a lawyer, might have been an informer for the Egyptian security services.
Sayad denied the allegation. “Everything you are saying is lies,” he said.
Regeni’s parents said the Egyptian seemed friendly and appeared to be genuinely upset by their son’s death.
Progress in the case has slowed to a crawl. The murder has strained ties between Egypt and Italy. Rome has repeatedly complained that Egyptian authorities are not cooperating.
An Italian prosecutor handling the case said he has asked Cairo for CCTV footage from the metro station where security and intelligence sources said Regeni was last seen. But months have passed and he has received nothing.
“They told us they had recorded over it,” he said.
Additional reporting by Emilio Parodi in Genoa and Crispian Balmer in Rome; Edited by Simon RobinsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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287695aee92a9711a6e7d59a330e8261 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-rice/egypt-will-not-import-rice-in-the-current-financial-year-minister-idUSKCN1VT07U | Egypt says it will not import rice this financial year | Egypt says it will not import rice this financial year
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Egypt’s Supply Minister Ali Moselhy looks on during a news conferenc about the launch of the Government’s local wheat harvest in Beni Suef, south of Cairo, Egypt April 24, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s supply minister said on Sunday the country had enough strategic rice reserves to last until Feb. 15 and there would be no need for imports in the current financial year.
Egypt’s financial year 2019-2020 ends on June 30.
Ali Moselhy told Reuters local rice production was sufficient to last until then and there would be no need for further imports.
Once a rice exporter, Egypt reduced its rice cultivation in an effort to conserve Nile river resources as Ethiopia builds a $4 billion dam upstream that Cairo fears could impact its water supply.
The move turned it from an exporter to an importer in 2018.
Still, in March Egypt’s agriculture ministry said it would grow about 1.1 million acres of rice in the 2019 season, up from 800,000 acres in 2018, in an effort to reduce the country’s import bill.
Rice is a heavily discounted staple in Egypt’s subsidy program, under which the state purchases foodstuffs that are offered to subsidy card holders.
Moselhy on Sunday reassured the public that the price of rice would remain stable.
The agriculture ministry has not released local production figures for the current season yet.
Reporting By Momen Saeed Atallah; Writing By Maha El Dahan; editing by David EvansOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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33c1264187fa36c7e765dd3f08fa529f | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-rights-arrest-idUSKBN13W1SF | Egyptian women's rights advocate Azza Soliman detained | Egyptian women's rights advocate Azza Soliman detained
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police arrested prominent women’s rights advocate Azza Soliman on Wednesday, her foundation and a security source said, weeks after she was banned from travel and had her assets frozen.
Soliman, founder of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA), was one of a number of activists, lawyers and journalists prevented from leaving Egypt in the last month.
The rights lawyer told Reuters last week that she was turned back on Nov. 19 at Cairo airport. Soon after, Soliman discovered that her personal assets and those of her group had been frozen.
“The investigative judge has issued an arrest warrant against Azza Soliman,” CEWLA said in a tweet, adding that security forces had gone to Soliman’s house and taken her away to a Cairo police station.
There was no immediate comment from the interior ministry. CEWLA did not give any more details. It was not immediately clear what charges, if any, Soliman was facing.
Soliman’s arrest comes as Egyptian human rights activists say they are being subjected to the worst government clamp down ever, targeting organizations accused of fomenting unrest during the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
Several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), most involved in rights work, are embroiled in a long-running investigation, accused of receiving foreign funds to sow chaos.
Am Egyptian rights lawyer said Soliman’s arrest warrant had been issued by the judge who is presiding over that case.
In September, a court froze the assets of five prominent human rights activists and three NGOs, paving the way to criminal proceedings that could lead to life sentences.
NGOs say they have felt exposed since late 2011, when authorities raided 17 pro-democracy and rights groups.
In 2013, a court ordered the closure of several foreign groups, including U.S.-based Freedom House, and gave jail sentences to 43 NGO staff including 15 Americans who fled.
