Latest in Tag: Investment Highlight
Latest in Tag: Investment
MB military tribunal postponed for the second time
CAIRO: The Hikestep Military Court on Tuesday postponed the trial of 40 Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members for the second time to April 15. Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud believes that the decision to postpone the case was a “direct order from the government which is the executive authority because it wants to wait until …
US ship opens fire on local boat in Suez
CAIRO: An American cargo ship contracted by the US navy opened fire on Egyptian boats in the Suez Canal late on Monday. Egyptian authorities stated in press reports that one man was killed and two others injured. However, a statement by the US embassy in Cairo said that initial reports from the American ship indicated …
Russia, Egypt seal nuclear power deal
NOVO-OGARYOVO: President Hosni Mubarak and Russia s President Vladimir Putin oversaw the signing Tuesday of a deal will enable Moscow to bid for the construction of Egypt s first atomic power station. The head of Russia s Rosatom nuclear energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, and Egyptian Energy Minister Hassan Younis signed the civilian nuclear cooperation accord …
Final hearing of Brotherhood's military tribunal to be held today
CAIRO: The Hikestep Military Court complex will supposedly hold the last hearing in the trial of 40 Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members today, Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, told Daily News Egypt. Arrested in December 2006, the detainees, including Khayrat El Shater, third highest-ranking member and chief financier, were accused of belonging to a banned …
Parliamentary question on exporting gas to Israel goes unanswered
CAIRO: A question on why Egypt is exporting gas to Israel for favorable prices went unanswered at the People’s Assembly (PA) as government officials requested more time to prepare a response. Member of Parliament Hamdein Sabahy posed the question to Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy who was present Sunday night to respond to parliamentary queries …
Police arrest 13 Africans trying to cross into Israel
RAFAH: Police arrested 13 Africans on Sunday as they tried to cross into Israel to look for work or political asylum there, a police official said. The arrested Africans included men, women and children from Eritrea, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Sudan, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to …
Tunnel collapses over Palestinian smugglers
Al-ARISH: A smuggler s tunnel linking the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to Egypt collapsed on Friday, nearly suffocating four Palestinians and trapping another under rubble, Egyptian and Hamas officials said. The Palestinians were trying to hollow out a recently sealed tunnel, located some 10 meters below ground, when its vulnerable sandy ceiling crumbled under its own …
Palestinian prisoners released after Hamas meeting
CAIRO: Egypt released 33 Palestinian prisoners affiliated with Hamas Sunday after talks were held the previous day with representatives of the group and Islamic Jihad. The released prisoners were driven to the Rafah border crossing where they then entered the Gaza Strip. However the most senior member of Hamas incarcerated in Egypt was not among …
Egyptian ex-Guantanamo detainee left with just empty promises
TANTA: On Oct. 1, 2005 Sami Al-Laithi turned 50. This was also the very day he arrived in Cairo after nearly four years of imprisonment and torture at Guantanamo Bay. He was released after a US military tribunal deemed him innocent of charges of being an enemy combatant. But Sami returned to Egypt on a …
Hamas accuses Egypt of torturing its prisoners
CAIRO: Hamas has accused Egypt of torturing its members who have been held on the other side of the border after crossing from the Gaza strip late January. Hamas leader Said Siyam told a website that supports the group that he had reliable information that certain members of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam brigade (the armed branch …
Copts boycott municipal elections in Qena
CAIRO: Objecting to their names being stricken off the local council elections’ candidate list, Copts from Abou Tashet and Farshout in the Upper Egyptian Qena governorate sent an official letter to President Hosni Mubarak, announcing their boycott of the April 8 elections. The news was reported on the almesryoon.com website, on which the Copts who …
Mubarak warns against continued insults to Islam's Prophet
CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak warned Tuesday that continued insults to Prophet Mohamed will just make the situation worse for everyone, while at the same time criticizing the extremists using these insults to justify their actions. Mubarak also warned Israel that no occupation lasts forever and urged the Palestinians to give peace a chance. “With the …
Nazif may lead Egyptian delegation to Arab summit
CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak is expected to assign Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to lead the Egyptian delegation at the upcoming Arab summit in Damascus, according to Egyptian diplomatic sources speaking to the Saudi Al-Watan newspaper. However, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit played down the report, stating that “the level of representation [at the summit] was …
Five years on, Iraq's future is still uncertain
CAIRO: As the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion descends upon us, the war-torn country is still bogged down with no solution in sight. What was sold as a swift victory which would be the basis of the democratization of the region can now be seen as the heart of the region’s troubles. President George …
Israeli defense official in Egypt for Gaza talks
