And Egypt faces its first man-made Nile flood thanks to Ethiopia’s GERD

Egyptians slept on Thursday, wondering what would happen after reading the Egyptian prime minister Mostafa Madbouly that the Nile floodwaters are expected to inundate riverbank areas and informal housing in Monufia and Behaira during October, as the River Nile water discharge is forecast to exceed average seasonal levels.

Then they woke up on Friday only to find that there were warnings issued to 15 governorates.

The warning was to expect Nile floodwaters are expected to inundate riverbank areas in Luxor, Qena, Sohag, Assuit, Al-Minya, Bani Suef, Giza, Cairo, Qalyubia, Monufia, Sharkia, Gharbia, Kafr El-Sheikh, Dahaqliya and Damietta.

Dalhamo village after the man-made flood 
by Doaa Adel 

Then videos taken by local journalists showing the River Nile flooding the riverbank areas and islands in Monufia began to go viral, especially from Dalhamo village, part of Ashmoun district, where Citizens lost their houses and cattle.

Kodak Agfa Presents: Cairo’s Umm Kulthum Museum in photos and video

It was like a perfect cinematic moment that Saturday afternoon. Just two days before the 50th anniversary of Umm Kulthum’s passing, you step out of her small yet rich museum in Cairo, still enveloped in the aura of her larger-than-life presence.

Outside, by the Nile, an old yet elegant man sits alone, detached from the world around him. From the small speakers of his mobile phone drifts the voice of Umm Kulthum, chanting "Lailat Hob"—her last recorded love song. He gazes into the river, lost in a trance, as though the currents carry the echoes of his own memories, entwined with the Lady’s immortal voice.

It was a perfect Egyptian scene. I wanted to capture it, to ask him what Umm Kulthum meant to him. But I did not dare, unwilling to be the one to pull him back to reality.

That scene summarizes a lot about Umm Kulthum and Egyptians if not Arabs.

Umm Kulthum's statue outside her museum in Al-Manial island 

On Monday Egypt remembered that 50 years ago it woke up to find its “Planet of East” Umm Kulthum passed away after having

Umm Kulthum died on the same day the music died in the US. She died but her legacy and art still stand as the true fourth pyramid in Egypt.

According to historians and those who witnessed the day, her funeral was a popular one to the level that people compared to the funeral of the second president of Egypt and her lifelong fan Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Yes, Umm Kulthum Ibrahim, the singer who came from rural Nile Delta’s Tamay e-Zahayra village had the biggest public funeral of a woman in Egypt in the modern age if not in the nation’s long recorded history.

I can’t speak about Umm Kulthum or Thuma or the Dame “as we nickname her in Egypt for decades” easily thus I would focus on her museum.

Umm Kulthum Museum is located inside the Nilometer-Manasterly Palace site on Manial Al-Roda Island in Cairo.

Ramadan Arabian Nights 2024 : Scheherazade tells you Ramadan Kareem from Egypt and “#CeasefireNow in #Gaza” {Updated}

First, Ramadan Kareem

Second, I cannot post the usual Ramadan 1001 Arabian Audio Nights as I have done in the past years and there are two genocides taken on Egypt’s borders whether in Gaza or in Sudan.

1001 Arabian Audio Nights are another Egyptian entertainment tradition to celebrate the Holy Month, but it is not time to celebrate and entertain when millions of people including Arabs and Muslims are displaced and starving by the worst kind of armies and militias in both nations as the world especially our shameful Arab world is just a spectator.

Ramadan decorations in an Egyptian alley in a Giza working-class area
The Palestinian flag "Muhammed Hamdy"

There is another Egyptian tradition that we have been taught since childhood, do not raise the sound of music or hold any festivities if your neighbour has lost someone and is in mourning. I was taught that lesson personally by my own grandma may Allah bless her soul. 

Two of our closest neighbours are not only mourning but they are also displaced, starved and killed.

We can’t enter the aid and we can’t stop the genocides yet the least thing we can do to them is to lower the TVs and radios. 

This is what I believe and honestly, I have no appetite whatsoever to watch any TV series or gossip show in that TV Ramadan marathon.

FYI: I had hopes for the truce and even prepared something if the truce was made but then Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu does not want a truce or any ceasefire because he knows it is his end for real.

