Egypt // Current TV

A year of rebellion. A year of hope.

Inspiring moments from the rebellion across the Middle East and North Africa region in... more

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Egypt sends American workers to trial

CAIRO (AP) – Ignoring a U.S. threat to cut off aid, Egypt on Sunday referred 19... more

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Egypt ,Thousands of Fans vent their Anger at The police on the Streets Of Cairo after 70 Deaths

Angry al-Ahly supporters in their thousands marched from various parts of Cairo, from... more

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Kidnapping of U.S. tourists is latest blow for Egypt

The abduction of two American women and their Egyptian guide at gunpoint along a major highway in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula Friday is the latest blow to the country’s crucial tourism industry, already in tatters as violence escalates a year after the revolution that ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak.

The two tourists, who were reportedly released into army custody hours after their capture, were among a group of five people traveling from Saint Catherine’s monastery in central Sinai to the popular resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh when a vehicle carrying men with machine guns stopped their small bus, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Local officials told the Associated Press the attackers were Bedouin tribesmen who resist government control and have been blamed for several attacks in recent months as tensions intensify between them and authorities they accuse of discrimination and of ignoring their plight.

In late January, a French tourist was killed and two others injured after a group of masked gunmen robbed a currency exchange shop and exchanged fire with security forces in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Also last month, Bedouin seized 50 German and British tourists whose bus accidentally crossed a roadblock they had set up as a protest against the governor of South Sinai. Those tourists, who were also on a trip to the monastery, were released a few hours later. And four armed men also attacked a hotel in an Egyptian Red Sea resort popular with Israeli tourists before fleeing when police returned fire.

“The Bedouin are among the many marginalised groups in Egypt pressing for their rights since the revolution began last year,” Elijah Zarwan, a Cairo-based political analyst, told London’s Guardian.

“There’s long been a security vacuum in the Sinai and now on top of that you have a more generalised security vacuum throughout Egypt. It’s no wonder that the Bedouins, who are often well-armed, feel emboldened to press for their rights more forcefully.”

Egypt has faced a surge in crime since the uprising, which uprooted a police state that kept tight control over the population of 85 million. Protesters accuse the police and the military council that has assumed power of negligence.

On Friday, a demonstrator and an army officer were reported dead in Cairo as rock-throwing protesters fought riot police through clouds of teargas near Egypt’s Interior Ministry. It was the second day of clashes triggered by the deaths Wednesday of 74 people at a soccer match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said, in the country’s deadliest incident since the revolution.

Tourism Minister Mounir Abdel-Nour said last month that the number of tourists who came to Egypt in 2011 dropped to 9.8 million from 14.7 million the previous year. Revenues for the year clocked in at $8.8 billion compared to $12.5 billion in 2010.

http://www.theinset.com/2012/02/kidnapping-tourists-latest-blow/The abduction of two American women and their Egyptian guide at gunpoint along a major... more

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Egypt Footbal Match 70 Dead, Thousands pay Homage at the train carrying Ultra fans from Portsaid

Fans of Al-Masry, a team based in Port Said at the northern end of the Suez Canal,... more

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Mapping Africa’s tweets [infographic]

Which countries in the African continent are most active users of Twitter?... more

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Egypt marks first anniversary of Tahrir Square uprising

Activists have made their way to Tahrir Square in Cairo to mark the first anniversary... more

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Egypt's Islamist parties win elections to parliament

The final results in Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections confirm... more

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Egyptian anarchists seek self-governed society

The Birth Of Egyptian Anarchism

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Worldwide Hippies News Briefs Monday

Almost 3,000-year-old tomb of female singer found in Egypt Two House Republicans... more

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Prophetic Predictions for 2012

The great seer, Obscuranto Oracula, predicts major events for 2012.

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US 'deeply concerned' after Egyptian forces raid NGO offices in Cairo

State Department urges government to 'resolve this immediately' as... more

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Egyptians raid offices of NGOs, including U.S.-based groups

REPORTING FROM CAIRO -- Egyptian security forces stormed the offices of 17 nongovernmental organizations, including three U.S.-based agencies, as part of a crackdown on foreign assistance that has drawn criticism from the West and threatened human rights and pro-democracy movements.

The raids appeared to be part of a strategy to intimidate international organizations. The country’s ruling military council has repeatedly blamed “foreign hands” for exploiting Egypt’s political and economic turmoil.

Human rights groups say the military is using the ruse of foreign intervention to stoke nationalism and deflect criticism away from its shortcomings and abuses.

Egyptian soldiers and police forces raided offices and seized computers and files across the country. Those targeted included the U.S. groups: National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute and Freedom House, which are funded by Congress to monitor elections and promote democracy overseas.

"The public prosecutor has searched 17 civil society organizations, local and foreign, as part of the foreign funding case," the official news agency MENA quoted a prosecutor's office as saying. "The search is based on evidence showing violations of Egyptian laws including not having permits."

The Reuters news agency quoted one person working in an office at the National Democratic Institute as saying: "Security forces who said they were from the public prosecutor are raiding our offices as we speak. They are grabbing all the papers and laptops as well."

[Updated 9:55 a.m., Dec. 29: Freedom House condemned the raids as a sign that Egypt’s government has become only more repressive since last winter's revolution overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak.

The raids were part of “an intensive campaign by the Egyptian government to dismantle civil society through a politically motivated legal campaign aimed at preventing ‘illegal foreign funding’ of civil society operations in Egypt," said Freedom House President David J. Kramer, who was a senior State Department official during the George W. Bush administration.

"It is the clearest indication yet that the [ruling] Supreme Council of the Armed Forces … has no intention of permitting the establishment of genuine democracy and is attempting to scapegoat civil society for its own abysmal failure to manage Egypt’s transition effectively,” he said.

The raid came three days after the organization filed papers to officially register, as required under Egyptian law. On Thursday, the group called for the U.S. government to reconsider the $1.3 billion in aid it provides each year to the Egyptian armed forces -- 20% of the military’s total budget.]

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has been increasingly agitated by pro-democracy activists and protesters. Clashes last week between demonstrators and soldiers ended in the deaths of at least 15 people.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/12/egyptian-authorities-raid-offices-of-ngos-including-us-based-groups.htmlREPORTING FROM CAIRO -- Egyptian security forces stormed the offices of 17... more