All posts tagged: Egypt

Inside WWE Diva Erika Hammond and Billionaire Ankur Jain’s Star-Studded ‘Wedding of the Century’ in Egypt

Inside WWE Diva Erika Hammond and Billionaire Ankur Jain’s Star-Studded ‘Wedding of the Century’ in Egypt

Published by Sam

It’s not every day you get married in front of the Great Pyramids of Egypt! Bilt Rewards founder Ankur Jain and former WWE Diva Erika Hammond tied the knot on Friday in front of the Great Sphinx with the pyramids in the background.  The couple had their stunning nuptials in front of 150 close friends and family. Their ceremony was officiated by Dr. Zahi Hawass, a leading Egyptologist.  Singer and violinist Lindsey Stirling and singer Robin Thicke performed at the reception at the pyramids while guests ate dinner. Griffin DJ’d the event and guest Lance Bass of N’SYNC fame jumped up onstage to sing the boy band’s hit, “Bye Bye Bye,” with Hammond onstage with real estate broker Ryan Serhant joining in.  “This truly was the wedding of the century,” a wedding guest tells ET. “Ankur and Erika work so hard, so it was amazing to be able to celebrate their marriage with them under one of the most iconic wonders of the world.” WWE Diva Erika Hammond and billionaire Ankur Jain's Egyptian wedding on …

US, Egypt ‘hopeful’ of Gaza truce as envoys meet in Cairo

US, Egypt ‘hopeful’ of Gaza truce as envoys meet in Cairo

Published by skeptic

According to the Hamas source, the latest plan proposes an Israeli withdrawal from two main roads through the coastal territory to allow Gazans to return to the heavily impacted north. Hamas negotiator Zaher Jabareen told AFP that “success or failure” will be determined by “the ability to reach a permanent ceasefire decision” – a condition Israel has rejected before – and to agree “clear” plans for reconstruction of war-battered Gaza. The Axios news website, citing Israeli officials, reported that Israel’s latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” after hostages are released. HOSTAGE RELEASE TALKS As diplomatic efforts intensified, a State Department official said Blinken will also travel to Israel and neighbouring Jordan later this week. His Saudi counterpart, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said Sunday the international “political system” had failed in its response to the “catastrophe” in Gaza. Prince Faisal told the WEF summit that only “a credible, irreversible path to a Palestinian state” will prevent the world from confronting “this same situation” again in the future. Israeli …

Hamas delegation due in Egypt for Gaza truce talks

Hamas delegation due in Egypt for Gaza truce talks

Published by skeptic

A house damaged in an Israeli strike lies in ruin, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 29, 2024. HATEM KHALED / REUTERS A Hamas delegation is due on Monday, April 29, in Egypt, where it will respond to Israel’s latest proposal for a truce in Gaza and hostage release after almost seven months of war. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for months, but a flurry of diplomacy in recent days appeared to suggest a new push toward halting the fighting. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his seventh visit to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war, arrived Monday in Saudi Arabia and will also travel to Israel and neighboring Jordan later this week, a State Department official said. While Israel has pledged to go after Hamas battalions in Rafah despite mounting global concern for Palestinian civilians sheltering in the southern Gaza Strip …

’90 Day Fiancé’ Recap: Mahmoud Wants a Divorce From Nicole But Has No Way to Go Back to Egypt

’90 Day Fiancé’ Recap: Mahmoud Wants a Divorce From Nicole But Has No Way to Go Back to Egypt

Published by Sam

Sunday’s episode of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? was an alarming one, after Mahmoud and Nicole’s huge fight in front of her friends escalated. Mahmoud was dead set on returning to Egypt as his stay so far in Los Angeles has been disastrous from the get-go, but had no way to get back to his home country. Mahmoud stormed out of Nicole’s apartment during last week’s episode when she yelled at him in front of her friends and called him a “traitor.” The fight started when Mahmoud, who adheres to strict Islam beliefs, didn’t like when Nicole chose to wear a dress showing a bit of her back to a meeting with her friends. Mahmoud said he no longer wanted to meet with her friends, which she got upset about. Eventually, she brought her friends back to her apartment, where she forced a meeting between them and Mahmoud. When Mahmoud acted friendly towards them, she got mad because she felt he was acting fake. She also served them alcohol, which obviously, Mahmoud didn’t like. After …

Two Israeli Hostages Seen in Latest Video Issued by Hamas

Two Israeli Hostages Seen in Latest Video Issued by Hamas

Published by skeptic

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hamas released a new video on Saturday that appeared to show two Israeli hostages who have been held in the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel. The video is similarly filmed to previous hostage videos made public by the Islamist group, which Israel has condemned as psychological terrorism. The two men, identified as Keith Siegel, 64, and Omri Miran, 47, speak individually in front of an empty background. They send their love to their families and ask to be released. Miran was taken hostage from his home in the community of Nahal Oz in front of his wife and two young daughters during the Hamas killing spree that sparked the war in Gaza. War in Israel and Gaza Siegel, who is a dual U.S. citizen, was taken captive with his wife from another border town. She was later released during a brief November truce. The video was published during the Passover holiday, when Jews traditionally celebrate the biblical story of gaining freedom from slavery in Egypt. At one …

