ABDEL-FATTAH EL-SISSI

An array of presidents and prime ministers were descending on the United Arab Emirates from around the world to pay their respects to the federation’s late ruler and greet his successor, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Egypt FILE - Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi delivers a speech during the One Ocean Summit, in Brest, Brittany, Feb. 11, 2022. The head of a journalists’ union said May 1, 2022, that Egyptian authorities have freed three journalists — the latest in a string of releases as el-Sissi appears to be reaching out to critics of his administration. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP, File) (Ludovic Marin)CAIRO — (AP) — Egyptian authorities freed three journalists early Sunday, the head of a journalists’ union said, the latest in a string of releases as President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi appears to be reaching out to critics of his administration. Diaa Rashwan, head of the Journalists’ Union, posted images showing the three journalists wearing white jail uniforms and embracing their families in the street. Their release came a few days after authorities freed 41 detainees — including several prominent writers and activists — who had been held for months also without trial.

The head of a journalists’ union says Egyptian authorities have freed three journalists — the latest in a string of releases as President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi appears to be reaching out to critics of his administration.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will try to use his three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa to reassure wary Israelis and Arabs that the Biden administration is committed to the region’s security at a time when Washington is confronting multiple foreign policy challenges.

A government spokesman says Jordan’s Prime Minister Bishr al-Khasawneh has tested positive for the coronavirus with no visible symptoms.

The United States and Egypt have launched a joint working group to prepare for the next United Nations climate change summit in Egypt in November.

World leaders are trying to save the planet’s oceans in talks on France’s Atlantic coast aimed at fighting overfishing and plastic pollution, and finding fairer ways to manage the seas.

The U.S., Britain and a handful of others aren’t sending dignitaries to the Beijing Winter Games as part of a diplomatic boycott, but the Chinese capital is still attracting an array of world leaders for Friday’s opening ceremony.

(AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (Amr Nabil)WASHINGTON — (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday it is cancelling $130 million in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns. The announcement comes just days after the administration approved a massive $2.5 billion arms sale to the country. The State Department said Friday that Egypt had not met the conditions to receive the $130 million in foreign military financing that has been on hold since September. Therefore, after January 30, the secretary intends to reprogram the $130 million to other national security priorities.”Asked about the apparent inconsistency, U.S. officials have said the military aid and the arms sale are unrelated. Congressional Democrats who had urged Blinken not to approve the $130 million were pleased with Friday's decision, but did not address the arms sale that dwarfs the amount of the withheld assistance.

The Biden administration says it has cancelled $130 million in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns just three days after greenlighting a massive $2.5 billion arms sale to the country.

The Biden administration has approved a massive $2.5 billion arms sale to Egypt despite ongoing concerns over human rights.

A New York man has been arrested on charges that he worked as a secret agent of the Egyptian government, including by gathering information about the political opponents of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

An Egyptian court has sentenced a prominent human rights lawyer to five years in prison for his conviction on charges that rights advocates have decried as baseless and politically motivated.

The United States and Egypt are putting a brave face on strains in their relationship as domestic Egyptian developments and regional crises test long-standing ties between the countries.

Troops and patrols have deployed around Baghdad following the failed assassination attempt with armed drones that targeted Iraq’s prime minister in his residence.

Egypt’s president has ordered his administration to start moving its offices next month to a sprawling new administrative capital in the desert outside Cairo.

Greece Cyprus Egypt Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi makes statements during a joint news briefing with Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos MItsotakis and Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades, not pictured, in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) (Yorgos Karahalis)ATHENS, Greece — (AP) — Greece pledged Tuesday to link Egypt to the European Union’s energy market with an undersea cable that would carry electricity across the Mediterranean. “(Egypt’s) link to Europe will be Greece,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after talks in Athens with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades also joined the Athens meeting, marking the ninth round of talks between the three countries’ leaders. Earlier this year, Greece completed an energy link by undersea cable between its southern Peloponnese region and the island of Crete.

Greece has promised to link Egypt to the European Union’s energy market with an undersea cable that would carry electricity across the Mediterranean.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser has held talks with Egypt’s president that focused on regional tensions and the ties between Washington and its Mideast ally.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan is heading to Cairo for talks with Egyptian government officials about rising tensions between Israel and Hamas.

The U.N. General Assembly is unfolding this week under a thundercloud of deep pessimism.

The Biden administration is releasing nearly $200 million in military aid to Egypt but will hold back millions more over human rights concerns.

Arab heads of state and senior officials from the region including archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia are meeting at a conference hosted by Iraq.

The State Department says it's looking into the apparent disappearance of a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky given more than two years ago to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan.

