al-Tayar al-Sha`aby offers alternative economic model for Egypt

Transcription

Daily NEWS
EGyPT
TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013
n e ws ta n d p r i c e
l e 4. 00
Issue No. 2171
w w w.thedailynewsegypt.com
Egypt’s Only Daily Independent Newspaper In English
roman ruins
Journalists protest tahrir
newspaper
past the renaissance and into
the dark ages
A group of journalists protest
against Tahrir newspaper and its
chief editor, Ibrahim Eissa
The Ministry of Electricity and Energy
plans to cut power to factories eight
hours each day during the summer
3
The remnants of Roman-built Fort
Babylon in Coptic Cairo is another
historical treat overlooked by
tour guides
7
8
al-Tayar al-Sha’aby offers alternative
economic model for Egypt
Railway drivers’
strike continues for
a second day
By hend el-Behary
Strike paralyses railway traffic nationwide
Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby Facebook page
elBaradei joins national salvation Front leaders at a conference hosted by al-tayar al-sha’aby to discuss plans to
address egypt’s economic issues
strategy, as this independent model
can do better than the models of the
ousted Mubarak regime or even Morsi’s current one, who really follows in
the previous regime’s footsteps.”
“Secondly, social justice should
take place, because it plays a great
role in achieve peace in society. This
justice will take place through many
phases. One of which is removing any
discrimination against women in the
workplace,” he continued.
He said a just system for wages would
set the minimum wage at EGP 1,500 per
month and the maximum at 15 to 20
times this number, in order to guarantee
a good life for Egyptian citizens.
“Extra incentives should not exceed an individual’s fixed wage by
such a huge amount,” he continued.
“Moreover the minimum wages for
pensions should be the same as the
minimum wage for workers’ salaries.”
Abdel Ghany also said that justice
will be achieved only through a fair
distribution of energy subsidies, by
increasing subsidies themselves and
effecting tax exemption for the poor
and those with low incomes.
He added that the group’s model
aims to support the healthcare sector,
especially since the government spends
only 1.6% of state revenues on the sector, whereas in other countries in the
region this can be as high as 3%, or 5% in
countries outside the middle east.
“We also advocate 5.2% of GDP
to be spent on the education sector,
in order to develop education in the
country, and increase the wages of
workers employed in the sector and
cancel private lessons,” he said.
Calm falls after cathedral violence
ashton meets
president,
opposition
figures
Police maintain presence at the cathedral after a day and night of teargas and two deaths
By Basil el-dabh
Abdel Latif stated that the lowest-paid railway employees receive
a salary of EGP 1,300, reported AlAhram. He added that a driver who
has been working in the railway authority for 30 years receives a salary
of EGP 3,000. A committee will be
established to look into the strikers’ demands and the possibility of
restructuring wages.
Hashem Rabeh, one of the striking railway drivers, said that Abdel
Latif’s statements were untrue.
“The minister is honest,” Rabeh said,
“yet those providing him with information about our salaries are not.”
Rabeh said the pay rolls are available to confirm that railway drivers’
salaries are smaller than Latif claimed.
“I’m 48 years old,” Rabeh said, adding that his salary is EGP 2,500. “I’d
love to be paid as big a salary as the
minister claimed on live television I
receive, which is EGP 5,000.”
The strikers are demanding that
the Ministry of Transportation recognises their demands as legitimate
and promises to meet those demands by July if the established committee deems them legal, said Rabeh.
continued on page 3
iranian tourism on hold
Minister of Tourism stalls Iranian tourism in Egypt for
further re-evaluation
By luiz sanchez
AFP Photo / Gianluigi Guercia
The area around St Mark’s Coptic
Orthodox Cathedral was calm on
Monday afternoon after violence that
continued until Monday morning.
The attack, which began on Sunday, resulted in two deaths, the
second of which was announced
by the Ministry of Health on Monday morning. The ministry also announced 14 were wounded, mostly
from birdshot shotgun rounds, in
the renewed clashes on Monday.
Egyptians at the cathedral refused to leave, fearing that the facilities would be attacked if they did so.
Police arrested 11 people with
suspected connections to the violence.
The Ministry of the Interior
continued firing teargas at people
inside the cathedral complex late
into Sunday night and into the early
hours of Monday morning.
Clashes also reignited in Al-Khasous, where deadly violence had
taken place on Friday evening. The
Health Ministry on Sunday evening
said a total of 66 people had been
injured at the cathedral in Abbaseya
and Al-Khasous.
