Leading the conversation on Egypt this morning: Our track record on LGBTQ rights. As we suggested yesterday, the jail sentence handed to talk show host Mohamed El Gheity for hosting a homo[redacted] man on air is getting wide play in the international press. The BBC, the Independent, and the Associated Press have all taken note of the one-year sentence handed down this weekend. Expect the story to have legs for a few days yet.

Neo-colonialism at its best: Some museums in the UK are benefiting from peddling Ancient Egypt artifacts taken during the Victorian era — the practice could be key to keeping alive cultural institutions in former industrial towns the north of England, according to a feel-good piece from The Guardian. The left-leaning paper fails to call it like it is: neo-colonialism. You’re welcome, UK. How about sending us some tourists on direct flights to Sharm in return?

Other headlines worth a read include:

  • Cooperation between Egypt and China is set to increase as development in the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone 120 km to the east of Cairo ploughs on, according to China Economic Net.
  • Police arrested 24 people who tried to prevent the demolition by the authorities of illegal buildings near the Giza pyramids, the Associated Press reports.
  • A directive to paint Egypt’s red-brick buildings to reduce “visual deformity” is getting attention from the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson.
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