President Joe Biden says the U.S. military’s combat mission in Iraq will conclude by the end of the year.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up a two-day Mideast mission, winning valuable diplomatic support and hundreds of millions of dollars of pledges from Arab allies as he moved to shore up the cease-fire that ended an 11-day war between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s militant Hamas rulers.

Egypt has proved itself to the world again as an indispensable mediator after it brokered a cease-fire in the short but costly Israel-Hamas war.

Egypt on Tuesday announced plans to widen and deepen the southern part of the Suez Canal where a hulking vessel ran aground and closed off the crucial waterway in March. The head of the Suez Canal Authority, Lt. Gen. Osama Rabe, announced details of the plan in a televised ceremony in the canal’s city of Ismailia. The plan includes widening the canal’s southernmost stretch by about 40 meters (yards) to the east, on the side of the Sinai Peninsula, Rabei said.

Egypt is buying another 30 Rafale fighter jets from France.

Egypt has sacked the country’s top railway official, following three deadly train accidents in less than a month.

Egyptian authorities say a passenger train accident north of Cairo has killed at least 11 people.

Ever Given, a Panama-flagged cargo ship, is seen in Egypt's Great Bitter Lake Tuesday, March 30, 2021. Experts have boarded Ever Given container ship that had blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week before it was dislodged. A canal pilot says engineers are inspecting the Ever Given for damage and trying to determine why it ran aground. Global legal firm Clyde and Co. said the Ever Given's owner likely would pay Egypt's canal authority for the assistance already rendered to the vessel. He stood before a sign that said: "Welcome to the Suez Canal: Egypt's lifeline of peace, prosperity and development."

(AP Photo)CAIRO – Two trains crashed Friday in southern Egypt, killing at least 32 people and injuring 165, authorities said in the latest of a series of deadly accidents on the country’s troubled railways. Those remarks came a day after a passenger train collided with a cargo train, killing at least 12 people. AdA year earlier, two passenger trains collided just outside Alexandria, killing 43. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo. Egypt’s deadliest train crash was in 2002, when over 300 people were killed after fire broke out in a train traveling from Cairo to southern Egypt.

This photo released by the Suez Canal Authority on Thursday, March 25, 2021, shows Lt. Gen. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, investigating the situation with the Ever Given, a Panama-flagged cargo ship, after it become wedged across the Suez Canal and blocking traffic in the vital waterway. Over its 150-year history, Egypt's Suez Canal has seen wars and crises — but nothing quite like the stranding of the Ever Given. The vessel entered the canal from the Red Sea on Tuesday morning and ran aground 45 minutes later. While the supersize of ships can increase their risk of running aground in the Suez Canal, boats just as big buffeted by winds just as strong have passed through the waterway without incident before. President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi poured $8.2 billion into a lavish expansion of the canal that was unveiled in 2015.

This satellite image from Cnes2021, Distribution Airbus DS, shows the cargo ship MV Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal near Suez, Egypt, Thursday, March 25, 2021. (Cnes2021, Distribution Airbus DS via AP)ISMAILIA – Dredgers, tugboats and even a backhoe failed to free a giant cargo ship wedged in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Thursday. The Suez Canal Authority said one idea the team discussed was scraping the bottom of the canal around the ship. “BSM’s continuing priorities are to safely re-float the vessel and for marine traffic in the Suez Canal to resume,” it said without providing timeframe. Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal is a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo.

In this photo released by the Suez Canal Authority, a boat navigates in front of a massive cargo ship, named the Ever Green, rear, sits grounded Wednesday, March 24, 2021, after it turned sideways in Egypts Suez Canal, blocking traffic in a crucial East-West waterway for global shipping. (Suez Canal Authority via AP)DUBAI – A skyscraper-sized container ship has become wedged across Egypt's Suez Canal and blocked all traffic in the vital waterway, officials said Wednesday, threatening to disrupt a global shipping system already strained by the coronavirus pandemic. Ad“The Suez Canal will not spare any efforts to ensure the restoration of navigation and to serve the movement of global trade,” vowed Lt. Gen. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority. Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. Ad“It’s because of the breakneck pace of global shipping right now and shipping is on a very tight schedule,” he said.

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Tuesday told Egypt that human rights will be “central” to its policy in dealing with the key Arab state and major American partner in the Middle East. It was not immediately clear how the new emphasis on human rights would manifest itself. The Trump administration had largely given Egypt's leadership a pass on human rights. Ad“The secretary raised concerns over human rights, which he emphasized would be central to the U.S.-Egypt bilateral relationship, and Egypt’s potential procurement of Su-35 fighter aircraft from Russia,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. However, rights groups accused authorities of targeting families of activists and rights defenders living abroad, in an apparent attempt to intimidate critics.

