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October 25, 2026

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Analysis

What's at stake as Libya's eastern parliament approves Turkey maritime deal

Libya's eastern-based parliament's approval of a long-disputed maritime deal with Turkey marks a strategic win for Ankara as Saddam Hifter seeks Turkish backing for his presidential ambitions, according to analysts.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a joint statements and agreements during the EU and Egypt summit in Brussels, on Oct. 22, 2025.

Sisi says Egypt has no ‘territorial ambitions’ after Israel’s Smotrich threatens Sinai

The Egyptian president’s remarks follow a warning from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that Israel would seize the Sinai Peninsula if Egypt attacks.

China's President Xi Jinping (center L) walks along with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi followed by their wives Peng Liyuan and Entissar Amer (R) upon their arrival at the Cairo International Airport on September 1, 2026. President Xi Jinping arrived in Egypt on September 1, making a rare trip to the Middle East as both countries face the threat of US sanctions over financial links to Iran. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Why renewed Egypt-Ethiopia tensions are a problem for China

For Beijing, the renewed Egypt-Ethiopia standoff is a zero-sum bind that threatens vital strategic interests on both sides of the Nile.

Joyce Karam

A quadrilateral summit was held on Oct. 4, 2026, attended by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al‑Sisi, Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki, President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan Gen. Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan, in New El Alamein City, Egypt.

Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan hold summit amid Ethiopia tensions

All four countries have increasingly tense relations with Ethiopia, driven by disputes over the Nile, Red Sea access and security.

Latest News

Explainer

Why are Egypt and Ethiopia clashing over Tigray, Somalia and the Nile?

This general view shows the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, Ethiopia, on February 19, 2022. - Ethiopia's massive hydro-electric dam project on a tributary of the Nile has raised regional tensions notably with Egypt, which depends on the huge river for 97 percent of its water supply. Government officials said the dam would begin producing electricity on Sunday, more than a decade since work first started. (Photo by Amanuel SILESHI / AFP) (Photo by AMANUEL SILESHI/AFP via Getty Ima

Ex-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to sue Netanyahu over Oct. 7 accusations: What to know

Ronen Bar, former chief of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency

On secret UAE visit, Netanyahu asked MBZ to deny pre-Oct. 7 warnings

Israeli PM

20 Israelis stranded in Ethiopia seek evacuation as fighting resumes: What to know

A general view of the damaged building housing Tigray TV, the state broadcaster of the Tigray region, following a drone strike in Mekelle, Ethiopia, Sept. 27, 2026.

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

In London, reporting on North Africa and Gulf politics

Mohammed Magdy

In Berlin, reporting on Egyptian politics

Ayah Aman

In Cairo, reporting on politics and culture

Salwa Samir

In Giza, reporting on politics

Nada Shaker

In Cairo, reporting on culture

Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi listens to his verdict behind bars at a court on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt June 16, 2015. An Egyptian court sentenced Mursi to death on Tuesday on charges of killing, kidnapping and other offences during a 2011 mass jail break.The general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and four other Brotherhood leaders were also handed the death penalty. More than 80 others were sentenced to death in absentia. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih - RTX1GQKQ

Death penalty divides Egyptians

Despite recent calls for Egypt to abolish capital punishment, getting rid of the death penalty is no simple matter.

Tunnel workers work inside a smuggling tunnel dug beneath the Gaza-Egypt border in the southern Gaza Strip October 8, 2013. Hamas is struggling to meet its payroll in the Gaza Strip, where income from taxes has been badly hit since neighbouring Egypt started destroying a network of tunnels used to smuggle food, fuel and weapons into the Islamist-run enclave. Picture taken October 8, 2013.
REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTX144I5

Amid crackdown, tunnel smuggling is risky business in Gaza

As the Egyptian army intensifies its campaign to destroy the border tunnels from southern Gaza, many still rely on smuggling goods for work, as no better jobs are available.

Men carry out cleaning work at Al-Azhar Mosque, in the old Islamic area of Cairo May 8, 2014. As the Egyptian state presses its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the man expected to become president has deployed a new weapon in the battle with the Islamists: his own vision of Islam. Sisi, the former army chief who deposed the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi and is expected to be elected president later this month, has cast himself as a defender of religion and taken aim at the doctrinal foundations of Islami

Cairo's heritage sites threatened with demolition

Restoration projects and demolitions are not only threatening the historical character of Old Cairo, but also causing forced displacements and anger among residents.

