Latest in Politics Highlight
Latest in Politics
The purpose of production
CAIRO: At a protest in Tahrir recently, there were about 50 people chanting slogans about freedom, God and justice. Although the number of protesters eventually grew, there were initially more spectators than protestors. A handful of important-looking officers oversaw as their many subordinates loitered. Journalists scribbled notes and cameramen recorded videos. About 100 meters down …
Egypt close to eradicating curse of elephantiasis
LONDON: Egypt is close to eliminating elephantiasis. This is one of the world s most disfiguring diseases and has plagued the country since the time of the pharaohs, scientists said on Friday. The condition, known officially as lymphatic filariasis (LF), is caused by a microscopic parasitic worm spread by mosquitoes. It can cause devastating symptoms …
Mido gets away with it
A recent issue of the sports section of The Sunday Times devoted an entire page to Ahmed “Mido Hossam, Egypt’s most famous football export. As you can guess from the headline, “Jewel of the Nile, sports critic Joe Lovejoy does not dwell too long on Mido’s famous touchline bust-up with Egypt’s coach Hassan Shehata in …
The Day The World Changed
The incredibly detailed timeline and graphic photographs of the 9/11 attacks are likely to evoke strong feelings. And perhaps conflicting feelings: Horror at the attacks, but maybe also resentment about the anti-Arab and anti-Islam backlash that followed. Some of the images have become permanently seared into our memories: American Airlines flight 11 crashing into the …
Egypt to publish report on Sharm El-Sheikh air crash
CAIRO: Egypt will publish Saturday its final report into the January 2004 crash of a Flash Airline flight near the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh that left 148 people dead, the civil aviation ministry said. Among the passengers aboard the Boeing 737 were 134 French holidaymakers, and a representative of the victims families has …
Heritage dumped in favor of the fat cats
A Supreme Council Court decision taken in January has thrust greedy developers into a fever. Without notice, the country s beautiful historic buildings, as well as turn-of-the century villas and apartment blocks, have become fair game for demolition squads. With so many of the country s architectural gems having been replaced by ugly high-rises, the …
Present and Tense
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Muslim Brotherhood urges Arab leaders to pledge financial support for Hamas
CAIRO: Arab leaders meeting in Sudan next week should commit to giving Hamas financial support, the head of Egypt s largest Islamic group, the MuslimBrotherhood, said in a statement Thursday. Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef also called on the upcoming Arab League summit in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to extend political, economic and financial support …
Xceed receives call center performance certification
CAIRO: Xceed, a call center owned by Telecom Egypt, celebrated the achievement of a performance certification from the leading authority on call center operations this week, while a company official tells The Daily Star Egypt that the government will subsidize similar certification for other call centers. The Customer Operations Performance Center (COPC) is based in …
Bird flu, talks regarding corruption take the lead
CAIRO: With bird flu making continuous headlines due to the four cases detected in humans, one being fatal, talks concerned with “government-protected corruption and Prince Charles’ visit to the country has added some diversity to the headlines. On Thursday morning, both national and independent newspapers confirmed that four people have been diagnosed with the deadly …
Shares up as investors bargain hunt OCI, OT
CAIRO: Egypt s benchmark Hermes index ticked up on Thursday as foreign institutional investors bought big-cap stocks that have fallen in previous sessions to levels considered cheap, traders said. The benchmark Hermes index gained 137.91 points, or 0.2 percent, to end at 57,520.09 points but the broader CIBC index ended down 0.39 points, or 0.2 …
Breathing space
CAIRO: With freedom of speech more an idea floated around rather than a reality in Egypt, with journalists sentenced to prison and fined for writing, some of Egypt’s journalists have resorted to the Internet to publish their controversial opinions, including commentaries on news, politics and the government. Sowtona.com is a Cairo-based Web site offering a …
National Book Program brings libraries to Egyptian public schools
CAIRO: The statistics are harrowing. In Egypt, some 35 percent of the population cannot read and write, placing Egypt among the top 10 countries worldwide with the highest illiteracy rates, according to the United Nations. For most of the programs developed to combat this crisis, children have been at the core. Most recently, more than …
President in bid to ease Syrian-Lebanese tensions
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak held talks with leaders from Syria and Lebanon on Thursday in what a presidential source said was an effort to repair strained relations between the two neighbors. Mubarak, who has long played a mediating role in the Middle East conflict, met separately in the Red Sea resort of Sharm …
Muslim scholars gather to defend Prophet after cartoon row
MANAMA: Some 300 Muslim religious figures opened a two-day conference in Bahrain Wednesday in support of the Prophet Mohammed following the row over his depiction in cartoons in European papers. The scholars, preachers, heads of Islamic associations as well as Arab and Muslim community leaders from Europe will explore a strategy aimed at preventing a …
Egypt to lift 25-year-old emergency laws
