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Latest in Politics


Egypt seeks to showcase furniture industry

CAIRO: The Egyptian furniture industry will take part in The Hotel Show 2006 for the first time this year as part of a government plan to get the industry to showcase its ability to take part in the increasingly profitable regional market. As the regional hospitality industry s meeting place, The Hotel Show will take …

Najla Moussa

Ancient temple discovered beneath Cairo flea market

CAIRO: An ancient solar temple has been discovered beneath a flea market in a Cairo suburb, the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday. The temple was found on Thursday embedded in green shist rock beneath the market, said Zahi Hawass, the council s secretary general. Royal statues in pink-colored granite, probably from the time of …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Australia suspends cattle exports to Egypt over mistreatment charges

SYDNEY: Australia on Sunday announced a temporary ban on the export of live cattle to Egypt while claims of mistreatment in abattoirs there are investigated. The suspension came ahead of the broadcast later Sunday by commercial television of footage said to show cattle suffering serious mistreatment. Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said he had suspended the …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

We're better than Germany

CAIRO: Did you know that Egypt is now the 17th best country in the world in football? Out of 205 officially registered teams, this is not a bad situation to be in. New FIFA standings show that Egypt jumped 15 places thanks to its winning of the African Cup of Nations. So we are now …

Alaa Abdel-Ghani

Opposition figure Ayman Nour questioned for battery

CAIRO: Opposition figure Ayman Nour, sentenced in December to five years in prison for falsifying official documents, was questioned on Thursday for allegedly beating a member of the ruling party. Nour appeared before a court in southern Cairo to respond to charges of hitting and wounding a member of the National Democratic Party (NDP) with …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Bird flu spreads to areas in west, south

CAIRO: Bird flu has spread to birds in provinces in the south and west of Egypt, which has launched a campaign that will include mosque sermons to raise awareness about the virus, the government said on Thursday. The government said cases of the deadly virus had now been found in birds in Beheira, on the …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Point of View

CAIRO: There are many names for it depending on where you are in the world, but the objective is the same. Whether you call it niqab, burga, purdah or abaya; the face veil, to those who believe in it, represents the ultimate act of superficial modesty as written in the Quran. My interest first began …

Vivian Salama

BLOM unveils its strategy for Egypt

CAIRO: Having recently acquired Misr Romanian Bank, executives from Lebanon s BLOM Bank visited Cairo this week and outlined their strategy for Egypt. BLOM is Lebanon s largest bank with total assets of $11.2 billion. It has branches in Jordan, Cyprus and Syria and and with its acquisition of Misr Romanian Bank, also in Egypt …

Waleed Khalil Rasromani

Present and Tense: Up in heaven

Birds have never accepted humans as equals. They have been monitoring our progress over the centuries with diligence. Their north-south seasonal flights are not for feeding and breeding as we assume, but for surveillance and research. Now their leaders have concluded that we’re a vicious race with a hidden agenda. We don’t know yet their …

Nabil Shawkat

Health

CAIRO: The rich, smooth taste that melts in your mouth and the feeling of euphoria that comes after a couple of bites. This makes chocolate an indulgence that many enjoy and crave time and again. The guilt however, will usually set in. Now there’s good news for chocoholics. There have been reports that chocolate may …

Aida Nassar

Health activists censure government's bird flu response

CAIRO: Government measures to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus are insufficient, according to independent Egyptian health experts. Action in Egypt to tackle the problem has been confused and chaotic, said Raouf Hamed of the National Organization for Drug Control and Research. Moataz Billah Osman, researcher at the Arab Organization for …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Career

CAIRO: In the midst of the current sad state the local music scene seems to be mired in, due to new, unskilled singers and composers – there are few that can be labeled as true artists. Wagih Aziz, a 44-year-old singer and musician, is one of those few who prioritize music over fame. Aziz, whose …

Daily News Egypt

Champions Egypt get soft African Nations Cup qualifying draw

CAIRO: The 2008 African Nations Cup qualifying draw treated newly crowned champions Egypt and runners-up Ivory Coast generously. Egypt are in Group 2 with minnows Botswana, Burundi and Mauritania and the Pharaohs should finish first by a wide margin and secure a berth at the 16-nation tournament in Ghana. Ivory Coast, losers after a penalty …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Invasion of the body snatchers

CAIRO: It has become a fashion item. Their capabilities are forever being expanded and technology convergence has never been better exploited. Their modulation has seen them demonstrate intelligence, intuitiveness and some would say emotional tendencies too. The smart phone can now browse the internet and organize your day. It can play games, music or video …

