(Activist Sanaa Seif, and rights activist and lawyer Yara Sallam (Photo: Courtesy of Free Sanaa Facebook page)

Main Headlines

 Monday

• Al-Jazeera shuts down its Egypt channel
• Egypt extends opening of Rafah border crossing
• Appeals court adjourns FGM victim case to January 26
• Egyptian FM reaffirms trilateral cooperation between Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus
• Cairo University allows 38 suspended student to return
• Five ‘State of Sinai’ militants killed in a raid in Sharqeya
• Renowned satirist Bassem Youssef has been fined LE50 million for breaking his contract with the privately owned CBC channel

Tuesday

• US State Department: ‎Egypt received Apache helicopters in November not December.
• Al-Sisi congratulates new Tunisian president and hopes for “a new era of solidarity”
• Egypt’s top prosecutor referred a man to criminal court “for threatening employees at embassies and consulates”
• Militants bomb Sinai gas pipeline for the 27th time
• Al-Sisi ratifies electoral districts law
• Morsi-era Egypt parliamentarians ‘resume’ sessions in Turkey’s Istanbul
• Egyptian Salloum border crossing has been closed at Libya’s request
• Egyptian doctor, wife killed, daughter abducted in Libya
• Militants kill police conscript in a drive-by-shooting in Alexandria

Wednesday

• Qatar and Egypt officials discuss reconciliation
• Turkey says normalization with Egypt only “only with return to proper democracy”
• Australian Foreign Minister says she is hopeful that Egypt will release jailed Al-Jazeera journalists for Christmas
• Phase 1 of buffer zone with Gaza Strip to cost LE 500 million
• Number of tourists in Egypt rises by 80% in October
• Egypt and China signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement Swiss film festival dismisses controversial TV reporter Mona Iraqi

Thursday

• 7 Brotherhood “supporters” referred to prosecution over planned Christmas attack
• International Union for Muslim Scholars denies Qatar’s handing over of Qaradawi to Egypt
• Israeli delegation arrives in Egypt to search for bodies of 22 missing soldiers
• EIPR: Ottoman-era law restricts religious freedoms
• Al-Tawheed wal Nour department store owner sent to trial for selling Egyptian fag shoes

 Friday

• Two Ansar Beit El-Maqdis militants were killed in a gun battle near Cairo
• Explosion in Sinai’s Al-Arish kills two, and injures one
• Egyptian Coptic teen seized in Libya has been found dead
• Coptic activists outraged by pope’s remarks on Maspero massacre
• Egypt bans “Exodus” for “historical mistakes”
• Russia to impose wheat export duty in February, missing shipment to Egypt
• Qatar to temporarily halt financial support to Hamas as a gesture to Egypt

Saturday

• Egyptian writer to face trial for insulting Islam
• Egypt reduces sentencee in “gay wedding” video to one year
• Alaa Abdel-Fattah’s lawyer says defendant’s rights were violated throughout the case ‪
• Policeman shot dead in a drive by shooting in Giza
• Islamic State’s ‘provinces’ claim attacks in Egypt and Libya
• Hamas said is concerned by Egypt-Qatar thaw
• Accident at Sinai cement factory leaves 8 workers dead and 10 injuried

 Sunday

• Egyptian prosecutor orders release of over a hundred students and minors
• Leaks allege government intervention in judicial proceedings
• Egypt court reduces jail sentence against 23 activists, including Sanaa Seif and Yara Sallam over protesting
• 15 students at Zagazig University were referred to military court
• Security forces defused a bomb in Egypt’s Giza
• Policeman killed in attack on security check point in Alexandria
• Turkey says has no problem with Egypt and the Egyptian people
• Brotherhood’s Beltagy gets 6 years for contempt of court

 Good Reports

• Egypt keeps Salafist imams out of pulpits ahead of elections. Walaa Hussein
• Egyptian activist’s ‘Made in Prison’ handbags catch on outside. Patrick Kingsley
• A rundown of Egypt’s attempts to reach voluntary settlements with investors. Isabel Esterman
• As Egypt-Qatar relations thaw, Al Jazeera pulls Mubasher Masr off air Mai Shams El-Din

Good Read

• Normalisation and not true peace making between Egypt and Qatar. Dina Ezzat
• Assured Dysfunction: Egypt’s parliamentary constituencies law. Ryan J Suto
• The new Suez Canal project and Egypt’s economic future. Maria Golia
• The lighthouse dims. James Traub
• Could Egypt’s opposition learn to get along? A. Hellyer
• China’s Egypt opportunity. Shannon Tiezzi

Plus

• A timeline Rafah border closing since 2013
• A list of Egypt’s most bizarre news in 2014
• From Sisi to Suez, defining moments that rocked Egypt in 2014
• Letter from the Egyptian Embassy in Washington to the New York Times
• Historical torture devices on display in Cairo
• 10 dead, 22 have been infected with bird-flu in Egypt this year

Photo Gallery:  

• The churches burned after Egypt’s coup last year are still in ruins

Finally here are Jayson Casper’s prayers for Egypt