CAIRO: Egypt plans to lift 25-year-old emergency laws granting security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention that critics have long claimed are used against opponents of the government. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif announced the move in a speech to parliament late Wednesday, saying the laws would be replaced by new anti-terror legislation in Egypt, …
Oldest wooden statues found in Egypt
CAIRO: Archeologists in Egypt have unearthed two 5,000-year-old wooden statues, complete with gold wrapping paper, believed to be the oldest such artifacts ever found, the team said Wednesday. The statues, which depict two nude men with precious stones around their eyes, were found by a Polish team in the northern Nile Delta region of Daqahliya, …
Seeking a dangerous high
CAIRO: Six Egyptian teenagers have died while playing a dangerous game dubbed by teenagers as “the choking game. The victims were found dead, hanging from a rope. While initially termed suicide, after intensive investigation, it was determined that the victims died while playing the choking game. Using everything from shoelaces to belts and bike chains, …
U.S. remains committed to reform in Arab World despite Islamist gains, such as Brotherhood in Egypt
CAIRO: The United States remains committed to pressing for more democracy in the Middle East despite victories by Islamic fundamentalists in recent elections in Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, top U.S. State Department officials said Tuesday. The Bush administration has said reform in the Mideast is a top policy concern and has focused on Egypt, …
Breaking the ice
SALUM: The journey to reclaim peace in the Middle East found a rejuvenated spirit late Tuesday night at the Libyan border, despite their biggest setback to date. As the participants in the Breaking the Ice (BTI) campaign to promote peace in the Middle East returned to the Egyptian side of the border, tensions were high, …
Egyptian killed, 27 German tourists and eight others hurt when cruise boat on Nile hits bridge
CAIRO: An Egyptian was killed and 35 others, including German tourists, were hurt Tuesday when their cruise boat struck a bridge over the Nile as it tried to pass underneath, causing a canopy on the top deck to collapse, police officials said. The cruise boat, King Tut 2, was approaching its final destination in the …
Cairo Zoo declares war on bird flu
CAIRO: Masked men shrouded in white protective clothing spray rhinos, ibises and peacocks with disinfectant in a mad dash to stop the bird flu virus from turning Cairo Zoo into an animal graveyard. The paunchy men, clad in white, carry a hose that shoots out the watery Virkon disinfectant meant to save the menagerie from …
Cairo's Baby Fair: Highlighting the sorry state of child-raising in Egypt
CAIRO: Many mothers in Cairo were delighted to learn about the Baby Fair at the Intercontinental Semiramis Hotel, which ran for three consecutive days (March 19-21). The first of its kind promised an endless variety of products and activities for children; finally, some recognition that the baby industry was a potential gold mine. Especially with …
Egypt sends food to Gaza via Israeli crossing
GAZA: Egypt sent food shipments to Gaza on Wednesday to help alleviate a shortage of flour and other basic goods suffered by Palestinians due to Israel s frequent closure of the main commercial crossing into the strip. Palestinian security officials and witnesses said an Egyptian army truck laden with flour rolled into the Israeli side …
The sunny side of life
CAIRO: The sun has always figured prominently in life in Egypt. Its scorching rays beat down on the country during the summer months, and history is full of examples of the significant role it has played. In ancient Egypt, it was first worshipped as Horus, then Ra and later as Amun-Ra. Artist Laila Izzat has …
Orchestrating a brilliant performance
CAIRO: When Gilbert Kaplan first heard Gustav Mahler’s second symphony “Resurrection he fell in love with the music. “It wrapped its arms around me, he says. This captivation turned into “a love affair, to which he remains faithful to this day. “I thought the best way to try and understand [the feeling of connection to …
Banks short-listed for Eastern Tobacco privatization
CAIRO: Rumors of the sale of Egypt s sole tobacco producer have been rampant for months. Citing unnamed sources, Britain s Sunday Times reported last December that several multinational cigarette makers were considering a bid for the government s 53 percent stake in Eastern Tobacco. The newspaper stated that British American Tobacco, Altria Group, which …
Publication of Afaq Arabiya still on hold
CAIRO: The inner conflicts apparent in party newspaper Afaq Arabiya have heightened as journalists continue to protest the halt of the papers publication, endorsed by Managing Director and Editor Mahmoud Atiyya in his attempt to throttle the Muslim Brotherhood’s control over the paper. “I refuse having the newspaper turn into a sectarian newspaper because of …
Nazif defends economic policy, plays down threat from Muslim Brotherhood
CAIRO: Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif played down the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood to his government s economic reform agenda at a gathering of politicians, diplomats, businesspeople and civil society members on Monday evening. I don t see them as a challenge at all, says Nazif in a debate organized by Egypt s International Economic …
Popular Islamic preacher draws fire as he tries to bridge Islam and West
CAIRO: Islamic televangelist Amr Khaled is young, smiling, teaches love and mercy and is so popular he s credited with inspiring thousands of women, turned off by the dour and traditional clerics, to take on the veil. Now he s putting his popularity on the line by trying a new role, as a bridge between …