Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. television network CBS says Egypt’s president has told it in an interview that his country and Israel, with whom it fought four wars, are cooperating against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula.

Excerpts from the interview released by CBS over the weekend also quote President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi as denying there are political prisoners in Egypt, where he has overseen one of the largest crackdowns on dissent in the country’s modern history.

CAIRO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The principles of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are almost identical to those of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they both seek to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The BRI is a practical implementation of the SDGs and turns them from local to international, for the UN set the goals but did not outline a cooperation mechanism between states to achieve them," said Sharaf.

29 Dec 2018; AFP: Egyptian police killed 40 alleged "terrorists" in a crackdown on Saturday after a roadside bomb hit a tour bus claiming the lives of three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian guide.

The suspects were killed in separate raids in Giza governorate, home to Egypt's famed pyramids and the scene of Friday's deadly bombing, and in the restive Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said.

CAIRO, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Two Vietnamese tourists were killed Friday when a home-made bomb hit a bus carrying foreign tourists in Marioutiya area near the Giza Pyramids, Egyptian interior ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry said a roadside home-made bomb hit a tourist bus carrying 14 Vietnamese in Marioutiya area near the Pyramids on the outskirts of the capital Cairo.

The ministry added that 10 Vietnamese tourists, the Egyptian driver and an Egyptian tour guide were also injured in the attack.

CAIRO (AP) — On the Giza Plateau outside Cairo, thousands of Egyptians are laboring in the shadow of the pyramids to erect a monument worthy of the pharaohs.

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has acquitted 43 people, including German and U.S. nationals, of charges they illegally received funding for their local and foreign non-governmental groups.

Thursday’s verdict ended a seven-year legal battle that rattled civil society groups just months after a 2011 uprising forced autocrat Hosni Mubarak to step down after 29 years in power.

CAIRO, December 9. /TASS/. Russian aviation security experts arrived on Sunday in Egypt to inspect airports in the resorts towns of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, a source at the Cairo airport told TASS.

"Some 20 people have arrived in Cairo by plane. They were divided into two groups: one headed to Hurghada and the second one to Sharm el-Sheikh," the source said.

The specialists are due to assess the airports’ readiness to ensure security of passengers. The trip will last for around a week.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt has created a new high-powered human rights watchdog agency, but its primary mission isn’t to protect Egyptians from violations. Instead, the body is foremost aimed at protecting the government from allegations of rights abuses and defending it on the international stage.

The new body reflects an attitude of the state under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that sees criticism over human rights as intended to undermine the government and cause instability at a time when it is facing militant threats and trying to rebuild a battered economy.

CAIRO, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian governor has decreed that images of Disney figures on the walls of kindergartens be removed, local media reported.

Alaa Abdul-Halim Mohammed Marzouk, governor of Egypt's Qalyubia, north of Cairo, said pictures of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck need to be replaced by images of famous Egyptians and military martyrs whom children will look up to as role models.

"These characters are U.S.-made, whereas we have our own noble figures who can deepen children's patriotism and love of country," he told local media.

CAIRO, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting in New York for a comprehensive settlement for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as key to security and stability in the Middle East region, the Egyptian presidential spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.