The New York Times Russia Mourns as Officials Seek Cause of Jet Crash in Egypt As Russia mourned the 224 victims of a charter flight that crashed over the weekend on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, investigators on Sunday began the difficult process of trying to determine whether the plane, which they said had broken up in midair, was brought down by an act of terrorism or a tragic accident. After surveying the wreckage scattered across eight square miles of the barren, black pebbles of the Sinai Desert plateau, Viktor Sorochenko, the director of the Interstate Aviation Commission, told journalists that the wide dispersion meant that the plane had disintegrated before the pieces fell to earth. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/world/europe/russia-plane-crash-sinai-peninsula-egypt.html?_r=0 The Guardian Egypt to put editor and writer on trial for sexually explicit writing Egypt's prosecution has referred to trial the editor-in-chief and a writer for Egypt's top literary magazine for publishing sexually explicit material and allegedly violating public morals. Mahmoud Othman, a lawyer representing writer Ahmed Naji, said prosecution officials had told him on Sunday that Naji and editor Tarek el-Taher's case had been designated as a misdemeanour. Othman says Naji faces up to two years in jail or a fine up to 10,000 Egyptian pounds (£800) if found guilty. The first court session is slated for 14 November. Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/01/egypt-editor-on-trial-for-publishing-sexually-explicit-guide-using-life Time See How Tourists Have Deserted Egypt's Sinai Region Egypt's Sinai region, once known for its thriving tourism, has in recent years become synonymous with danger and tragedy. The sparsely populated stretch of desert between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea shares a border with Israel, and tourists once flocked to the area where luxury resorts, holiday packages and plenty of natural beauty offered holiday-makers a virtual paradise. Yet even before a Russian airplane crashed in the region on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people aboard, Sinai had been struggling to attract tourists. The ripple effects and subsequent instability of the 2011 Arab Spring and, more recently, the rise of ISIS have translated into plummeting numbers of visitors. Read more: http://time.com/4085729/egypt-sinai-plane-crash-tourism/ Russia Today Russian jet crash in Egypt: First bodies brought to St. Petersburg A Russian Emergencies Ministry plane has brought some 140 bodies from Cairo to St. Petersburg, where forensics experts are set to examine the remains of the Sinai crash victims. Families will help identify and get a chance to say goodbye to their loved ones. The Il-76 aircraft, with a sorrowful cargo of 144 out of the total 224 crash victims' bodies, has landed at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport. It took The Russian Emergencies Ministry's jet some six hours to get back to Russia from Cairo airport, where the body bags had been carefully loaded onto the plane. Read more: https://www.rt.com/news/320439-russia-crash-victims-bodies/
