At least 47 people are dead and 126 others wounded after blasts yesterdaytargeted Coptic Christians in Alexandria and Tanta, according to state-owned Al Ahram. Twenty-five people were killed by a device that security officials initially said was planted in a pew near the front of St George's Coptic Church in Tanta. Officials have since suggested the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. The Tanta blast was followed by an explosion outside St Mark's Coptic Church in Alexandria that came as security forces denied an apparent suicide bomber entry to the church compound. Pope Tawadros, who was in Alexandria to lead Palm Sunday mass, was unhurt, state media says.

In an address to the nation last night (runtime 7:53), President Abdel Fattah El Sisi declared a three-month nationwide state of emergency. El Sisi also announced the establishment of a Supreme Anti-Terrorism Council that will be granted “the necessary powers and jurisdiction” over levers the president said could help in the fight against terror, including the media and religious discourse. The Council will also look at new powers for police and intelligence investigators as well as how to fast-track terror cases through the court system. The president called on state security officers to expedite their investigation into the massacres and bring the perpetrators to justice. The president extended his condolences and those of the nation to the victims’ families and demanded that the international community hold countries that fund and support terrorism accountable. The measures the president announced in his speech were approved at a meeting of his National Defense Council (Ittihadiya readout on the meeting here in English, pdf)

The blasts were timed to create maximum casualties, taking place on Palm Sunday, the first day of Easter week, when church attendance soars. Most government offices and many companies recognize Palm Sunday as a day off for Christians.

Among the deceased was the head of Shibin El Kom court Samuel George, who died in Tanta, according to state television, Al Masry Al Youm reports. As of dispatch time, one of the youngest victims noted by the press was 23 year-old Bishoy Iskander; earlier reports had suggested that many of the dead were young children, but there has since been no confirmation. Seven members of the police force were killed in an attack, including Emad El Rakaybi who reportedly stopped the suicide bomber from entering the St. Mark’s Church. The interior Ministry also noted that three women had been killed, making them the first female police officers to die in the line of duty, the ministry said. An image of one of the slain police officers with her son, also a member of the police service, is getting wide pickup on social media.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying two pseudonymous pieces of garbage wearing explosive vests had carried them out. Yesterday’s bombings come one week after a terrorist attack targeting a police training center in Tanta killed one member of the police force and injured 16 others.

Early results of investigations by the police and intelligence services point to bothbombings being suicide attacks. Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek said yesterday that he is waiting for the results of forensic tests before confirming the perpetrators’ identities and the explosive materials used, Al Masry Al Youm reports.

The Armed Forces have dispatched special units across the country to assist the police in protecting churches, key infrastructure and other possible targets of further attacks. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar replaced Gharbiya security director Gen. Hossam Khalifa with Gen. Tarek Hassouna, according to an emailed ministry statement.

The ministry also denied that other churches had been bombed across the country and called on the media to rely on official statements to avoid causing further panic. Reports of bombs being defused at a Sufi mosque are so-far unconfirmed. The Interior Ministry statement followed unconfirmed reports from outlets including Extra News alleging that security forces found and defused at least one explosive device at the Sufi Sidi Abdel Rehim Mosque in Tanta (watch, runtime 2:31).

Videos of the attacks, most from CCTV footage, are playing on loop in the domestic and international media, with the most prominent being that of the attacker being barred from entry to St Mark's cathedral by a member of the police service before detonating the bomb (watch, runtime: 3:39). The other appears to show prayer services inside St George's Church immediately before the explosion (watch, runtime: 0:22). The most recent to hit the airwaves clearly shows the face the man alleged to have been the Alexandria bomber (watch, runtime: 1:13).

The Coptic Orthodox Church issued a statement mourning the victims, saying the attacks were also an attack on national unity.

Largest bloc in House welcomes El Sisi’s anti-terror measures; MPs to summon interiorand justice ministers: The House of Representatives condemned the attack and the Support Egypt Coalition — a pro-government bloc and the largest in the House — declared their support for the new security measures the president announced last night. The House general assembly voted to call in Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar and Justice Minister Mohamed Hossam Abdel Rehim today for updates on the security situation and the government’s plan to combat terrorism, according to Al Masry Al Youm. The decision followed a very heated debate in the House in which a number of MPs vented their anger at Abdel Ghaffar and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, calling for an inquiry, Ahram Gate reports.

In the wake of the attacks, MPs are clamoring to vote on amendments to the criminal code that they say would speed up criminal trials for terror suspects, with some calling for wider use of military trials in terror cases. The House of Representatives’ Legislative Committee will discuss amendments to the Criminal Procedures Act during its session today and hopes to finalize them by Tuesday ahead of a plenary session vote by next week, MP Mohamed El Aqqad said on Sunday, according to Ahram Gate. The amendments, designed expedite the prosecution of terror cases, have been on the table since an attack on a Coptic cathedral in Cairo killed around 30 people last December. The House of Representatives has also filed a request to the Justice Ministry on Sunday demanding that more Egyptian courts be assigned terrorism cases to speed up criminal proceedings, a statement picked up by the newspaper adds.

OFFICIAL REACTION: Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said terrorism targets Muslims and Christians alike, according to a Cabinet statement. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid described the bombings in a tweet as “another obnoxious but failed attempt against all Egyptians,” and launched the hashtag “#united_on_PalmSunday” to call for unity against terrorism. That initial response from the Foreign Ministry proved controversial as the day unfolded and the death toll mounted. Al Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed El Tayeb denounced the attacks as an attempt to destabilize the country’s stability and security, according to Al Ahram. Dar Al-Ifta extended its condolences to Pope Tawadros II and the victims of the bombings, and reaffirmed its to reforming religious discourse to discredit extremists.

