Free Republic

ICC Note:One of the women who was killed during last week’s brutal terrorist attack against a church in Helwan died protecting her two daughters, aged 11 and 7. According to her daughters, their mother pushed her children to the ground and sheltered them from the bullets of one of the terrorists. The attack on the church occurred a little over a week before the Coptic Orthodox Christmas, which will take place on January 7th. Tensions are high as Christians throughout Egypt prepare for celebrations with the knowledge that terrorists will likely continue to target their churches during this time. 1/01/18...

FULL TITLE: Nine people are killed at a Coptic Christian church in Cairo before police shoot dead gunman and capture a second attacker Gunmen have killed at least nine people after opening fire at the entrance of a Coptic Christian church in Egypt this morning. Two attackers went on the rampage outside Mar Mina church south of the capital Cairo before one of them was shot dead as he tried to storm the building. The church was being guarded by police in the run-up to Orthodox Christmas celebrations next week. A picture of the gunman's corpse showed a bearded man...

At least one gunman has attacked a church in the Helwan district of southern Cairo, say reports. At least two police officers were killed in the attack, say local reports, before the gunman was himself killed by police. Another gunman may have escaped.

About forty kilometres south of Cairo, close to the town of Helwan, lie the ruins of the Sadd-el-Kafara ( = "dam of the Pagans"), an embankment dam of great size built around 2700-2600 BC, discovered over 100 years ago in the old, deep and dry Garawi ravine. The masonry-faced earthen dam originally measured 14 m height and 113 m length along the crest and is considered today the oldest dam of such size known in the world. The primal aim of the dam was to retain the water from rare but violent floods. It could also ensure water to workers...