8745 Articles
CAIRO: The military council is adamant on staying in power until June 30, Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzoury said Wednesday, as he slammed calls for civil disobedience. Under increasing pressure to hand over power to civilians, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) announced that registration for presidential elections would start on March 10 instead …
CAIRO: Judge Sameh Abou Zeid, investigating the alleged illegal foreign funding of local and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs), said Wednesday that inspecting their offices was legal according to the criminal procedural law. "Labeling this inspection as a ‘raid’ is inaccurate since the law gives us the authority to order the prosecution to inspect the NGOs …
SHARM EL-SHEIKH: A low-ranking police officer was injured Wednesday as South Sinai security forces thwarted an attempted armed robbery on Credit Agricole Bank in Sharm El-Sheikh. Gunshots alarmed guests at the Sun Shine resort where the bank was located. Eyewitnesses told Daily News Egypt that four armed men attacked Naema Bay with machine guns but …
CAIRO: The Ministry of Health denied Wednesday that the death toll from the Port Said massacre had increased, contrary to what was reported by members of Al-Ahly fans, Ultras Ahlawy, and families of the victims. "The accurate number we have of the corpses that were transferred to Cairo by military airplanes and ambulances is 71," …
Spanish leaders and the entire art world mourned Tuesday the death of the great avant-garde painter and sculptor Antoni Tapies. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sent a message of condolences to the family of Tapies, who died in Barcelona on Monday aged 88, describing him as "one of the great reformers of 20th century art." "His …
George Clooney plays the kind of man he isn’t in "The Descendants" — ambivalent about life, uncertain about his role as father and husband, a passive link in a long Hawaiian chain. As lawyer and cuckold Matt King, he manages to convey both pathos and humor, often in a single scene. In an exclusive interview …
He wrote about life in the modern city, with its lawyers and criminals, bankers and urchins, dreamers and clerks. He created characters still known to millions — Ebeneezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim, Pip and Miss Havisham, Fagin and Oliver Twist. And it made him a star, mobbed by fans on both sides of the Atlantic. …
MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, back from talks with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, pointedly declined to say Wednesday whether Moscow asked the embattled leader to go, stressing that Syrians themselves should decide his fate. "Any outcome of national dialogue should be the result of agreement between the Syrians themselves and should be acceptable to …
MANAMA: The funeral march for Mohammed Yaacoub had barely ended last week when police and protesters faced off in the town of Sitra, an impoverished district of Bahrain that has borne the brunt of a year of unrest. Teenagers using scarves to mask their faces went on a rampage wielding iron bars and petrol bombs, …
KUWAIT: Facing a bigger and bolder opposition swept into parliament by voters frustrated with Kuwait’s dysfunctional politics, the country’s rulers are under pressure to appoint a cabinet that can survive long enough to deliver much-needed reforms. Opposition candidates won a solid majority in the 50-seat assembly last week, tapping into a surge of anger over …
JOHANNESBURG: The West’s increasing pressure on Iran has meant scrutiny for South African businesses that operate in the Middle Eastern nation accused of having nuclear ambitions. South African-Iranian political ties have long been close, and that has meant close business ties. A politically connected South African telecommunications company has been accused of pushing Pretoria to …
CAIRO: On Tuesday, Talaat Rashed Mansour spent his day salvaging what is left of his spare car parts shop that was burnt down during the latest clashes between protesters and security forces. Located on Mohamed Mahmoud St., the shop was completely destroyed after a tear gas canister hit its emblem before it penetrated the iron …
LONDON: Tensions over Iran, unrest in Syria and concern about refinancing of upcoming Dubai debt are making international investors wary of Gulf and other Middle Eastern markets this year, just as developed markets enjoy fresh gains. Storming oil prices and healthy balance sheets among energy-producing Gulf economies kept these markets on a relatively even keel …
CAIRO: Despite the political unrest affecting the region, logistics professionals believe Egypt, Libya and Tunisia — along with other Arab countries that experienced popular uprisings last year — are becoming attractive business destinations. Egypt, as well as Libya, made it to the top 20 list of major logistics markets for the future, according to a …
LONDON: Egyptians must overcome economic and political differences to unite and put the country on the path to democracy and away from military rule, former presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei said on Wednesday. "It is time to set aside our differences. We need the strength of a unified Egypt: ensuring judicial independence, protecting media freedom and …