The Tourism Ministry is assessing the impact the attacks could have on tourism, Al Borsa reports. Industry players fear the attacks will hobble the nascent recovery, and JWT’s advertising arm confirmed it will suspend Egypt’s national tourism promotion campaign on international television channels for the time being.

INTERNATIONAL REAX: Pope Francis I, who celebrated Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican and is expected in Egypt on 28 April, was one of the first global leaders to condemn the attacks, Reuters reports. He said “I pray for the dead and the victims. May the Lord convert the hearts of people who sow terror, violence and death and even the hearts of those who produce and traffic in weapons.”

US President Donald Trump also expressed his support and condolences. “So sad to hear of the terrorist attack in Egypt. U.S. strongly condemns. I have great confidence that President Al Sisi will handle [the] situation properly,” he said on Twitter. The tweets followed a statement from the US State Department reaffirming that “The United States will continue to support Egypt’s security and stability in its efforts to defeat terrorism.” President Trump called President El Sisi in person to reiterate his support, according to a statement from Ittihadiya. A US congressional delegation visiting US servicemen and women in Sinai at the time of the attack also issued a statement of condemnation, according to the Washington Post.

Other international leaders condemned the bombings. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman phoned El Sisi to offer his support, Ittihadiya said. Other governments and world leaders to have issued statements of support include Russia, the EU, the UN, Jordan, Bahrain, the UAE, the UK, Germany, Canada, India, and even Turkey.

Israel orders citizens out of Sinai: The Israeli Prime Minister’s spokesperson for Arab media, Ofir Gendelman, issued a warning via Twitter urging citizens in Sinai to return to Israel in light of the attacks and “Welayat Sinai’s intention to carry out attacks” in the peninsula.

GLOBAL MEDIA COVERAGE: The attacks are headline news around the world this morning, with CCTV videos and photos following the attack being heavily featured in the foreign press. Foreign media coverage has included heavy emphasis on the security concerns of Copts as well as anti-Christian bigotry.

The issue of whether Egypt can protect its Christian minority was the most commontheme running through top-tier publications. The Wall Street Journal is running an editorial headlined “Why can’t Egypt’s government protect its Christian minority?” The New York Times’ Magdy Samaan and Declan Walsh pointed to what they suggested was the president’s failure to protect Christians despite the Church coming out to support of him politically. They were also critical of the intelligence agencies’ inability to anticipate attacks despite heightened security and measures to protect churches already in place. ABC News interviewed a number of Christians following the attack, with the common thread being how they no longer feel safe to worship, while the Washington Post has been running a timeline of sectarian terrorist attacks in Egypt since last year.

CNN gave pundit Timothy Kaldas a platform to hammer anti-Christian prejudice, and the theme of anti-Coptic prejudice ran through USA Today’s coverage as well. It quotes Joseph Ghabour, a deacon at St. Mark, the first Coptic church to open in the U.S, as saying that this was part of the Coptic people's long history of suffering. Taking a slightly more conspiratorial approach was the British conservative publication, the Spectator, which is using the events to justify its fringe idea that there is a global move towards persecuting Christians and that Christians are the most oppressed religious group in the world.

Christian publication Crux is taking a more constructive approach, running a piece by John L. Allen Jr which called on Pope Francis to applaud President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s “commitment to diversity and minority rights but also [be] clear on the importance of political freedom and the rule of law.”

The view from Israel: Don’t fall into the Islamists’ trap. Eran Lerman, the former deputy chief of Israel’s National Security Council, said regional leaders need to support the Sisi administration and not fall for the trap set by the terrorists of sowing discontent between Christians, Muslims and the state. “The stability of the Egyptian government is a strategic value of great importance for the State of Israel. Therefore, Israel and its partners in the Middle East must push themselves to help Egypt in its important struggle against Islamist terror, and enlist US and international support in order to prevent governmental stability in the Country from being undermined,” he writes for Arutz Sheva.

A number of outlets, including the UK’s Express, are running the story of police officerEmad El Rakaybi,who died stopping a suicide attacker from entering the church in Alexandria.

Palm Hills Developments (PHD) signed an EGP 852 mn syndicated medium-term loan to finance part of the acquisition of 190 feddans in West Cairo. The loan is provided by National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and carries an interest rate of 1.5% over the current corridor rates for 8.5 years from the date of disbursement. NBE and NBAD acted as the initial mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and underwriters. NBE acted as the Facility Agent, while NBAD acted as the Security Agent. The loan will be directed towards partially financing the project in West Cairo, which PHD is planning to launch in 2Q2017. “The credit facility will be utilized in partially paying land dues to the government, construction cost, general and administrative expenses related to the project,” PHD says.

MOVES- Barclays Bank Egypt Managing Director Hala Sakr has been appointed as the first woman member on the EGX board of directors, Daily News Egypt reports. Sakr will be replacing Misr Iran Development Bank Managing Director Amr Tantawi.

The Saudi German Hospitals Group (SGHG) is setting up an investment arm in Egypt, Al Borsa reports. The investment arm, which will fall under SGHG’s Topmed vehicle, is expected to be operational in two months. Topmed manages the group’s investments in Jeddah and Dubai. The hospital group plans to establish 12 hospitals in Egypt, a EGP 10 bn medical city in Alexandria, and a number of nonprofit hospitals.

Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld a 10-year prison sentence against former Agriculture Minister Salah Helal and his office manager for corruption, rejecting Helal’s appeal against the April 2016 ruling, Al Masry Al Youm reports. Helal was slapped with a EGP 1 mn fine, while his deputy, Mohie Eddin Qadh, was fined EGP 500k. The former minister had resigned in September 2015, and was promptly arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes in return for land licenses.