ABDEL-FATTAH EL-SISSI

A fire ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Egypt’s capital, killing 41 worshippers, including at least 15 children, and injuring 16 others.

The Biden administration likes to say Russia is isolated internationally because of its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials as his country seeks to break diplomatic isolation and sanctions by the West over its invasion of Ukraine.

The family of a French backpacker who went missing in Egypt have used a Paris visit by the Egyptian president to press for an investigation into the 27-year-old traveler's disappearance.

Egypt and Serbia have agreed to boost political, economic and other cooperation as the two countries look for ways to deal with the global impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Officials from 40 countries are meeting in Berlin to discuss how to stay focused on fighting climate change while the world reels from the economic fallout of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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.

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.

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.

Egypt has concluded its second international weapons fair.

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 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 rushed to try to broker a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas while also trying to prove itself to the Biden administration and the world as the main mediator in a conflict that threatens to worsen.

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. Ad“Blocking something like the Suez Canal really sets in motion a number of dominos toppling each other over,” said Lars Jensen, chief executive of Denmark-based SeaIntelligence Consulting. AdOpened 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. El-Sissi’s state visit had sparked protests by human rights activists incensed that France was welcoming el-Sissi despite the heaviest crackdown on dissent in Egypt’s modern history. 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.

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 European Union and the United States have both criticized Turkey’s ongoing maritime research missions in waters where Greece asserts jurisdiction. The dispute between Greece and Turkey triggered a major military buildup over the summer that raised concerns of military confrontation. Turkey’s behavior, it said, “pushes further away any prospects of a constructive dialogue” between Greece and Turkey. 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.

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.