Latest in Politics Highlight
Latest in Politics
Egypt grills Al-Jazeera bureau chief
CAIRO: The Egypt bureau chief of Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera was questioned by a state security prosecutor Thursday after being arrested in the Red Sea resort of Dahab. Hussein Abdel Ghani was accused of broadcasting false information liable to harm Egypt s reputation, the station said, as fellow journalists and rights groups condemned the arrest …
Egypt needs bird flu awareness says WHO
CAIRO: Egypt needs to raise public awareness of how to avoid bird flu, which the government says has killed one person and infected four others this month, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday. There was no sign of human-to-human transmission in Egypt, said Hassan al-Bushra, WHO regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance. …
Investor views on Egypt stay positive despite bombs
LONDON: If recent history is anything to go by, then this week s bombings in Egypt will not deter investors who stuck with its resurgent economy after even bloodier attacks on the Sharm El-Sheikh resort in July 2005. An economic reform program launched by the government in 2004 has been applauded by analysts for bringing …
BREAKING NEWS: Al-Jazeera bureau chief released on bail
CAIRO: The Cairo bureau chief of Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera was detained for a day and questioned on Thursday by Egyptian state security prosecutors. Hussein Abdel Ghani was arrested on Wednesday in the Red Sea resort of Dahab and accused of broadcasting false information liable to harm Egypt s reputation, the TV station said. He …
Egypt blames same Bedouin group for all Sinai attacks
CAIRO: Egypt blamed suicide attacks in the Sinai Peninsula this week on local Bedouins linked to an Islamic radical group also responsible for other bloody bombings in Red Sea resorts in the past 18 months. The information indicates that the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks that occurred in Dahab and Al-Gura are Sinai bedouins, nterior …
Press round-up
CAIRO: While newspapers were preoccupied with the judges sit-in and the repercussions of last week s brief sectarian strife in Alexandria, the Sinai bombings exploded onto the scene. This dominaed news coverage and initiated a series of editorial debates reflecting on various local concerns. Some of the newspapers on Tuesday weren’t able to cover the …
Calls to prayer to be synchronized in Cairo
CAIRO: The government has agreed to buy 4,000 wireless receivers for a project to synchronize the call to prayer from all state-run mosques in the Cairo area, the state news agency MENA said on Thursday. The government first floated the project in 2004, provoking some opposition from traditionalists. The news that it will sign a …
Police use force to disperse protestors in Egypt
CAIRO: Police attacked demonstrators Thursday rallying in support of two pro-reform judges who had been hauled before a disciplinary board for accusing the judiciary of helping fix elections. The hearing, which lasted an hour, was adjourned until May 11, but reformist activists condemned the police crackdown, charging that President Hosni Mubarak s government was once …
Nordic lovers defy Dahab bloodbath to wed
DAHAB, Egypt: We had to show the bombers. We believe in love, said Icelander Anak Aldin, who tied the knot with his girlfriend in Dahab amid the carnage of Monday s triple bomb attack. He dismissed any suggestion of canceling his Bedouin-style wedding to Swedish girlfriend Kerstin Hellman after the explosions ripped through the Red …
Two suicide bombers attack north Sinai
ISMAILIA, Egypt: Two men blew themselves up in north Sinai on Wednesday, one near an airport used by an international observer force and one near the northern town of El Arish, security sources said. The bombs, which followed three deadly explosions in the east Sinai resort of Dahab on Monday, killed only the bombers, an …
Speculation runs rampant after bombings
CAIRO: As news of the Dahab bombings spread through word of mouth, TV stations or mobile news services, Cairens varied in their initial reactions, even though they were united in condemning the events. Yesterday, as North Sinai suffered two more attacks, speculations were even more diversified. On Monday night, when the news began circulating, coffee …
Judicial controversy continues to heat up
CAIRO: Riot police resorted to violence to disperse protestors sitting-in at the Judges Club on Monday, with one judge allegedly beaten while at least a dozen were arrested. The attorney general’s official report, however, denies the use of force against demonstrating crowds. “This incident sends a message to the judges . Yet physical abuse will …
Police questions 30 in connection with bombings
DAHAB, Egypt: Police were questioning some 30 people yesterday in connection with the attacks. Security officials say three of those being detained, three computer engineers. They are identified as Moumen Farouk Mohammed, Ali Karim Ashraf Abdallah and Maged Ali Mahmoud, and arrived at the resort on Sunday and left an hour after the attacks. The …
Bedouins feel shadow of suspicion after bombs
DAHAB, Egypt: The Bedouin of the Sinai Peninsula felt the shadow of suspicion fall across their tight-knit community on Tuesday after bombs killed 24 people in the tourist resort of Dahab on the eastern coast. At the Bedouin-run Mirage Village hotel in Dahab, not far from the scene of Monday s bombings, manager Atef Salem …
BREAKING NEWS: Al Jazeera bureau chief detained by Egyptian police
CAIRO: Police detained Al Jazeera television s Cairo bureau chief, accusing him of spreading false information while reporting the Sinai bombings, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday. An Interior Ministry spokesman said Hussein Abdel Ghani had been taken in for questioning after reporting an explosion in the eastern province of Sharkia on Wednesday, a report …
