My apology for late posting of my weekly compilation, as I took few days break to celebrate the New Year. Here is a light compilation of the last few days of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.

 Wish you all a happy and prosperous 2016.

 Monday

• No water stored behind the Ethiopian dam
• NGOs slam decision to rerun student union elections
• Tawfik Okasha opens fire at ‘security-financed’ pro-state coalition
• April 6 members detained, two others wanted on charges of illegal protest and belonging to a banned group

Tuesday

• Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan sign new Grand Renaissance Dam agreement
• Egyptian court sends TV host Islam Behery to jail for one year over blasphemy
• Ex-interim president turns down Sisi’s request to join the parliament
• Egypt’s censorship authority raid Merit Publishing house in Cairo
• MP Okasha appears on TV despite ban to apologize
• Al Jazeera journalist asks for return of his Egyptian citizenship

Wednesday 

• Public figures lambast recent arrests of activists
• El-Sisi tells Egyptians ‘not to worry’ about the Ethiopian dam
• Egypt’s Sisi inaugurates 1.5 million feddan reclamation mega project
• Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery shut down by Egyptian authorities

 Thursday

• Egypt launches airstrikes on IS-affiliate in Sinai, killing 15
• Egyptian officials: Militants in Sinai kill an entire family of five
• Egypt court designates Hamas military wing a terrorist group
• Essam Khalil elected as leader of Free Egyptians Party

 2016 Happy New Year

 Friday

• Fourteen drown when an unlicensed ferry capsized in Egypt’s Nile river north of Cairo
• Egypt officially kicks off 2-year stint on UN Security Council
• Russia to supply Egypt with with 46 military helicopters

 Saturday

• Egypt arrests three Facebook administrators ahead of uprising’s fifth anniversary
• Egyptian court acquits writer charged for publishing “sexually explicit text”
• Constitutional expert Abdel-Al has become highly recommended to be elected speaker of the new parliament

 Sunday

• Interior ministry provides info on 101 people suspected to be victims of forced disappearance
• Egypt allows ‘upon arrival visas’ to Chinese tourist groups
• ‪Journalist El-Sakka is located; detained by prosecutors for publishing “false news”
• Authorities detain, deport Tunisian writer at Cairo airport

Good Read

• International experts analyze impacts of the Ethiopian dam. David L. Chandler
• Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam: Five sticking key issues. Omar Halawa
• Water is the sleeper catastrophe of the next decades in North Africa. Maged Atiya
• Egypt is losing £120m a month as the UK’s Sharm El-Sheikh flight ban continues. Harriet Sinclair
• Egypt: At year-end, floundering investment policies. Ziad Bahaa Eldin
• After threats, Israel’s IDF intensifies intelligence efforts against ISIS Sinai-Province. The Tower
• Insignificant British review of the Muslim Brotherhood. Said Shehata

From Twitter

Infographic

• Egypt’s economy in numbers in 2015

 Plus

• Mahmoud, imprisoned for wearing anti-torture shirt in Egypt, turns 20
• King ‪#Amenhotep III statue accidently recovered in Edfu
• Baby survives after being thrown out of hospital window in Egypt’s Gharbiya

 Photo Gallery

• Fireworks on New Year’s Eve at Egypt’s pyramids
• South Sinai’ beautiful beaches deserted by tourists

Finally here are Jayson Casper’s prayers for Egypt