Thousands of people attended a
Sunday funeral for victims of sectarian
“The Central Auditing Organisation should be only the watchdog
here, and no other body should monitor it, in order to combat corruption,”
he said.
He added that their new model
also aims for an agreement on banking and loans, and to stabilise the price
of Egyptian pound.
The group also pointed to the importance of the Suez Canal as a trade
transit, as well as the need to focus on
mineral resources and their importance to the national economy. They
also recommended the use of solar
energy as an alternative energy source.
“Egypt now is witnessing the most
severe lack of conscience in its history, because of the authority and its
media” said Abdel Ghafar Shokr the
founder of the Popular Alliance Party.
A strike by railway drivers reached
its second day on Monday, as drivers and authorities traded accusations on the responsibility for the
strike.
The strike began on Sunday, with
drivers calling for better bonuses
and compensation rates.
Hussein Zakariya, head of the national authority for Egypt’s railways,
said that railway traffic remains
stalled on Monday, reported stateowned Al-Ahram. He stated that
although all main lines in Lower
and Upper Egypt are on hold, the
suburban trains from Ain Shams to
Suez, from Cairo to Manfalout and
from Fayoum to Al-Wasata were
functional on Monday.
The striking drivers are also
demanding Zakariya’s resignation,
alongside compensation for long
working hours, as well as bonuses
and meal allowances.
In a press conference held at the
Ministry of Transportation on Sunday, the Minister of Transportation
Hatem Abdel Latif stated that demands should not be made under
the threat of a strike. He added
that there is a plan in place to end
the crisis.
unidentified protesters throw a molotov cocktail towards egyptian riot police from the roof of st mark’s cathedral in cairo’s abbaseya on 7 april
violence who died on Friday.Violence
reportedly ignited when the mourners
left the cathedral and were attacked
by unidentified civilians. The police,
together with unknown men shot at
those who were leaving the funeral.
The Ministry of the Interior held
those leaving the cathedral ac-
countable for the violence, claiming they had vandalised vehicles of
local residents, leading to an escalation of clashes.
A heavy security presence was
maintained in the area surrounding
the cathedral on Monday after the
situation had calmed.
Egyptian Stock Exchange
The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton met with President Mohamed Morsi on Sunday as part
of a series of talks with Egyptian officials
and leading opposition figures.Ashton’s
office said she spoke to several leading
figures regarding the current political
and economic situation, but could not
give details of the meetings.
Ashton did however express concern “about the violent incidents at
the Abbaseya Coptic cathedral in
Cairo,” adding that upon hearing the
news she contacted Morsi “strongly
urging restraint and for security forces to control the situation”.
According to a press release from the
office of Amr Moussa, a leading opposition figure, Ashton and Moussa spoke
for over an hour on Sunday over the
European Union’s support of the Egyptian economy. Moussa requested the
establishment of an international conference on the economy and stressed
the importance of investments.
continued on page 2
Commentary
Daily Change
EGX 30
Closing
5,112.76
EGX 70
440.35
1.63%
10.9589
EGX 100
736.26
1.43%
Salem says:
Not only was the cathedral not getting protected by the Egyptian police
as it was being attacked by thugs, the
police were actively providing cover
to the attackers, and tear-gassing the
mourners trapped inside
1.845
EGX 20
5,869.80
1.11%
page 5
7.216
7.6524
6.849
6.8791
8.8714
9.403
10.3864
1.819
1.59%
AFP Photo / Gianluigi Guercia
Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby held the second
day of its conference on Monday,“Saving the Egyptian economy, towards an
alternative programme”.
The conference was attended by
leader of the group Hamdeen Sabahy,
Mohamed ElBaradei and Mohamed
Hassanein Heikal.
“The conference today totally refuses the current state of the country
under the shadow of [Prime Minister
Hesham] Qandil’s government which
has been raising prices of most products,” said Hussien Abdel Ghani member of Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby.
“Because there are currently no
suitable economic strategies from the
government, the current is offering an
alternative model in the interests of
Egyptian citizens,” he said.
He also said that the Al-Tayar AlSha’aby “condemns the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) loan” and “its
humiliating terms which will threaten
the coming generations with mountains of debts”.
“There are other alternatives to
increase revenues,” he added. “By
amending the general budget, for
example, and through resources and
increasing domestic revenues.”