Third, despite there will be no 1001 Arabian Audio Nights this year, there are other important things to share that it is timely. 

For instance: This post shows you how working-class and rural Egypt celebrated Palestine and Gaza during Ramadan.

Eid El-Fitr in photos: Egypt’s edition

Happy Eid to all Muslims and all the people around the globe.

Happy Eid to all Muslims whether they started celebrating Eid El-Fitr on Friday or will start celebrating it on Saturday.

Yes, some countries celebrate Eid El-Fitr on Friday and some others on Saturday. In fact, some countries even have two different dates

In fact, some countries even have two different dates! For example, in Libya, the eastern parts started celebrating on Friday while the western parts started on Saturday. Meanwhile, Sunni Muslims in Iraq began their celebrations on Friday, while Shiia Muslims will start on Saturday.

Regardless of which day you celebrate, the spirit of Eid remains the same, Happy Eid.

To mark this special occasion, I wanted to share a collection of photos taken by Egypt's talented photographers. They captured the joy and beauty of Eid prayers in Cairo and beyond. Take a look and feel the happiness!

Wishing everyone a blessed and joyful Eid celebration.

Here is the Eid Prayer which was held across Egypt in the early morning on Friday from Giza’s Abu Sir and you can see Abu Sir pyramids in the background in the amazing shot by all measures.

The photo is taken from Abu Sir Mount or hill by Sahl Abdel Rahman

A child, balloons, and a pyramid. 

Thursday Rants and Rave: #EP13 “Mrs Karima and surviving the death row”

This is what I ranted in Arabic about in tonight’s episode of “Thursday Rants and Rave” which I am posting on Frida.

I spoke about the case of Mrs Karima El-Sayed who was acquitted of her husband’s murder while waiting on death row.

Two weeks ago, the Court of Cassation in Egypt acquitted Mrs Karima El-Sayed of her husband’s murder in December 2017 cancelling the death sentence issued by the Mansoura Criminal court to her in September 2019.

It is the first verdict of its kind to be issued in similar cases of spousal murders since 1986 according to Mrs Karima El-Sayed’s lawyer Wahdan El-Baz.

Karima with her daughters after her release and return to her family

The story of Karima started when her husband Mohamed Abdou El-Sheribiny was found dead in some field near the railways rail in their Nile Delta village on 5 December 2017.

Watch this: Shafika , Egypt’s underground folk music Queen

First time I knew that there was a very famous Egyptian folk singer that most people in Cairo never heard before was through social media.

Yes, you may be surprised but social media opened a door for us the people of Great Cairo province who got no roots in the Nile Delta or Upper Egypt to know and listen to different styles or genres of Egyptian folk music.

The social media presented Shafika to me after 2011 when some tweeps began to speak about her and their memories with her cassette albums in Nile Delta while they were teens. When I searched online for her name, I found a photo of a heavily make-upped woman with 1980s style-blonde dyed hair.

Shafika in the 1980s 

To be honest, I do not remember if I listened to her, but all I knew about her was that she was a famous underground folk music singer whose luck and talent did not lead her to be recognized in the mainstream in Cairo.

Time passes and this week, I was properly introduced to Shafika as Egyptian underground folk music Queen and I was reminded again that Egypt is too big and diverse to be constrained by the borders of Great Cairo.

The introduction was through that simple and short documentary about her: Shafika.

Egypt’s Femicide Continues: Her name was Kholoud Darwish and she was 20 years old

Her name was Kholoud Darwish, and she was only 20 years old. That young lady was killed earlier Monday in Port Said by her ex-fiancé after breaking up with him.

late Kholoud Darwish 

Kholoud Darwish is the latest known victim of the femicide wave in Egypt.

According to news reports, Kholould Darwish was a 20-years-old girl from Port Said who lost both parents and is living with her younger brothers at the house of her aunt.

Four months ago, she started to work in a textile factory at the Free Zone in Port Said where she met a young man “Mohamed Samir” who proposed to her, and she got engaged to him.

Samir turned out to be from another governorate, from Dahaqliya in Nile Delta and he was already married and had a child.

Some news sources say that he claimed that he was divorced while others say that she knew later.

Either way, Kholoud decided to end their engagement a couple of days ago. Since then, he threatened to kill her if she did not return to him.

