Egyptians yesterday began the final stage of month-long parliamentary elections, which have been marred by violence and widespread rights violations that the US has characterized as "disturbing."
Security forces were deployed in large numbers around polling stations, sparking fears of more of the voter obstruction and unrest that plagued the previous rounds and drew domestic and international criticism.
In focus will be the banned Muslim Brotherhood, which made spectacular gains in the first two phases. It has already secured 76 seats in the People's Assembly, nearly five times its 2000 tally.
The Islamist movement, whose candidates run as independents, conducted a well-crafted campaign under the slogan "Islam is the solution," but no observer had predicted the scope of its gains.
It hopes to reach the 100-seat mark in yesterday's 121 runoffs. It complained after failing to win any seats outright in last week's round that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) had rigged the results.
"The NDP completely panicked, they could not tolerate the 34 seats we won in the first phase," Brotherhood No. 2 Mohammed Habib said on Monday.
"Throughout the legislative elections, the NDP has done everything it could to curb the gains of the Muslim Brothers," he said.
According to Habib, more than 1,300 supporters of the movement -- including dozens of campaign organizers across the country -- have been rounded up by police ahead of polling.
The elections have witnessed pitched battles between supporters of rival candidates, some involving NDP thugs armed with truncheons and machetes and backed by police.
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
At first, Francis Ari Sture thought a human was trying to shove him down the steep Norwegian mountainside. Then he saw the golden eagle land. “We are staring at each other for, maybe, a whole minute,” Sture said on Monday. “I’m trying to think what’s in its mind.” The bird then attacked Sture five more times on Thursday last week, scratching and clawing the 31-year-old bicycle courier’s face and arms over 10 to 15 minutes as he sprinted down the mountain. The same eagle is believed to be responsible for attacks on three other people across a vast mountainous area of southern Norway
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
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