It’s a mixed bag for Egypt in the global press this morning. Pickup of wire copy on the killing of three police officers in Cairo in a drive-by shooting was surprisingly muted. Meanwhile, mild echoes of the papal visit continue to be heard (see the New York Times’ editorial “A Humane Papal Message in Egypt,” complete with gratuitous “dictatorship” dig), but no story has yet emerged to take its place. It’s almost as if the Western press has gotten its fill (for the moment).

Without question, the most significant story out of Egypt yesterday was a Reuters piece by Ahmed Hassan and Lin Noueihed contending that Daesh affiliate Wilayit Sinai are seeking to impose religious rules in North Sinai. The investigative piece found the group “is seeking to impose its hardline interpretation of Islam on the local populace for the first time” with evidence it has “created a morality police force, known as a Hisba, to enforce strict rules against such behaviour as smoking, men shaving their beards or women exposing their faces.” Hassan and Noueihed say this is part of a development that marks a strategic change and the militants had previously focused on attacking the police, soldiers, and informants only. A security source told Reuters, however, that the militants were unable to impose themselves on society: “They come out for two minutes and film two cars and say, ‘We set up a checkpoint.’ This was all for the media, for people like you to write things that bear no relation to the reality on the ground.” One activist from Rafah says that, while the militants are not in control of the region, “they are present, they pop up like a jack-in-the-box, they kill or kidnap someone and go back into hiding.”

Elsewhere, UK tabloid the Sun reports that Egyptian officials are losing patience with theBritain’s travel ban on Sharm El Sheikh. And in a complete shocker, a UN study of 10k men in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine is being used to declare that “Men in the Middle East are slow to embrace gender equality.” Young men surveyed were no more “progressive … than their fathers and the older generation.” Also notable: That these four countries apparently make up “the Middle East,” likely because the odds of doing a similar survey in the GCC without being tossed in the slammer or deported is about the same as our chance of being elected Pope of Rome.

And after US President Donald Trump said nice things about the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte — accused of sanctioning the mass extrajudicial killing of [redacted] dealers — plenty of US media outlets with a liberal bent to them are wondering at why “Trump keeps praising international strongmen,” as the Washington Post puts it. Our president’s strong relationship with Trump just about inevitably comes up.

(And while you’re on the Sun’s website, check out its story on the UK dad who paid usingpennies a GBP 60 fine for taking his six-year-old out of school for a holiday in Egypt, saying, “Where is he going to learn more about the world? Sitting in a classroom in Swansea or at an Egyptian temple? He was so excited to be in Egypt and I wouldn’t have wanted to deny him that opportunity.”)
Other international coverage of Egypt worth noting in brief included:

• MEED’s Hossam Abougabal borrows heavily from a Mada Masr report by Waad Ahmed to reiterate a claim that Egypt might find itself at odds with the IMF delegation over interest rates.
• Professional diver Vitaly Bazarov filmed a giant octopus as it was attempting to steal his camera under water in the Red Sea off Dahab and the Daily Mail has the footage. “The Red Sea is one of the best places for an underwater photographer but, to get the best shots, it is important to dive alone,” Bazarov says.
• At least 15 Chinese companies held an employment fair at the Suez Canal University that attracted “several hundreds of students and graduates,” according to Xinhua.
• Pope Francis’ visit to Cairo has left a profound mark on Egyptians and was a “great success,” regional Christian leaders tell Crux.
• Comic artist Ganzeer, the “Egyptian Banksy,” is still making art after moving to the US and published his graphic novel The Solar Grid. “The politics of Ganzeer’s work are still there, they’re just changing with the times and the medium,” LA Weekly says.