Latest in Politics Highlight
Latest in Politics
Egypt takes swipe at "uncompromising" Hamas
President to visit Russia and China in November CAIRO: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit took a fresh swipe at the Hamas-led Palestinian government and leader Ismail Haniya in an interview published Tuesday by the top-selling daily Al Ahram. There is an Arab initiative of land for peace, which the Palestinian prime minister rejects. So let …
Rights group calls for end to death penalty
CAIRO: An Egyptian human rights organization has called for the abolition of capital punishment, on the fourth annual World Day against the death penalty. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights called for an end to the death penalty in Egypt due to the procedure being a failed deterrent of crime and because of Egypt s …
Twenty-five years later, many call Egypt politically paralyzed
Associated Press CAIRO: With the 25th anniversary of Anwar Sadat s assassination this past Friday, Egypt faces an uncertain political future with most democracy reform efforts stalled and the country obsessively focused on the possibility that the current president s son will succeed him. President Hosni Mubarak, now 78, was a general and vice president, …
Idling vehicles banned after pyramid cracks found
CAIRO: Egyptian authorities have put a ban on idling vehicle engines in Saqqara, southwest of Cairo, after cracks started to show on the country s oldest pyramid. The head of Egypt s supreme council for antiquities, Zahi Hawass, has decided to ban the running of engines of all cars and buses waiting for tourists in …
Nour El-Sabah angers Tourist Guide Union
Serial depicts tour guides in “unfavorable light CAIRO: The Tourist Guides Union has filed complaints against the producers of TV serial Nour El-Sabah, which is currently being aired on national TV. Mohamed Gharib, union head, accuses the serial of defaming the profession he represents. The serial, which follows the title character’s personal life and career …
Putin's Russia: a Potemkin village where brutes rule
It is time to end the fiction that President Vladimir Putin’s “dictatorship of law has made post-communist Russia any less lawless. The murder of Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia’s bravest and best journalists, a woman who dared to expose the brutal murders committed by Russian troops in Chechnya, is final proof that Putin has delivered …
Expatriates face a changing reality in Gulf countries
The percentage of expatriates in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries grew from 22.9 in 1975 to 37.1 in 2004, constituting about 70 percent of the workforce. However, a number of changes on the ground during the last few years have redefined the rules of behavior for about 13 million foreigners, yielding mixed results. …
How Arab security states breed insecurity
Sometimes when you get away from your part of the world and view it from afar, the wider perspective can make the dark spots appear less troublesome. Unfortunately, seen from the west coast of the United States, where I have started an extended academic visit, the Arab world appears ever more troubled and troubling than …
The creative process in action
Unique exhibition at AUC takes viewers through the drawing process CAIRO: Art aficionados have the rare opportunity to witness the creative process in action thanks to a new show at the American University in Cairo’s Falaki Gallery. Dubbed “Drawing Through Process, the show features 18 finished pieces accompanied by the early sketches, skeletal conceptual renderings …
Sangria provides an extravagant night on the town
Great food and tasty shisha, good music and hot people watching, but stop at the bank first CAIRO: When visiting Sangria, make sure to have a well-filled wallet or generous friend, a big appetite, and a craving for shisha and good tunes. Located in the heart of Cairo with a magnificent Nile view, Sangria is …
IFC supports Egypt in implementing pilot public-private partnerships in infrastructure
CAIRO: The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Finance to provide assistance in implementing public-private partnership projects in priority sectors, including water, transportation health and schools. IFC’s technical assistance facility, PEP-MENA, will support the Egyptian government in identifying and …
Egypt delaying listing of drug firm CID – report
CAIRO: Egypt s government will delay listing a part of state-owned pharmaceutical firm Chemical Industries Development to conduct a review of the planned public offering, Egypt s official MENA agency quoted Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieddin as saying on Monday. As much as 35 percent of the company was expected to be offered on the Egyptian …
Raya Holding plans to acquire 75 percent of C3
CAIRO: Raya Holding Company is taking measures to acquire 75 percent of the Call Center Company, C3, in line with its plans to expand contact center services to clients in Egypt and abroad. Raya’s chairman Medhat Khalil told NOOZZ that his company will secure the cost of the takeover deal from the proceeds of its …
Egypt-Gaza border offers breath of air for suffocated Palestinians
Agence France-Presse RAFAH, Gaza Strip: Moin Shamallah grins as he sits up in the front of a Palestinian taxi at the Rafah border wearing a new suit held together with four safety pins. I m happy to leave, to be free in Egypt, he says. For two days, the Gaza Strip s only route to …
Star-studded night