A case against dozens of Egyptian NGOs and lawyers was never closed but remained largely dormant until this year. It was not clear if Soliman had been detained in connection with this case.
In November, parliament passed a law to regulate NGOs, which human rights groups say effectively bans their work and makes it harder for development groups and charities to operate.
The bill bans domestic and foreign groups from engaging in political activities or anything that harms national security, public order, public morals or public health - a means, critics say, to stifle dissent.
Reporting by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Giles Elgood and Robin PomeroyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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37ccfed59fa97894df798d79af0874b5 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-rights-idUSKCN0YL1VA | Egypt journalist union chiefs charged with harboring wanted colleagues | Egypt journalist union chiefs charged with harboring wanted colleagues
By Reuters Staff3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian prosecutors on Monday ordered the head of the journalists union and two board members to be tried on charges of harboring colleagues wanted by the law, judicial sources said, a move that drew condemnation from rights groups.
Slideshow ( 3 images )
The trial of Yehia Qalash, Khaled al-Balshy, and Gamal Abdel Rahim will begin on Saturday at a Cairo misdemeanors court, the judicial sources said.
The charges of harboring fugitives and spreading false news about a police raid of the union premises carry a maximum sentence of three years in jail, according to a legal expert. The prosecutors have not said what sentence they will seek.
The journalists’ lawyer Sayyed Abou Zeid told Reuters they denied the charges, which relate to a May 2 police raid on the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate to arrest two opposition journalists who had sought shelter from arrest inside.
Qalash and the union condemned the arrests of Mahmoud El Sakka and Amr Badr, which sparked protests from journalists, and issued a statement two days later demanding the interior minister be sacked.
Union officials said at the time that police had stormed the building for the first time in its 75-year history. The interior ministry denied that but confirmed police had arrested Sakka and Badr, who work for the opposition website Bawabet Yanayer and were wanted on criminal charges.
Monday’s decision to charge the journalists come as authorities try to quell rising dissent against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Thousands of demonstrators called on April 15 for “the fall of the regime”, a slogan from the 2011 uprisings that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. Police dispersed smaller protests two weeks later and arrested scores of people.
Amnesty International urged the authorities to drop the charges.
Qalash and his colleagues initially went to a Cairo police station for questioning on Sunday and were unexpectedly charged and ordered to pay bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,126.15) each, Abou Zeid and another union board member said.
They initially refused to pay but were later freed after security sources said another party paid the bail.
Reporting by Mohamed Abdellah, Haitham Ahmed and Lin Noueihed; editing by Andrew Roche and Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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2e474a4c0932015edfd62153e90d663f | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-rights-usa-un-idUSKCN0Y22EK | U.S. envoy targets Egypt at U.N. over journalist arrests | U.S. envoy targets Egypt at U.N. over journalist arrests
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
Slideshow ( 2 images )
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Attacking journalists and prosecuting critical voices fuels violent extremism rather than preventing it, the United States told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday in a thinly veiled warning to Egypt, which chaired the meeting.
“Arresting journalists, sentencing reporters to death, treating media as an enemy of the state - such actions are thoroughly counterproductive,” said the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power.
Amid rising dissent against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, police earlier this month raided the country’s press syndicate and arrested two journalists. On Saturday an Egyptian court recommended the death penalty for three journalists charged with endangering national security.
“Legal action is a critical tool in the campaign against ISIL (Islamic State) but it must not be wielded like a cudgel against those who voice unpopular speech or criticize authorities,” Power said.
“Such behavior doesn’t prevent violent extremism, it fuels it,” she said.
While she did not name Egypt, Power directed her comments at Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who chaired the Security Council meeting on countering terrorism because Egypt is president of the group for May.
Shoukry said Power’s comments were general and not directed toward Egypt, but that they had diluted the emphasis of the meeting. He met with Power privately on Tuesday.
“It is important that we keep a focus and that we send a clear message and do not confuse issues related to the battle against terrorism with other issues,” he told reporters after Power’s remarks. “We uphold the freedom of expression, we uphold the freedom of journalism.”