Sherien Fathy, a blind 32-year-old mother of two, feeds her son Yehia at her home in Cairo March 5, 2014. Sherien, a graduate of the College of Arts? Arabic department who works as a specialist manager at the General Petroleum Corporation, hopes the government will do more to help disabled people to find jobs and contribute to the economy. Sherien is married to lawyer Khaled Hanafy, who is also blind. On March 8 activists around the globe celebrate International Women's Day, which dates back to the beginnin

Egypt launches new programs to address poverty

The Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity has started two programs to help alleviate poverty and encourage education among Egypt's most disadvantaged families.

Students talk after finishing an exam in one of the Al-Azhar institutes in Cairo, Egypt, May 20, 2015. Picture taken May 20, 2015. To match Special Report EGYPT-ISLAM/AZHAR REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih - RTR4Y753

Helicopters, scanners no match for Egypt's exam cheats

With students becoming more defiant and social media savvy, the leaking of exam questions is becoming increasingly difficult to curb.

Coptic Christians remove a picture of Pope Shenoda III from the gate of the main cathedral in Cairo during clashes with Muslims standing outside the cathedral April 7, 2013. Clashes broke out between Coptic Christians and Muslims in central Cairo on Sunday after the funeral of four Copts killed in sectarian violence outside the Egyptian capital on Friday night, witnesses said. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih (EGYPT - Tags: RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) - RTXYC6T

Displacement of Copts raises persecution fears in Egypt

The forced displacement of five Christian families from the Beni Suef governorate in Egypt brought back the debate of the struggle between Muslims and Copts in Egypt.

Jordan's King Abdullah (R) walks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi upon their arrival at the Royal Palace in Amman in this May 21, 2015 handout photo by Jordan's Royal Palace. REUTERS/Yousef Allan/Jordan's Royal Palace/Handout via Reuters
ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.
- RTX1E0TE

Prospects for Egyptian-Jordanian cooperation remain hazy

Since the ouster of Mohammed Morsi, economic ties have strengthened.

Tourists enjoy the water at a beach at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh city, which is hosting the Arab Summit on Saturday, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo March 27, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh - RTR4V7SB

Egypt 'tourism rebound' slow to reach South Sinai

Egypt’s tourism sector has been slowly growing as people do not differentiate between South Sinai and North Sinai, where the fighting is ongoing between the Egyptian army and the Islamic State.

A man sits outside a shop as a poster of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq is seen hanging on a wall in Cairo June 13, 2012. The Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi will face Shafiq, the last prime minister of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, in a presidential run-off on June 16 and 17, the climax of Egypt's first free leadership contest after 16 months of military rule. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR33JB4

Ahmed Shafiq’s return flusters Egyptian judiciary

Accusations of election fraud in 2012 leveled by the former minister of civil aviation and the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, Ahmed Shafiq, return to haunt Egypt’s courts as Shafiq’s possible return to politics starts to materialize.

People walk in front of a graffiti of activist Khaled Said on the wall near Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo on the third anniversary of Said's death, June 6, 2013. Said, 28, was beaten to death by police in Alexandria in June 2010 with his body barely recognisable after he posted a video showing police officers sharing the spoils of a drugs bust, according to his family. The act of brutality galvanised further protests, in particular, the anti-torture Facebook page "We are Khaled Said". The page helped crys

Egyptian lawyer interrogated for drafting anti-torture law

Negad El Borai might face jail time for drafting a law that counters police abuse and torture, which shows the restriction of freedoms in Egypt.

Pro-Islamist demonstrators shout slogans in favour of former President Mohamed Mursi during a protest in support of him at the courtyard of Fatih mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, May 17, 2015. An Egyptian court on Saturday sought the death penalty for former president Mohamed Mursi and 106 supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood in connection with a mass jail break in 2011. Mursi and his fellow defendants, including top Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, were convicted for killing and kidnapping policemen, attacking

Is Egypt's Brotherhood choosing escalation over peace?

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt today seems weaker and more poised to resort to violence.

An Egyptian worker is seen during the demolition of the headquarters of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's political party National Democratic Party (NDP) in Cairo, Egypt, June 1, 2015. Egypt began demolishing on Sunday the building that had housed the headquarters of former President Hosni Mubarak's political party, a symbol of decades of iron-fisted rule. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh - RTR4YC91

Egypt demolishes Mubarak’s party headquarters

The Egyptian government ordered the demolition of the National Democratic Party’s headquarters in the center of Cairo, despite criticism as the building is considered part of Egypt’s architectural history.