Egypt’s Femicide epidemic continues: her name was Amany El-Gazzar and she was 19 years old

Her name was Amany El-Gazzar and she was only 19 years old. She was a junior studying at the Faculty of Physical Education. She and her family lived in a small village called Tukh Tanbisha in Mounfia governorate’s Birket El-Sab.

Late Amany El-Gazzar

Amany El-Gazzar was standing in front of her house on her way back when she was shot down from her back by a young man Saturday evening.

El-Gazzar was reportedly shot down by 29-years-old Ahmed Fathy Emira who fled the scene according to the eyewitnesses. She was shot down by a shotgun pistol.

Security authorities said that it found the dead of Emira on Sunday after he committed suicide. 

Amany El-Gazzar was transferred to a hospital in a nearby city but all attempts to save her failed. She was already gone.

Her last Facebook public post was at 11:24 PM on Friday and it read. 

Summer of scorned lovers and femicide: University Student Salma Bahgat of Zagzig joins Naira Ashraf "Updated"

Earlier Tuesday, Egypt found out that it has new femicide that seems to be a copycat murder of late university student Naira Ashraf.

Two months have not passed yet and we got another murder that seems to be identical to Ashraf’s murder.

20-years-old University student Salma Bahgat was stabbed to death by a scorned young man for rejecting him earlier Tuesday in the city of Zagzig, Nile Delta.

The young lady studying mass communication at Shorouk Academy was stabbed several times by suspect 22-years-old Islam Mohamed Fathy at the entrance of a building near Zagzig Court in Sharkia governorate.

Salma Bahgat in the circle with her colleagues and professors 

Bahgat was reportedly heading to her friend’s work in the building according to General Prosecution’s statement. “Some news reports say that she was heading to the building because she was an intern in a local news website located there”

The news reports say that the 2002-born was stabbed 17 times !!

Reportedly, Islam Fathy was madly in love with Salma Bahgat to the level that he tattooed her name twice on his body and arm but lately she ended their relationship and he could not accept that.

Dear Egypt, you have a femicide problem that you must face

Egypt has got a femicide problem and it seems that it is growing over time as it is not being dealt with as it should.

Monday afternoon, Egypt was shocked to read the news coming from Dahaqliya governorate that a female student was killed in the board daylight right outside the Campus of Mansoura University by her fellow student.

She was slaughtered to be accurate in the description according to an extreme shocking video that showed the last moments of her murder and the arrest of the murderer.

The videos and photos of her body in a yellow shirt and blue jeans lying in her own blood on the dirty pavement till the arrival of the police are among the worst scenes one can see this year.

21-Naira Ashraf, a student in the Faculty of Arts at Mansoura University was killed by a fellow student whom she rejected his advances several times. According to reports, the murderer turned out to be an A+ student according to the professors in the faculty.

Late Naira Ashraf 

He and Naira are from the same village in Mahalla city in Dahaqliya governorate, Nile Delta. He loved Naira who is stunningly beautiful and asked for her hand in marriage, but she rejected him.

 According to her father who works as a teacher, the 21-years-student did not want to marry at that stage and wanted to focus on her study and her career.

The murderer stalked Naira offline and online to the level that she blocked him on Facebook according to her friends and even filed a complaint at the police station against him according to some reports.

The tragedy of Shorouk and friends : Victims of child labor

On Monday, hundreds of Egyptians in Nile Delta town walked in the funeral of a 13-years-old girl who captured many hearts and minds in Egypt with her smiling picture online as attempts of finding her body was underway for whole 8 cold days in the River Nile in yet another Egyptian tragedy.

Sometimes the Egyptian tragedies have this dark humor side because on the same Monday and probably at the same moment the funeral was walking in the streets of a small village in Monufia governorate, Egypt’s Senate approved articles related to child labor in the new labor draft law in Cairo without serious social dialogue officially.

Late Shorouk Yasser 

It is like some sort of very dark humor that I do not understand how it is happening or how it was allowed to happen, but this is classical Egypt.

When the Nile gathered the young egg gatherers

According to the official accounts, late Monday 10 January a half truck carrying 24 daily workers got on an unlicensed ferry to the Nile River when the truck diver lost control of his truck and drove it in to the river near Monshaet El-Kanater village in Giza governorate.

10 people drowned while 14 others survived.

