Latest in Politics Highlight
Latest in Politics
President makes surprise visit to Sudan for talks on Darfur
KHARTOUM, Sudan: President Hosni Mubarak made a surprise visit to Khartoum on Tuesday, his first in more than a decade, and held talks with Sudan s president on the conflict in the Darfur region. The talks came a day after a top U.N. envoy, Jan Egeland, protested over what he called a Sudanese governmental decision …
Eight more Islamists detained in central Egypt
CAIRO: Egyptian security forces have detained eight more members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the central city of Al-Minya, the Islamist movement s spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. Eight members of the Brotherhood were arrested in Al-Minya, one of whom is the son of a Brotherhood member of parliament, said Essam Al-Aryan. It is …
Egyptian media and the road to democracy
CAIRO: Since the dawn of satellite television across the Arab world, the media has taken on a more combative role in its review of government, once the absolute force behind what was reported. Arab governments in recent years have been forced to take a hard look at their tactics for dealing with the media, as …
License for aspiring party delayed
CAIRO: In yet another setback for opposition groups, the Egyptian Political Parties Court has once again postponed a request by the Al-Karama (Dignity) group to officially form a party. “We are certainly going to win the case, a young member of Al-Karama, Mohammad Al-Hameedy, tells The Daily Star Egypt preceding Saturday’s court session. “We will …
Third license bid heats up as joint Telenor-NTC bid announced
CAIRO: In yet another fresh round of bids, Telenor, a Norwegian mobile operator, and the National Telecommunications Holding Corporation (NTC), announced yesterday during a press conference that they are partnering up to bid for the third mobile license. “The partnership with NTC reflects our determination to establish an operation that will benefit from local expertise, …
Profile of key players
President Hosni Mubarak In 1981, Mubarak, then Vice-President, became president of Egypt following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Mubarak declared on his inauguration that he would follow the political direction of his predecessor, which was marked by reconciliation with the West and peace with Israel inside internationally recognized borders. Before becoming president, Mubarak served …
UN health body confirms four bird flu cases in Egypt
CAIRO: The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that four Egyptians have caught bird flu, including two that died from the virus, an Egyptian health ministry official said on Monday. Nasr Al-Sayyed told Reuters that a WHO laboratory in Britain had verified the four cases. The result was received on Sunday, he said. The Egyptian …
Inquiry blames ferry captain for shipwreck
CAIRO: Initial results of an inquiry into the February shipwreck of the Al-Salaam 98 ferry in which 1,000 people died indicated that the captain was to blame, Transport Minister Mohammed Mansour said. The commission in charge of analyzing the black box concluded that it was an error of the captain which led to the sinking …
Fatwa against statues triggers uproar in Egypt
CAIRO: A fatwa issued by Egypt s top religious authority which forbids the display of statues has art-lovers fearing it could be used by Islamic extremists as an excuse to destroy Egypt s historical heritage. Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the country s top Islamic jurist, issued the religious edict which declared as un-Islamic the exhibition …
Al-Wafd bloodshed dominates headlines
CAIRO: The aftermath of Saturday’s bloodshed at Al-Wafd headquarters due to in-fighting between two party factions has not yet faded, with news of the incident still sending shockwaves through media outlets as an official investigation into the incident kicks off. Noaman Gomaa, recently overthrown party leader, and others, including Ashraf Nasser, son of MP Ahmed …
The pain of change
CAIRO: The government has been clear about the objective of its economic agenda: to reduce the dominance of the government in the economic process and increase the role of the private sector. This transition is not without opposition and the change may be painful to many involved. Ania Thiemann, the Economist Intelligence Unit s recently-appointed …
Committee recognizes new Al-Wafd Party head
CAIRO: A committee that oversees Egypt s political parties on Monday recognized the new leader of the opposition Al-Wafd Party whose previous ousted head was held for questioning after storming the party s offices. Rival Al-Wafd Party leaders sacked Noman Gomaa in January but he rejected the decision and on Saturday stormed the party offices …
Azhar supports religious freedoms
CAIRO: Sheikh Fawzy El Zefzaf, former head of Al Azhar s Religions Dialogue Committee, denied circulating reports that he signed an accord that would grant missionary groups the freedom to work in Egypt. The news has been interpreted as indirectly allowing Muslims to convert to other religions. In a brief interview with The Daily Star …
Ten Islamists detained in Alexandria
CAIRO: Egyptian security forces detained 10 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the northern city of Alexandria, the Islamist movement s spokesman told AFP Saturday. Ten members of the Brotherhood were arrested Friday in Alexandria, some of them as they were eating in a restaurant, Essam Al-Aryan said. He added that among those rounded …
Government blames bird flu recurrence on lack of compliance with instructions
CAIRO: The government has said that the probable cause for the recurrence of avian influenza among humans has been the refusal by some poultry farmers and bird owners to follow specific sanitation instructions. “Some poultry owners and farmers remain unwilling to follow the culling and sanitation instructions issued by the government over six weeks ago, …
