The international press has human rights on the brain once again. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s trip to Geneva for the UN Human Rights Council Meeting topped coverage of Egypt in the foreign press this morning. And on related notes: Egypt’s human rights problems “expanded” during 2018, Amnesty International said in its annual MENA report. Another report published by US NGO Human Rights First is saying that Egypt’s prisons are fertile recruiting grounds for the Daeshbags and other terrorist groups. Meanwhile, a UK-based NGO is calling for an investigation into allegations that nine Egyptian men were tortured before their execution decision last week, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reports.

Other news worth noting in brief:

• Egypt is included in a list of affordable must-travel holiday destinations, published by the NYT.
• Egypt’s concern at Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam is in part because it “represents a push back against Egypt’s view of itself as the region’s water powerhouse and ‘guardian’ of the Nile River,” Shimelis Dessu writes for Quartz Africa.
• National Geographic is set to broadcast “Fiennes Return to the Nile”, a 3-part documentary on the adventures of legendary British explorer Ranulph Fiennes in Egypt featuring his much younger cousin Joseph Fiennes,according to Reuters.
• An ancient workshop has been found in Aswan, the Ministry of Antiquities revealed in a statement on Tuesday. The discovery probably dates back to the period 1391 B.C. to 1353 B.C., reports Xinhua News.
• Egyptian authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle six mummified limbs in a hollowed-out speaker though none of the perpetrators were identified, reports the NYT.