“Supporting national armies” is the slogan Egypt is using to promote its policy on issues across the region, first and foremost in Syria.

Saudi plans to open a military base in the tiny Rea Sea state of Djibouti have raised concerns among Egyptian officials, as strained relations between Cairo and Riyadh show little sign of improving.

At around 2am on Saturday 9 April a large blue fishing boat carrying hundreds of African migrants and their children capsized just off the coast of Egypt.

The possibility of normalization between Egypt and Israel resurfaces whenever any form of cooperation between both countries appears. One such example would be when the Israeli Embassy in Cairo recently posted on Facebook about its gratitude for the Egyptian government’s help in extinguishing wildfires in November.

Saudi Arabia will not mend ties with Egypt until Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri is sacked and two contested Red Sea islands are transferred to Saudi sovereignty, a source close to the Saudi ambassador in Cairo told The New Arab’s sister publication.

The British government has criticized Egypt’s new NGO law, calling it “a step backwards.” This is the first intergovernmental response to the law since it was passed by Parliament on November 29.

Azza Soliman was due to board a plane to attend a conference in Jordan when security officials at Cairo airport turned her away, saying a court order banned her from travelling.

Egypt’s top court has struck down part of a law that allowed authorities to ban all but officially sanctioned protests, a court official said Saturday, but upheld other areas of the law which critics say made the ruling meaningless.

A UN report has warned the Middle East could face a new “Arab Spring” as young people struggling to find jobs and a place in society turn to “more direct, more violent” means to have their voices heard.

Several members of parliament demanded the dismissal of Egypt’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amr Ramadan, in a request to parliamentary speaker Ali Abdul Aal during Tuesday’s session, state media reported.