The hidden truths of Caché
CAIRO: Days following the beginning of last year s Cannes film festival, an enigmatic French thriller stormed into what started as yet another disappointing round, and left both critics and filmgoers in utter awe. The film was Caché, the latest masterwork from Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, which is now being shown in Egypt as the …
Draft law on economic courts will go to parliament in two weeks
CAIRO: Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif announced yesterday that a long-anticipated law for special economic courts will be sent to parliament in two weeks. Speaking at the fourth annual Economist Conference, Nazif says that the law has been prepared and is being reviewed by the cabinet. The law will create separate courts for settling commercial disputes. …
Al-Wafd party infighting turns violent
CAIRO: Infighting between different factions within the Al-Wafd party turned violent Saturday, following each side’s failed attempts to reclaim the Dokki headquarters ended in bloodshed; at least 21 (according to Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, although other reports of 23 injured have surfaced) were injured in the violence, including two female journalists (Niveen Yaseen and Sahar Ramadan), …
Bank of Alexandria headed for the block
CAIRO: Jockeying is getting underway ahead of the planned privatization this summer of Bank of Alexandria (BOA), the country s first large, publicly owned lender to go on the block. The sale is part of a government strategy to consolidate and streamline the banking sector, still dominated by state-owned institutions, so as to spur competition …
The end of an era
Saad Zaghloul must be threshing around in his grave. One of Egypt’s best-known and loved nationalist figures, Zaghloul led a delegation, or ‘Wafd’ to demand the immediate evacuation of British troops from Egypt in November 1918. He was immediately exiled to Malta. The act unleashed a national fury that hadn’t been seen in modern Egyptian …
Egypt urges restraint after Mideast flare-up
CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak urged Palestinians and Israelis to exercise restraint after the latest wave of violence and called for a rapid return to peace talks, in an interview published Saturday. We call on both sides, the Palestinians and the Israelis, to exercise restraint, after the latest suicide attack by Palestinian militants in the West …
Group plants olive tree on Mt. Sinai to end month-long peace mission
CAIRO: After almost a month of trekking through the desert, the Breaking the Ice expedition is heading home. Despite the bumps experienced along the way, the team members say the mission was a success in building peace throughout the troubled Middle East region. “It was defiantly worth it, says Latif Yahia via telephone. “If it …
Egypt, Italy hold Textile, Leather and Agro-business Forum
CAIRO: In order to attract Italian investments in Egypt, the General Authority for Investments and Free Zones (GAFI), in partnership with the United Nations industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), will hold a Textile, Leather and Agro-business Forum in Italy, from April 5-7, 2006. The objective of this third annual Forum, which will be held in Rome …
Turning Egypt around
CAIRO: The fourth Business Roundtable with the Egyptian government, a turnkey event attended by the country’s government and business leaders, took place yesterday. An intensely interactive day of discussions and debates on government policy and future plans for business, the roundtable is a strategic event at which the Egyptian government presents and try’s to convince …
Egypt reports two new human cases of bird flu
CAIRO: Egypt reported two new human cases Sunday of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has already killed two Egyptians and infected four others in recent weeks. Health Minister Hatem Al-Gebali told reporters at Cairo airport that the infected persons were two sisters aged 18 months and six years from the northern Nile …
Inquiry blames ferry captain for shipwreck
CAIRO: Initial results of an inquiry into the February shipwreck of the Al-Salaam 98 ferry in which 1,000 people died indicated that the captain was to blame, Transport Minister Mohammed Mansour said. The commission in charge of analyzing the black box concluded that (it was) an error of the captain which led to the sinking …
Islam recruited to help Egyptians fight HIV
CAIRO: In Egypt, HIV and AIDS happen to other people: foreigners, the sexually promiscuous, drug addicts and the morally corrupt. Which is why Ahmed Turky s Friday sermon at a small Cairo mosque was unusual. In a Muslim country where hard drugs are relatively rare, gays are imprisoned and sex before or outside marriage is …
Egypt bans wife of ferry owner from travel
CAIRO: Egyptian authorities have banned the wife of the owner of the ferry that sank in the Red Sea, killing about 1,000 people, from leaving the country, an official at Cairo airport said on Friday. Sausan Abdul Aziz was turned away at the airport as she tried to board a flight to Britain, the official …
Pouncing on the competition
CAIRO: Go ahead and watch Syriana. Munich? Better you than me. I see enough aggression and violence on a daily basis in the news, and I’d rather enter a movie with the potential to have me rolling through the aisles (I’ve never actually rolled through the aisles, although I understand that the ushers are less-than …
Hollywood heaven
http://www.filmsite.org/ This is a site for serious film buffs. It has been praised by the American film industry’s publication of reference, Variety, and has been called “a labor of love by critic Roger Ebert. The site’s author, Tim Dirks, started out in 1996 with an overview of the 100 greatest films ever made, then added …