Once a fashion capital that rivalled Europe, Downtown Cairo is now watching one of its most storied crafts quietly disappear. The Financial Times is spotlighting the city’s last remaining master tailors, whose ateliers once dressed politicians, actors, and Egypt’s elite. Changing fashion tastes, the dominance of ready-to-wear clothing, and a lack of apprentices have pushed bespoke tailoring to the brink, leaving only a handful of workshops still operating.

At the center of Maddison Sawle’s story — which is well worth a read — is 89-year-old Samir El Sakka, Cairo’s oldest master tailor, who has continued the craft throughout revolutions and economic crises. But rising rents, expensive imported materials, and a shrinking customer base threaten not just individual businesses, but the survival of an entire tradition, writes the salmon-colored paper.

Alaa Abdel Fattah responds after controversial social media posts resurfaced: Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah issued a statement apologizing for his violent social media posts that resurfaced over the past days, making him the subject of criticism from the people of Britain, where he landed over the weekend. The posts in question include those that called for violence against zionists and the police, which Abdel Fattah said were “expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations.” The UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing is currently assessing the posts.

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