He continued:“First, the most suitable economic system should be a
mixed one, which embeds the private
sector as part of a general funding
egyptian protesters raise their shoes as they shout political and religious
slogans outside the iranian consulate’s residence in cairo on 5 april
By rana muhammad taha
Minister of Tourism Hesham Zaazou
decided on Sunday to put Iranian
tourist trips to Egypt on hold until
mid-June.
Egypt and Iran agreed on a new
tourism exchange treaty back in
March that saw the arrival of Iranian
tourists to the country last week for
the first time in over 30 years.
In a statement released by the Ministry of Tourism, Zaazou said that this
two-month period would be used to
reevaluate the treaty and the experience of tourism exchange with Iran,
reported state-owned Al-Ahram.
Dozens of Salafi protesters rallied around the Iranian ambassador’s
house in Cairo on Friday in protest of
Iranian tourism in Egypt.The protesters demanded cutting off all relations
between Egypt and the “Iranian entity” and declared that Shi’a Muslims
were not welcome in Egypt.They also
demanded the expulsion of all Iranian
tourists from the country.
Ahmed Mawlana, spokesperson
of the Al-Sha’ab Party, described the
hold on Iranian tourism as a positive
move. Al-Sha’ab is an affiliate of the
Salafi Front.
continued on page 2
2
Daily news egypt TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013
www.thedailynewsegypt.com
egyptians protest in libya
Protesters demand Egyptian authorities hand over Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam, cousin of slain former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, to Libyan government
By Hend Kortam
Egyptians in Libya protested outside the Egyptian embassy in Libya
demanding that the Egyptian government hand over Libyan national
Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam.
State-run Al-Ahram reported that
the Egyptians fear for their livelihoods
in Libya if Qaddaf al-Dam is not extradited.
Egyptian Minister of Foreign of Affairs Mohamed Kamel Amr said he
called his Libyan counterpart Mohamed Abdel Aziz along with other
top Libyan officials to make sure that
the procedures to protect the Egyptian embassy in Libya amid the protests
are being carried out. He asserted that
there is constant cooperation between
the two countries for the benefits of
both Egyptians and Libyans.
Libyans had also protested outside
the Egyptian embassy in Libya Saturday demanding Qaddaf al-Dam’s extradition.
Earlier in April, a court had ruled
against the extradition of Qaddaf
al-Dam, the cousin of former Libyan
dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Head of the Arab Penal Reform Organisation Mohamed Zare’ said the
Egyptian government has to respect
the court ruling.
Zare’ said whenever a prisoner is
extradited to any country a number
of conditions must be met, including
guarantees for a fair trial, that the regime receiving the prisoner is not suspected of mistreating detainees and
that there are no exceptional laws in
the receiving country. He alleged that
not one of the three will be met under
the current Libyan rule.“Justice is not
complete in Libya yet,” he said.
Kamel amr attends Darfur conference in Doha
Zare’ said he thinks Qaddaf al-Dam
might be extradited as part of a political deal, in return for money from
Libya.“In this case, Egypt will be Libya’s
partner in crime,” he said.
Libya is host to a large Egyptian expatriate community, some of whom
feel threatened by Egypt’s decision
not to extradite Qaddaf al-Dam. Zare’
said the Egyptian community in Libya
should not be used to pressure Egypt,
calling it unacceptable.
He believes that Egypt should only
hand him over for justice and under
the guarantee that he will be tried in-
“Our problem with Iranian tourism is
not a sectarian or racist one,” said Mawlana.“Iran possesses an expansive political project with an ideological basis.”
Mawlana stated that Iran would
abuse tourism in Egypt to reinforce
its “political project” and allow its
Revolutionary Guards access into the
country. He added that the Shi’a experiences of neigbouring countries such
Foreign Minister’s handout
By Joel Gulhane
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed
Kamel Amr attended the International Conference on Reconstruction
and Development in Darfur hosted in
Doha, Qatar. Speaking at the conference on Sunday, he expressed Egypt’s
desire to continue supporting efforts
to rebuild the conflict-torn region.
Kamel Amr published a statement
on his official Facebook page on Monday morning, praising the Sudanese
government for its“unremitting efforts
to resolve the Darfur issue”. He also
congratulated the Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM), a Darfur rebel group,
for signing a peace agreement with the
Sudanese government on Saturday.
“Egypt has spared no effort to support any initiatives for the establishment of a comprehensive and lasting
peace in Darfur”, said Kamel Amr. He
stressed that “stability and develop-
ment of Darfur is the only real guarantee for the return of refugees and
displaced persons to their villages and
towns”. He added that the return of
the refugees “is the first step” towards
ending Sudan’s problems as it will take
“all sons to join in the struggle for stability and development”.
