Category: Egypt

BG Group PLC on Thursday reported an 8% fall in first-quarter net profit because of ongoing issues in Egypt, where the company’s output fell and gas that would have been exported has been diverted to the domestic market. BG said volumes from Egyptian LNG were severely restricted with no cargoes lifted by the company in the first quarter. The U.K.’s third-largest natural gas producer posted a net profit of $1.11 billion for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of $1.21 billion for the first quarter of 2014. "As a result of the challenges in Egypt, the group’s 2014 production is now expected to be at the lower end of the guidance range," said interim Chief Executive Andrew Gould. Mr. Gould took the […]

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Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, said Tuesday that he would not support additional military aid to Egypt in the wake of mass death sentences handed out by Egyptian courts this week, adding significant pressure on the Obama administration to shift course. For months, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, has led a lonely effort to sever American support to one of its most stalwart allies in the Middle East after the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s elected Islamist government. That push appears to be gaining steam. “I’m not prepared to sign off on the delivery of additional aid for the Egyptian military,” Mr. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said on the Senate floor. “I’m not prepared to do that until we see convincing evidence the government is committed to the rule of law.” On Monday, an Egyptian court sentenced the top […]

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An Egyptian court handed down a death sentence on the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and 682 supporters, intensifying a crackdown on the movement that could trigger protests and political violence ahead of an election next month. A death penalty for Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s general guide, will infuriate members of the Brotherhood which has been the target of raids, arrests and bans since President Mohamed Mursi was forced from power by the military in July. The movement says it is committed to peaceful activism. But some Brotherhood members fear pressure from security forces and the courts could drive some young members to violence against the movement’s old enemy the Egyptian state. In a separate case, the court handed down a final capital punishment ruling for 37 others. The 37 death sentences were part of a final judgment on 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters who were […]

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An Islamic militant group in Egypt has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed a senior police officer the day before. It says the attack was in retaliation for the killings and arrests by government forces of supporters of the country’s ousted Islamist president. Thursday’s statement by Ajnad Misr, or "Egypt’s Soldiers," a group which first appeared in January, was posted on its Facebook page. It carried photographs of the slain officer, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Zaki, a commander in the riot police, showing him riding in a blue pick-up truck. The group claimed Zaki used a truck with no police insignia as a "disguise" for fear of being targeted. Attacks against Egyptian forces have escalated since the military last summer removed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

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Egyptian security officials say a senior police officer has died after an explosive device placed under his car went off in a western Cairo suburb. The officials say Brig. Gen. Ahmed Zaki was heading to work from his home in 6th of October suburb when the bomb detonated on Wednesday morning. The officials say the explosion critically wounded Zaki and he later died in the hospital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. Attacks against Egyptian police and military have stepped up as militant groups wage an increasingly violent campaign following the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Since Morsi was removed by the military last July, more than 1,300 protesters, mostly pro-Morsi supporters, and over 450 troops have been killed.

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Following the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Cabinet Spokesman Ambassador Hossam el-Qawish said that the subsidy system will be restructured in a way that does not affect the limited income brackets. He further urged the citizens to rationalize consumption in electricity He asserted that there are no rises in prices of electricity or diesel, adding that next summer would not witness a lot of blackouts. He pointed out that there would specific times for blackouts until a radical solution to the electricity crisis is reached. Copyright © 2014 Egypt State Information Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. AllAfrica publishes around 2,000 reports a day from more than 130 news organizations and over 200 other institutions and individuals , representing a […]

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Following the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Cabinet Spokesman Ambassador Hossam el-Qawish said that the subsidy system will be restructured in a way that does not affect the limited income brackets. He further urged the citizens to rationalize consumption in electricity He asserted that there are no rises in prices of electricity or diesel, adding that next summer would not witness a lot of blackouts. He pointed out that there would specific times for blackouts until a radical solution to the electricity crisis is reached. Copyright © 2014 Egypt State Information Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. AllAfrica publishes around 2,000 reports a day from more than 130 news organizations and over 200 other institutions and individuals , representing a […]

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Egyptians look at a row of portraits of deputy prime minister Abdel-Fattah al-Seesi supporting him to run for presidency in the upcoming elections, in Alexandria. Another evening, another power cut at Raouf Fayez’s jewelry store in Cairo’s sprawling Shoubra neighborhood. Flanked by darkened shops, his window display is empty of the gold ornaments that Fayez hasn’t felt safe showcasing since the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak . Overlooking the scene from a poster on a neighbor’s balcony is the man who Fayez hopes can finally make it all better: Abdel-Fattah al-Seesi, who shed his military uniform last week […]

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; Fuel subsidies in Egypt account for 22 percent of the state’s annual budget, taking funds away from other sectors like health and education. The government believes an ambitious five-year scheme, starting with a fuel smartcard roll-out, will reduce and rationalize fuel consumption, circumvent widespread corruption and phase out fuel subsidies. Estimates for fuel subsidies for this year amount to the equivalent of US$20.1 billion. "We pay for fuel subsidies about seven times more than what we spend on health and three times more than on education," said Haithem Trabeek, a senior strategic and business planning manager with E-Finance, a company owned by the Ministry of Finance and selected by the government to run a new smartcard system that is part of a plan to reform fuel subsidy payments. The cards are initially being used to monitor the distribution of subsidised fuel to help identify fraud and corruption […]

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; Fuel subsidies in Egypt account for 22 percent of the state’s annual budget, taking funds away from other sectors like health and education. The government believes an ambitious five-year scheme, starting with a fuel smartcard roll-out, will reduce and rationalize fuel consumption, circumvent widespread corruption and phase out fuel subsidies. Estimates for fuel subsidies for this year amount to the equivalent of US$20.1 billion. "We pay for fuel subsidies about seven times more than what we spend on health and three times more than on education," said Haithem Trabeek, a senior strategic and business planning manager with E-Finance, a company owned by the Ministry of Finance and selected by the government to run a new smartcard system that is part of a plan to reform fuel subsidy payments. The cards are initially being used to monitor the distribution of subsidised fuel to help identify fraud and corruption […]

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