The New York Times Egypt Is Intensifying Its Crackdown on Journalists, Rights Group Warns The Egyptian government has intensified its crackdown against members of the news media in recent weeks, arresting one prominent journalist and preparing to bring another to trial, as the number of reporters detained in Egypt has hit its highest level in decades, according to human rights campaigners and press freedom groups. Although three Al Jazeera journalists — whose imprisonment and trial had attracted international opprobrium — were released earlier this year, the number of journalists in detention had doubled since 2015, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. "It's the largest number of detentions since we started documenting arrests in Egypt in 1991," said Sherif Mansour, the committee's coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. "The situation had been going from bad to worse." Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/world/middleeast/egypt-intensifying-crackdown-on-journalists-rights-group-says.html?_r=0 The guardian Egypt shuts down novelist Alaa al-Aswany's public event and media work Bestselling Egyptian novelist Alaa al-Aswany was forced this week to shut down one of his public seminars. The event – ironically enough titled Conspiracy Theory: Between Reality and Illusion – had been scheduled for Thursday at Alexandria's Jesuit Cultural Centre, but on Monday, Aswany announced that Egyptian state security had informed him the seminar could not be held. Aswany, also a practising dentist, exploded on to the Arabic literary scene in 2002 with his second novel, The Yacoubian Building. The book became a bestseller in Arabic, was made into a big-budget film, and became a hit in its English translation. Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/11/egypt-shuts-down-novelist-alaa-al-aswanys-public-event-and-media-work Bloomberg Egypt Said to Plan Talks With Gulf Arab Allies for More Aid Egyptian authorities plan to hold talks with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to secure more aid and investments, a government official said, as the country seeks to ease a dollar crunch threatening to derail its nascent economic recovery. The planned talks will focus on "areas of cooperation" including investments, development aid and possible foreign-exchange deposits at the central bank, as well the supply of oil and non-oil products, according to the official, who asked not to be named to discuss the plan. The official didn't say when the talks will start or how much Egypt aims to secure. Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-11/egypt-plans-talks-with-gulf-allies-for-more-aid-official-says
