After years of working in the English version of Copts United, our journey comes to an end. Yes, to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3: 1). However, we didn t wish or expect to see our lovely platform closed that soon. In the past years, we have tried to be the voice for the voiceless following the vision of the creator of this electronic newspaper Eng. Adly Abadir. We have tried to raise our voice to support he weak and the suffering people. Our goal have been always to defend the Coptic cause and to keep the Copts united. Indeed, this is the mission of Copts United that we hope it will not be shut down because of financial problems or any other challenges. The Corona virus pandemic came with many bad results and many blessings as well to the world. Yet, one of its really bad effects came with the suspending of the English version of Copts United. We wish our beloved home, Copts United, will continue to play its vital role and complete the mission and vision of its founder. Moreover, we pray for peace, prosperity and recovery of the world in that hard time.

In few hours, we will be celebrating New Year and the Christmas tree will be fully decorated. Thus, I wish you a happy new year and marry Christmas. However, it is known that some people hate that celebration though it has nothing to do with them and they are not even invited to celebrate with us. Those people often appear at the end of each year calling to prohibit having a Christmas tree and prohibit taking pictures with it! I wish everybody have a good time and never listen to such calls of retardation. If you don’t like our celebration and hate Christmas tree that much, you can simply stay at home and let the people be happy. I wish you all a merry Christmas and happy new year.

He is a ten year old child who became famous in the Austrian capital Vienna, as the youngest reader in the city with more than 90 books in just one year. He is the Egyptian child Adam Hossam El-Qast. The management of one of the city s public libraries was surprised by this large number of books he borrowed from the library in different fields and large size, as some books were more than 500 pages without pictures! The story started from the school, as the library management contacted Adam s family to make sure that he was actually borrowing all these books to read them, and that he was not forced to do that. After discussing him they made sure that he understood the content of the books, so they asked him to offer a monthly seminar for the child on the library s website, he discusses the books he read with children of the same age group, and recommends them the appropriate quality, according to the interest of each child. German as his mother tongue didn t prevent Adam from reading about his home country and the Egyptian history. He also likes books about animals and science fiction. His picture appeared on one of the major newspapers in Vienna and the national television interviewed him last week. Adam s interests did not stop at reading only, but two years ago he studied programming language, design, and montage programs. A tribute to Adam, his family, his school and his teacher, who discovered his talent, took care of it and supported it.

Nearly ten years have passed since the departure of the founder and leader of the Copts United Website, Eng. Adly Abadir Youssef. The fact that Abadir carried many of the attributes of his name, which is a Phoenician name for the supreme God, meaning "the mighty father," He was actually a mighty man who was able to raise the voice of those who had no voice due to intellectual and political corruption in Egypt during the Mubarak era. What Abadir presented to Egypt during the last five years of his life from 2004 until his departure at the end of 2009, made him alive until now and will remain alive in the heart and thought of every person who believes in human e quality, citizenship and dialogue. The man had a fight against tyranny, hatred, rejection, deliberate exclusion and other matters with negative and destructive consequences on the Egyptian society including both Muslims and Copts. Abadir was not a god, but was as strong as one with heavenly powers. Yes, he suffered from severe illness as one old man, but he indeed had a young spirit and determination. He may have lost several rounds with his illness, but he has never lost his war against corruption and ignorance and fighting for freedom even though he was not able to reap the fruits of his seeds. He was forced to stay away from his own homeland, but this didn’t put any hatred in his heart towards Egypt. Instead, his vision was able to differentiate between a falling regime, and this is what happened in the January 2011 revolution, and the everlasting country of Egypt. He was falsely accused by supporters of Mubarak’s regime, but he didn’t take it personal even when he criticized this regime. Even his enemies testified that Abadir was a respectful man who has clear vision. He was a model for the fight for the sake of equality in Egypt, which was not accepted by everyone. Money, fame and power may cause a person to lose mercy and not feeling about the suffering of the others, but Adly Abadir was exactly on the contrary. He used his money, fame and power to serve the poor, the powerless and the defeated. That is why the mighty Adly Abadir preferred to fight till the end. He looked to the future and established an online newspaper that served a special journalism of Coptic content for nearly 16 years. His foundation became first in the Coptic field. Shall his plant continue to live, or its enemies will celebrate its death soon? I wish enemies of Adly Abadir and his foundation will not win at the end!

