Armed assailants killed 15 Egyptians in Libya on Thursday as they waited to cross through the Ras Jadeer border crossing into Tunisia, reported the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm.

POLITICS

Egyptian Nation alliance to finalize participation on Tuesday
The Egyptian Nation alliance said that it is looking to finalize coordination between political parties in a meeting on Tuesday. Former member of parliament Amr Shubaki said that negotiations are still ongoing between all political parties. Dr. Ahmed Khaled, spokesperson for Amr Moussa’s coalition, said that it aims to end fragmentation in Egypt’s political arena. Meanwhile, the Nour Party announced that 60 percent of the party’s ex-deputies will be excluded from running in Egypt’s parliamentary elections. A member of the party’s Presidential Council said that it expects to win 25 percent of seats in the new parliament. In addition, the Egyptian Front alliance announced that its coalition includes all classes of Egyptians and that it will operate under collective leadership. [Shorouk (Arabic), 8/1/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Former foreign minister encourages contributions to “Long Live Egypt fund | Shorouk (Arabic)

COURTS

Policeman accused of freeing dangerous inmates confesses to gross negligence
Police officer Mohamed Safwat Zeidan, the second defendant in the prison escape case of two criminal inmates in Ismailia on death row, confessed on Thursday to gross negligence. According to Zeidan, the first defendant, police officer Amin Ahmed Fatehy, offered Zeidan a EGP 400,000 bribe in return for helping Khaled Reyad escape from prison. Zeidan said he saw Fatehy more than once with the two inmates who escaped while agreeing on the escape plan. The prosecutor general said he is following up on the investigations in the case, which he described as the “biggest corruption case in Egypt’s prisons department.” He added in a statement Wednesday that he ordered the detention of the sheriff of Mostaqbal prison where the incident happened, the deputy sheriff and eight other security officials, for 15 days pending investigations. [Egypt Independent, 7/31/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • At request of prosecutor general, son of Field Marshall Abu-Ghazaleh prevented from traveling to Qatar | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)

ECONOMY

BG Group says natural gas operations in Egypt remain at risk
BG Group says its natural gas operations in Egypt remain at risk after production there halved in the first six months of the year. The London-listed oil explorer on Thursday reported output from its Egyptian operations – which in 2012 made up a fifth of its global production – had fallen 52 percent in the first half compared with the same period last year, to 57,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. [FT, 7/31/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Egypt stocks hit highest level in 6 years in first trading after Eid | Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, SIS
  • New Egypt road network to be completed by end of 2014/15: Minister | Ahram Online
  • Mahlab receives EGP 20 million donation from Hawari to “Long Live Egypt” fund | SIS, Al-Ahram (Arabic)
  • Qaylubeya governor announces EGP 45 million for development of road network | Shorouk (Arabic)
  • Egypt bourse revises EGX30’s constituents, removes 7 companies | Amwal Al Ghad
  • Egypt economy 2013: Recent developments and prospects | AfriBiz
  • Newspaper: Egypt among eleven countries in the world threatened with bankruptcy | AMAY (Arabic)
  • Head of Egyptian-Saudi Business Council: I expects new investments soon | AMAY (Arabic)
  • London to host conference organized by Egyptian businessmen on ways to support the national economy | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)

SOCIETY & MEDIA

Pro-Morsi alliance calls for “revolutionary week” rallies
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy has called on its supporters to rally on what it called the “Friday of Resistance” in a statement on its official Facebook page. This will mark the beginning of a new “revolutionary week” in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, the statement added. Some NASL leaders, Egypt Independent reports, also called on the groups’ supporters to abandon their peaceful tactics in protests scheduled for August 14 on the anniversary of Raba’a al-Adaweya and al-Nahda sit-in dispersals, adding it is their last chance to confront the current regime. NASL leader and Fadila Party chairman Mahmoud Fatehy said that abandoning non-violent tactics is now the only hope for supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi to avenge the protesters killed in Raba’a and al-Nahda squares. Meanwhile, security was intensified in both Minya and Qaylubeya in anticipation of the demonstrations. [Aswat Masriya , AMAY (Arabic), 8/1/2014]

Anti-sexual harassment initiative intervenes in 35 incidents during Eid
The anti-sexual harassment initiative ‘I Saw Harassment’ said in its final report on the three days of Eid al-Fitr that it intervened in 35 incidents of sexual harassment, either preventing them or rescuing the victim. The group noted a significant increase in the percentage of girls and women who believe in defending themselves and that the perpetrator must be punished, compared to previous Eid holidays in 2012 and 2013. However, Fathy Farid, a spokesman for the initiative, said the government’s new harassment law has yet to criminalize offenders according to international standards. Meanwhile, Entesar Saeed, head of the Cairo Center for Development and Human Rights, called for sex education to be included in school syllabi to promote awareness among students and educate them on the danger of sexual violence. [DNE, Egypt Independent, 7/31/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Damietta bishop bans women from wearing trousers, make-up in church | Ahram Online
  • 337 accounts of violence against Egyptian children in 2014: State council Ahram Online
  • Al-Azhar and endowment ministry slam Ibrahim Eissa remarks | Mada Masr