Kamel Amr outlined the assistance
Egypt has provided in the past to help
achieve peace, stability and development in Darfur including contributing
to international peacekeeping efforts.
Egypt has also sent 38 Egyptian doctors to the region since 2009 and has
pledged to drill 40 water wells, 11 of
which have already been completed,
according to Kamel Amr.
The minister highlighted that Egypt
will continue to cooperate with the
Sudanese government in order to
“identify projects that Egypt could
contribute to”. He added: “Egypt is
willing to enter into trilateral coop-
egypt hosts international
meeting on syria
eration with other countries and donors to create power plants, schools
and clinics”. Kamel Amr ended his
statement, saying, “I hope that today
is the turning point in finally closing
the curtain on the Darfur issue”.
Representatives from Sudan came
to Cairo in March and met with President Mohamed Morsi about the conflict in Darfur. Morsi expressed support for the reconstruction of the
region and his desire to strengthen
relations with Sudan.
In February the United States Department of State said that after ten
years of conflict in Darfur the US was
concerned over continuing violence in
the region. It added that the ongoing
conflict between government forces
and rebels has “led to the deaths of
nearly 300,000 people, the vast majority unarmed civilians”.
The two-day conference was held
on Sunday and Monday.
as Yemen and Saudi Arabia should be
a warning for Egypt.
“We want to preserve the social
peace of our country,” Mawlana said.
He added that any Shi’a tourists from
any nationality are welcome to Egypt.
“Yet, Iranian tourists might have an
agenda which serves their country’s
political project.”
In a meeting held last week, the Iranian cabinet ratified the cancellation
of entry-visas granted to Egyptian
Local government officials shut down a play critical of Muslim Brotherhood
and current governance of Egypt, claiming theatre’s fire safety is inadequate
By Luiz sanchez
The Arab Network for Human Rights
Information (ANHRI) denounced the
Red Sea governorate’s Safaga police
department and the civil defence department on Monday for preventing a
theatrical performance to take place
in Safaga’s cultural palace last week.
According to ANHRI the play, titled
Journey of the Egyptian Handala, was
shut down because it was critical of the
Muslim Brotherhood and the management of the affairs of the country.
The title of the play alludes to the
political cartoon drawn by the late
Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al-Ali in
1969. The cartoon is a depiction of a
10-year-old boy and is often used as a
symbol of Palestinian resistance.
Tamer Mowafy, research director
for ANHRI, said the play was meant to
be performed in the theatre but the
police and Ministry of Culture personnel in the governorate cancelled
the show.“They said the theatre does
not fit the right fire safety standards
but this is not rational because it is an
open air theatre and there are different safety standards for closed in and
open air theatres,” Mowafy said.
“The ruling authorities are always
interested in seeming to respect freedom of expression and human rights,”
ANHRI said, adding that the efforts
are an attempt to justify their actions
without there being any practices or
political will proving their intention to
respect freedoms.
ANHRI said it is alarmed over the
continuous surveillance of artistic and
creative works prior to their completion, confirming the government’s intention to continue the police state
in Egypt since President Mohamed
Morsi came to power.
“The state still ignores its international obligation towards human
rights and freedoms,” ANHRI said,
adding that the government disregards international legislation. Rather
than addressing the issue with an open
mind and holding political discussions
to find ways to overcome the failure
of the management of the country’s
affairs, ANHRI said the government
turns to security solutions.
ashton meets president, opposition figures
Mobinil appeals
verdict
Mobinil says it respects
court decisions but stands
by employees’ innocence
AFP Photo / HO / EU Press Office
meeting occurred following “the Syrian regime’s refusal to deal positively
with all the initiatives presented to it,
including [Al-Khatib’s] latest courageous offer to negotiate with members of the regime whose hands have
not been tainted with the blood of the
Syrian people”.
The officials “welcomed the decision by the coalition to name Ghassan
Hitto as prime minister of the Coalition Interim Syrian Government”.
Members of the SNC voted for Hitto
in March, but some members of the
coalition froze their membership
because they did not agree with the
outcome or believed that the election
should not have occurred.
The participants in the meeting
expressed their full support for AlKhatib’s efforts to “achieve the goals
of the Syrian revolution in attaining
liberty, justice, and human dignity”.
They also praised “his commitment
to preserve a united and inclusive
Syria for all Syrians”, and welcomed
his “assurances that the coalition remains committed to building consensus amongst all Syrians”.
