The conditions of the USD 12 bn IMF loan failed to address the Egyptian military’s control of the country’s economy and instead focused on squeezing the middle and lower classes through subsidy cuts and other key reforms, Zeinab Abul-Magd writes for the rag known as Foreign Policy.

Extremists have issued 3,000 ‘fatwas’ encouraging the destruction of churches in Egypt and rejecting coexistence between Muslims and Christians, according to a tally from Dar Al Ifta, Al Arabiya reports. Grand Mufti Shawki Allam condemned the edicts./

Other coverage worth a skim this morning:

• Egypt and Russia could be signing the Daba’a contracts in May, following an expected visit from the House Energy Committee to Russia this week, committee member Hegazy El Baz tells Sputnik. Please don’t hold your breath.
• The UAE jailed Nasser bin Ghaith, an academic, for ten years over tweets that criticized Egypt, according to Newsweek. “The authorities did not specify what the social media posts said, or which posts led to his arrest.”
• Al Jazeera is calling for the release of Mahmoud Hussein, who, it says, spent his 100th day held “in conditions that violate his human rights.”
• At the El Gouna Squash Open set to take place in a week, Britain’s Laura Massaro is faced with the daunting task of upstaging Egypt’s women squash champions, who have wrested control in the sport, The Telegraph says.