Egypt’s President El-Sisi secures 3rd term in landslide victory

Special Egypt’s President El-Sisi secures 3rd term in landslide victory
Voting in Egypt was held over three days on Dec. 10-12, with a turnout that the election authority said had reached 66.8 percent. (File/AFP)
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Updated 19 December 2023
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Egypt’s President El-Sisi secures 3rd term in landslide victory

Egypt’s President El-Sisi secures 3rd term in landslide victory
  • Abdel Fattah El-Sisi wins new six-year term with 89.6 percent of the vote
  • About 44.8 million Egyptians cast their votes, from home and abroad

CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has won a new six-year term with 89.6 percent of the vote in a landslide election victory, the National Elections Authority announced on Monday.

The head of the National Elections Authority, Judge Hazem Badawy, said that President El-Sisi received 39,702,451 valid votes.

The turnout was 66.8 percent of more than 67.3 million registered voters, said Badawy.

About 44.8 million people cast their votes in the presidential elections from home and abroad.

The authority lauded the Egyptian people for their positive participation in the ballot.

El-Sisi faced off against three candidates in the vote held from Dec. 10-12.

Egyptians abroad voted from Dec. 1–3 at 137 Egyptian embassies and consulates across 121 countries.

There were 44,288,361 valid votes, representing 98.9 percent of the ballots cast, while 489,307 votes — 1.1 percent — were deemed invalid.

Runner-up Hazem Omar received 1,986,352 votes, representing 4.5 percent of the valid ballots recorded by the authority.

Farid Zahran came in third with 1,776,952, or 4 percent of the votes.

Abdel-Sanad Yamama came fourth with 822,606, or 1.9 percent of the votes, Badawy said.

El-Sisi was elected president of Egypt for the first time in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018.

The latest election is the third time in a decade El-Sisi has won in a landslide victory.

He is credited with engineering a return to public order in Egypt after a period of political violence and chaos that followed the 2011 uprising.


Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says

Updated 11 sec ago
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Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says

Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says
“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” said WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated

GENEVA: More than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-stricken areas of Sudan as part of a major scale-up after clearance came through from the Sudanese government, a World Food Programme spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict since April 2023 that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.
“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a press briefing in Geneva.
“We’ve received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas,” she added, saying the start of the dry season was another factor enabling the scale-up.
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated, she said.
Some of the food is intended for 14 areas of the country that face famine or are at risk of famine, including Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.
The first food arrived there on Friday prompting cheers from crowds of people who had resorted to eating crushed peanut shells normally fed to animals, Kinzli said.
A second convoy for the camp is currently about 300 km (186 miles) away, she said.
On Monday, the head of Sudan’s sovereign council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said he would allow the airports in El Obeid, Kadugli, and Damazine — army-controlled areas isolated by the fighting — to serve as humanitarian hubs for UN agencies to facilitate deliveries.

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 26, 2024. Reuters
Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 26, 2024. Reuters
Updated 58 sec ago
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Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 26, 2024. Reuters
  • A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.
Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.
As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.


Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’

Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’
Updated 13 min 25 sec ago
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Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’

Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’
Baerbock said a proposed ceasefire in the conflict in Lebanon was “within reach“

FIUGGI, Italy: Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Tuesday that an agreement on a proposed ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was “within reach.”
“A ceasefire and steps toward a political solution along the lines of UN Resolution 1701 are within reach thanks to direct US and French mediation,” Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.

Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned

Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned
Updated 26 November 2024
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Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned

Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned

CAIRO: The prospect of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah without a similar deal with Hamas in Gaza has left Palestinians feeling abandoned and fearful that Israel will focus squarely on its onslaught in the enclave.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel in October of 2023, triggering the Gaza war.
Hostilities in Lebanon have drastically escalated in the last two months, with Israel stepping up airstrikes and sending in ground forces to Lebanon’s south and Hezbollah sustaining rocket fire on Israel.
Now Israel looks set to approve a US plan for a ceasefire with Hezbollah when its security cabinet meets on Tuesday, while Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib expressed hope that a ceasefire would be reached by Tuesday night.
While diplomacy focuses on Lebanon, Palestinians feel let down by the world after 14 months of conflict which has devastated the Gaza Strip and killed more than 44,000 people. “It showed Gaza is an orphan, with no support and no mercy from the unjust world,” said Abdel-Ghani, a father of five who only gave a first name.
“I am angry against the world that has failed to bring one solution to the two regions,” Abdel-Ghani. “Maybe, there will be another deal for Gaza, maybe.”
An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire without a deal for Gaza would be a blow to Hamas, whose leaders had hoped the expansion of the war into Lebanon would pressure Israel to reach a comprehensive ceasefire. Hezbollah had insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
“We had high hopes that Hezbollah would remain steadfast until the end but it seems they couldn’t,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman, who like most Gazans has been displaced from his home. “We are afraid the Israeli army will now have a free hand in Gaza.”
While a Lebanon deal could leave some Hezbollah commanders in place after Israel killed the heavily armed group’s veteran leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas completely.
“We hoped the expansion of the war meant one solution for all, but we were left alone in the face of the monstrous (Israeli) occupation,” said Zakeya Rezik, 56, a mother of six.
“Enough is enough, we are exhausted. How many more had to die before they stopped the war? Gaza war must stop, the people are being wiped out, starved, and bombed every day.”


Four bodies recovered from capsized tourist boat off Egypt's Red Sea coast

Four bodies recovered from capsized tourist boat off Egypt's Red Sea coast
Updated 16 min 48 sec ago
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Four bodies recovered from capsized tourist boat off Egypt's Red Sea coast

Four bodies recovered from capsized tourist boat off Egypt's Red Sea coast

CAIRO: Four bodies were recovered on Tuesday from a tourist boat which capsized off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, and rescue teams were still searching for nine missing people, the Red Sea Governorate said in a statement.
Provincial governor Amr Hanafi said rescue teams had found three people alive, two Belgian tourists and an Egyptian, bringing the total number of survivors to 31.
The boat, the Sea Story, capsized on Monday near the Sataya Reef, carrying 31 tourists and 13 crew on a multi-day diving trip. It was struck by high waves and sank in 5-7 minutes.
Sixteen passengers were believed to have been trapped inside, according to a Red Sea Governorate statement on Monday.
Twenty-eight survivors were rescued with minor injuries, none requiring hospitalization. Survivors were being accommodated in a hotel in Marsa Alam, where authorities were working with embassies and consulates to provide assistance and documentation.
Hanafi said the boat had passed its last safety inspection in March 2024, with no technical issues reported. The boat, owned by an Egyptian national, was 34 meters long and had received a one-year safety certificate from the Maritime Safety Authority.
The incident occurred during rough weather conditions. The Egyptian Red Sea Ports Authority reported wave heights of 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) and wind speeds of 34 knots in the area on Sunday, leading to the closure of maritime traffic.
It was the second boat to sink in the area this year; in June another vessel suffered severe damage from strong waves, though no casualties were reported.
The Red Sea, renowned for its coral reefs and marine life, is a major hub for Egypt’s tourism industry, which plays a critical role in the country’s economy.