DUBAI/CAIRO: Egypt’s index extended gains for a second day after investor appetite was boosted by Monday’s announcement by the country’s military rulers that they wanted to bring the presidential vote forward. Twenty-five of the benchmark index’s 30 stocks rose. The benchmark advanced 2.7 percent to 4,709 points, just shy of a year-high close of 4,713 …
CAIRO: The drain on Egypt’s foreign reserves showed little sign of abating in January, adding to pressure on the government to let its currency slide after a year of political turmoil in which the currency has remained almost steady against the dollar. The Egyptian pound has lost only around 1 percent of its value against …
CAIRO: Egypt’s ruling generals are playing a risky game of brinksmanship by cracking down on American nonprofit groups that promote democracy, threatening a relationship with Washington that has brought the military billions of dollars in aid over the past three decades. The generals may be betting the US cannot afford to cut relations with Egypt …
LONDON: Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Egypt of holding civil society groups "hostage" with a law dating back to ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime. "Egyptian authorities should scrap a Mubarak-era law used to prosecute civil society and ensure its planned replacement upholds the right to freedom of association," the London-based group said. Egypt is to …
ZURICH: FIFA is giving $250,000 in aid to the families of victims of the Egyptian football stadium disaster last week. FIFA says it will pay the money into a charitable account opened by the Al-Ahly club. Fans of the Cairo club were among more than 70 people who died in a violent rampage and stampede …
CAIRO: Egypt’s parliament agreed on Tuesday to freeze ties with the Syrian assembly and urged the government to denounce Damascus’s brutal crackdown on dissent, adding to a chorus of international condemnation. The People’s Assembly agreed to "freeze relations with the Syrian parliament over the escalating violence," the official MENA news agency reported. The head of …
CAIRO: A Salafi MP suddenly stood up in the middle of a session of Egypt’s parliament on Tuesday to issue a call for Muslim prayers, earning a reprimand from the speaker of parliament. "I never gave you authorization. There is a mosque for the call to prayers," said speaker Saad El-Katatny, himself a member of …
yCAIRO: A People’s Assembly (PA) fact-finding committee recommended that Egypt’s interior minister be sacked after holding him responsible for the deadly violence against protesters near the ministry over the past few days. The committee also demanded that the ministry be reformed and restructured as well as relocate its headquarters. At least 13 were confirmed dead …
CAIRO: HSBC bank said its staff and customers were unharmed after a “minor incident” occurred Tuesday morning outside its Sixth of October branch, according to a statement. "A minor incident occurred this morning in the Sixth [of] October area outside the offices of HSBC and the offices of another bank,” HSBC said in an emailed …
CAIRO: Ousted president Hosni Mubarak missed Tuesday’s court hearing due to poor weather conditions, as the defense for General Adly Fayed, former deputy interior minister, pleaded its case. According to Samir Helmy, one of the civil rights lawyers, Fayed’s defense team said that no orders were given to central security forces to use live ammunition …
BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle says he has summoned the Egyptian ambassador to protest Cairo’s move to prosecute members of human rights and pro-democracy groups, including at least two Germans. Westerwelle told reporters Tuesday that he had "made our position clear" and vowed to do everything possible to help ensure the groups can operate …
CAIRO: An Egypt run by Amr Moussa would be a civilian state with an army that enjoys respect but not "a life of its own," a vision that could challenge the privileges of generals who have been ruling since Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power. In an interview with Reuters, Moussa also said he would …
CAIRO: In a bid to accelerate the handing over of power to civilians, a delegation of activists met with the People’s Assembly on Monday to discuss the various initiatives, among them a proposition to appoint the PA speaker as an interim president until elections occurred. “We’re a group of public figures which have decided, in …
CAIRO: Egypt’s government will back down in a stand-off with Washington over US funding for civil society groups because allowing the dispute to drag on could jeopardize aid worth billions of dollars, two Egyptian officials said. Nineteen Americans are among 44 foreign and local activists banned from leaving Egypt and referred to a criminal court, …
Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo has been hailed as a bold champion of democracy, but a new compilation of his writings shows him also to be deeply introspective and doubtful of the West’s model. Liu has been in forced silence despite winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Chinese authorities sentenced him the previous year …