Now those 24 workers were on their way home in Monufia governorate from a farm in Giza governorate late night in the cold winter. They were working as egg gatherers in a poultry farm for a fee that ranged from LE 25 to 50 per day according to their families

Their ages ranged between 13 to 20 years old as reported by the official Public Prosecutor’s statement on the accident. 

The youngest and the last one to reappear from the Nile was Shorouk Yasser.

Kodak Agfa presents : Moulid Al-Nabi eve at El-Siyada "Plus more photos and videos from all over Egypt"

Happy Moulid Al-Nabi to all the Muslims around the globe or actually to the whole world. 

For a reminder, tonight millions of Muslims around the globe celebrate Prophet Mohamed "PBUH" birthday. Each country has its own traditions in its celebration. For Egypt, it is the time of the year where wear delicious sweets made of nuts covered with sugary syrup whose history goes back to medieval times. 

We also got the old or rather ancient Egyptian Moulid maid or doll and its male equivalent for boy the Moulid knight. 

This year Kodak Agfa went again El-Siyada Zeinab’s famous El-Sad street because she heard they were holding a special Moulid al-Nabi sweets market this year.

Moulid Al-Nabi dolls

This is the latest trend in the modern plastic Moulid Al-Nabi dolls in Egypt this year. 

Tiktok dispatch #1 Welcome to the Jungle

Lately, I have been spending more and more time on Tiktok.

I have become addicted to the short video-sharing Chinese media platform that took the world by storm. Tiktok has had its own storm in Egypt’s legal system after its endless controversy whether the sad Tiktok girls saga or the Tiktok racist bullies. It earned a bad reputation.

Older generations still consider it the social media platform of vice where women pimp themselves thanks to the endless Tiktok girls arrested in the media every couple of weeks whereas older Upper classes look at it as a vulgar social media platform of lower classes sing and dance on awful Mahraganat music that should be banned altogether.

Ironically those old Upper classes do not realize that their young actually are active on the platform like any youth in the world nowadays and present interesting content.

For me, as I dig more and I change my choice algorithm, it became another way for me to see that other Egypt usually ignored or forgotten in the mainstream media.

I remember seeing that small protest organized by a group of angry high school students against the Education Minister in front of the Education Ministry in Downtown Cairo following the announcement of the Thanaweya Amma results of the 2020/21 academic year. Almost all news websites ignored this small protest.

I knew through it about great talents.

Like Mr Sayed who used to work in a simple poor workshop but Tiktok and social media changed his life thanks to some Tweets. This is the first video I have ever seen for him and I could not ignore it.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Egypt’s Fallen Healthcare workers in Graphs

From two weeks, Egyptian Chronicles published a small attempt to commemorate the fallen victims of Egypt’s healthcare sector since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Egypt till half September.

Thanks to aspiring journalist Moataz Weza, me and others are able to know in more details as much as we can the sacrifices of those doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians and workers in those 8 months.

They were not only numbers and thanks to Weza, we know more about them with their names and faces.

May Allah bless their souls and bring patience to their families.

The documentation of Weza had also huge raw data that gives us a very interesting insight when it comes to this pandemic that is reshaping the world currently.

An Egyptian doctor checking an x-Ray "AP"

We know the locations, the dates and the specializations of those victims on the front line. In a very modest attempt, I looked to this raw data to know more information about how coronavirus hit Egypt’s first medical defence line.

I know that the world is still in a tough battle with coronavirus and the more accurate information we have, we will win more ground and more lives can be saved.

Now after this attempt to have a decent and appropriate introduction, here is what I found. 

Again this information is based upon the official statements of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate, the doctors syndicates, pharmacists syndicates, news websites and victims' families on social media.

This is from the period from March where the first case of Egyptian doctor to die due to coronavirus till 15 September. 

General Information

The list documented nearly 280 healthcare workers' fatalities in Egypt. 

On 8 October 2020, Egypt has officially recorded in total 6,017 fatalities since the outbreak of the virus in the country so we are speaking about 4.65% of the fatalities here or rather 5%. 

When I checked online, I found that it is a global issue to find an accurate number of victims among healthcare workers there are official attempts thanks to unions and human rights organizations. 

According to tot the Nurses Union in the United States, more 1,700 healthcare worker passed away due to coronavirus since the outbreak of the virus till September. 

