November 9th, 20220By Laura Albast
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Some 40 community members gathered at Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. on Monday night. Holding candles and signs, they called for the Egyptian military regime to release Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a British-Egyptian writer and political prisoner.
Abd El-Fattah entered the public eye during the 2011...
September 15th, 20220ANAHEIM, CA — After years of lobbying by advocates, Anaheim finally designated its Arab American enclave as "Little Arabia" on Tuesday.
In a statement, Anaheim's spokeswoman told CNN the city plans to follow up the designation with in-depth research.
"The Little Arabia designation recognizes an area of our city we've always...
October 3rd, 20210The political division in Palestinian society is deep-rooted and must not be reduced to convenient claims about the “Hamas-Fatah split”, elections, the Oslo accords and subsequent disagreements. The division is linked to events that preceded all of these, and not even the death or incapacitation of the octogenarian Mahmoud Abbas will...
September 13th, 20210CAIRO — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday for talks on Israeli-Palestinian relations and bilateral issues, Egypt's presidency said, in the first official trip by an Israeli head of government to Egypt in a decade.
Bennett, the head of a far-right party who took office...
June 23rd, 20210ANN ARBOR — A University of Michigan pediatrics professor’s work in cystic fibrosis (CF) is being honored with a fellowship program.
The Bonnell Foundation: Living with Cystic Fibrosis is raising money to support the Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship Training Program at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, to honor Dr. Samya Nasr and...
April 14th, 20210EGYPT — An Egyptian court has ordered the Japanese owner of the massive "Ever Given" cargo ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal last month to pay $900 million in compensation for the impact on economic transit it caused.
The ship is now impounded and its cargo seized by Egyptian authorities.
The authorities say the...
March 29th, 20210EGYPT — Ever Given, the 224,000-ton container ship that has captured the world's attention in recent days as it remained stuck in the Suez Canal for nearly a week, has been partially dislodged, though more work is required before it is fully afloat.
The Suez Canal in Egypt is one of the world's busiest trade-ways. It is estimated...
January 31st, 20210ANN ARBOR — Doctors in Egypt weren’t aware of the prevalence of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in their country until the efforts of a University of Michigan professor brought the disease to light.
CF is genetic disease that causes chronic and fatal lung infections and interferes with digestion.
Doctors have been testing newborns for CF...
November 5th, 20200Where is the hope for the Middle East? No matter how hard we try, it is hard to find grounds for optimism about the future of this troubled region.
The Middle East has been a focus of American foreign policy for decades. The time, talent and resources that the United States has spent on challenges in the Middle East are staggering,...
February 25th, 20200CAIRO - Egypt’s state-run television announced on Tuesday that the country’s former leader and autocrat Hosni Mubarak died at the age of 91. After a presidency that spanned three decades, long-time U.S. ally Mubarak was ousted by mass popular protests as part of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011.
Egypt’s State TV said Mubarak...
June 18th, 20190
CAIRO - Egypt's former civilian president, Mohamed Morsi, ousted by the military in 2013 after one year in office, collapsed in a courtroom and died on Monday, June 17.
A leader in the now-banned Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi had just spoken from a cage at a hearing on charges of espionage. State TV said the cause of...
May 6th, 20190GAZA — An Egyptian-mediated ceasefire agreement was reached with Israel on Monday to end a weekend of violence in the Gaza Strip and Israel, a report from Reuters said.
“The ceasefire understanding will begin Monday 04:30 (01:30 GMT)” a Palestinian official familiar with the agreement said to the news agency.
The fighting was...
April 30th, 20190WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, the White House said on Tuesday, which would bring sanctions against Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement.
“The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern...
April 25th, 20190CAIRO — Nearly 90 percent of referendum voters approved constitutional amendments that could keep the president in power until 2030.
Egyptian voters have overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes allowing President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to remain in power until 2030, the election commission has said.
"These are effective from...
