Egypt rejects UNESCO’s nomination of imprisoned photojournalist for press freedom award: The Foreign Ministry denounced in a statement yesterday UNESCO’s intention to award the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to imprisoned photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid (aka Shawkan), who was arrested while covering anti-government protests in 2013.

Playing ball: Egypt said on Sunday it welcomed North Korea’s decision to suspend its nuclear missile tests, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. The comments came ahead of an expected summit between US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un. The United States last year cut some aid and froze other payments to Egypt, reportedly because of Egypt’s military ties to North Korea. South Korea’s top news agency subsequently reported that the Egyptian and South Korean defense ministers signed an agreement “deepen the partnership between their countries on North Korea and arms development … Egyptian Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi stressed that his country has already severed all military ties with North Korea.”