The House of Representatives’ passing yesterday of an NGO law widely described as “repressive” is the story of the day about Egypt. Reuters and the Associated Press are driving coverage, with Bloomberg picking up Maggie Michael’s piece for the AP: “The Egyptian parliament on Tuesday approved a new law regulating non-governmental organizations that gives security agencies extensive power over the financing and activities of NGOs and rights groups. Rights organizations condemned the law as one of Egypt’s most repressive ever on civil society.”

Elsewhere: Egypt is getting plenty of ink in the New York Times this morning. Nour Youssef files “Al Jazeera Film Critical of Egyptian Army Strains Egypt-Qatar Ties Further,” looking at the flap over the documentary Al ‘Asaker (The Soldiers), set in the context of the never-ending feud between Egypt and Qatar.

Also in the Times, Diaa Hadid finds her family of once-liberal moderates are now religiously conservative in “Remembering My Mother’s Alexandria.” We don’t share Hadid’s pessimistic outlook on the Egyptian economy, but sympathize with her poignant portrait of the decline of the nation’s second city: “My mother spoke French with her Greek neighbors in Alexandria, at the time Egypt’s most cosmopolitan city. She skipped Catholic school to ride in a red convertible with a German girlfriend down broad boulevards. … I returned this fall to a very different Alexandria, one as insular as my mother’s was open. … In a city once famed for its European-style liberalism, the Muslim Brotherhood became a powerful force. The ultraconservative Salafi movement built its base.” (And while you’re on the Times’ website, check out Hadid’s excellent portrait of her hajj this past year.)

What happened to the naira vs. what’s going on with the EGP: Meanwhile, the African business press is looking at our float and Nigeria’s managed devaluation and wondering: Why was the Central Bank of Egypt’s move so much more credible than what happened on the other coast? Kenyan central bank officials intervened in currency markets again after floating. This piece from pan-African site AFK Insider is a good starting point.