Al-Ahram editor dies in crash AREF Saadeddin, deputy chief editor of the daily Al-Ahram and former head of the photography department, has died in a horrific car accident which also killed his wife. On Sunday morning Saadeddin and his wife were passengers in a public microbus on their way to Marsa Matrouh, where they liked to spend their summer vacation with family members. At Ras Al-Hekma city, a truck was parked as its driver and his son were changing a tyre. Driving at high speed, the microbus driver crashed head on into the truck. Saadeddin died instantly from a brain haemorrhage. His wife died 12 hours later. Mubarak's secretary in custody GAMALEDDIN Abdel-Aziz, secretary of former president Hosni Mubarak, has been remanded in jail for a further 45 days. The renewal was made to give the Illicit Gains Authority (IGA) a chance to complete its investigation regarding Abdel-Aziz's wealth. The IGA has frozen funds and assets, bonds, stocks and companies which belong to Abdel-Aziz and his family. Investigations previously looked into real estate owned by Abdel-Aziz's daughter, Sherine and her husband Karim Kamaleddin in the resort town of Ain Sokhna. A villa located in the Telal compound in Ain Sokhna and which belongs to the Tiba Touristic and Real Estate Investors, is 280 square metres and is worth LE2.5 million. New appointment PRESIDENT Mohamed Mursi appointed Mohamed Heba president of the Administrative Control Authority (ACA), succeeding Mohamed Tohami, who is being investigated by the Public Funds Prosecution for corruption. Mursi also appointed Badawi Hamouda as Heba's deputy. The ACA is an independent body which is affiliated to the prime minister and submits reports to him. It is tasked with weeding out corruption in governmental bodies as well as protecting public funds. Tohami is accused of being involved in corruption cases and protecting a number of Mubarak regime figures, especially from between 2008 to 2012. New ambassador to Israel ATEF Salem is Egypt's new ambassador in Tel Aviv replacing Yasser Reda, Egyptian media reported Sunday. Salem was previously the consul-general in Eilat and is already in Israel to take up his new post. He previously worked as deputy foreign minister for cultural affairs. Salem, a Cairo University communications and political science major, had been previously posted in Russia, Thailand, China, Holland and Mali. Reda, the outgoing ambassador, assumed the position four years ago. Shafik on watch list AHMED Shafik who was a presidential candidate, is now on the Cairo International Airport watch list after being charged with corruption. Several legal complaints have recently been filed against Shafik, including one by leading Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed El-Beltagui accusing Shafik of slandering the Islamist group. Shafik is also accused of allocating 40,000 square metres of land to the two sons of former president Hosni Mubarak at vastly reduced prices. Another complaint, filed by El-Beltagui and Salafi preacher Safwat Hegazi, accuses Shafik of concealing evidence regarding the murder of anti-regime protesters during last year's Tahrir Square uprising, during which Shafik served as Mubarak's prime minister. That complaint was recently referred to the office of Egypt's justice minister. Shafik left Egypt after losing the presidential election to the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi. "The decision to place me on a watch list is political," Shafik told Sky News Arabia from Dubai. "I will return to Egypt when it is suitable for me to do so." Court report THE SUPREME Constitutional Court has delayed a lawsuit demanding the dismantling of the Shura Council until a report by the court's commissioners is completed on 17 September. The commissioners of the Supreme Constitutional Court, a legal advisory body, are currently preparing a final report on the constitutionality of the law which regulates parliamentary elections. The purpose of the report is to advise the court's ruling in the case, filed by a losing candidate in elections for the upper house, the Shura Council. The court had earlier ruled against the law that elected parliament in a separate case. That ruling led to the dissolution of the parliament, ruling that its elections were unconstitutional. Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud demanded the case be halted until the court considers an appeal against its earlier decision on the parliament. He said any case should not rely on a court ruling that is under judicial dispute. Okasha trial postponed CAIRO Criminal Court has postponed the trial of TV presenter Tawfiq Okasha to 3 October. Okasha, owner of the banned Faraeen satellite channel, is accused of inciting people to oust President Mohamed Mursi. A number of lawyers along with revolutionary figures accused Okasha of urging the public to stage mass demonstrations against Egypt's president on 24 August. Okasha made the call during his daily show "Egypt Today". After the court session ended, clashes erupted between Okasha's supporters and opponents. After questioning Okasha, head prosecutor Mahdi Shoeib requested a copy of the CD containing the episode in question from Egypt's State Radio and Television -- which lawyers had presented earlier as evidence against Okasha -- to determine whether its contents had been deleted or changed. Papal elections challenged THE ADMINISTRATIVE Court has postponed a lawsuit filed by Magdi Michael against President Mohamed Mursi, Minister of Interior Ahmed Gamaleddin and Bishop Bakhomious, caretaker of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to 2 October. Michael filed the case claiming he wanted to stop papal elections and cancel the appointment of Bishop Bakhomious as acting patriarch. "I condemn such papal elections where only the church's clergymen and Coptic members of the Press Syndicate who work for state-owned newspapers can participate in the elections while the entire Coptic people are prohibited from this participation," said Michael. Greetings from China FOLLOWING President Mohamed Mursi's visit to China last week, a Chinese delegation will be visiting Cairo to prepare a contract for the Egypt TEDA Company project, Investment Minister Osama Saleh said in a press conference this week. The project, he said, will inject some $1.5 billion in investments to establish 150 Chinese plants which are expected to generate 40,000 job opportunities. The project is due to start before the end of the year, Nesma Nowar reports. On a similar note, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Hatem Saleh said that the president's visit resulted in signing investment agreements worth $5 billion in the fields of mineral industries, renewable energies, technology, electricity, feeding industries and petrochemicals. Moreover, the stalled fairground project in Nasr City, funded by a $200 million Chinese loan, will resume next year. For his part, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf El-Arabi said that both sides have agreed to work on increasing Chinese direct investments to Egypt from the current $500 million to some $3 billion during two years. El-Arabi added that among the outcomes of the visit was a grant of some $75 million to be directed to various development projects, in addition to some 300 police cars for the Egyptian police. He also noted that the China Development Bank offered a $200 million loan to the National Bank of Egypt to fund small and medium-sized enterprises. As for tourism, the undersecretary of the tourism minister, Mohsen Hafez, said that the two countries have signed an agreement for tourist cooperation and Cairo has been chosen to be a founding member in the World Tourism Cities Federation. Fishermen killed THE DEATH of two Egyptian fishermen who were in Tunisian waters illegally may not be the last incident of the kind because of the repeated illegal infiltration of fishermen to territorial waters of neighbouring countries. Tunisian authorities said Monday a Tunisian naval vessel fired upon Egyptian fishermen, killing two and wounding two others. Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafiq Abdel-Salam called his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr to issue condolences for the death of the fishermen and promised to investigate the incident. Tunisian authorities notified Egypt's Foreign Ministry that the boat was one of 10 Egyptian vessels that were intercepted off Tunisia's southern Kerkennah islands. Egypt's Ambassador to Tunisia Ayman Mesharafa tasked a committee with following up on the fishermen's medical care, to transport the bodies and investigate the cause of death, Foreign Ministry spokesman Amr Roshdi said. In a related development, efforts by the Libyan consulate in Benghazi has led to the release of 58 detained fishermen for illegally entering Libyan waters. Compiled by Reem Leila
