Sorted by date Results 1 - 13 of 13
CAIRO (AP) — Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has ordered an investigation into "recent events" after two weeks of violent protests against his 29-year autocratic rule, as he seeks to placate popular anger over worsening economic conditions. The state news agency reported late Monday that al-Bashir has tasked Justice Minister Mohammed Ahmed Salem with leading the investigation, without providing further details on the subject of the probe. Twenty-two political parties and groups meanwhile said they will call on Bashir to step down and t...
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt said Saturday its security forces have killed 40 militants in raids on their hideouts in the Sinai Peninsula and the Greater Cairo area, just hours after a roadside bomb targeted a tourist bus in the capital, killing three Vietnamese tourists and their Egyptian guide. In a Saturday statement, the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said 10 of the militants were killed when the security forces stormed their hideout in el-Arish, a coastal city in the turbulent north of Sinai, epicenter of a long-running insurgency b...
EL ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Mohammed Amer Shaaban stood over trays of fresh fish at his tiny store in the coastal Sinai Peninsula city of el-Arish, pointing to his right and left while recalling the tough days when Islamic State militants operated with impunity. "They killed a Christian who owns a knife shop there and an informant over there. They also killed one of my cousins," he said. "We have enjoyed some stability and peace for the past six or seven months," added the 48-year-old father of five as some two dozen journalists descended on e...
MINYA, Egypt (AP) — Hundreds of Egyptian Christians attended a funeral service Saturday after seven people were killed in an ambush by Islamic State militants of buses carrying pilgrims to a remote desert monastery. The service at Prince Tadros church in the central city of Minya was held amid tight security. Minya's top cleric, Anba Makarios, led prayers over a row of six white coffins, all victims from the same family. A separate funeral was held for the seventh victim, a bus driver. Relatives of the victims cried and held each other for s...
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt wants its citizens to report on the news media. Escalating a pre-election crackdown on independent or critical reporting, Egyptian authorities have published a list of telephone numbers for citizens to alert them to reports they view as undermining security or spreading false news. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the 2013 overthrow of an elected Islamist president, has waged a massive crackdown on dissent in recent years, and authorities have ratcheted up pressure ahead of the March 26-28 election, in which he f...
CAIRO (AP) — Less than two weeks after announcing his candidacy, Egypt's former chief of staff was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of incitement against the armed forces and other charges in what appeared to be a calculated move to force out the last potentially serious challenger to President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Former Gen. Sami Annan became the latest in a series of potential contenders who have dropped out or been driven from the presidential campaign. El-Sissi, himself an ex-general, is considered virtually certain to win re-election in t...
CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's upcoming visit to the Middle East comes at a time of intensely publicized friction between his administration and the Palestinian leadership, posing a dilemma for his Arab hosts — Egypt's president and Jordan's king — on how to safeguard their vital ties with Washington without appearing to ignore Palestinian misgivings. Both countries are heavily dependent on U.S. military and economic aid, and talks with a senior Trump administration official like Pence offer them an opportunity to stren...
CAIRO (AP) — Video clips circulating on social media on Saturday show the gunman who opened fire outside an Egyptian church and a nearby store owned by a Copt in an attack that killed at least nine people walking armed and unchallenged on a residential street for nearly 10 minutes. The gunman, the videos show, stops only occasionally to shoot at his pursuers before he is himself shot. The sight of the gunman's calm just minutes after Friday's attack contrasted with the self-congratulation pro-government media basked in on Saturday; their covera...
ISMAILIA, Egypt (AP) — They arrived in five SUVs, took positions across from the mosque's door and windows, and just as the imam was about to deliver his Friday sermon from atop the pulpit, they opened fire and tossed grenades at the estimated 500 worshippers inside. When the violence finally stopped, more than 300 people, including 27 children, had been killed and 128 injured. As the gunfire rang out and the blasts shook the mosque, worshippers screamed and cried out in pain. A stampede broke out in the rush toward a door leading to the washro...
CAIRO (AP) — Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas reached a preliminary agreement Thursday that could return the Gaza Strip to President Mahmoud Abbas' control and ease a decade-old Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the coastal territory, but past attempts at unity have foundered on key issues that remain unresolved. The deal was announced at a news conference in Cairo, where negotiators have been meeting, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said it was reached under "generous Egyptian auspices," without elaborating. Egypt has been eager to show p...
CAIRO (AP) — The leader of the Islamic State group urged followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target "media centers of the infidels," according to an audio recording released Thursday that the extremists said was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The reclusive leader of IS, who has only appeared in public once, also vowed to continue fighting and lavished praise on his jihadis for their valor in the battlefield — despite the militants' loss of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July. The recording was released by the IS-run al-Furqan out...
CAIRO (AP) — Four Arab nations seeking to isolate Qatar over its alleged support for extremist groups were angered Wednesday by what they said was a "negative" response by the tiny Gulf nation to their demands for ending the crisis roiling the region. Doha's response, they said, was "not serious" and betrayed Qatar's "failure" to realize the gravity of the situation. The announcement followed a meeting by foreign ministers from the four nations — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — in Cairo, shortly after they said...
CAIRO (AP) — A massive statue recently unearthed in Cairo and thought to depict one of the country's most famous pharaohs may be of another ancient Egyptian ruler, the country's antiquities minister said Thursday. Khaled el-Anani said the colossus discovered last week in a Cairo suburb by an Egyptian-German team almost certainly depicts Psamtek I, a little known pharaoh from the 26th dynasty who ruled Egypt between 664 and 610 B.C. "We are not going to be categorical, but there is a strong possibility that it's of Psamtek I," el-Anani told repo...
