By Agencies CAIRO: Egypt Foreign Minister accused the United States of imposing its “will” on its Arab ally, as the White House warned that Cairo had failed to even reach a “minimum threshold” for reform. Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also warned that the army would intervene to protect the country if the protests against President …
By Andrew Hammond and Alexander Dziadosz / Reuters CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak looked likely to step down on Thursday in response to more than two weeks of nationwide protests against his 30-year rule. Asked if Mubarak would step down, an Egyptian official told Reuters: “Most probably.” The BBC also quoted the head of Mubarak’s political …
By Marwa Al-A’asar CAIRO: Under heavy rain, thousands of lawyers from all over Egypt marched Thursday afternoon towards the presidential Abdeen palace in downtown Cairo. Lawyer Mostafa Hamdy, from Mahalla governorate, told Daily News Egypt that he and his colleagues decided to move towards Abdeen Palace and not to protest in Tahrir square to “symbolically cordon …
By Marwa Al-A’asar CAIRO: Dozens of intellectuals and writers protested Thursday morning against the regime and the government represented by the Ministry of Culture. The protest kicked off outside the Supreme Council of Culture inside the Cairo Opera House in Zamalek for about an hour then moved in the streets of Gabalayia towards Qasr El-Nile …
By AFP BRUSSELS: European Union officials fought Thursday to try and persuade Egypt to authorize a visit next week from much-criticized foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton. “We are still working in order that Mrs Ashton … gets into Egypt next week,” her spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told journalists after it emerged on Wednesday that President Hosni …
By AFP CAIRO: Workers at Egypt’s largest factory walked out Thursday on an open-ended strike in solidarity with anti-government protesters and to demand a raise in the minimum wage, they told AFP. Workers of the Misr Spinning and Weaving textile factory — which employs 24,000 people in the Nile Delta city of Al-Mahalla Al-Kubra — …
By AFP WASHINGTON: Freed Google worker Wael Ghonim, who has emerged as a prominent voice of Egyptian protests seeking to oust President Hosni Mubarak, told CNN on Wednesday he was “ready to die” for the cause. It is “no longer the time to negotiate” with the Mubarak regime, Ghonim said, weeping openly after discussing the …
By Alistair Lyon / Reuters CAIRO: US-Egyptian scientist Ahmed Zewail once received a medal from President Hosni Mubarak. Now, he says, it’s time for the Egyptian leader to heed the demonstrators clamoring for his departure. “He should step down tomorrow and allow for a transitional government,” Zewail told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. Zewail, 64, …
By Heba Fahmy Wael Said Wael Said, an Egyptian accountant working in Saudi Arabia was in Egypt visiting his family when the events happened on Jan. 25. Little did he know that he would later become a permanent resident in Tahrir Square. “Any Egyptian living abroad knows that people abroad treat us like we have …
By Maggie Michael/AP CAIRO: Bus drivers and public transport workers in Cairo joined thousands of state employees on strike Thursday in spreading labor unrest that has pumped further strength and momentum into Egypt’s wave of anti-government protests. With its efforts to manage the crisis failing, the government warned of the potential for a coup. The …
By Sarah Daoud CAIRO: “It seems like a better idea to start spending your money at local businesses instead of the stock market right now,” Ahmed Abdelaziz told Daily News Egypt. Abdelaziz, a 21-year-old Egyptian university student, went on to explain that “the businesses will be here after any crisis and by helping them, this …
By AFP ISMAILIYA: Protesters stormed a government building in the canal city of Port Said on Wednesday and set fire to office furniture and the governor’s car, witnesses told AFP. Some 3,000 protesters broke doors and windows and forced their way into the Port Said province headquarters, throwing out furniture and setting it on fire, …
By AFP CAIRO: At least five people were killed and around 100 wounded in two days of clashes between police and demonstrators in a town in southern Egypt’s New Valley region, medics told AFP on Wednesday. Earlier, a security official had confirmed three dead. Police fired live rounds Tuesday when local people rioted in the …
By AFP CAIRO: Anti-government protesters in the Egyptian city of Assiut on Wednesday blocked a railway line and burned tires to cut off a vital motorway linking north and south Egypt, a security official said. Around 4,000 protesters took to the streets in Assiut, 350 kilometers south of Cairo, and used wooden planks and bricks …
By AFP CAIRO: An Egyptian panel, formed by President Hosni Mubarak to pilot constitutional changes in the face of unprecedented protests, agreed on Wednesday to propose six amendments, the state MENA agency reported. The commission has agreed to look into changes to Article 76, which restricts who can stand for the presidency, and Article 77, …