Although covid 19 is dominating the scene right now but we shouldnt forget that christmas always brings joy to the families and communities and we shouldnt let vocid 19 ruin our christmas experience. Its a time to celebrate christmas differently, people usually were devoting their time for shopping and getting gifts, however, it might be a good time to celebrate christmas in helping others or getting groceries for elder people who cant go out because of this pandemic.

Many people see 2020 as one of the worst years we have lived. Between political assassinations, deaths and natural disasters, we have lived through very difficult times. Only at the beginning of the year, the United States assassinated the Iranian leader Qassem Soleimani, which sparked many fears of a destructive war between the United States and Iran, and then the Ukrainian passenger plane was accidentally shot down by an Iranian missile. The Australian bushfires also killed about 500 million animals and destroyed 26 million acres and more than 5,900 buildings. Not to mention the killing of African American George Floyd and the demonstrations that erupted afterwards, in addition to the environmental disaster in the Arctic, with a significant drop in the level of ice. The bad news also included the Beirut explosion and the increasing suffering of the Lebanese, with many political and economic crises. Moreover, the year did not pass before the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain formally signed agreements to normalize relations with Israel,. All this and much more made 2020 a hot year amid tumultuous events, but amid all this noise, Egypt was still guarded and blessed, and this difficult year did not pass before a number of gifts were presented to this people who suffered so much. The improvement in economic indicators and Egypt s recording a positive growth were at a time when most countries recorded a decrease and negative indicators in the growth rates. At a time when the world was doing its best only to confront the Corona pandemic, Egypt was carrying construction equipment and working hard to accomplish ambitious plans for growth and progress. Thousands of projects and many presidential campaigns, including 100 million health, were implemented to detect and treat many diseases for free. Moreover, at the end of the year, the unprecedented achievement of the Egyptian champion Mamdouh Al-Subaie, known as Big Rami, after he won the first place in the world in the 2020 Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding Championship, which is the largest and most important world tournament for professional players in bodybuilding. Egyptian achievements and a positive outlook prove that the year 2020 was never that bad.

After the tragedy of the events of the disaster of the Lady of Karm village in Minya, I found myself remembering more than 30 years spent abroad before I decided to return home. I choose to live in Minya governorate and built a house and took a loan to start a project in my new city. One day, there was a rumor about a romantic relationship between a Muslim woman and a Christian man working for me. The rumor spread and thousands of people gathered after Friday prayers holding white weapon. Soon, they attacked my house and project and set them on fire spreading fear in the heart of my family who were lucky to find a hiding place. I called police to save me, but nothing happened before the mobs destroyed my property. I was moved to a simple hospital for treatment after the attack. Police asked me about what happened, and videos showing the perpetrators were taken the surveillance cameras to identify their faces and arrest them without describing the attack as sectarian. Senior officials in the city and the leading clergy obliged me to wavier my rights and accept a customary reconciliation session in order to save the national unity and avoid more violence in the neighborhood. I lost everything and my family are suffering though we did nothing wrong. I lost my mind and started shouting: what happened? Are we really suffering in Egypt? Is it a dream or nightmare?