CAIRO: Senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad was in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman on the situation in Gaza and the possibility of reopening its border with Egypt. Gilad, political advisor to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, was to discuss the situation at the Rafah border crossing which has …
US universities turn schools for spies and more
WASHINGTON: That young American exchange student who stayed with you last summer to do a language immersion course could be part of a new program to educate the next generation of US intelligence agents. But don t worry: even if she does end up working for the CIA, the likelihood of her becoming an undercover …
Suleiman in Israel this week to conclude Shalit deal
CAIRO: Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman is due in Israel later this week in an attempt to conclude a prisoner-swap deal as a second phase of an Egyptian-mediated truce. According to the deal, Israel will exchange its captive soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured during a raid on his military camp near Gaza in 2006, for …
Supreme Guide warns of 'public outburst'
CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leader Mohamed Mahdy Akef warned Egyptian authorities against the possibility of what he called a “public outburst after hundreds of members failed to complete candidate applications for the upcoming local council elections. “Egyptian society is in a state of rage. If the government’s policy remain as it is, the situation will …
Protesting MB women demand their political rights
CAIRO: A group of female members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) demonstrated yesterday in front of the National Council for Women to protest government restrictions on registration for local council elections. Six of the protestors had failed to submit their papers in Alexandria, while the others were the wives and daughters of MB members who …
NDP members resign, protest against discrimination ahead of elections
CAIRO: Some 600 National Democratic Party (NDP) members resigned from the party in the Daqahleya governorate in objection to what they said were obstacles they encountered while attempting to register as candidates for the coming local council elections. The 600 NDP members also held a protest at the party’s headquarters in Daqahleya, claiming that the …
Egypt furious about US human rights criticism
CAIRO: Egypt has responded furiously to the latest bout of US criticism regarding a campaign of arrests and a US report on the general state of human rights in the country. Besides comments by White House spokeswoman Dana Perino citing American concern over a “campaign of arrests involving Muslim Brotherhood members prior to local council …
Brotherhood are in hiding, says AP
CAIRO: Dozens of Muslim Brotherhood candidates have gone underground, sleeping away from their homes and families, in efforts to dodge arrest ahead of local elections next month, The Associated Press reported. Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud, the group’s chief lawyer, said that recent government crackdown has forced Brotherhood members underground. Several prominent figures also switched off …
Thousands protest on final election registration day
ZAQAZIQ/CAIRO: Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members demonstrated Thursday, the last day of registration for the April 8 local council elections Demonstrators congregated in front of court houses in the three provinces of Zaqaziq, Tanta and Alexandria to protest a government crackdown which has prevented hundreds of potential candidates from nominating themselves. They chanted slogans such …
US blasts Egypt over MB crackdown
CAIRO: The United States has lambasted Egypt for the recent spate of arrests of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members prior to local municipal elections scheduled for April 8. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters at a briefing Wednesday, “We are concerned by a continuing campaign of arrests in Egypt of individuals who are opponents of …
The Polish visit
Tunnel collapsed near Egypt-Gaza border killing smuggler
AL-ARISH: An underground tunnel collapsed early Wednesday near Egypt s border with the Gaza Strip, burying alive one smuggler and injuring another, a security official said. Palestinian smuggler Mohamed El-Bashiti and five others had nearly finished expanding the 600 meter tunnel from Gaza into Egypt, located 10 meters beneath the ground, when the ceiling gave …
Israel boycotts Jazeera over Gaza coverage
JERUSALEM: Israel said on Wednesday it is boycotting Al-Jazeera television in protest at the pan-Arab channel s coverage of events in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. We have discussed this problem and I have decided that we will boycott this channel as its partial coverage is not credible and is damaging to us, Deputy Foreign Minister …
Haniyeh lays out conditions for truce with Israel
GAZA CITY: Hamas prime minister on Wednesday called for a period of calm with Israel, laying out conditions that would imply limited international acceptance of Islamic militant rule in Gaza, but also allow US-brokered Mideast peace talks to move forward. The offer by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh came amid growing signs that Israel and Hamas …
Egypt names new ambassador to Washington
CAIRO: Egypt has named Sameh Shukry, once its chief envoy to the UN s Geneva headquarters, as the new ambassador to the United States, the Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday. Shukry, who will take up his new post in September, replaces Nabil Fahmy who served as ambassador to Washington for eight years during a particularly difficult …
US sends first envoy to fight Muslim misperceptions
WASHINGTON: The United States is seeking to dispel Muslim misperceptions about it by sending its first envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday. Sada Cumber, a Pakistani-born businessman from Texas, was named by President George W. Bush last week as special envoy to the 57-member OIC to …