April 18th, 20190CAIRO - Egypt’s election commission said on Wednesday that a referendum potentially allowing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in office until 2030 will take place on April 20-22.
The ballot, featuring several constitutional amendments, was given final approval in parliament on Tuesday.
The changes, if approved, would extend...
April 12th, 20190RIYADH/WASHINGTON, DC — Egypt has pulled out of the U.S. effort to forge an “Arab NATO” with key Arab allies, according to four sources familiar with the decision, in a blow to the Trump administration’s strategy to contain Iranian power.
Egypt conveyed its decision to the United States and other participants in the proposed...
October 16th, 20180Shirin Neshat’s “Looking for Oum Kulthum” tells of an Iranian artist’s effort at making a film on the life and career of the late Egyptian legendary singer. Though the project was made with pure intentions, it has been met with distaste and skepticism from the Arab world.
A main criticism of the film is Neshat’s role as...
July 1st, 20180AMMAN/WASHINGTON — Four Arab states have backed the U.S. plan for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, regardless of the position of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, an Israeli newspaper reports.
The Israel Hayom daily interviewed officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan who...
June 14th, 20180CAIRO/YEKATERINBURG ― Egypt coach Hector Cuper said Mohamed Salah had a “great chance” of playing against Uruguay but no decision would be taken until Thursday’s training session as the Pharoahs flew into Yekaterinburg for the start of their World Cup campaign.
“I am optimistic that he will be with us, I think he has a great...
May 30th, 20180Egyptian soccer star Mohamed Salah’s shoulder injury will keep him out of action for three to four weeks, Liverpool’s club physio has said, meaning he could miss the World Cup group stage.
The 25-year-old is desperate to play for Egypt in only their third World Cup and their first for 28 years but faces a race against time to be...
May 4th, 20180CAIRO - Sending Arab troops to Syria is a possibility that is being discussed by officials from various countries, Egypt’s foreign minister was quoted as saying in a state newspaper on Friday.
“In regards to the situation in Syria, Shoukry said that the idea of replacing forces with another that may be Arab is a possibility,”...
April 13th, 20180CAIRO – Four Arab states who cut relations with Qatar over its close ties with Iran and Turkey are sticking to an ultimatum they issued the Gulf state last year, Egypt’s MENA news agency said on Thursday, despite U.S. pressure for a swift end to the dispute.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates sent Doha a...
April 2nd, 20180CAIRO – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected with 97 percent of votes, the same proportion that the former military commander secured four years ago for his first term but with a lower turnout, official results showed on Monday.
Turnout was 41 percent, despite efforts to get as many Egyptians as possible to...
March 30th, 20180CAIRO — President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cruised toward a landslide election victory against no real opposition but early results showed a lower turnout than the vote that brought him to power in 2014, despite efforts to get more Egyptians to the polls.
The vote this week had long been set to hand Sisi a second term after a crackdown...
February 5th, 20180JERUSALEM — Israel has started handing out notices to 20,000 male African migrants giving them two months to leave the country or risk being thrown in jail.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is offering the migrants, most of whom are from Sudan and Eritrea, $3,500 and a plane ticket to what it says is a safe...
February 2nd, 20180The real danger of seeing the world through a narrow ideological lens is that while the lens may be your own, the world being viewed through it is not yours to control.
By Dr. James J. Zogby
Vice President Pence's recent foray into Middle East politics has been nothing short of a disaster. Because he sees the world through the lens...
January 12th, 20180CAIRO — Former armed forces chief of staff General Sami Anan is to run in Egypt's presidential election in March, the party he leads said on Thursday.
An election commission said on Monday Egypt would hold the vote on March 26-28, with a run-off on April 24-26. Candidates must register between Jan 20 and 29.
"The party leaders...
January 5th, 20180TEL AVIV — Israel said on Wednesday it would pay thousands of African migrants living illegally in the country to leave, threatening them with jail if they are caught after the end of March.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in public remarks at a cabinet meeting on the payment program, said a barrier Israel completed in 2013 along...