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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e7a620c4acc0cdcc31c14b018874ec83 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-rights/egypt-detains-prominent-opposition-leader-former-sisi-supporter-sources-idUSKCN1IS0EH | Egypt detains prominent opposition leader, former Sisi supporter: sources | Egypt detains prominent opposition leader, former Sisi supporter: sources
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt’s state security prosecutors ordered on Sunday that a prominent opposition leader, Hazim Abdelazim, be detained for 15 days pending investigation over joining an illegal organization and publishing false news, a judicial source said.
FILE PHOTO: A Cairo street sign showing Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ahead of the presidential election, March 25, 2018. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Egypt has in recent weeks arrested several prominent activists in a crackdown on critics that followed small protests against hikes to metro fares.
Abdelazim was arrested at his home in Cairo late on Saturday night, a security source had said earlier.
Once a deputy telecoms minister under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, Abdelazim was later heavily involved with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s 2014 election campaign where he chaired the youth committee.
Abdelazim later described the experience on his Twitter profile as his “biggest sin.”
The interior ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Last week, Egyptian authorities arrested award-winning blogger and journalist Wael Abbas, also accusing him of involvement with an illegal organization and publishing false news.
Abbas’s arrest followed those of at least three other prominent opposition figures.
Rights groups say Egypt’s human and civil rights record has deteriorated under Sisi, but his supporters say his tough security policy is needed to ensure stability as Egypt recovers from years of political chaos and tackles economic challenges and an Islamist insurgency.
Sisi won a second term in office in a March election that featured only one other candidate, himself an ardent Sisi supporter, after all serious opposition contenders halted their campaigns citing intimidation and several arrests.
Reporting by Cairo Bureau; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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519b740347ab922ac0b7cefaf3d26461 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-russia-nuclear/russia-to-lend-egypt-25-billion-to-build-nuclear-power-plant-idUSKCN0YA1G5 | Russia to lend Egypt $25 billion to build nuclear power plant | Russia to lend Egypt $25 billion to build nuclear power plant
By Reuters Staff2 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Russia will loan Egypt $25 billion to finance building and operating a nuclear power plant in Egypt, the official gazette said on Thursday.
Egypt and Russia signed an agreement on Nov. 19 for Russia to build Egypt’s first nuclear power plant in Egypt and to extend Egypt a loan to cover the cost of construction.
It was not clear at the time what the deal was worth, but Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the loan would be paid off over 35 years.
Egypt will pay an interest rate of 3 percent annually, according to the country’s official gazette. Installment payments will begin on Oct. 15, 2029.
“The loan will be used by the Egyptian side for a period of 13 years between 2016-2028 ... the Egyptian side will repay loan amounts used over 22 years in 43 installments,” the gazette said.
The loan will finance 85 percent of the value of each contract for the work, services and equipment shipping, the gazette said. Egypt will finance the remaining 15 percent.
The plant will be built in Dabaa, a site in the north of the country that Egypt has been considering for a nuclear power plant on and off since the 1980s. It is due to be completed in 20022, and the first of its four reactors is expected to begin producing power in 2024.
Egypt, with a population of 90 million and vast energy requirements, is seeking to diversify its energy sources. As well as a nuclear plant, Sisi has talked of building solar and wind energy facilities in the coming three years to generate around 4,300 megawatts of power.
The country also recently discovered a large reserve of natural gas off the Mediterranean coast.
Reporting by Asma Alsharif, editing by Larry KingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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317373b82366543710efa5602e1fc0fb | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-saudi-oil-idUSKBN1320RQ?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=58205fe004d3016f01154fa3&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter | Saudi oil shipments to Egypt halted indefinitely, Egyptian officials say | Saudi oil shipments to Egypt halted indefinitely, Egyptian officials say
By Reuters Staff4 Min Read
CAIRO/ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has informed Egypt that shipments of oil products expected under a $23 billion aid deal have been halted indefinitely, suggesting a deepening rift between the Arab world’s richest country and its most populous.
