Escorts of Pope Shenouda on his medical trip at Cleveland Clinic in the U.S. state of Ohio said the pope's health condition is stable, adding the physicians treating the pope said could probably return to Cairo by mid-December.
Meanwhile, Munīr Hannā Anīs Armanius, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, said the real triumph can be measured with what deputies in parliament can offer to Egypt, not with what they can get from Egypt.
"We are not scared by the victory of Islamist groups [in parliamentary elections] but what really alarms many Egyptians – Muslims as well as Christians – were the statements made by these groups which do not express the Egyptian people's reality," said Bishop Munīr.
He noted that the language of "sidestepping Christians from leading posts in the state on the pretext that they should not rule over their Muslim fellow citizens is one that is not compatible with the spirit, civilization and Coptic-Islamic roots of Egypt." [Yūsuf Rāmiz, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Dec. 9, p. 3] Read original text in Arabic
In the meantime, Grand Shaykh of the Azhar Dr. Ahmad al-Tayīb said that the top Sunni establishment is vigilant on any attempts to disrupt religious unity and national fabric in Egypt.
"The Azhar will never allow any propensities that take Shiism as cover for purely sectarian objectives or regional expansion purposes," Tayīb noted.
His statement followed celebrations by Egyptian Shiites of the 'Āshūra' at the al-Husayn Mosque in Old Cairo. [Khālid Musá, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Dec. 9, p. 3] Read original text in English
Also in al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, it was reported that the Supreme State Security Prosecution decided to add 24 suspects more to the list of persons involved in the October 9 incidents in Maspero area that claimed the lives of 27 people and left 350 others wounded.
According to investigations, those persons, including 15 prominent political figures, incited assaults on policemen and army soldiers with the objective of sparking chaos on the street and upsetting public peace. [Hātim al-Jahmī, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Dec. 9, p. 1] Read the original text in Arabic
On the other hand, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued a decision forming an advisory council, which is to discuss the two laws on presidential elections and the lineup of the constituent assembly on the constitution.
A meeting between SCAF Vice Chairman and Chief of Staff Lt. General Sāmī 'Anān and a host of figures, including presidential candidates, leaders of political parties and politicians at the headquarters of the defense ministry in Kubrī al-Qubbah district, discussed names of proposed persons for the new council.
The names included Ahmad Kamāl Abū al-Majd, al-Sayīd al-Badawī, Sāmih 'Āshūr, 'Abd al-'Azīz Hijāzī, Najīb Sawirus, 'Amr Mūsá and Muhammad Salīm al-'Awā.
The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood group, announced that it withdrew from the advisory council. [Ahmad al-Bihnisāwī, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Dec. 9, p. 6] Read original text in Arabic
