A sand storm in Aswan via Egyptian streets

Main headlines

 Monday

• EU observer mission in Egypt launchedahead of presidential poll
• Egyptian health ministry probes suspected MERS death
• Al-Azhar student dies from gunshot wounds
• 76 Al-Azhar students were expelled from the university
• Court postponed Mubarak’s incitement case to the May 10
• The trial of the Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood has been postponed to May 18
• Gulf oil producershave given Egypt free fuel lifeline totaling $6bn in value
• Military aircraft sent to look for 5 missing citizens in Aswan

Tuesday

• Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi gives first ever TV interview
• El-Sisi in TV interview: I informed a US official in March that the Brotherhood’s time was up.’
• El-Sisi in TV interview: I and Egyptians will work days and nights
• Cairo court bans former NDP members from running in elections
• Clashes at pro-Sisi demonstration leave one dead
• Presidential hopeful Sabahy vows to defend public sector at rally in Mahalla
• Free Egypt party endorses Sabahy for president
• Al-Azhar demands‪ Boko Haram to release kidnapped girls

Wednesday

• Sisi’s TV interview spurs mixed reactions
• Sisi promises to reclaim 4m acres of lands
• El-Sisi: EGP 1.7tn debts issue must be resolved with speed
• Egypt’s president inaugurates new metro line
• U.S. to nominate Iraq ambassador as the new U.S. envoy in Cairo
• African Union to monitor presidential elections in Egypt
• Egypt cabinet approves 5 % tax hikeaimed at the country’s highest earning taxpayers.
• Egypt-based LNG plant to receive Israeli natural gas

Thursday

• Egypt’s Islamists call for dialogue with revolutionaries in Brussels charter
• Police officer testifies against the Muslim Brotherhood in prison escape case
• Egypt’s Amr Moussa: Hamas must recognize Israel
• Egypt’s cabinet approves new anti-sexual harassment law
• Egypt’s cabinet agrees on three demands for striking doctors
• Daylight saving time to begin in Egypt on May 15
• Floods in Red Sea coastal cities cause serious damage to homes, roads ‪
• Severe sandstorm sinks boat, damages museum in Aswan

Friday

• Sabahy in TV interview: The Armed Forces are the people’s property
• Interior Ministry diffuses two bombs, arrests 22 Brotherhood supporters
• Sisi’s campaign banners smeared with red paint
• 5 were arrested in clashesbetween Al-Azhar students and police
• Coptic Pope arrives in the #UAE on five-day visit –
• Saudi Arabia, and Egypt sign cooperation protocol to rehabilitate street children
• The Egyptian Doctors’ Syndicate suspends two-months partial strike

Saturday

• Mehleb concludes a two-days visit to Equatorial Guinea ‪ahead of African Union summit
• 200 suspected Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis members are charged with terror offences
• Egypt received a petroleum grantof $2.6bn from the UAE and Saudi Arabia during the first four months in 2014
• Sudan slams Egyptian media’s provocation over Ethiopian dam
• 5 arrested in clashes between Al-Azhar students and police
• Police teargas student protestors in Alexandria
• Brotherhood’s El-Beltagy is fined for libel

Sunday

• Egypt’s PM: Egypt-Ethiopia dam dispute ‘not a war’
• El-Sisi, Sabahi’s campaigns are briefed on Egypt’s foreign policy
• ‘I call on Europe, support us in fighting terrorism’: Egypt’s Ambassador in Germany‪
• Al-Sisi met with young investors and businessmen ‪
• Security forces find kidnapped officer in Sharqiya
• Suspected militants kill soldier in Sinai
• 37 Al-Azhar students are jailed 4 years for rioting
• We will not be ruled by a serial killer: Anti-coup alliance
• Egypt FM calls for release of Palestinian political prisoners in Israel

Good reports

 On Presidential election:

• The Road to presidential elections.Egypt Source (including full Sisi’s interview, and Sabahy’s speech
• Hamdeen Sabahy’s interview. Salma Shukrallah and Fouad Mansour
• Egypt’s Sisi turns Islam on Islamists. Tom Perry
• Sisi Tells Media not to push for freedom. Maggie Michael
• El-Sisi has to meet Egypt’s challenges. The National
• Sisi in the Hot Seat: Reading between the lines. Wael Eskandar

Other reports:

• The Muslim Brotherhood struggles in a New Egypt. Ashraf Khalil
• Egypt’s natural gas quagmire. Isabel Esterman
• Fact and fiction: Diverting water from the Congo to the Nile. Ahmed El-Sayed Al-Naggar

Good read

• Holding their nerve on the Nile. The Economist
• The Nour Party’s precarious future. Abdel-Rahman Youssef, and Mostafa Hashem
• Exposing the secret of domestic abuse in Egypt.Reem Abdel Latif
• Tea and guns with the Sa’idi of Egypt. Yassin Gaber
• US-Egypt relationshipis still haunted by large divisions. Hussein Ibish
• Egypt and subsidies: A Country Living Beyond Its Means. Ahmed Ghoneim
• In search of security. Passant Rabie

Photo Gallery:  

• Rain, floods, and deadly sandstorm hit Egypt

Graphic:

• Egypt’s looming insolvency crisis. Stratfor

Plus:

• Spoof campaign wants Kevin ‘el-Spacey’ for Egypt’s President instead of el-Sisi.

Finally, here are Jayson Casper’s prayers for Egypt