Bulaq in the shadow of luxury real estate development. Photo: Sherif Hafez. From Egypt Independent.

Land rights, labor, and violence in a Cairo slum (Tom Dale and Abdulkasim al-Jaberi, Egypt Independent, 15 July). Five-year-old Bulaq resident Amar Mohammed Salah is killed in a fire after staff at the adjacent Nile City Towers luxury development refuse to turn on water taps for Bulaq’s fire hose. (For earlier reporting on Bulaq, see Egypt Weekend Reading 7 July.)

Firsthand account: inside Ramlet Bulaq on the day of the clashes (Egypt Independent, 5 August). Continued coverage from Tom Dale and Abdulkasim al-Jaberi on Bulaq residents’ struggle against intimidation, neglect, and dispossession. Bulaq resident Amr Fathi is reportedly shot dead by a Nile City Mall tourism police officer after demanding overdue payment for his work as a temporary security guard. Protesting residents face gunfire, tear gas, and media spin.

A tale of towers and shacks (Mohamed Elshahed, Egypt Independent, 12 August). Crucial commentary on Bulaq that puts recent events in the context of Bulaq’s history and the larger issues of “the severe inequality sanctioned by the government in matters of urban development, the failure of emergency response mechanisms, and the narratives that dominate the media to fill the vacuum of fact-finding and comprehensive legal investigations.”

Save Bulaq General Hospital (Cairo Observer, 5 May).

Revolution of the thirsty (Karen Piper, Design Observer Group, 12 July). On water scarcity and privatization, Cairo’s luxury suburban developments, and the role of informal settlement residents in the revolution.

More recent news on Egypt has been dominated by 8 August attacks in the Sinai and President Morsi’s 12 August announcement of changes to the constitution and to the military staff. On The Arabist, Issandr El Amrani gives a useful summary and early thoughts on both these unexpected events: The Morsi maneuver: a first take (12 August) and On the attacks in Sinai (6 August). Unsurprisingly, US and Egyptian officials have accelerated talks on US assistance for “military equipment, police training, and electronic and aerial surveillance”: After Sinai attack, US and Egypt step up talks on security (11 August).