SECURITY

Egypt’s interior minister approves large-scale internal reshuffle
Egypt’s interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim has approved the latest reshuffle inside his ministry, which involves Central Security as well as National Security forces, reported state news agency MENA on Thursday. In statements made to MENA, the ministry’s official spokesman General Abdel-Fattah Osman reported that the reshuffle includes 19 aides to the minister and 13 heads of security directorates across the country. He added that among the 3,553 police officers included in the restructure, four policewomen were promoted to generals. Osman also stated that 518 police generals, brigadier generals and police colonels were forced into retirement. [Ahram Online, 7/31/2014]

Attempting to flee Libya, 17 Egyptians killed while waiting at Tunisian border
Armed assailants killed 15 Egyptians in Libya on Thursday as they waited to cross through the Ras Jadeer border crossing into Tunisia, reported the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm. Anonymous sources said the attackers were targeting Libyans attempting to hide among the thousands of Egyptian expatriates attempting to flee the country. Two other Egyptians were shot dead when Libyan border guards opened fire to disperse hundreds of Egyptians trying to cross into Tunisia to flee Libya’s growing chaos, the Tunisian state news agency TAP said on Thursday. However, the deaths have not been confirmed by Egyptian media outlets. Aswat Masriya reported that Tunisian troops fired tear gas to prevent Egyptians fleeing Libya from entering the country. Meanwhile, an Egyptian woman was shot dead inside her home by mistake during clashes in Libya’s city of Benghazi on Thursday, the state news agency MENA reported. Egypt’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Ambassador Badr Abdel-Atty told Ahram Online on Thursday that Egypt is currently facilitating the departure of Egyptians who want to leave Libya, especially those who want to leave Benghazi through Tunisia. On Friday, a plane transporting 320 Egyptians fleeing Libya arrived in Cairo. [Mada Masr, AMAY (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic), Aswat Masriya (Arabic), 7/31/2014]

Security forces ID remains of men killed in Giza car bombing, says MOI
Security forces have identified the remains of three men who died when a car bomb accidentally detonated in Giza’s Al-Shorafa village early Wednesday morning, the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Thursday. The men were en route to “commit hostile actions” against the Shorafa police station and the city council building, according to Interior Ministry spokesperson Hany Abdel Latif. He identified the alleged assailants as a 23-year-old engineering student, a 27-year-old painter and a 34-year-old driver who all belonged to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group. However, in a 5-hour interrogation conducted by the general prosecution, the families of the suspects insisted their sons were innocent victims and an unknown assailant had placed the bomb in the car. [Mada Masr, 7/31/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Gunmen attack National Security Agency headquarters in Suez | Egypt Independent
  • One killed, eleven injured in village clashes in Fayoum | EGYNews (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic)
  • Ministry of endowments says there is connections between the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS | Aswat Masriya (Arabic)

INTERNATIONAL

Egypt foreign minister denies cancellation of Gaza talks
Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry said on Friday that neither the Israeli nor the Palestinian delegations had declined to attend planned talks in Cairo to discuss a cessation to the violence in the Gaza Strip. His comments come after Senior Hamas figure Moussa Abu-Marzouk told Al-Ahram that Egypt informed the Islamist movement that Israel had declined to attend the talks. In a phone conversation with Al-Ahram on Friday, the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau argued that the Israeli absence from negotiations in Egypt, along with its violation of the humanitarian truce on the same day, means the “collapse of talks.” Abu-Marzouk added that the status of the Palestinian delegation, which he said had been expected to arrive on Saturday, was now in question. However, the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the joint Palestinian delegation, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, will travel to Cairo on Saturday for ceasefire negotiations, AFP reported. Islamic Jihad deputy leader Ziad al-Nakhale also told AFP that Egypt said it is delaying talks on a long-term Gaza cease-fire after Israel revealed one of its soldiers may have been captured. Meanwhile, Egypt on Thursday received 104 wounded Palestinians and some of their relatives through the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, state news agency MENA reported. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday in his first official trip to Cairo, to discuss the Gaza ceasefire. [Aswat Masriya (Arabic), Ahram Online, 8/1/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • FM: We are following up closely developments in Libya | SIS
  • PM discusses with FM developments in Libya | SIS
  • Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to resume dam talks on August  26 | Ahram Online
  • Egypt Pope Tawadros calls for fast dedicated to the ‘suffering in Gaza’ | Ahram Online
  • Egypt participates in Arab quality expert panel in Morocco | SIS, Al-Ahram (Arabic)
  • PM, Indian ambassador discuss fostering mutual ties | SIS
  • State Department spokesperson, in response to question about aid, says US relationships with Israel and Egypt are different | State Department, AMAY (Arabic)