Oral history emerging as alternative to traditional historiography
CAIRO: Historians and researchers must rely on government documents, elite culture and oppressors perspectives for the bulk of historical knowledge. Interest in subaltern studies, in the voices and cultures of those less heard, is growing, but the materials with which to amass such knowledge are sparse. A relatively new documentation method called oral history is …
The Mall
It was during a one-day conference on over-seas reporting, held at the University of California’s Graduate School of Journalism, that I learned of yet another element of what purports to be my cultural identity. It was an excellent conference, held by an outstanding school of journalism, where I had the privilege and pleasure of teaching …
From Princeton, a new power paradigm
A new and influential report just released by the Woodrow Wilson School, titled “Forging a World of Liberty Under Law, U.S. National Security in the 21st Century, underlines the one major flaw of the Bush administration’s policy since September 11, 2001: the absence of law and of a legal process in the projection of American …
An evening to remember the greats
Musical band and poetry recitation group join to celebrate Haddad, Jahin and Darwish CAIRO: Last Friday the British Council in Agouza hosted an inspiring Ramadan evening. A few hundred people were thrilled by a poetry recital of the works of late great poets Fouad Haddad and Salah Jahin merged with Sayed Darwish s musical masterpieces …
One-on-one with the people
Hussein Fahmy connects with the society in popular Ramadan show CAIRO: It was difficult not to hold back tears when a girl in her early teens told her story of having to work since childhood and enduring different types of physical torture at the hands of her employers. Even the host of the program in …
African Cup proving ground for teams missing the World Cup
CAIRO: Excluded from the World Cup, Cameroon, Nigeria and Egypt seem intent on making amends in the African Cup of Nations. Cameroon and Nigeria won their second in as many matches and African Cup champion Egypt drew away from home this weekend as all three took control of their respective groups in the continent s …
Danish-Egyptian dialogue continues
Effects of new offensive video still unclear CAIRO: The dialogue aimed at bridging gaps between Islam and the West may have suffered a setback in the light of recent events. The circulation of a Danish video depicting camp participants of the Danish Peoples Party’s Youth Organization mocking an offensive drawing of Prophet Mohammed has led …
Winners of Cairo Underground third line deal to be announced in October
The Egyptian Ministry of Transportation will announce the winners of a deal regarding the first phase of the Cairo Underground third line which extends over 4.3 km on Oct. 20. French companies, including Alstom and Alcatel, have won the deal for construction and central control works with the Egyptian Orascom Construction Industries, as they were …
NTRA: International Gateway Licenses offered by end of November
TE reduces rates to counter effects of loss of monopoly on services CAIRO: The National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) will offer two international calling operators licenses to the private sector by the end of November, NTRA Chairman Amr Badawi announced Sunday. Bidding condition statements were supposed to have been released as early as January 2006. …
Danish PM, Iran president condemn Prophet cartoons
Reuters COPENHAGEN: Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen denounced members of the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples Party (DPP) youth wing on Sunday for drawing humiliating cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said those who insulted the Prophet were low life devoid of human values, the student news agency ISNA reported. The …
Israel forces shoot three Egyptians smuggling drugs into Israel
JERUSALEM: Israeli forces shot and wounded three Egyptians who were smuggling hashish across the border into Israel, the military said Sunday. The military said the incident occurred after nightfall north of the Israeli city of Eilat, where the Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian borders converge. Soldiers spotted the three carrying large bags and ordered them to …
Egypt condemns North Korean nuclear test
CAIRO: Egypt firmly condemned North Korea s first nuclear test Monday but also urged South Korea to show restraint and pursue diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis. Egypt is categorically opposed to any nuclear explosion or other measure that could threaten world peace and security or contravenes the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit …
Arab diplomats say Sudan rejects offer for peacekeepers
CAIRO: Arab countries have launched a new effort to push Sudan toward a compromise over UN peacekeepers for Darfur, offering to dispatch a force of Arab and Muslim troops to the troubled region, diplomats said. The Arab League diplomats said Sunday that Sudan s president rejected the initial proposal, as he has all suggestions of …
Silver Lounge
Sadat nephew loses parliamentary immunity
CAIRO: The nephew of slain Egyptian ruler Anwar Sadat lost his parliamentary immunity after implicating the army in the former president s assassination 25 years ago, state-run newspapers said Friday. Talaat Sadat, a 52-year-old deputy, saw his immunity lifted at the request of the military prosecutor after he said his uncle s bodyguards and army …