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Latest in Politics


U.S. settles with Sept. 11 detainees for $300,000, lawyer says

NEW YORK: The U.S. government has agreed to pay $300,000 to an Egyptian man who was detained for nearly a year following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but was never linked to terrorism, his lawyer said. Attorney Haeyoung Yoon, who represents Ehab El Maghraby, said she believed it was the first settlement involving the claims …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Islamist sees Mubarak's son seeking presidency

CAIRO: A top leader of Egypt s largest opposition group said on Sunday he expected President Hosni Mubarak s son, Gamal, to seek the presidency within two years, citing as evidence the postponement of local elections. Muslim Brotherhood deputy leader Mohamed Habib also told Reuters in an interview that he expected a crackdown on freedoms …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Calyon Egypt 2005 net profit rises 63 percent

CAIRO: Calyon Bank Egypt, which is 75 percent owned by French investment bank Calyon, made a net profit of LE 60.5 million ($10.6 million) in 2005, 63 percent up on 2004, the stock exchange said on Tuesday. Calyon is a subsidiary of Credit Agricole. Calyon Egypt s net profit in 2004 was LE 37.1 million. …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egypt median o/n interbank rate falls to 8.5 percent

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on the Egyptian pound fell to 8.5 percent at a start on Tuesday of a new two-week period for calculating reserves, from 8.842 percent on Monday. Bankers said most dealers had their eyes on an auction of 7-day central bank notes worth LE 4 billion ($670 million), to see …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Influencing art

CAIRO: I splashed some colors from a tumbler. Smeared the drab world with emotion. I charted on a dish of jelly the jutting cheekbones of the ocean. “In the beginning of my life, I have read these versus, written by an unknown English poet, when the impact of war influenced the English artists, says Hassan …

Najla Moussa

Alex Iron and Steel helps Egypt stock market up

CAIRO: Alexandria Iron and Steel helped the Egyptian stock exchange up on Tuesday on continuing interest in Ezz Steel Rebar s plan to increase its stake in the company, brokers said. Alexandria Iron and Steel shares rose LE 175.29 ($30.59) or 11.7 percent to last trade at an all-time high of 1,670. Ezz said earlier …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Kuwait's Global eyes Egypt, plans $1 billion fund

DUBAI: Kuwait s Global Investment House will increase its investment and advisory work in Egypt, which had one of the world s best performing stock markets last year, a senior company official said. Shailesh Dash, senior vice president and head of strategic investment at Global, told Reuters the firm was looking to open an office …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

MIBank arranges $254.5 million loan for MOPCO

CAIRO: Misr International Bank (MIBank) has arranged a syndicated loan worth $254.5 million for Misr Oil Processing Company (MOPCO) to build a new fertilizer plant, MIBank officials said on Tuesday. The export-only plant is to be based in Damietta on Egypt s Mediterranean coast, and will have the capacity to produce 635,000 tons of urea …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

All too familiar

CAIRO: The depth of reformers disappointment over Egypt s would-be democratic Spring might be best seen in judge Hesham El-Bastawisi. When the president announced a year ago his drive for greater democracy, the deputy head of the country s top appeals court felt hope. Now he faces possible interrogation by the police for trying to …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egypt median o/n interbank rate rises to 8.65 pct

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on the Egyptian pound rose slightly to 8.65 percent on Monday from Sunday s 8.64 percent in active trade on the final day of the central bank reserve period, bankers said. The central bank measures banks reserves over a two-week period ending on Monday. A new period begins on …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egypt to release three British Islamists from jail

CAIRO: Egypt has agreed to release three Britons sentenced to five years in jail in March 2004 for promoting the aims of the Hizbut Tahrir Al-Islami (Islamic Liberation Party), an Interior Ministry official said on Monday. The Britons; Reza Pankhurst, Maajid Nawaz and Ian Nisbett, were among a group of 26 men jailed for between …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Living in moderation

CAIRO: Being an Islamist is an already assuming task, even in a country that has turned toward Islam in recent years. However, for some, there is a middle road between modernist and Islamist. That path is the chosen route of Walid Ramadan, a Cairo businessman, who expressed his desire to see Egypt become a moderate …

Joseph Mayton

Imprisoned journalist hopes for a pardon

CAIRO: Local press and human rights organizations are still fuming over the one-year prison sentence handed to an Al-Masry Al-Youm journalist. Opposition and independent newspapers are vowing to relentlessly support their associate, calling on President Hosni Mubarak to immediately intervene. “The verdict is unjust, Abdel-Nasser Al-Zoheiry, the sentenced journalist, tells the The Daily Star Egypt. …

