Egyptian police on alert ahead of students protest

Security forces closed roads surrounding the defence ministry early Tuesday as demonstrations organised by Cairo's Ain Shams University are scheduled to kick off. The students reportedly marched on campus to protest the presidential candidacy of ex-army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who is believed by supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi as being the architect of his ouster last July. Demonstrators are also denouncing a recent university decision to advance the date of exams, as clashes continue to erupt between protesting students and security forces on university campuses nationwide. Meanwhile Al-Azhar University, the site of the most violent on-campus clashes, also witnessed an anti-Sisi demonstration.

Egypt to lift natural gas prices for homes, businesses

Egypt plans to double the price of natural gas piped into some homes and businesses from next month, but the move will barely help its huge fuel bill because few sites are connected to the gas network. Energy prices in Egypt are among the lowest in the world, and the government spends more than a fifth of its budget on keeping them down. Although successive governments have called for reform, none have dared push through big price rises for fear of public unrest. According to a government statement on Sunday, residential and commercial users of less than 25 cubic metres of gas per month will pay 0.40 Egyptian pounds ($0.06) per cubic metre from May. The Oil Ministry's website shows the current price of gas for households at 0.20 Egyptian pounds ($0.03) per cubic metre, or about $0.80 per million British thermal units.

Military Aid for Egyptians Loses Support

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that handles foreign aid, said Tuesday that he would not give any more military aid to Egypt in the wake of mass death sentences handed out by Egyptian courts this week. On Monday, an Egyptian court sentenced the top spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood along with more than 680 others to death in connection with the killing of a single police officer during a riot last summer. Another court in Cairo banned the activities of a left-leaning protest group on espionage charges.

Egypt Archaeologists Find Tomb of Ancient Writer

Egypt's minister of antiquities says a team of Spanish archaeologists has discovered two tombs in the southern part of the Egypt, one of them belonging to a writer and containing artifacts including reed pens and a bronze inkwell. The writing utensils were found next to a mummy, which is well preserved, and that the discovery was made by Egyptian archeologists. The tombs date to roughly 600BC.

Bassem Sabry dies at 31

Bassem Sabry was a founding member of Al-Dostour Party and a key contributor in writing many of its political and intellectual work. He was a prominent political analyst, writer, and thinker. He died on Tuesday night and his passing was mourned by friends and acrost Egypts wide range of politicians and figures.Funeral prayers for Sabry are scheduled to take place on Wednesday at Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque in Mohandessin after afternoon prayers.

Bassem Sabry was a founding member of Al-Dostour Party and a key contributor in writing its programme and many of its political and intellectual work - See more at: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/04/30/political-thinker-activist-bassem-sabry-dies-31/#sthash.tZ97CPd1.dpuf

Bassem Sabry was a founding member of Al-Dostour Party and a key contributor in writing its programme and many of its political and intellectual work - See more at: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/04/30/political-thinker-activist-bassem-sabry-dies-31/#sthash.tZ97CPd1.dpuf

Mass Death Sentences in Egypt

A judge at a mass trial in Egypt has recommended the death penalty for 683 people - including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie. However, the judge also commuted to life terms 492 death sentences out of 529 passed in March in a separate case. The defendants faced charges over an attack on a police station in Minya in 2013 in which a policeman was killed. Ahmed Maher, the group's leader, was sentenced to three years in prison in December for violating a law that bans all but police-sanctioned protests.

Libyan Oil Shortage

In Libya the intern government was forced to slash there budget by a large amount of 36 billion U.S Dollars due to a huge oil shortage which knocked oil production from 1.4 Barrels Per Day to 200,000 Barrels Per Day. This has caused extreme dysfunction in the Libyan Government and caused the Prime Minister, Abdullah al-Thanay to step down saying he has recently been threatened by unnamed members of the militias who helped overthrow Gaddafi during the civil war. This cut in the budget of Libya has caused infrastructure funding to go down severely and has ended almost all government programs that were planned to be implemented in the coming months.