Jaffa, Israel
Police in Egypt have arrested the parents and aunt of a 14-year-old girl who died while undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM).
The doctor who allegedly performed the procedure in the province of Asyut was also held.
All four were detained after the victim’s uncle alerted the authorities, officials told the BBC.
FGM was banned in Egypt in 2008 but the country still has one of the highest rates of the practice in the world.
According to the UN children’s agency,
UNICEF, 87% of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years in Egypt have undergone FGM, with 50% of Egyptians believing it “is a religious requirement”.
In the latest case, Nada Abdul Maksoud suffered complications after the surgery at a private clinic in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Asyut, the Shorouk News website reported.
The girl’s death caused an outcry from rights groups in Egypt.
The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood and the National Council for Women urged authorities to prosecute those responsible, the state-run website Akhbar el-Yom said.
Egypt criminalised FGM in 2008 and increased penalties for those carrying out the procedures in 2016 following the death of a teenage girl.
Russia monitored Turkish attacks on Syrian regime forces by the Turkish air force after shelling killed four Turkish troops. Turkey sent forces into Idlib province over the weekend to bolster its observation points in the wake of a major Russian-backed Syrian regime offensive against Syrian opposition and extremists. This is the one of the largest clashes between the Syrian regime and Turkey in 10 years of war.
Russia supplies Turkey with S-400 air defense, while Russia’s own air force operates with the Syrian regime from Syria’s Latakia. This puts Moscow in a bind. It ostensibly can control Syrian airspace and prevent Turkish airstrikes on Syrian regime forces but if it does so then what will become of Moscow’s billions in trade deals, S-400s and TurkStream energy deals in Turkey.
A gas line between Israel and Egypt in the northern Sinai Peninsula was attacked by unidentified attackers on Sunday night, according to Al Jazeera. The attack comes only a week after an ISIS official called on militants to attack Israeli targets.
The office of Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz stated that gas was continuing to flow from Israel to Egypt and that it was working with relevant authorities to investigate the nature of the incident.
IDF fighter jets and helicopters attacked several Hamas terrorist targets in the northern Gaza Strip overnight Saturday.
Among the targets attacked were underground infrastructures used by Hamas’ military wing, including a structure which serves as a military war room.
Attacking these targets impairs the capacity of the terrorist organization. The attack was carried out in response to the rocket fire and incendiary balloon attacks from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory during Shabbat.
“The IDF views any terrorist activity toward Israeli territory as very serious and is in high readiness for a variety of scenarios. The IDF will continue to act as necessary against attempts to harm Israeli civilians,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
Turkey’s President met with Hamas representatives on Saturday according to Turkish media. The meeting comes as Turkey’s ruling party, which has roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, is seeking to oppose the Trump administration’s ‘Deal of the Century’ and portray opposition to it as an Islamic cause. Under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the country has increasingly sought to confront Trump’s policies on Jerusalem and portray itself as leading the Arabic and Islamic world in opposition to Israeli policies.
Israeli Ilan Ramon was a space shuttle payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of Columbia, in which he and six other crew members were killed in the re-entry accident. At 48, he was the oldest member of the crew. Ramon is the only foreign recipient of the United States Congressional Space Medal of Honor, which he was awarded posthumously - - - Born 30 June 1954 - Died 1 February 2003
The Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza overnight Friday-Saturday in response to several attacks launched across the border earlier Friday.
Fighter jets hit “terror targets” belonging to Hamas following the rocket, mortar and explosives attacks, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.






