Higher Education Minister Al-Sayed Abdel Khaleq received confidential authorization from the Supreme Council of Universities on August 16, stating that the children of judges, police and army officers were to be exempt from geographical allocations in universities.

An exclusive in the privately owned daily Shorouk last week announced that seven groups within the Muslim Brotherhood have paid allegiance to the Islamic State, raising concerns that the group is abandoning its official non-violent approach.

“There is no systematic torture in Egyptian prisons,” said the head of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), Mohamed Fayeq, following a recent visit by council members to al-Aqrab Prison, Egypt’s most famous high-security prison facility and one section of the Tora prisons’ complex, south of Cairo.

Egypt’s parliamentary elections will start in October, and will be divided into two phases. According to the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC), the parliament will be established before the end of the current year, following previous postponements.

Egypt will hold a long-awaited parliamentary election, starting on October 18, the election commission said on Sunday, the final step in a process to bring back democracy that critics say has been tainted by widespread repression.

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Monday the launch of a new English blog to “enhance its communication with the world” and to address “inaccurate” reports about Egypt in foreign media.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry launched an English-speaking blog on Sunday, saying it aims to communicate with the world on the situation in Egypt, as well as on the country’s foreign policy.

After the Associated Press reported Wednesday that United States peacekeeping forces are potentially considering pulling out of the turbulent Sinai Peninsula, sources from the Egyptian military voiced their anger and skepticism about the move.

At this point, not much is known about Safa Ibrahim Hassan. There has been little about her in the news. Her grieving family has been released from detention without fanfare.

The anti-terrorism law that was ratified last week included several articles that were contested for months after the draft bill circulated earlier this summer, and which critics had hoped to see either amended or taken out altogether.