Al-Zahraa Layek Helmee, center, is surrounded by her fans for selfie pictures at the annual Cairo International Book Fair, in Cairo, Egypt, February 4, 2022. Online, where Helmee has 1.2 million followers on Facebook, many cheer her on. Others – men and women – reprimand her in messages, urging her to “fear God” or arguing that her voice can tempt men, an idea she rejects. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)





A man rows a fishing boat while another beats the water with a tree branch while cruising through the plastic-filled Nile river water off the shore in the Egyptian capital's twin city of Giza on February 13, 2022. (Photo by Amir Makar/AFP Photo)





A man buys flowers on Valentine's Day in Cairo, Egypt on February 14, 2022. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)





A woman carries flowers and a balloon while celebrating Valentine's Day in Cairo, Egypt on February 14, 2022. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)





Visitors gather before sunrise outside Ramses II's (1279-1213 BC) Great Temple in Egypt's southern town of Abu Simbel ahead of the solar alignment early on February 22, 2022. The sun illuminates the temple's inner sanctuary only twice a year with a wide belief among archaeologists that the two days mark the pharaoh's birthday and day of coronation. The temple, constructed circa 1264 BC, was cut out of sandstone cliffs above the Nile River in an area near the second cataract. It was saved from the rising waters of Lake Nasser created by the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s by an international campaign led by UNESCO to move the temple to higher ground. (Photo by Mohamed Asad/AFP Photo)





The sun illuminates the stone sculptures in the inner sanctuary of the Ramses II's (1279-1213 BC) Great Temple in Egypt's southern town of Abu Simbel during the solar alignment early on February 22, 2022. (Photo by Mohamed Asad/AFP Photo)





Men and women dressed in traditional Mexican dress pose with a Mexican flag as visitors gather outside Ramses II's (1279-1213 BC) Great Temple in Egypt's southern town of Abu Simbel during the solar alignment early on February 22, 2022. (Photo by Mohamed Asad/AFP Photo)





People walk under a 150 year-old banyan tree near the Cairo tower in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, February 17, 2022. Massive road construction projects have erased some of the oldest remaining green spaces in Egypt’s capital. As Egypt prepares to host the global climate conference COP27 this year, activists say they’re in a tough fight to save what trees remain. (Photo by Amr Nabil/AP Photo)





A woman walks past a recently planted tree on a narrow pavement which replaced a huge garden in Heliopolis, in Cairo, Egypt, February 14, 2022. (Photo by Amr Nabil/AP Photo)





A worker collects Egyptian traditional “baladi” flatbread, at a bakery, in el-Sharabia, Shubra district, Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. The Russian tanks and missiles besieging Ukraine also are threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people in Europe, Africa and Asia who rely on the vast, fertile farmlands of the Black Sea region. That could create food insecurity and throw more people into poverty in places like Egypt and Lebanon, where diets are dominated by government-subsidized bread. (Photo by Nariman El-Mofty/AP Photo)





Egyptian female judges pose at the State Council headquarters in Giza, Egypt, 06 March 2022. Egypt’s president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has announced in June that women can work at the State Council and the Public Prosecution for the first time in the country’s history starting 01 October. A landmark presidential decree has been issued on 04 October declaring 48 women from the State Lawsuits Authority and the Administrative Prosecution and 50 women from the State Lawsuits Authority and the Administrative Prosecution will begin their work as assistant counselors and deputies at the State Council respectively. In spite of the fact that there are a number of women working in judicial positions, no woman has ever been appointed as a judge at the State Council and the Public Prosecution before. (Photo by Khaled Elfiqi/EPA/EFE)





Egyptian archaeologist speaks inside the tomb of a woman named Petty who was responsible for the King's beautification and the priest of Hathor, at a recently discovered tomb at the Saqqara area, in Giza, Egypt, March 19, 2022. (Photo by Hanaa Habib/Reuters)





An archaeologist looks on after working outside a newly discovered tombs at the Saqqara area, in Giza, Egypt, March 19, 2022. (Photo by Hanaa Habib/Reuters)





Reporters prepare to enter a recently discovered tomb at the Saqqara area, in Giza, Egypt, March 19, 2022. (Photo by Hanaa Habib/Reuters)





Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, displays a statue found in a recently discovered tomb near the famed Step Pyramid, in Saqqara, south of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, March 19, 2022. Egypt on Saturday displayed recently discovered tombs at an infamous Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital of Cairo. The five tombs, unearthed earlier this month, date back to the Old Kingdom (1570 B.C. and 1069 B.C.) and the First Intermediate Period, an era spanned for around 125 years after the collapse of the old kingdom, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. (Photo by Sayed Hassan/AP Photo)





A bread vendor carries a tray of Egyptian traditional “Baladi” flatbread, outside a bakery, in the Old Cairo district of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Egypt's Central Bank raised its key interest rate Monday for the first time since 2017, citing inflationary pressures triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine, which hiked oil prices to new records. (Photo by Amr Nabil/AP Photo)





Lanterns of various colors, patterns and sizes are laid out for sale on the market stalls to decorate people's homes and streets during the upcoming Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt on March 27, 2022. The “Ramadan Lantern”, one of the most important symbols of Ramadan in the Islam world, was first produced presumably in Egypt. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)





People decorate a street with ornaments for the upcoming holy month of Ramadan in Giza, Egypt, 31 March 2022. People put up decorations and ornaments in the Egyptian local tradition as part of the celebration of the holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start in Egypt on 02 April 2022. Muslims around the world celebrate the holy month of Ramadan by praying during the night time and abstaining from eating, drinking, and sexual acts during the period between sunrise and sunset. Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and it is believed that the revelation of the first verse in the Koran was during its last 10 nights. (Photo by Khaled Elfiqi/EPA/EFE)





Egyptians members of the “Tanoura Dance Troupe” perform during the holy month of Ramadan, at the Ghouri complex, in Islamic Cairo, Egypt, 13 April 2022. (Photo by Khaled Elfiqi/EPA/EFE)