Bombings raise question of foreign connection
CAIRO: A third set of bombings targeting tourists on the Sinai Peninsula adds to the mystery about the secretive group thought to be behind them, driving some analysts to suspect a foreign connection. Hours after Monday s bombings in the budget resort of Dahab, Western analysts mentioned Al-Qaeda as a possible culprit. But many security …
BREAKING NEWS: Clashes erupts as police attack demonstrators supporting judges
CAIRO: Police attacked demonstrators Thursday rallying in support of two pro-reform judges who had been hauled before a disciplinary board for accusing the judiciary of helping fix elections. The hearing, which lasted an hour, was adjourned until May 11, but reformist activists condemned the police crackdown, charging that President Hosni Mubarak s government was once …
Tourism tipped to bounce back from attacks
CAIRO: The deadly blasts in Dahab are bound to cause short-term damage to Egypt s vital tourism industry, but it has bounced back from previous strikes. Health and security officials said 24 people were killed in the triple bombings on Monday night, in a fresh blow for the sector which is Egypt s top money-spinner. …
Bourse dismisses Dahab but Sinai blasts bite
CAIRO: The bourse opened strongly on Wednesday as investors shrugged off bomb attacks in the coastal resort of Dahab two days ago, but two mid-session bombings in north Sinai wiped early gains, traders said. The latest attacks hit stocks across the board, but traders said the market lost relatively little ground. Orascom Hotels and Development, …
Sinai bombings turn resort town into war zone
DAHAB: It was like war. I d never seen anything like it before, a child, a baby, blood everywhere, said German doctor Michael Hartlich, shaking at the memory, and tears in his eyes. A boy died in my arms. As the sun rose Tuesday over the Red Sea, the appalling destruction of three deadly explosions …
As Mubarak era enters twilight, spotlight falls on son
CAIRO: Egyptian writer Ahmed Fekri is so convinced President Hosni Mubarak will step down soon that he has drafted a resignation speech for the long-time leader. I have entrusted my son, Gamal, to take the post of president of the Republic. Before you, I advise him to guard the system of the Republic, jested Fekri, …
World leaders condemn triple-bombing
VIENNA: World leaders united to roundly condemn Monday s deadly triple bomb attack in Dahab. The European Union on Tuesday called the bombings “despicable, and leaders across Europe said they were standing with the Egyptian government against terrorist attacks. In a statement issued by Austria, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, the 25-nation …
Press links Dahab blasts to other Islamist attacks
CAIRO: State-owned newspapers on Tuesday linked the deadly blasts which rocked the Red Sea resort of Dahab with previous Islamist attacks in the Sinai. The preliminary findings of the investigation show a possible link between these attacks and those in Taba and Sharm El-Sheikh, the top-selling Al Ahram daily said. According to the interior ministry, …
Two suicide bombers attack north Sinai
ISMAILIA, Egypt: Two men blew themselves up in north Sinai on Wednesday, one near an airport used by an international observer force and one near the northern town of El Arish, security sources said. The bombs, which followed three deadly explosions in the east Sinai resort of Dahab on Monday, killed only the bombers, an …
Israel makes common cause with Egypt after attacks
JERUSALEM: Israel looked to make common cause with the Egyptian government against Islamist extremists Tuesday after the latest Sinai bombings, having warned for months about possible attacks in the region. In a late night phone call to President Hosni Mubarak, Israel s acting premier Ehud Olmert offered condolences and any assistance required in the aftermath …
Preparing for the possibility of more attacks
JERUSALEM: Militants in the Sinai Peninsula are already plotting their next attack in the popular resort area, an Israeli anti-terrorism expert said Tuesday, a day after a triple bombing killed at least 24 people there. * Brig. Gen. Elkana Har Nof, an official in the prime minister s counterterrorism department, said the Red Sea coast …
TUI suspends trips to Sinai peninsula after Dahab blast
HANOVER: TUI, Europe s leading travel and tourism group, said Tuesday that it was suspending all trips and excursions to the Sinai Peninsula in the wake of the three deadly blasts that ripped through Dahab on Monday, killing 24 people. All excursions scheduled for today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday) on the Sinai peninsula have been …
Still unclear who plotted Dahab blasts: minister
LONDON: It remains a mystery that was behind Monday s suicide bombing in the Red Sea resort of Dahab in which 24 people were killed, Minister of Tourism, Mohamed Zoheir Garana, said Tuesday. Later on during the day, at least 10 people were arrested in connection with the bombings. It would be very premature to …
Ten people arrested following bombings
DAHAB, Egypt: Ten people have been arrested in connection with three powerful explosions that rocked the Red Sea resort town of Dahab as vacationers wrapped up a long holiday break. The consecutive blasts were all within 200 feet of one another and left some 24 people dead and at least 150 injured, according to the …
Brotherhood fears government will use blasts to extend emergency law
CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood warned Tuesday against any attempt by the government to use the deadly bombings in Dahab to silence opposition to the planned renewal of a longstanding state of emergency. The [government] had already decided to extend the state of emergency before the bombings, the opposition Islamist movement s spokesman Essam Al-Aryan told …