The New York Times Obscure Group Says It Set Off Blasts in Egypt, Raising Alarm A wave of explosions killed a passer-by and wounded at least nine other people early Thursday morning across the Nile from Cairo, raising alarms about a pattern of attacks by diffuse groups against retail stores. An obscure group calling itself the Popular Resistance Movement claimed responsibility. Six bombs exploded on main arteries of the Giza district in what appeared to have been a well-coordinated attack. The ability to carry out the attacks highlighted the growing threat posed by such previously unknown outfits cropping up in Cairo and around the Nile Valley. The new groups have no apparent ties to Egypt's main extremist organizations, based in the North Sinai. The main extremist group there has killed hundreds of soldiers and police officers in a campaign of assaults on security forces since the military's ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, and the organization recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/world/middleeast/egypt-giza-bomb-explosions.html?_r=0 The National Business Egypt turns to Europe for investment Egypt will not rely on further aid from the Gulf unless its already shaky economy worsens, a senior minister told The National, as the country looks to court billions of dollars in foreign investment from Europe. Since the removal in 2013 of the Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have given Egypt more than US$12 billion. But Hany Kadry Dimian, Egypt's minister of finance, said at the Middle East Congress in London yesterday that the country would not seek further aid as long as the economic recovery keeps on track. The National was a media partner for the event. "We are building this economy on structural reforms, and not to continue on the aid ... our strategy is to reform the economy and put it on the right track and to restore the imbalances," he said. Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/egypt-turns-to-europe-for-investment The Washington Post America is the ally that Egypt needs The Obama administration's decision to engage Egypt is "a case of realpolitik over idealism," concedes one official. But it's also the right policy choice. President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi certainly doesn't make it easy. His repression of dissent now rivals that of deposed president Hosni Mubarak. His campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood has broadened to include suppression of secular activists, some of whom helped bring him to power in 2013. Sissi's subversion of democracy adds another sad chapter to the vexed modern history of Egypt. But Egypt matters, especially now, when the Sunni Arab world is shaken by the twin earthquakes of Iran and the Islamic State. And President Obama should provide Egypt with economic, political and, yes, military support. The risks of letting Egypt slide are simply too great for a responsible administration to ignore. Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-is-the-ally-that-egypt-needs/2015/02/26/efe7eeb0-bdfd-11e4-bdfa-b8e8f594e6ee_story.html