Pakinam Amer

Sharm El-Sheikh to host World Economic Forum

CAIRO: The 2006 World Economic Forum (WEF) will be hosted this year by Egypt from May 20-22 in Sharm El-Sheikh, the country’s red sea tourist attraction. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the WEF decision to come to Egypt “reflects the forum s recognition of Egypt s long-standing commitment …

Najla Moussa

Beyond the alphabet

CAIRO: New in the country? Troubled by the fact that you still can’t put together an Arabic sentence? Don’t be too frustrated; most Egyptians can’t do it either. “There is no more than one percent of Egyptians who can put together a correct Arabic sentence, says Mohamed El Sawy, founder of the Zamalek-based El Sawy …

Sarah El Sirgany

Press Round-up

CAIRO: As Egypt’s national press is continuously focused on covering President Hosni Mubarak’s diplomatic visit to the Gulf, with updates of his tour dominating headlines, opposition and independent newspapers are offering more stories related to bird flu, as well as freedom of expression, on their front pages. According to national newspapers, the talks being held …

Pakinam Amer

Egypt says containing spread of bird flu

CAIRO: Egypt said on Friday it was containing the spread of avian flu in the North African country, saying some new cases in birds had been identified but they were all in previously infected areas. The authorities have also been testing people who have been in close contact with infected birds but no human cases …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egypt to import more frozen meat, replaces chicken

CAIRO: Egypt will make it easier to import frozen meat to combat rising prices after shoppers spurned chicken following cases of bird flu in the North African country, the Trade and Industry Ministry said on Saturday. Many Egyptians have reacted with anger over the surge in meat prices, which some say have risen as much …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egyptian man gets three years for stabbing nun

CAIRO: A criminal court in Alexandria sentenced a young man to three years in jail on Sunday for stabbing a nun, the official MENA news agency reported. The court also found Mohammed Al-Said Ahmed, 19, guilty of wounding a lawyer after he tried to help the nun, carrying a knife illegally and resisting the authorities, …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Denmark denies Egypt offered help to avoid cartoon crisis

COPENHAGEN: Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller denied Friday a claim by his Egyptian counterpart that Copenhagen had ignored offers from Egypt to help it avoid the crisis over cartoons of Prophet Mohammed first published in a Danish newspaper. In an interview published Thursday in the Politiken daily, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit described discussions with …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Contemporary art seeks to step out of Pharaohs' shadow

CAIRO: Egyptian art is often reduced to ancient statues, sarcophagi and the wondrous riches that fill the Cairo museum. Some 24 centuries after the decline of the Pharaohs, contemporary works may finally have found new legitimacy via the web. To break the shackles of their country s artistic heritage and circumvent a state system which …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Sandstorm wreaks havoc on transportation

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities diverted some flights and delayed the takeoff of others Sunday as a sand storm blanketed the capital, airport officials said.Bad weather and low visibility were also blamed for numerous accidents that left seven people dead and 17 injured. At Cairo airport, at least six flights were diverted to smaller airports in Egypt, …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Filming gone too far?

CAIRO: Israeli filmmaker and journalist Nimrod Kamer put together a nine minute video documenting what he calls “a new cultural phenomenon of the girls at the Cairo International Stadium, during one of the matches in the African Cup of Nations a couple of weeks ago. The film takes place during Egypt’s 4-2 victory over Congo …

Farah El Alfy

Egyptian Sunni leader offers to help end violence in Iraq

CAIRO: The head of Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam s highest seat of learning, said Saturday he was ready to travel to Baghdad to help quell the wave of communal violence convulsing Iraq. Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi told a press conference he was willing to meet his Sunni and Shiite Iraqi brothers to help them reconcile. …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Heineken takes over management of Al-Ahram Beverages Co.

CAIRO: Al-Ahram Beverages Co. (ABC), which changed hands twice in the past decade, is now firmly in Heineken s hands. The company was nationalized in 1963 then privatized in 1997. For five years thereafter, it was headed by Ahmed El-Zayat, who turned around the company, bought out competitors and introduced several new brands including I.D. …

Waleed Khalil Rasromani

Al-Hadary the hero

CAIRO: Goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadary was once again the hero of Egypt as Al-Ahly lifted the African Super Cup with a penalty shootout triumph over FAR Rabat Friday. Neither club could score in the 120 minutes of regulation, and extra time, before Ahly converted four consecutive kicks while Al-Hadary saved two Moroccan kicks at a well-populated …

Daily Star Egypt Staff