Wael Elazab

Detained Egypt, Saudi suspects lynched in Iraq second city

BASRA, Iraq: Eleven suspected foreign fighters from Egypt and Saudi Arabia were seized by gunmen from a prison in Iraq s largely Shiite second city of Basra Wednesday and all but one of them lynched, police said. A total of 20 gunmen forced their way into the city s Mina prison and disarmed the guards …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egypt offered in vain to help Denmark avoid cartoon crisis: FM

COPENHAGEN: The Danish government ignored several offers from Egypt to help it avoid a full-blown crisis over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first published in Denmark, media here quoted Egypt s foreign minister as saying on Thursday. “I said that we were approaching something that was very dangerous. The contents of this case risked causing …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Mubarak urged to make good on press law pledge

CAIRO: A media watchdog on Thursday urged President Hosni Mubarak to fulfill a two-year-old pledge to amend a law which lays down jail terms for journalists convicted in libel cases. “The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urges you to fulfill the commitment you made two years ago today to initiate legislation to eliminate prison sentences …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Nour says reform issue goes beyond his case

CAIRO: Jailed opposition leader Ayman Nour said Wednesday that his case represented only one of the many problems confronting the political reform movement in Egypt. “I believe that political reform should not be reduced to only my case, he said in a statement released through his office to coincide with the visit to Egypt of …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Press Round-up

CAIRO: Ending the week featuring almost identical front pages, with the same news, pictures and layout: Al Ahram and Al-Akhbar reported the same dominating news of bird flu and Condoleezza Rice’s visit to the country. The many demonstrations, however, were only reported in the independent newspapers. “Because the government has always been a liar, people …

Sarah El Sirgany

Health officials look to assuage bird flu fears

CAIRO: Restaurants across much of the country have stopped serving chicken. Supermarkets are selling out of mineral water following word that the Nile-source drinking water may be contaminated. Multiple theories have emerged regarding bird flu: how it got here, where it came from, who s in danger and how to protect yourself. In an effort …

Vivian Salama

Centurion Energy buys oil and gas sites

LONDON: Canadian-based Centurion Energy International Inc. said on Wednesday it had bought a private U.S. firm with oil and gas operations in Egypt and Texas for $225 million. Centurion, which is listed in Toronto and on London s junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM), said the acquisition would add 8,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Orascom to eye acquisitions after IPO

ALGIERS: Orascom Telecom (OT) will eye more acquisitions including a bid for Greek firm TIM Hellas after the initial public offering of its Weather Investment later this year, its chairman said on Wednesday. Naguib Sawiris told Reuters in an interview the firm had won a $2 billion loan to consolidate existing debt and finance its …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Poultry producers suffer as government's actions questioned

CAIRO: A leading poultry producer says that it has not sold a single baby chick since the outbreak of avian flu in the country 11 days ago. Wadi Holdings breeds and sells day-old chicks to farmers. It also sells chicken feed and poultry-related products make up the majority of its revenues. The company controls 45 …

Waleed Khalil Rasromani

Median o/n interbank rate rises to 8.6125 pct

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on the Egyptian pound rose to 8.6125 percent on Thursday from 8.55 percent on Wednesday after central bank auctions drained liquidity from the market, traders said. “Most of the banks are bidding aggressively in the central bank auctions so it s a little bit short, one trader said. The …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egypt to offer 20 percent of EgyptAir

CAIRO: Egypt is preparing to offer 20 percent of state-owned airline EgyptAir to the public, in the latest big-ticket privatization in the government s drive to sell off state assets. “The shares will be offered as soon as the study is complete, Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq said, in comments reported by the official Middle …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Word on the Street

CAIRO: Taxis are a way of life in Egypt. From the quick hop down the street to the longer drives across town. They are readily available . Should they agree to drive you. There are more than 50,000 taxis on Cairo’s streets, and the number seems to be growing daily, with the majority of them …

Daily News Egypt

Thirty-two held after sectarian clashes

CAIRO: Egypt s attorney general ordered 32 suspects remanded in custody Wednesday in connection with sectarian clashes south of Cairo that left eight people wounded. They included both Christians and Muslims arrested after Monday s violence in the village of Al-Ayat, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Cairo, judicial sources said. The violence came …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egypt offers to buy farm chickens due to bird flu

CAIRO: Egypt s government will buy all healthy chickens offered for sale by farmers until late March in a bid to support farms hard hit by the outbreak of bird flu, Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza said on Wednesday. Demand for chicken has collapsed since the deadly H5N1 virus was first identified in chickens in Egypt …

Daily Star Egypt Staff

Egypt sets up gas shipping firm

CAIRO: Egypt has set up a joint venture shipping company to transport gas and is ordering a new ship that is planned to enter operation by the end of 2007, a senior Egyptian official said on Tuesday. “We are in the process to acquire the ship … We will be having the ship operated, God …

Daily Star Egypt Staff