IDF Shelling Hammers Rafah As Egypt Sends Top Intel Official To Avert Ground Offensive

IDF Shelling Hammers Rafah As Egypt Sends Top Intel Official To Avert Ground Offensive

Published by skeptic

Egypt is attempting a last ditch effort to reach a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel at a moment IDF shelling of Rafah has intensified, in what are seen as ‘softening’ operations ahead of an imminent ground offensive, despite international calls to cancel the operation. The Egyptian government on Friday dispatched a high level delegation to Israel led by top intelligence official Abbas Kamel. The Associated Press reported he is presenting a “new vision” for prolonged ceasefire. But key to a breakthrough is agreement on the remaining Israeli hostages being released, and the two sides seem no closer to achieving that. The Wall Street Journal cites that “Egyptian officials familiar with the negotiations say the talks toward a hostage deal have little chance of success, but hope to use the meetings to buy time for the U.S. and regional powers to pressure Israel to pause its plans to attack Rafah.” While things heat up in the south of the Strip, the IDF has reportedly allowed many displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza …

Egypt sends delegation to Israel, its latest effort to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas

Egypt sends delegation to Israel, its latest effort to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas

Published by skeptic

CAIRO —  Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel on Friday with the hope of brokering a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza, two officials said. At the same time, it warned that a possible Israeli offensive focused on Gaza’s city of Rafah — on the border with Egypt — could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability. Egypt’s top intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, is leading the delegation and plans to discuss with Israel a “new vision” for a prolonged cease-fire in Gaza, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the mission freely. As the war drags on and casualties mount, there has been growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach an agreement on a cease fire. Friday’s talks will focus at first on a limited exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners, and the return of a significant number of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimum restrictions,” the Egyptian official said. The hope is that negotiations will then continue, with the goal of …

Worries remain of a Palestinian exodus into Egypt after Rafah invasion

Worries remain of a Palestinian exodus into Egypt after Rafah invasion

Published by Sam

You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest free, including news from around the globe and interesting ideas and opinions to know, sent to your inbox every weekday. Amid a somber Passover in the Holy Land, a chilling reality remains: Israel could soon trigger an exodus into Egypt. For weeks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled his intent to launch a full-scale offensive into Rafah, the southern Gazan city that’s now home to more than a million Palestinians seeking safe haven in their war-ravaged territory. Netanyahu and his allies want to wipe out militant group Hamas’s footprint in the city — no matter the skepticism of experts who reckon the Islamist organization is far from defeated or the concerns of foreign diplomats and aid workers who fear the calamities for civilians that would follow the Israeli onslaught. A major move would trigger the frantic flight of hundreds of thousands of Gazans, many of whom arrived in the city after their homes and neighborhoods elsewhere in Gaza were pulverized …

An Ancient Ramses II Bust Returned to Egypt

An Ancient Ramses II Bust Returned to Egypt

Published by skeptic

The bust. Photo: the Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities.   An ancient Ramses II bust returned to Egypt, following its theft and smuggling out of the nation over 30 years ago. Currently, the statue is at Cairo’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. Also, it is set up for expert restoration. There aren’t any official announcements whether, or when it will be put on exhibit for tourists.   An Ancient Ramses II Bust First Noticed in 2013 Exterior and facade of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square. Photo: Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images.   The thoughts are the stone bust disappeared sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s. It appeared in a London exhibition in 2013. Sales of the sculpture took place during the display. According to the Egyptian ministry of antiquities, it travelled through other nations before ending up in Switzerland once more, and seized as part of “criminal proceedings.”   Egypt declared official possession of the bust in Switzerland. Also, In July of last year, the Egyptian embassy in Bern received …

Israeli strikes on Rafah kill 18, as Gaza death toll tops 34,000 – POLITICO

Israeli strikes on Rafah kill 18, as Gaza death toll tops 34,000 – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

The lastest strikes came within hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to provide Israel with $26.3 billion in assistance. The measure, which includes $9 billion in humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, now goes back to the Senate, which about 10 weeks ago cleared legislation with nearly identical aid to Israel. The House bill will now get bundled with three other measures. The Senate will receive them as a single package that includes aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, along with new sanctions, a TikTok ban and U.S. power to freeze Russian assets. Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint, including from the U.S. Meanwhile, thousands of Israeli protesters took to the streets on Saturday to call for new elections and demand more action from the government to free the hostages …