Even with hopes running high, so much can go wrong when a country ousts a longtime dictator and tries to start anew.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has fled the country.

The mother of a prominent Egyptian rights activist has said that she has started a hunger strike to pressure authorities to release her son Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who rose to prominence with the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East and in Egypt toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak.

One of the Egyptian activists behind the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak has walked free from prison under a presidential pardon after spending nearly 10 years behind bars.

Thousands of Egyptians are demanding that the British Museum return the Rosetta stone.

The family of imprisoned Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah says they were allowed to see him for the first time in nearly a month and that he is “very, very thin” after ending a hunger strike that prompted widespread concern for his health.

The family of Egypt’s imprisoned hunger-striking activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah says he has started drinking water again.

Family members say Egyptian prison authorities have intervened medically with imprisoned pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who this week escalated his hunger strike to refuse water.

The family of one of Egypt’s top jailed pro-democracy activists warn that the clock is ticking on his life as they plead with world leaders at the U.N. climate conference to press Egypt for his release.

The head of Amnesty International says that the proceedings of COP27 will be stained by the death of one of Egypt's leading rights activists on a hunger and water strike in prison if Egyptian authorities do not release him within days.

When Mikhail Gorbachev died at age 91, Associated Press journalists began sharing their “Gorby” stories from the collapse of the Soviet Union and its aftermath.

The doors of jihad opened for Ayman al-Zawahri as a young doctor in a Cairo clinic.

The family of a French backpacker who went missing in Egypt have used a Paris visit by the Egyptian president to press for an investigation into the 27-year-old traveler's disappearance.

When Joe Biden was running for president, he wasn't shy about calling out dictators and authoritarian leaders.

Egypt has displayed a trove of ancient artifacts recently unearthed at the famed necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo.

The head of a journalists’ union says Egyptian authorities have freed three journalists — the latest in a string of releases as President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi appears to be reaching out to critics of his administration.

Antiquities authorities in Egypt say archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of a temple for the ancient Greek god Zeus in the Sinai Peninsula.

Swiss prosecutors are concluding without any charges a decade-long investigation into alleged money laundering and organized crime linked to late former President Hosni Mubarak’s circles in Egypt and will release some 400 million Swiss francs ($430 million) frozen in Swiss banks.

Egypt has put on display recently discovered, well-decorated ancient tombs at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital Cairo.

The Biden administration says it has cancelled $130 million in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns just three days after greenlighting a massive $2.5 billion arms sale to the country.

The Biden administration has approved a massive $2.5 billion arms sale to Egypt despite ongoing concerns over human rights.

An advertisement by a French automaker has stirred up controversy in Egypt after activists said it promotes sexual harassment in a country where the practice is rampant.

They both carved out sterling reputations as military and political leaders over years of public service.

Egyptian authorities are unveiling a renovated ancient promenade dating back 3,000 years in the city of Luxor.

An Egyptian court has sentenced a prominent human rights lawyer to five years in prison for his conviction on charges that rights advocates have decried as baseless and politically motivated.

CAIRO – American and Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed what could be the oldest known beer factory at one of the most prominent archaeological sites of ancient Egypt, a top antiquities official said Saturday. The joint mission is co-chaired by Dr. Matthew Adams of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and Deborah Vischak, assistant professor of ancient Egyptian art history and archaeology at Princeton University. AdAdams said the factory was apparently built in this area to provide royal rituals with beer, given that archaeologists found evidences showing the use of beer in sacrificial rites of ancient Egyptians. With its vast cemeteries and temples from the earliest times of ancient Egypt, Abydos was known for monuments honoring Osiris, ancient Egypt’s god of underworld and the deity responsible for judging souls in the afterlife. Egypt has announced dozens of ancient discoveries in the past couple of years, in the hope of attracting more tourists.

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.

Journalists gather around an ancient sarcophagus more than 2500 years old, discovered in a vast necropolis and Mostafa Waziri, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, center, in Saqqara, Giza, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. Egyptian antiquities officials on Saturday announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins, some with mummies inside, and around 40 gilded statues south of Cairo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)CAIRO – Egyptian antiquities officials on Saturday announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins, some with mummies inside, and around 40 gilded statues in a vast Pharaonic necropolis south of Cairo. He said they would announce another discovery at the Saqqara necropolis later this year. The discovery at the famed necropolis is the latest in a series of archaeological finds in Egypt.

This Sept. 2020 photo provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities shows one of more than two dozen ancient coffins unearthed near the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, south of Cairo, Egypt. (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities via AP)CAIRO – Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed more than two dozen ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo, an official said Monday. The Saqqara plateau hosted at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, along with hundreds of tombs of ancient officials, ranging from the 1st Dynasty (2920 B.C.-2770 B.C.) In recent years, Egypt has heavily promoted new archaeological finds to international media and diplomats in an effort to revive its key tourism sector by attracting more tourists to the country. In October 2019, archaeologists unearthed 30 ancient wooden coffins with inscriptions and paintings in the southern city of Luxor.