Amnesty International published an analysis in early September saying that the world recorded over 7,000 deaths among the Healthcare workers globally. It considered Egypt among the countries with the highest estimated numbers of health workers who have died from COVID-19 despite it only counted the Doctors only. 

Now to our data. 

According to the information available online, 71% of the victims are doctors followed by the pharmacists then nurses then technicians and other workers.

Coronavirus on the Nile: At least 33 Positive COVID-19 cases and two fatalities in one family Nile Delta “A Case study”

On Thursday, a young Egyptian man announced that his family got at least 33 Coronavirus cases including himself asking the people to pray for them.

This is the biggest outbreak for COVID-19 in a single-family in Egypt announced so far.

This family is from Bahtim in Nile Delta’s Qalybuia and they live there. Their story could be a case study.

This young man is called Siyad and this is his story which sheds light on several problems in Egypt when it comes to Coronavirus.

According to Siyad, it started with his uncle.

His uncle was misdiagnosed in several hospitals as a patient of acute bronchitis till his condition was deteriorated then he was tested positive for Coronavirus and is sent to hospital after infecting his brothers and his mother.

Siyad’s late Grandmother Mrs Ghali passed away as she was being transferred to the hospital shortly after her test results came positive for the virus. Siyad’s uncle passed right after his mother. It is the first family in Egypt to lose two members like that in one single week because of Coronavirus.

His other uncle and his father started to show symptoms and thus they were sent to the hospital too.

Coronavirus on the Nile: A New Week in Egypt under partial COVID-19 Curfew “Live Updated”

Here is a new Live Updated weekly blog post to cover all things Coronavirus in Egypt, the Arab world and Africa.

It is a new week where Egypt lives under partial Curfew in order to curb the spread of Coronavirus.

We have not reached the peak of the Coronavirus yet according to official statements but last week we had a jump in the cases as we have crossed the 1000 patients milestone and we started having officially 

By Roger Anis for Masrawy 

Last week, Egypt witnessed an increase in both the death toll and the total number of full recovered patients at the same time. 

Last week also the Egyptian government announced it was taking part in the global testing of Coronavirus medicines.

It is a huge challenge.

The Egyptian government seems to be sending mixed messages with its calls for workers to return back to factories so the economy won’t be affected while it is calling people to stay at houses as much as they can for safety.

It is like playing in the fire especially it seems that some people are fed up and do not give a damn for the warnings when it comes to social distancing.

There is another challenge represented in the increasing number of members of medical staff from all over Egypt getting infected.

Hopefully, this week won't’ be bad one inshallah.

The live update is below.

50 years on Israel’s War Crime in Bahr el Baqar : Never forget

Wednesday 8 April 2020 marked the 50 anniversary of the Bahr el-Baqar school massacre.

In case you do not know what it is then let me tell you what happened 50 years ago.

On 8 April 1970, Israeli Air Forces bombed a Primary school in a small Sharkia governorate village called Bahr El-Baqar aka “Cows’ Sea” killing 46 Children and injuring over 50 others.

An IAF Phantom Fighter struck the single-floored three classrooms school at 9:20 am with five bombs and two air-to-ground missiles as part of its response to the war of attrition launched by Egypt.

There were 150 children in that poor school then.

From Ahram's archives, the shoes of the students at Bahr
El-Baquar school 
Colourized by Abdel Latif El-Tahan "My Heritage"

Interestingly, all the targets of Egypt during the war of attrition were military and never reached that civilian depth. 

Israeli officials said that they thought it was a military building and their war criminal defence minister then Moshe Dayan claimed that maybe the Nasser regime planted a school inside a military base !!

Coronavirus on the Nile : COVID-19 patients number jumps to 196 , Two new deaths and more patients in governorates

At Cairo international airport of Egypt "Reuters"

The numbers are evolving within hours. Egypt’s ministry of health has announced that the number of Coronavirus patients officially in the country increased to 196 after registering 30 new positive cases since its last update. The ministry also announced that 2 Coronavirus patients have passed away increasing the death toll in Egypt to 6.