By Dina Zayed and Andrew Hammond /Reuters CAIRO: A minister has resigned from the Egyptian cabinet formed by President Hosni Mubarak in response to an uprising against his rule, a family member said on Wednesday. Culture Minister Gaber Asfour resigned for health reasons, a member of his family told Reuters. But the website of Egypt’s state-run …
By Mariam Hamdy For the first time in my career covering Egypt’s art scene, I can take pride in having known an artist who lived and died for his country. Ahmed Basiouny, 31, visual and multimedia artist, musician and teacher at the Faculty of Art Education at Helwan University, was killed during protests on the “Friday …
By Amna El-Tawil ALEXANDRIA: “This is Alexandria’s Tahrir Square.” With these words, a banner greets visitors of Sidi Gaber square in Alexandria, where 500 people camped out, saying they won’t leave until President Hosni Mubarak steps down. The sit in started with 50 people on Jan.28, but it only started to take an organized form two …
By Tamim Elyan CAIRO: Thousands of workers continued their protests Wednesday across Egypt demanding better pay and work conditions and expressing solidarity with protesters in Tahrir Square. Protesters’ demands included the appointment of staff on temporary contracts, change in the administrations of their respective organizations, enhancing the wage system and ending corruption. In Cairo, the Independent …
By Heba Fahmy CAIRO: The debate overshadowing the Egyptian uprising revolves around the constitution and the various scenarios it offers to transfer Egypt from the current state of limbo to a state of stability, democracy and reform. Even constitutional experts disagree on the perfect scenario and how the constitution should best be interpreted and implemented. The …
By Amr Ramadan CAIRO: A senior official at the Arab International Bank, which operates outside the jurisdiction of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), said Tuesday that the bank saw large amounts of money transferred out of the country before January 25, according to several reports. This was before the CBE closed banks nationwide for a …
By Marwa Al-A’asar CAIRO: Over 1,000 young men and women began a sit-in outside the People’s Assembly (PA) headquarters in downtown Cairo Tuesday evening demanding the ouster and prosecution of President Hosni Mubarak and his aides. By Wednesday afternoon, they were few thousands. Most of the protesters do not belong to any political groups or …
By Maggie Michael /AP CAIRO: Egypt’s protesters and opposition groups were infuriated Wednesday by a warning from Vice President Omar Suleiman that if their movement doesn’t enter negotiations, a “coup” could take place causing greater chaos, as a mass demonstration in a central Cairo square entered its 16th day. Suleiman’s sharply warning cast a shadow over …
By Abdel-Rahman Hussein CAIRO: Protesters in Sinai are united in their demands with those in Tahrir Square, and will continue to protest until they are met, sources in the area told Daily News Egypt. About 5,000 people peacefully marched in El-Arish Tuesday, calling for the end of the regime and for President Mubarak to step down. …
By Tamim Elyan CAIRO: Financial supervisor at the Labor University and vice president of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), Mostafa Mongi, was dismissed from his post after employees protested Monday in front of the University demanding his resignation. Tens of university employees that protested in front of its headquarters in Cairo’s Nasr City district said …
By Marwa Al-A’asar CAIRO: Hundreds of thousands of citizens resumed protesting Tuesday in Cairo, Mahalla, Suez and Alexandria demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Tens of thousands flocked to the central Tahrir Square throughout the day. Inside there was less chanting than before. Protesters carried a symbolic coffin representing the reported 300 killed in protests. …
By Safaa Abdoun CAIRO: Within hours of his much-anticipated release from state security detention, Wael Ghonim, founder of Facebook page ‘We are all Khaled Said,’ was delegated by thousands of Facebook users to speak on behalf of the young people demonstrating in Tahrir Square. His first television appearance on the primetime show “Al-Ashera Masaan” hosted by …
By Jailan Zayan / AFP CAIRO: Egyptian protesters massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square Tuesday amid calls for renewed nationwide street action to mark two weeks of anti-government rallies that have rattled the regime. Several thousand were already occupying the square — the focal point of protests calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule …
By Tom Perry / Reuters CAIRO: The mass revolt against President Hosni Mubarak’s rule has shaken the civilian pillars of his rule: the police force, the ruling party and state media. In the short term at least, the blows dealth to all three institutions will make it harder for Mubarak’s administration to assert the level of …
By Abdel-Rahman Hussein CAIRO: No one saw it coming; when protesters and journalists headed to the streets on Jan. 25 no one expected that less than two weeks later the demonstrations would bring the 30-year regime of Egypt’s President Mubarak almost to its knees. And yet the crackdown on peaceful protesters and the lengths it was …