Cambodia on Sunday received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine, a donation of 600,000 doses from China, the country's biggest ally. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)BEIJING — China appears to have stamped out its latest coronavirus outbreaks centered on the northeast, reporting no new cases of local infection in its latest daily report. ___TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has unveiled its second homemade coronavirus vaccine and says it has begun human trials, state TV reported Sunday. ___JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Food and Drug Authority has announced an emergency use authorization to give the COVID-19 vaccine produced by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. to people over 60. ___KABUL, Afghanistan — Some 500,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived Sunday in Afghanistan from the government in India.

Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari signed the deal with visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to the prime minister's office. Abdulbari said Sudan welcomed “the rapprochement" with Israel and other countries as well as the beginning of diplomatic relations. Although Sudan is not a regional powerhouse, establishing ties with Israel is deeply symbolic. During his visit, Mnuchin met with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in August became the first top U.S. diplomat to visit Sudan since 2005, when Condoleezza Rice visited.

ROME – Two prominent Italian intellectuals announced Monday they were returning their Legion of Honor awards to France to protest that Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was given the prize despite his government's human rights abuses. Both cited Egypt’s role in the 2016 kidnapping, torture and killing of an Italian doctoral research student in Cairo, as well as the regime's other human rights violations. The French ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset, said he respected Augias and defended the government's human rights record. “France is on the front lines for human rights and makes no compromises,” he tweeted after Augias returned his prize. “It would be ineffective in terms of human rights and counterproductive in the fight against terrorism — that’s why I won’t do that,” he said.

A woman holds a placard as she stages a protest against the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi by the National Assembly in Paris, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)PARIS – French protesters and human rights activists demonstrated outside the National Assembly in Paris on Tuesday in opposition to the state visit of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi even though he wasn't inside. El-Sissi's visit is in its second and final day. The protesters, who carried placards reading “Egypt, Human Rights Emergency,” were also angry at French President Emmanuel Macron for rolling out the red carpet to the Egyptian leader, whom they view as a human rights abuser. Despite human rights groups’ criticism, el-Sissi signed contracts with French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Tuesday for French development aid and hospital and transport cooperation.

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Siss gesture upon el-Sissi arrival at the Elysee palace, Monday, Dec. 7, 2020 in Paris. Macron welcomed el-Sissi at the Elysee Palace at the start of the Egyptian president's two-day state visit to France. Yet Macron ruled out making France's cooperation with Egypt on economy and defense conditional on human rights issues, because Egypt is France's key partner in the fight against extremism and for the stability of the region. "The rank of religious values is much higher than human values ... they are holy and above all other values," he added. That's what was brought by the philosophy of the Enlightment and the foundation of the universalism of human rights.”Under France's secularism, blasphemy is allowed in France, Macron stressed.

Greece and Egypt are at odds with Turkey in a volatile maritime boundary dispute in the eastern Mediterranean over rights to search for and exploit natural gas deposits. The dispute between Greece and Turkey triggered a major military buildup over the summer that raised concerns of military confrontation. In August, Greece and Egypt signed a maritime deal demarcating the two countries’ maritime boundaries and setting out respective exclusive economic zones for the exploitation of resources such as oil and gas drilling. The agreement, which remains partial, angered Turkey, which has accused Greece of trying to grab an unfair share of resources in the eastern Mediterranean. Greece, Cyprus and Egypt widely criticized the deal between Ankara and Tripoli, saying it infringed on their economic rights.

Other leaders who supported Trump, including President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, congratulated Biden, indicating they rejected Trump’s claim the election wasn’t over. Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia told reporters he looked forward to a “great partnership” with Washington. Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan said he looked forward to working together to end illegal tax havens and on peacemaking in Afghanistan. Others expressed hope Biden will help to heal divisions in American society and global politics. Prime Minister Janez Jansa was the only leader who congratulated Trump even before all votes were counted and showed support after Biden’s win was announced.

World leaders congratulated U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on his victory, cheering it as an opportunity to fortify global democracy and celebrating the significance of Americans having their first female vice president. Other leaders who sent congratulations included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Prime Minister Janez Jansa was the only world leader who congratulated Trump even before all the votes were counted, and showed support after Biden’s win was announced. His rival, Juan Guaido, also thanked Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for their “firmness and determination” in confronting Maduro. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who struck up a cordial working relationship with Trump, also avoided congratulating Joe Biden.

A woman casts her vote on the first day in the second and final stage of the country's parliamentary elections in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. Egyptians began voting on Saturday after a relatively low turnout in the first stage that embarrassed the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. A total of 568 seats in the lower chamber are up for grabs in the election, with half the seats reserved for candidates running as individuals. The other 50% of seats in the House of Representatives are for over 1,100 candidates running on four party lists. For weeks before the vote, pro-government media called voting a patriotic duty and urged Egyptians to vote in high numbers.