More details and more news are merging about the virus and how it reached several governorates “Provinces or states”. I am returning back to the live blog option because things are moving rapidly by the hours. It is no longer recap thing with things changing so rapidly.
I know that the Egyptian government is trying to flat the curve but it seems that we have to go through the peak, unfortunately.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Coronavirus patients number jumps to 166 , two new deaths, 300 families in quarantine and Egypt suspends flights temporarily

Monday was even busier in Cairo when it comes to Coronavirus and its outbreak like any other place in the world. Here is a quick recap. It is like we are in front of a new level every day. It is getting more serious every day.

Don't know the illustrator but I found it on
Twitter

First of all, there is a worrying jump in the Coronavirus patients number in Egypt on Monday.
It jumped from 126 Monday afternoon to be 166 after officially registering new 40 positive Coronavirus cases in the country according to the ministry of health and the World Health Organization.

Two Coronavirus patients have passed away raising the country’s death into 4. The two additional cases are for an an-72-years-old German tourist who passed away in hospital in Luxor and a 50-years-old Egyptian man from Nile Delta’s Dakahalia Governorate.

Back to the new 40 patients, it turned out that they are 35 Egyptians and 5 foreigners.
The 35 Egyptians include 8 Egyptians who returned back from Omra pilgrimage before its suspension in Saudi Arabia while the others contracted the virus from previously registered cases and were discovered in according to the tracing procedures of the WHO. 

The statement revealed that all the registered cases currently receiving treatment in quarantine hospitals in stable condition except 7 patients in fair conditions and two patients in critical condition.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Egypt suspends study , the Coronavirus patients number jumps to 110 , Study suspended for 15 days and Matt Swider is on his way home “Updated”

There are huge developments in Egypt concerning the Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

First of Egypt’s ministry of health and World Health Organization announced Saturday evening that the number of Coronavirus patients in Egypt jumped into 110 after the registration of 17 new positive cases in the country officially.

أعلنت @mohpegypt اليوم تسجيل ١٧ حالة ايجابية جديدة لمرض كوفيد-19، والحالات هي ٣ أجانب من جنسيات مختلفة، و١٤ مصريا منهم حالة عائدة من السعودية والأخرى من الإمارات، والباقين من المخالطين للحالات الإيجابية التي تم اكتشافها والإعلان عنها مسبقًا.ليصبح مجمل الإصابات بمصر ١١٠ حالة.

— WHO Egypt (@WHOEgypt) March 14, 2020

According to the official statements, the 17 cases include 3 foreigners and 14 Egyptians.

A street in Alexandria's Sidi Bishr
street sensitized "Twitter"

The 14 Egyptians include an infected person who has returned from Saudi Arabia and another one from Emirates. It is worth mentioning that KSA suspended flights with Egypt and the UAE is said to stop issuing Visa for a couple of days according to travel agents in Egypt.

The statement added that the rest of the cases contracted the virus from previously announced cases.

We know according to official statements that among the new batch of patients,  students in 7 Egyptian schools in different areas including Zamalek, Cairo as in “City International School”, Giza, Alexandria and Sharkia.

There are some contradicting official statements concerning the students in the schools that contracted the virus. The minister of education Tarek Shawky stated earlier Saturday that there were "6 Children" that tested positive for Coronavirus in schools in "Giza, Alexandria and Sharkia" without giving further details.

On the other hand , Minister Hala Zayid on of health stated on TV that there are only "2 Children" that contracted the virus in two different schools and the "rest contracted the virus from previously registered cases".

She added that one of the patients was also a teacher and not a student.

This is the first time we know that there are confirmed and recognized cases in Alexandria and Sharkia.

So far Coronavirus has reported an outbreak in Luxor, Hurghada “Red Sea”, “Sidi Bishr” Alexandria, Zamalek and Heliopolis “Cairo”, Giza , Sharkia "Biblies: and Mansoura.

We know also two of the Egyptian cases are two ladies from Alexandria.

They contracted the virus from their brother who returned Egypt in a visit along with his Italian wife. Both their brother and their Italian sister-in-law were tested positive earlier for Coronavirus.

The two ladies live in Sidi Bishr district in Alexandria and the health directorate reportedly sensitized the streets there. They were transferred to the quarantine hospital in Alexandria, yes we are in the stage where local hospitals allocate a whole ward to quarantine Coronavirus patients if needed. 

From a couple of hours ago, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a directive to suspend Study nationwide for two weeks “15 days” starting on Sunday, 15 March 2020