For 9 years, the church of the Saints Mark the Apostle and Pope Boutros in Sidi Bishr neighborhood of Alexandria celebrated the martyrdom of its martyrs who were martyred on the evening of New Year s Eve ten years ago as a result of the terrorist bombing attack. However, this year the celebration was canceled due to the spread of Corona virus. Only families of the martyrs will be allowed to attend the Divine Liturgy held to celebrate the annual anniversary at St. Mina monastery in King Mariout on December 31. The attack on the church has shocked the people all over the world who saw the attack, and therefore, many people called to change the name of the street in which the church is located to bear the name of the martyrs. This call that was approved by the local administrative council and raised to the governor, who just ignored the decision. I think it is not yet too late to change the name of the street on their tenth anniversary. I hope he does in order to honor those martyrs and condolence their families.

I agree with our great writer and dear friend Hamdi Rizk in his writing about The Case of Karm Lady in his article “Appeal shows justice for the grieving!” The writer is always concerned with the call to activate all the mechanisms of achieving full citizenship in Egypt that taught the world how to respect human being and creativity. Yes, there is no comment on the judgment of the judiciary, but we need to appreciate that the Attorney General, Counselor Hamada Al-Sawy, commissioned the technical office in his office to study the appeal of the judgment of innocence of the accused in the case known as the Lady of Karm village , as soon as the criminal court that issued the ruling deposited its reasons. Here, the appeal is presented by the people s lawyer to save what can be saved of the woman s dignity, escpially after the shocking verdict to acquit all defendants in the case that the president had apologized for it promising to punish all perpetrators. However, I wonder who is responsible for such shameful verdict. Is it a mistake of a weak lawyer against a good lawyer of the defendants? Is it the absence of justice and lack of interference of the officials to save rights of the weak woman? Moreover, why did the president apologized for the old woman if nothing bad happened to her? Did he receive misleading information? In fact, the president is working hard to treat Christians equal in Egypt, which appeared in restoration and construction of churches and the issuance of laws for their construction for the first time in centuries. He paid several visits to the cathedral to congratulate Copts in their feasts. He called to renew the cultural and religious discourse. Finally, I agree with the writer at the conclusion of his article when he indicated that the merits will be in the hands of the defense of Mrs. Suad within thirty days, and I hope she will receive justice finally.

My memories with Coptsunited will never end and will always stay in my heart. I had the honor to be part of this family since it started. I had the honor to be part of this success, I had the honor to meet great people through this website and in the top of this list are Eng, Adly Abadeer, Eng, Ezzat Bolous and more which I cant type all of them to not forget one of them. Coptsunited was never a place to work but a message to deliver, there were many upsides and downsides during the road but the determination, the love and the belief from Mr Adly Abadder in this message never ended.

The call of the Lord Jesus from the beginning of his ministry on earth is for us to repent and return to God. Thus, He calls us in Mark 1: 15 saying: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Shall we respond to this call while we are on the threshold of a new year? His Holiness Pope Tawadros II in his article“ The Time of Departure ”made it clear to us that what happened during the year 2020 of the spread of the Corona pandemic and the departure and the injury of millions of people is a warning bell for the sinners who lost their good relationship with God and follow all kinds of wrong gods including: money, science, technology and freedom. This led to more and more sins and deviation. God used the pandemic and its terrible spread to call the people to repent and return to Him. Therefore, His Holiness Pope Tawadros urges us in his article to wake up, repent, return and prepare for eternity, for with the passing of a year with all the painful memories that it brought us and with the advent of a new year in which we feel hope, especially with the production of vaccines against the virus in several countries after exhausting research, we find that we need to Spiritual remedies in addition to preventive treatments, among which prayers in the name of Christ, for Christ came to heal our diseases and he who said, “The healthy do not need a doctor, but the sick.” In the name of the Lord Jesus, healing miracles are performed by the hands of the apostles and saints, spiritual means such as prayer with faith, and anointing with oil in the unction of the sick and the use of holy water in the prayers because a source of expelling diseases and evil spirits. Let s repent before this year comes to an end and remember the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians: Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Egyptian research team from Benha and Kafr El Sheikh universities, headed by Dr. Ahmed El-Jazzar, professor of chest diseases and former dean of the Benha Medical College, won first place in a research seminar conducted by the University of Liverpool, with the participation of scientists from America, France, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Bangladesh and Australia about the effectiveness of Ivermectin for treating Corona virus. Dr. Ahmed Al-Jazzar indicated that Ivermectin was originally a veterinary treatment against worms in animals in 1980, and in 1984 it was used to treat parasites, scabies and hair lice in humans, and on March 14, the World Health Organization agreed to use it to treat Corona. After the experiments on animals, the Egyptian research team led by Dr. Ahmed El-Gazzar registered the research in the Ethics Committee for Scientific Research, and on June 8, clinical trials began on simple, medium and severe Corona patients, and the drug s effectiveness in treating them was proven by 99% in mild and moderate cases and 96% in late cases. The research was published in Nature International magazine on November 16th. The doctor emphasized that as soon as the research was raised, positive international reactions continued to assure its importance, as the University of Liverpool in Britain was invited to discuss the eight scientific researches around the world in this field, and this evaluation was held by the University of Liverpool, which decided to give the Egyptian research the first place. Greetings to Dr. Ahmed Al-Jazzar, his assistant team, and to everyone who contributed to finding this treatment, provided that it will be available for everyone.