A Saudi Aramco employee sits in the area of its stand at the Middle East Petrotech 2016, an exhibition and conference for the refining and petrochemical industries, in Manama, Bahrain, September 27, 2016. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Saudi Arabia has been a major donor to Egypt since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi seized power in mid-2013 but Riyadh has become frustrated with Sisi’s lack of economic reforms and his reluctance to be drawn into the conflict in Yemen.
During a visit by Saudi King Salman in April, Saudi Arabia agreed to provide Egypt with 700,000 tonnes of refined oil products per month for five years but the cargoes stopped arriving in early October as festering political tensions burst into the open.
Egyptian officials have said since that the contract with Saudi Arabia’s state oil firm Aramco remains valid and had appeared to expect that oil would start flowing again soon.
On Monday, however, Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El Molla confirmed it had stopped shipments indefinitely. Aramco has not commented on the halt and did not respond to calls on Monday.
“They did not give us a reason,” an oil ministry official told Reuters. “They only informed the authority about halting shipments of petroleum products until further notice.”
The move comes as a source in Molla’s delegation said late on Sunday evening that he would visit Iran, Saudi Arabia’s main political rival, to try to strike new oil deals.
Egypt and Iran’s diplomatic relations have been strained since the 1970s. An Egyptian official visiting Iran would cement a break in its alliance with Saudi Arabia and mark a seismic shift in the regional political order.
Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, Molla said he was not going to Iran. An Iranian oil official later said that a report by the semi-official Mehr news agency suggesting Molla would meet his Iranian counterpart in Tehran on Monday was “incorrect”.
Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail also said Molla was not visiting Iran and Egypt was not negotiating with Tehran over importing oil products, state newspaper al-Ahram reported.
But two security sources and the source in Molla’s delegation said the minister had been scheduled to go, and the low-key visit was now delayed after the news became public.
Gulf Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, have pumped billions of dollars into Egypt’s flagging economy since former general Sisi took over after a year of divisive rule by the Muslim Brotherhood.
But with the Brotherhood threat diminished, Gulf rulers have grown disillusioned at what they consider Sisi’s inability to reform an economy that has become a black hole for aid, and his reluctance to back them on the regional stage.
Egypt has been reluctant to provide military backing for Riyadh’s war against the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen.
In Syria, where Saudi Arabia is a leading backer of rebels fighting against Iranian-backed Bashar al-Assad, Sisi has supported Russia’s decision to bomb in support of the president.
A deal to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, made at the same time as the oil aid agreement, has faced legal challenges and is now bogged down in an Egyptian court.
Reporting by Ehab Farouk in Cairo and Maha El Dahan and Rania El Gamal in Abu Dhabi; Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Andrew Torchia, Catherine Evans and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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e1f4273b0f8bec19ec9aa8cf90bb03a9 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-saudi-syria/syrian-crisis-topped-talks-between-egyptian-president-saudi-crown-prince-egypts-state-tv-idUSKCN1TU05K | Syrian crisis topped talks between Egyptian president, Saudi crown prince: Egypt's state TV | Syrian crisis topped talks between Egyptian president, Saudi crown prince: Egypt's state TV
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives ahead of the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva
CAIRO (Reuters) - The Syrian crisis topped the talks held between Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Egypt’s state TV said on Saturday, citing the presidency.
The presidency also said the talks between the two showed matching views regarding the latest developments in the Gulf region, state TV reported.
Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Richard BorsukOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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749ece5e5cd38c04f0b267ee2c89b4d4 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-security-airports-idUSKBN0U51B620151222 | Egypt hires consultancy to check airport security after Russia crash | Egypt hires consultancy to check airport security after Russia crash
By Ahmed Aboulenein3 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has hired global consultancy Control Risks to review security at its airports after the crash of a plane carrying Russian holidaymakers that killed all 224 aboard and damaged the country’s tourism industry.
