Egyptian court designates Hamas as a terror organization, state media says An Egyptian court has ruled that Hamas is a terrorist organization, according to an Egyptian state-run media organization. Egypt's Urgent Matters Court based its ruling on Hamas in part on claims the organization had supported insurgents who have staged attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, a region that has been fraught with instability in recent months. This ruling comes a week after Egypt passed the Terrorist Entities Law, which spells out how to declare a group a terrorist organization, according to Ahmed Ragheb, head of the National Group for Human Rights and Law. Hamas quickly denounced the decision at a news conference. Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/28/middleeast/egypt-hamas-terror-designation/ Press TV Explosion kills Egypt soldier near border with Gaza An Egyptian soldier has been killed and three others wounded in an explosion on Egypt's border with the blockaded Gaza Strip, Press TV reports. According to Press TV correspondent in Egypt, the casualties came on Saturday after a yet unidentified device exploded in border area with Rafah, where Egyptian authorities have been building a security buffer zone with the besieged strip. The incident came hours after an Egyptian court designated the Islamic resistance movement of Hamas as a terrorist group. Read more: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/02/28/399617/Blast-kills-Egypt-soldier-near-Gaza Reuters 3.2 billion euros of Egypt-French arms deal financed by loan from Paris: Sisi The French government loaned Egypt 3.2 billion euros to finance the recent multibillion-euro purchase of French military equipment, Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview on al-Arabiya TV on Saturday. Egypt signed an agreement this month to buy 5.2 billion euros worth of French weapons, including 24 Rafale combat jets made by Dassault Aviation, a multi-mission naval frigate, and air-to-air missiles. "The last equipment we got from France was with a French loan worth 3.2 billion euros and this loan was extended from the French government," President Abdel Fatatah al-Sisi said in the interview. Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/28/us-egypt-france-loan-idUSKBN0LW0ZN20150228 Daily Mail Egypt sentences four members of banned Muslim Brotherhood to death An Egyptian court has sentenced four members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death and the banned group's leader to life in prison. Mohamed Badie was one of 14 members sentenced to life, alongside his deputy Khairat El-Shater and leading Brotherhood figure and lawmaker Mohamed El-Beltagy. Mr Badie and Mr El-Beltagy both showed their defiance at the verdicts, gesturing behind the heavy screens of their cages to cameras in the Cairo courtroom. Four lower-level members of the Brotherhood were sentenced to death for inciting violence in June 2013. Two of those sentenced to death and three sentenced to life were tried in absentia. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2973721/Egypt-sentences-four-members-banned-Muslim-Brotherhood-death-14-life-prison-including-leader-Mohamed-Badie.html