Those who refuse normalizing relations with Israel take it from a narrow ideological standpoint and raise humanitarian slogans as a cover for their narrow racist ideologies. Their slogans of humanity and political pragmatism, but their words assure such normalization agreement was given for free by the Arab countries. They say this because they see normalization from an ideological, Arab nationalist perspective and not from a local national perspective. They evaluate matters according to a fictitious Arab interest and not from a humanitarian, national, or political, pragmatic perspective. So is the Moroccan, Gulf and Sudanese normalization with Israel really came for free? We will answer this question by identifying what these countries have obtained immediately including economic, scientific, technological and cultural benefits. Morocco obtained America s recognition of its sovereignty over the Western Sahara, which is a precious and valuable recognition that strengthens Morocco s position before the international institutions in that account. This recognition also represents a slap in the face of the Algerian regime, which supports the Polisario Front in the face of the Moroccan regime. The United States removed Sudan from the list of states supporting terrorism. This means Sudan s return to cooperation with international economic institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, especially with the deterioration of the Sudanese economic situation. The Gulf countries found a strong ally against Qatar, Turkey and Iran (the axis of the Muslim Brotherhood). Perhaps Trump s approval to supply the advanced F-35 aircraft to the UAE at a time when future purchases were banned by the United States to Turkey. It is clear that it is not a free normalization!

Yesterday, the Church of St. Damiana in Wardian in Alexandria lost a man called Ramses Poulos. He was not a victim of the Corona epidemic, but a martyr of hatred. In fact, he was slaughtered in broad daylight and on the roadside in front of his neighbors. I knew this man when I was appointed to serve in his church in the nineties. Therefore, I was surprised at the killing of Ramses and the attempt to kill his brothers at their shop and because of their religious identity, as part of a repeated collective assault on Copts because their are weak and different. His life had been condensed by the killers and his blood was shed for reasons that there is no room here to discuss. We should resort to the authorities that quickly grant licenses for the madmen in order to advise them not to specialize only and exclusively in targeting the Coptic citizens, because they have turned the right and left cheek!

Qatar for a long time and almost since year 2000 tries to support what its called new middle east movements for Democracy, although the real support was for the religious group in especially in Egypt, Libya and Syria. Lately, there is news that Qatar and the gulf countries along with Egypt started new negotiations round trying to reestablish their relationship with Qatar. The Emirate and Egypt confirmed that there was a negotiation and they are trying to reach an agreement.

The decision of the Coptic Orthodox Church to suspend all its services and holy message in Alexandria and Cairo was indeed hard and important at the same time. This is the second time to take this decision in the year 2020 and it comes to prevent the spread of covid-19 and to save as many lives as possible. 5 priests have already died this month to raise the total number of priests killed by the new Coronavirus to 30 since the start of the pandemic. I think the decision is very wise though it was very hard to be taken during the holy month of Koiak when the Coptic people are used to spend hours in the church to attend prayers and praises. Yet, it should save many lives before it s too late.