Slideshow ( 3 images )
Egypt said this month it had found no evidence so far of terrorism or other illegal action linked to the October crash, but Russia said in November that the jet was brought down by a bomb.
Islamic State, the militant group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility and said it had smuggled a bomb on board hidden in a soft drink can.
The crash in the Sinai Peninsula hit Egypt’s tourism sector hard, with some airlines suspending flights to Sharm al-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort from which the flight departed, pending security assurances.
The security review, announced at a news conference by Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou, Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal and Control Risks regional chief executive Andreas Carleton-Smith, aims to help restore confidence and revive tourism, a key foreign currency earner for cash-strapped Egypt.
“Today is a demonstration of the messages we are sending the whole world that we are taking very bold steps to ensure the welfare, safety, and security of both Egyptians and our guests,” Zaazou later told Reuters in an interview.
He added that London-based Control Risks would begin with assessments of security at Cairo and Sharm al-Sheikh, which receive high numbers of foreign travelers, but would also review security at other Egyptian airports.
The disaster has cost Egypt about 2.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($280.97 million) a month in direct losses and Zaazou told Reuters this month he sees this year’s tourism receipts falling 10 percent on last year as a result.
Egypt earned about $7.2 billion in tourism revenues last year, still a far cry from around $12.5 billion before the 2011 uprising, which ushered in a period of political turmoil that scared away tourists and foreign investors.
Egypt, home of the Giza Pyramids and other Pharaonic wonders and pristine beaches, had been working to restore confidence, and was about to launch a new tourism marketing campaign when the Russian plane crash took place. The campaign will now launch in the second half of January, Zaazou told Reuters.
Kamal said the aviation sector alone contributes to 1.2 percent of gross domestic product.
The hiring of Control Risks was independent of the Russian plane crash and did not mean there are doubts over Egypt’s airport security measures, he said.
Control Risks has operated in the Middle East and North Africa for 15 years and has offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Carleton-Smith, regional Control Risks CEO, anticipated the reviews of both Cairo and Sharm al-Sheikh airports taking between two-and-a-half and three months.
Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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c418192b1d71297de581334da0f3a915 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-security-analysis/is-egypt-bombing-the-right-militants-in-libya-idUSKBN18R2GE | Is Egypt bombing the right militants in Libya? | Is Egypt bombing the right militants in Libya?
By Ahmed Aboulenein, Giles Elgood6 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was quick to launch air strikes on militants in Libya in response to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt - but the attacks do not seem to be targeting those responsible.
FILE PHOTO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a statement following a meeting with French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France November 26, 2014. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
The response was popular with many Egyptians. The country’s state-owned and private news media celebrated it as swift justice, but the president has been vague about exactly who he is attacking.
The strikes have been directed at Islamist groups other than Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for Friday’s massacre of dozens in the southern province of Minya, and seem to be intended to shore up Sisi’s allies in eastern Libya.
“The attacks in Minya were claimed by Islamic State, and there are Islamic State elements active in Libya, but the reports coming indicate Cairo is targeting other groups,” said H.A. Hellyer, senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council.
In any case, analysts say the strikes will not do much against Islamists in Cairo, Sinai and Upper Egypt, where they have had a stronghold since the 1990s and have been attacking tourists, Copts and government officials.
Bombing the camps in Libya is seen as a diversion for a failure to defeat Islamists inside Egypt.
“It’s easier to strike a terrorist camp in Libya by air than it is to clean up serious problems inside Egypt; sectarianism, radicalization, that led to this and other attacks,” said Michele Dunne, director of Carnegie’s Middle East program.
“All the horrific terrorism that is happening inside Egypt has purely domestic drivers and probably would be happening if Islamic State did not exist. It is not all that different from the home-grown terrorism Egypt experienced in the 1990s, before Al Qaeda or Islamic State even existed,” she said.
LIBYAN ALLY
Egyptian and Libyan officials said strikes had been launched on camps and ammunition stores belonging to the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC). Areas targeted include the western entrance to Derna, Dahr al-Hamar in the south, and al-Fatayeh, a hilly area about 20 km (12 miles) from the city.