A woman casts her ballot on the first day of the parliamentary election inside a polling station in Giza, Egypt, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020. Egyptians began voting Saturday in the first stage of a parliamentary election, a vote that is highly likely to produce a toothless House of Representatives packed with supporters of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)CAIRO – Egyptians cast ballots Saturday in the first stage of the country's parliamentary election, a vote which is highly likely to produce a toothless lower chamber packed with supporters of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Like the Senate election in August, Egyptian election authorities said face masks would be handed out to voters for free and polling stations were disinfected. In Alexandria, lawmaker Haitham el-Hariri, who was one of the few opposition figures in the outgoing parliament, urged his supporters to vote.

Egypt has in the past arrested journalists who it says are operating without proper permissions. The outlet Mostafa works for is banned from operating in Egypt and its website is blocked. Mostafa had recently reported on the death of a young man while in police detention in Cairo in September. It remains among the world’s worst jailers of journalists, along with Turkey and China, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Mahmoud Kamel, a board member of Egypt’s Journalists' Union, said authorities have arrested five journalists since the beginning of September.

(UNTV via AP)TANZANIA – The Latest from the U.N. General Assembly (all times EDT):8:15 p.m. ___6:55 p.m.Argentine President Alberto Fernández is asking the world to think beyond creating a vaccine that will help end the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking Tuesday to the annual U.N. General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron decried the United Nations’ failure to vanquish the virus. ___11:50 a.m.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the first world leader at the United Nations'' annual gathering to mention the Black Lives Matter movement. Trump is accusing China of not sharing timely information with the world on the new disease in a taped address to the virtually gathered United Nations General Assembly.

It documented multiple cases of detainees who died after experiencing suspected virus symptoms without being tested or receiving adequate medical treatment. Tens of thousands of people in Egypt are crammed into what rights groups say are overcrowded and unsanitary prisons. The group reported that Egypts National Security Agency summoned, interrogated and punished inmates when news media began to crackle with reports of suspected virus cases in prisons. Even as the daily infection rate in the nation has declined this month, accounts of virus cases in prisons are mounting. In almost all cases, HRW said, prison authorities have done little to protect prisoners from infection beyond grouping suspected cases in the same cell.

FILE - This satellite image taken Thursday, May 28, 2020, shows the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia. Sudan, which also depends on the Nile for water, has played a key role in bringing the two sides together after the collapse of U.S.-mediated talks in February. Sticking points in the talks have been how much water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam if a multi-year drought occurs and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will resolve any future disagreements. Filling the dam without an agreement could bring the stand-off to a critical juncture. Both Egypt and Ethiopia have hinted at military steps to protect their interests, and experts fear a breakdown in talks could lead to open conflict.

FILE - This satellite image taken Thursday, May 28, 2020, shows the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia. Egypt and Sudan had said Ethiopia would refrain from filling the dam next month until the countries reached a deal. Ethiopia has hinged its development ambitions on the colossal dam, describing it as a crucial lifeline to bring millions out of poverty. Sticking points in the talks have been how much water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam if a multi-year drought occurs and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will resolve any future disagreements. Both Egypt and Ethiopia have hinted at military steps to protect their interests, and experts fear a breakdown in talks could lead to open conflict.

CAIRO Egypts president Saturday warned that an attempt by Turkey-backed forces in Libya to attack the strategic city of Sirte would cross a red line" and trigger a direct Egyptian military intervention in the conflict. El-Sissi's strong comments come after Libyan fighters allied with the Tripoli-based government earlier this month advanced toward Sirte, the gateway to oil facilities in Libyas south. That move ignored an Egyptian initiative, backed by the east-Libya camp, to stop fighting and embark on peace talks. Libya has been in turmoil since 2011 when a civil war toppled long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. Cavusoglu said Friday that Turkey would work with Italy to create a lasting peace and political solution in Libya.

CAIRO The Egyptian government has arrested at least 10 journalists since the coronavirus was detected in the country, a local human rights group said, accusing authorities of seizing on the pandemic to accelerate a long-running campaign against dissent. Egypts public prosecution released a postmortem report saying he mistakenly poisoned himself by drinking hand sanitizer in his cell. The rights group outlined cases of 10 journalists recently caught up in President Abdel Fattah el-Sissis sweeping crackdown on the press. Earlier this week, security forces detained Lina Attalah, the editor of Egypts most prominent investigative media outlet when she was conducting an interview. Journalist and photographer Sameh Hanin, the group said, was also arrested this week and accused of helping a terrorist group, a frequent charge leveled at all sorts of critics of el-Sissis government.