Al-Khatib offered his resignation
to the SNC in March, just days after
Hitto’s election. In a statement published on his official Facebook page he
said that he was resigning in order to
“can work with a freedom that
cannot possibly be had in an official
institution”. However the coalition
rejected his resignation and he has
continued in his post.
tourists visiting Iran, reported German press agency DPA.
The first flight from Cairo to Tehran since the Iranian revolution of
1979 left Cairo International Airport
on 30 March.
Zaazou signed a cooperation agreement with his Iranian counterpart,aiming to increase the number of Iranians
visiting Egypt. Flights between Egypt
and Iran could be extended to other
airports such as Luxor, DPA reported.
anHRi denounces play closure in safaga
Officials from 11 countries express support for SNC
and Al-Khatib
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a meeting on Sunday with officials
from 10 other countries to discuss
the situation in Syria and review the
outcomes of the Friends of Syria
meeting held in Rome in February.
A statement published by the ministry on Sunday night reported that
representatives from the United
States, the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and
Turkey attended the meeting. President of the Syrian National Coalition
(SNC) Ahmed Moaz Al-Khatib was
also in attendance.
Al-Khatib informed the participants in the meeting about the situation in Syria and updated them on
recent developments within the coalition. He “also discussed the forms of
support he hoped the Syrian revolution would receive from the international community”.
The officials discussed the situation in Syria, “especially with regard
to increasing support extended to the
Syrian opposition,” said the ministry
statement. It added that this “would
enable the opposition to increase
pressure on the regime leading to a
political settlement”. Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Kamel Amr has
repeatedly asserted Egypt’s desire to
see a political solution to the conflict.
At the Arab Summit held in Qatar in
March, the Arab League decided to
provide the SNC with military aid.
The ministry reported that this
State-run news agency MENA reported that Maria and Ibrahim’s extraditions were ordered by Egyptian
Prosecutor General Tala’at Abdullah.
The extradition came after top judicial
officials from Egypt and Libya signed a
memorandum agreeing that the extradited prisoners would be subjected to
a fair and transparent trial.
Before the extradition, the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights
had expressed concerns about the
extraditing the prisoners. It argued
that they may not get a fair trial and
their lives may be put at risk.
iranian tourism on hold
Continued from page 1
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Kamel Amr speaks at the International Conference on Reconstruction and Development in Darfur hosted in Doha
ternationally, which does not mean he
must be tried on Libyan soil.
Zare’ said Qaddaf al-Dam has applied for Egyptian citizenship and political asylum in Egypt.
Qaddaf al-Dam who is wanted for
charges of corruption during Gaddafi’s regime was arrested in Cairo
last month. He was arrested along with
two other Libyan former officials in the
Gaddafi regime,Ali Maria and Mohammed Ibrahim. During the arrest, Egyptian security and Qaddaf al-Dam’s
bodyguards exchanged fire in Zamalek,
leaving one policeman injured.
A handout picture released by the European Union press office shows EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton
(left) meeting with Egypt’s Presidential Assistant on Political Affairs Pakinam El Sharkawy in Cairo on 7 April
Moussa highlighted in the statement
that the economic collapse of the country would have an enormous negative
effect on the region and investments
should be considered as separate from
the government and their policies.
Ashton also spoke to Moussa
about recent political developments,
the National Salvation Front (NSF)
and the region, although no further
information was given.
In her meeting with President Morsi, Ashton spoke about ways in which
Egypt could move on from the current crisis. Ashton and Morsi spoke
at length about the pending International Monetary Fund loan, without
which western countries will not approve significant aid packages, saying
it is a key issue for the international
community and a necessity for a solution to the current situation.
Ashton also met with Mohamed
ElBaradei, leader of the Al-Dostour
Party, and the NSF. The two also discussed the current crisis and ways
in which Egypt can progress. Similar
meetings were also held with other
NSF members.
At the time of writing Ashton’s office had yet to publish a statement
regarding her meetings in Egypt and
could not provide any information
regarding her visit.
The Cairo Economic Court ruled on
Monday to hand down sentences to
several Mobinil employees regarding
allegations of collusion with another
country in 2010. Mobinil said it respects
the decisions made by Egyptian courts
but stands by its employees and will do
what it can to prove their innocence.
Mobinil said in a statement they
have appealed the decision in accordance with the procedures of litigation.