Yet the DMSC has never been involved in attacks outside Libya and in fact mostly limits its activities to Derna, rarely fighting in larger conflicts within Libya, according to Mohamed Eljarh, an Atlantic Council political analyst in Libya.
The group has denied taking part in attacks inside Egypt.
In fact, many suggest the air strikes had been planned in advance to shore up support for Sisi’s main Libyan ally, Khalifa Haftar and his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), and that the Minya massacre was used as a pretext to launch them.
Forces loyal to Haftar, a military strongman like Sisi, have long been fighting the DMSC, cutting off supply routes to the city and hitting it with occasional air strikes. Despite the LNA’s siege, the military situation in Derna has been in stalemate for months.
Egypt has also carried out strikes in Jufra, where the LNA has been fighting Islamists who fled Benghazi as well as forces linked to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.
The LNA lost dozens of men there in a surprise attack on an air base earlier in May, but has since consolidated control.
The Minya attack was a catalyst for those inside the Egyptian government and military who are in favor of military intervention in Libya, said Mokhtar Awad, who researches extremism at George Washington University.
“This is Egypt taking action not because of the Minya attack but ... to drive out as many extremists as possible from the east,” he said.
‘THEY ARE ALL TERRORISTS’
Egypt says it does not target specific groups but that it goes after all militants who could be a threat to its security. A military spokesman told state media on Monday that all the groups targeted have the same ideology as those who carried out the Minya massacre, which is reason enough to bomb them.
“Names are not important for us, they are all terrorists. Those who carried out the Minya operation do not necessarily have to be in these camps but their followers are,” an Egyptian intelligence source told Reuters.
Eljarh also said it was likely the air strikes has been planned in advance and that the Minya attack was an opportunity to carry them out, as part of a larger policy towards supporting Haftar, with Egypt bombing groups that constitute the strongest opposition to him.
Egypt sees any militant activity in eastern Libya, which is near its border, as a threat to its national security. One of the reasons Sisi has supported Haftar since 2014 is to ensure that all Islamists are driven out of eastern Libya.
Sisi is getting more involved now because of improved relations with Washington, Eljarh said. He believes U.S President Donald Trump has given him the green light to fight jihadists in Libya and elsewhere.
When Sisi announced the first round of air strikes on television on Friday, he implored Trump to support him.
Trump, who has made a point of improving relations with Cairo, said his country stood with Sisi and the Egyptian people.
For graphic on Egyptian air strikes in Libya, click: tmsnrt.rs/2qGHiPd
Additional reporting by Eric Knecht, Amina Ismail and Ahmed Mohamed Hassan in Cairo and Aidan Lewis in Tunis; editing by Andrew RocheOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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41fbe307bb2a0edb96501b66d4eb6add | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-security-claim-idUSKCN1N7245 | Islamic State claims responsibility for attack near Egyptian monastery: AMAQ | Islamic State claims responsibility for attack near Egyptian monastery: AMAQ
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic state has claimed responsibility for an attack which killed seven people near an Egyptian monastery, the group’s AMAQ news agency said on Friday, without providing evidence of its involvement.
Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; editing by David StampOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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c0c246f2fd6ce385f5d8ef0f13e30c7b | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-security-claim/islamic-state-claims-car-bomb-attacks-on-military-checkpoints-in-egypts-sinai-statement-idUSKBN19S300 | Islamic State claims car bomb attacks on military checkpoints in Egypt's Sinai: statement | Islamic State claims car bomb attacks on military checkpoints in Egypt's Sinai: statement
By Reuters Staff1 Min Read
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State said in a statement it was responsible for a deadly car bomb attack and assault on military checkpoints in Egypt’s North Sinai on Friday.
At least 23 soldiers were killed and 26 injured when two car bombs hit two checkpoints just south of Rafah, according to security sources.
Reporting by Ahmed Tolba; writing by Eric Knecht, editing by G CrosseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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