Despite his handicap that prevents him from moving and working properly, he works hard on the hand-loom to make handmade carpets that reflects his talent and effort. Mahmoud Islam is a 20-year-old who was born with brain paralysis that affected the nerves of his hands and legs as well as his tongue. However, you barely feel such handicap when he starts working on his hand-loom for many hours each day. Once, Mahmoud received a piece of advice to find a job and life. Soon, he found hope and profession. It was not easy in the beginning, but now he knows the way. Mahmoud had also worked very hard to get educated and obtain a diploma in industrial development. Now, he announced that he will teach women in his village how to work on the hand-loom as well.

In our lives, there are many lessons to learn in order to have a good relationship with the other based on love and fear of God. His Holiness Pope Tawadros II in his article "Sweet-Spoken words” published in the Evangelism Magazine, talked about some pieces of advice including that money is a good servant, but a very bad master. It should be a method and not a goal. Happiness is to find love and be loved without condition. Change is important as I grow old and wiser. Those who seek other people’s satisfaction can’t feel happy. Avoid getting angry, even if you have right. Your anger is a wrong method to express what is right. Losing confidence in yourself or in the others is one big gate to lose happiness. Losing confidence is harder than losing friends. My father is the best friend I have ever had. Ones beauty lies in his tongue. It’s not what you say, it’s when. Some words are like fragrance or stones, be careful what you through on the others. If you don’t build your future, some one will hire you to build his. Friends are like warm rooms in cold winter. A good friend takes our bitterness away. God is above all. God hears the lowest voice in your heart. Let’s learn from such words in our lives.

The thought of enlightenment was considered to counter the rigidity of the fundamentalist vision and this hostile trend for human peace, equality, coexistence and national unity. Defendants of enlightenment in the Arab countries adopted the Western methods and called for complete equality, relativism and pluralism in visions, perceptions and beliefs. Accordingly, the Arab Enlightenment people relied on the concepts of the West and its political and social systems based on equality, openness to others, and the aspiration for national unity and nationalism, and contributed to spreading it on secular foundations. For example, Al-Tahtawi wrote in his book about Paris that its people are predominantly cheerful in the faces of strangers, and treat them well, even if they belong to different religion. They accept such difference and never mind building houses of worship for other religions. Concerning enlightenment, the "Sunday Schools" Coptic magazine received an important and wonderful message from the Dean of Arabic Literature, Dr. Taha Hussein, calling on the religious establishment to correct and reform some matters, so the magazine publishes it comfortably. In his message, he called to give greater concern to the preparation of Coptic clergy and calls for equality among Muslims and Christians in both rights and duties.

It seems that women are not welcomed in Kuwaits Parliament after the election resulted in no success for any woman to be represented in the parliament. Arab countries failed once again to represent all sectors of society in the parliament which opened the possibility for thinking about different ways to have women in most if not all sectors in the country.

he lost his two hands in middle school, when a land mine exploded in him from the remnants of the World War, more than 40 years ago. Yet, the artist Talaat Nabih was able to write his name in history of art after he was able to prove his talent as great artist who paints with his mouth. Six months after the incident, Talaat , who is now 51 years old, decided to hold a pen with his teeth and mouth, entered the preparatory and general secondary examinations and the Faculty of Social Service, and excelled in drawing paintings with his teeth, and participated in many competitions, the first of which was a competition in the Youth and Sports Directorate, where he painted a painting about Jerusalem, and won the first place. Soon, he learned to write and draw with his elbow, and excelled in several Arabic hand writing including the Kufic and Diwani script, and was appointed at the Social Solidarity Directorate in Beni Suef to be an employee who writes official documents with his teeth! Greetings to Talat, his family, to everyone who supported him to overcome his obstacles and achieve success.