International Calligraphy Competition Egyptian calligraphers won several prizes in IRCICA's Tenth International Calligraphy Competition held in the name of Hafez Osman in Turkey. Osman was an illustrious master of this art, who lived in Istanbul in the 17th century and made seminal contributions to advancing calligraphy and perfecting its styles. Ahmed Al-Tayeb: Spreading the culture of peace The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb's unprecedented visit to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis signals a new step in Muslim-Catholic relations. During his visit, Al-Tayeb delivered a speech on ways to advocate the values of Islam, not least the tolerance it promotes, as well as the peaceful coexistence of Islam and Catholicism. Al-Azhar released a statement before the visit stating that Al-Tayeb's meeting with Pope Francis will focus on coordinating efforts to spread the culture of dialogue, coexistence and peace between peoples and societies. The historic visit occurs after many years of suspended talks and serious tensions between the two institutions during the time of Pope Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Al-Tayeb headed to Rome on Monday. Relations between Al-Azhar and the Vatican have improved since Pope Francis was elected in 2013 when he congratulated Muslims on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr. The Vatican has had relations with Al-Azhar since 1998, but the dialogue was frozen in January 2011, when Pope Benedict's response to an attack on Coptic Christians suggested he was calling for political interference in Egypt. The long-awaited meeting, prompted by the invitation of a Vatican delegation who visited Al-Azhar University in February, is expected to have a positive impact and to improve relations between the two faiths. Al-Tayeb was appointed by the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, following the death of Mohamed Sayed Tantawi in 2010. He holds a PhD in Islamic philosophy from the Paris-Sorbonne University, and has been president of Al-Azhar University since 2003. Between 2002 and 2003, he served as Grand Mufti of Egypt. “The prospect of Palestinian-Israeli peace came to the limelight anew through President Al-Sisi's call for a return to negotiations. When Al-Sisi called on the Palestinian factions to unite, he put his hand on the main factor that has given Israel the chance to tarnish the picture of the Palestinians as the party that does not want peace. Meanwhile, the message he sent to Israel, which was welcomed there, showed that Cairo is still concerned with regional issues and that there is a genuine chance to establish the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.” Farouk Guweida, Al-Ahram The dead whale “The dead whale that was found on Marsa Matrouh's shore presents a crisis as this area has never seen this kind of incident before. The crisis raises dozens of questions, namely, how the whale reached the shore, what is the significance of its presence in that area, who is responsible for moving the body and what can be done with it? The crisis is part of a comic situation that we find ourselves in when we face an unexpected development. However, one of the most important characteristics of modern management is the ability to face any crisis, big or small, expected or otherwise.” Emadeddin Adeeb, Al-Watan An embodiment of injustice “Why are they that scared of Malek Adli? Why is he detained in solitary confinement? How does one of the prominent human rights lawyers pose danger to public security? Adli is not only a human rights lawyer who defends the rights of simple people detained unjustly, but also an embodiment of unjust security practices and placing more restrictions on freedoms, a policy that has led to detaining 51 young students for five years because they took part in 25 April protests. Five years for merely breaking the protest law – and they are punished by ruining their future.” Abla Al-Ruweini, Al-Akhbar A conspiracy or what? “I am not in favour of conspiracy theory. However, if we read the present scene logically, it shows strong evidence of an international vision that aims to force Egypt to kneel, impose an economic siege on it and push it into the track through which Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya have been driven. If we quickly compare the international stand from the fall of the Russian plane in Sinai and last week's event that will become clear. In the first instance, news agencies announced the news a few seconds after it happened, pointing out that it was a terrorist act. Some states, like Britain, volunteered to indict Egypt, calling for closing its airports and stopping tourists from going there. In the second incident, we did not hear any indictment of France or talk of any terrorist act. On the contrary, everyone is willing to wait for the outcome of the investigations.” Mohamed Al-Dessouki Rushdi, Al-Watan “The US-British plan aims to impose an economic siege on Egypt through hitting tourism and making use of regional developments that have hampered the Gulf states from giving Egypt the required support. Thus, Cairo will be forced to conduct secret negotiations and do what it is asked on the internal, regional and international levels. On the internal level, it is asked to integrate the Muslim Brotherhood into political life. On the regional level, it is supposed to stop playing a national Arab role in Syria, Libya and Iraq. On the international level, it is required to stop coordinating with Russia in facing Daesh, stop diversifying its arms sources and return to the US as the only supplier of weapons.” Karim Abdel-Salam, Al-Youm Al-Sabei Egyptian Essence: LE2.2 trillion in savings “The total value of saving accounts of Egyptian citizens reached LE2.2 trillion during the fiscal year 2014-2015, compared to LE1.3 trillion in the previous fiscal year. That represents an increase of 65.2 per cent according to CAPMAS.” Al-Ahram Facebook “When the Russian plane exploded in Egyptian air space, it was said that Egyptian airports are not safe. As for the plane that took off from Charles de Gaule Airport, one of the greatest airports in the world, the French security forces failed to conduct a proper security check before its takeoff. So French airports are not safe and their security checks should be reviewed. Ethically, Russia and England, in particular, should stop their flights to France until the airport is properly secured. Or do double standards apply in this as well?” Nour Farahat “Definitely, no one will stop flying to Paris; no country will ask its citizens to leave France even if there was proofs that this is a terrorist act. What applies to Cairo does not apply to Paris. Countries have different statuses!” Adel Shoeib Twitter South Africa Links @dlSouthAfrican #EgyptAir: With no bodies to bury, families mourn victims: Relatives of the victims on board EgyptAir flight.
Tamer El-Ghobashy @TamerELG Only significance of the ISIS audio release is that Adnani is speaking after going quiet for a time. No claim of downing EgyptAir flight.
Siva Kaneswaran @SivaKaneswaran Still thinking about those who had friends & family on board EgyptAir flight 804. My thoughts & prayers are with them.
Nervana Mahmoud @Nervana_1
If the cause of #EgyptAir crash is a fault of the company, I will be first to criticise & demand accountability. But early flogging is sick!
