ABC News Egypt Militants Behind Cairo Blast Name New Leader The Egyptian militant group behind a deadly Cairo bombing earlier this week has appointed a new leader after his predecessor was killed in a police shootout, while a separate group operating in the Sinai Peninsula claimed the killing of two police officers. The group known as Ajnad Misr, or "Egypt's Soldiers," said on its Twitter account late Thursday that Izzeddin al-Masri has succeeded Hammam Mohamed Attia, who was killed Sunday, just hours before a bomb on a bridge in central Cairo killed a policeman and wounded at least two passers-by. The group also pledged to continue its jihad, or holy war. Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egyptian-militant-group-cairo-blast-names-leader-30217420 Hurriyet Daily News Egypt ready to reconcile with Turkey after polls One of the issues that is believed to be on the government's immediate agenda is to reconcile with Egypt, the heavyweight of the Middle East and the Arab world. Last year, two attempts (one in August, the other in late September) to mend ties between Turkey and Egypt were nixed by Erdoğan's heavy-worded and sometimes insulting statements against the Egyptian leadership. According to diplomatic sources closely following the tension between Ankara and Cairo, the Egyptian side is ready to discuss ways to reconcile with Turkey, but it is aware that this cannot happen before the Turkish elections scheduled on June 7. The Egyptians believe that Turkey – even President Erdoğan - is also on this page, especially after Erdoğan's visit to Saudi Arabia on March 2. Sources suggest that Turkey cannot maintain the status quo with Egypt at a moment when it has decided to align itself with Saudi Arabia, a staunch supporter of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. At this point, Erdoğan's abandonment of heavily-worded statements against Sisi and the Egyptian leadership is regarded as a positive development by Cairo. Read more: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/egypt-ready-to-reconcile-with-turkey-after-polls-.aspx?pageID=449&nID=80907&NewsCatID=429 Foreign Policy America Has Abdicated Its Guiding Role in the Middle East to a Sectarian Arab Military Force Nevertheless, a sense of real danger, combined with a fear of abandonment by the United States, has propelled the idea onto the Arab agenda. Egypt, which has pushed hardest for the joint force, worries that extremist violence in Libya will spill across the border between the two countries. After Islamic State fighters in Libya beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for a U.N.-backed intervention force, or, failing that, the lifting of the arms embargo on the internationally recognized Libyan government in Tobruk. When the United States and Britain opposed both measures, Sisi apparently concluded that he would have to rely on his fellow Arabs, and began sounding the tocsin for a joint force. The impetus for the force was Egyptian, but it will go nowhere without Saudi Arabia, the paramount political and financial force in the Gulf. The Saudis also see a grave threat on their doorstep, as Yemen has been overrun by Houthi tribesmen allied with Iran. Saudi Arabia has pulled eight other Arab nations, as well as the United States, into its air war against the Houthis. That war has thus become a prototype of a new form of collective regional action with the United States as a supporting player — precisely what Obama suggested at West Point. Read more: https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/10/america-has-abdicated-its-guiding-role-in-the-middle-east-to-a-sectarian-arab-military-force/ BBC Egypt: Journalist defends taking her son to work Lamia Hamdin, who works for the private channel ON TV, was photographed recording interviews with people in a Cairo street while carrying her young son. "My son was sick and I had to work later than expected so I went and got him from the nursery. I could not leave him anywhere else," Ms Hamdin was quoted as saying on the Al-Watan news website. But while many social media users praised the journalist, others accused her of being unprofessional, with some even calling for her to be sacked. Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-32249831
