Welcome to our News Digest. Following are the top stories that made the headlines in yesterday’s press, foremost among which was US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visit to Cairo, 2015 Metrojet Sinai crash, displacement of Afghanistan families over Taliban attacks, as well as the super moon and lunar eclipse.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived to Cairo yesterday and met with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri.
Blinken’s visit to Cairo is part of a regional visit started with Jerusalem and Ramallah, which remain largely calm after the ceasefire brokered by Egypt and brought an end to 11 days of Israeli attacks on Palestine.
Blinken is expected to arrive in Jordan today.
Yesterday Egyptian and Russian investigative teams have met to discuss and “exchange data” about the 2015 Metrojet crash in Sinai, the incident that saw the latter imposing a ban on direct flights that has so far lasted six years.
Metrojet Flight 9268 was an international chartered passenger flight, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia (branded as Metrojet). On October 31, 2015, at 06:13 local time, an Airbus A321-231 operating the flight was destroyed by a bomb above the northern Sinai Peninsula following its departure from Sharm El Sheikh International Airport en route to Pulkovo Airport, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Also, yesterday Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism announced that it is following with great concern the displacement of hundreds of families from Badakhshan Province, in northeastern Afghanistan, triggered by continuous attacks by Taliban terrorist movement over the past four days.
And finally, the blood moon appeared for the first time since 2019. So, if you were living in a city in East Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and western North America, you must have seen this great phenomenon.
On May 26, the Earth passed between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow across the moon’s surface and making it appear a deep and red color for 14 minutes and 30 seconds, causing what is called the Super Moon and the total lunar eclipse.
