The Cairo Criminal Court on Sunday postponed to April 30 the trial of 213 defendants of "Ansar Beit El Maqdis" militant group, charged with involvement in 54 terrorist crimes against the police.

The decision came to continue hearing prosecution witnesses.

The crimes, committed by the defendants, include a failed assassination attempt on former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim, the killing of a number of police officers and setting security facilities, including the security directorates of Cairo, Dakahlia and South Sinai on fire.

Investigations showed that the defendants were trained in the camps of Ezzel Din Qassam, the military wing of Palestinian movement Hamas and that they plotted to target ships transiting Suez Canal.

They face charges of joining a terrorist group aiming at disrupting national security and pub  
43rd session of Arab Labor Conf. kicks off in Cairo
2016-04-10 11:36:19 GMT
Egypt/Arab Labor Conf./Arab world Larger - Smaller - Reset
CAIRO, April 10 (MENA) - The 43rd session of the Arab Labor Conference kicked off Sunday, under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, with the participation of Arab ministers of labor, businessmen and Arab labor organizations.

Qatar, which chairs the meeting, is represented by Minister for Administrative Development and Labor and Social Affairs Issa bin Saad al Naimi Juffali.

During the inaugural session, Manpower Minister Mohamed Saafan conveyed the greetings of President Sisi to the participants. 

He affirmed the president's keenness on promoting solidarity among Arab nations. 

President Sisi hopes that the conference will be a launching pad to promote aspects of cooperation and integration in joint Arab action, said the minister. 

The minister, meanwhile, underlined the important role of the Arab Labor Organization in light of the current circumstances facing the Arab region. 

He also said that the high unemployment rate and poverty in Arab countries are considered among the main causes of terrorism and contribute to pushing youths to join those who advocate for sabotage and chaos. 

The conference will discuss accomplishments and outcomes that were achieved during the year 2015, in addition to results yielded by the 35th sessions of committee on freedom of association and 14th session of Arab women affairs committee, he added further.

The conference will also put forward the decisions and recommendations made by the ALO board of directors’ meetings chaired by the labor minister, besides the output of 96th and 97th sessions of the Arab Economic and Social Council.

It will focus on the ALO draft plan and budget (2017-2018) handed by the Arab Labor office and its affiliate institutes and centers.

The conference will place emphasis on the economic, social and collective roles to increase employment in the Arab world and form a committee for information exchange and its impact on regulating the Arab labor markets.

Source: MENA