Egypt Sen. Graham Places Hold on Portion of Aid: The Associated Press reported that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blocked a $60 million economic aid package to Egypt. The money was to support the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, a program that provides capital to investors to promote private sector growth. The Senator’s spokesperson explained that Graham plans to hold the funds until he sees “Egypt moving toward democracy.” Prior to Graham’s actions, State Dept. Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf reaffirmed the U.S.’s policy to continue assistance “that benefit[s] the Egyptian people.” Kim Holmes questioned whether promoting democracy ran counter to U.S. interests. Constitution Progress Continues: Al-Ahram quoted Mohamed Salamwy, spokesman for the Constitutional Amendment Committee, as saying that the “subcommittees successfully finalized an initial draft of the constitution so that it could be discussed by the 50-member committee as a whole. Among the articles discussed over the weekend were those related to crimes of torture and discrimination, a guarantee of “absolute freedom of belief,” and a reported cancellation of existing restrictions on the building of new churches. Eric Trager argued that drafting the new constitution “could have major implications for the role of religion and the military in Egypt’s political life.” Meanwhile, popular Egyptian satirist, Bassem Youssef, returned to television in his first appearance since before President Morsi was overthrown.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 14:46:50 +0000