“Mobinil received with surprise the
court ruling rendered today by the
Cairo Economic Court,” the Mobinil
statement read. “The court resolved
to accept Mobinil’s appeal in form, and
rejected it in content, thus reaffirming
the previous judgement rendered on
May 20 2012,” the statement said.
The board of directors president
was sentenced to three years in
prison with labour and three of his
employees were sentenced to five
years’ imprisonment. Bail was set at
EGP 20,000 for all defendants.
Mobinil said it reaffirmed its belief
“in the righteousness of Mobinil’s legal position as well as the innocence
of its chairman and employees,” the
statement said. “Therefore, to prove
this, Mobinil will pursue all legal measures, including opposing the ruling
before the Court of Cassation.”
The first defendant was also given an
EGP 200,000 fine, while his co-defendants were given fines of EGP 50,000
and have been ordered to collectively
pay Telecom Egypt EGP 210,918.
Daily news egypt
3
al-tahrir journalists protest
an al-azhar student faces
investigation for being shi’a against ibrahim eissa
A female student at the Al-Azhar
College for Girls in Assiut is facing an
investigation to ascertain if she is a
Shi’a or not.
Mahmoud Shehata, dean of the college, confirmed on Monday that the
student has been referred to the legal
affairs department. He added that if
she is found to be a Shi’a then legal action will be taken against her, according to state-affiliated news agency
Al-Ahram.
Shehata also confirmed that the director of the girl’s dormitories Magda
Thabit has been relieved of her duties
following complaints filed by a number of students, reported Al-Ahram.
Malek Adly, a lawyer for the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social
Rights, said that there is no law stating
that this student, if found to be Shi’a,
could face legal action. “Under the
constitution the state has a responsibility to protect her.We will see what
happens,” he said.“We currently have
a fundamentalist government and
institutions like these are allied with
them. The government has an Islamic
project. What is this? I do not know
and I am a Muslim. It is just fundamentalism,” he added.
Hala Salah El-Din Mohamed, one
of the students who filed a complaint
against her fellow student, said: “This
girl has been in the dormitories for
three years and has been secretly calling for people to convert to Shiism.
Now she is doing it publically.”
Approximately 60 students protested against the administration on
Administration problems prompt some journalists to protest against Al-Tahrir newspaper
and Editor-in-chief Eissa
Sunday for the way it has handled the
investigation, reported Al-Ahram.
“They carried out an investigation
and they helped her to escape. We
want her to be expelled,” Mohamed
said. She continued:“We do not want
her in our faculty because she is a Shi’a.
They believe that there was prophet
after Muhammad.” Anyone who believes this, she added, is an “infidel”.
Doaa Aboul Nasr, a reporter in
Assiut, told Daily News Egypt that
the investigation carried out by the
college involved asking the accused
student to perform the ablutions
for prayer and demonstrate how
she prays. Aboul Nasr reported
that the girl acquiesced to their
request.
Additional reporting by Rana Muhammed Taha and Shaima El-Elaimy
Menna Mourad
By Joel Gulhane
Military court sets verdicts for two cases
By Ahmed Aboul Enein
Agroot Military Court in Suez set
verdict sessions for two military trials that were held on Monday.
The court saw closing statements
for the case of six Suez squatters who
were demanding government housing, and closing statements regarding
six other men tried for holding a sit-in
at a port in Suez.Verdict sessions were
scheduled for both trials on 15 April.
Military police initially arrested
seven people for their involvement in
the port sit-in but one of the defendants, who is 15 years of age, was referred to a juvenile detention facility.
The men held a sit-in at the port
from 15 to 20 March protesting their
unemployment and demanding the
government provide them with jobs,
said No to Military Trials for Civil-
ians Movement member Mahmoud
Salmani.
Military police arrested the seven men during the fifth day of their
sit-in and they were charged with
verbally assaulting military officers.
Their families have attempted to
apologise to the Commander of the
Field Third Army but the defendants
are still facing trial.
Six more people were arrested on
the same day in an unrelated case. On
March 20 military police arrested six
men who had been squatting in three
empty buildings that are part of a government housing project.
On 16 March families of the detainees occupied three vacant buildings in
the “Freedom Area” neighbourhood
as squatters to prove that housing
units were available despite the Suez
governorate’s claims.
Journalists chanted against Ibrahim Eissa and Tahrir newspaper’s administration outside the paper’s office
The squatters requested the army’s presence to corroborate their
case. They agreed that they would
leave the buildings if asked to do so
by army officers.Army officers did not
order them to leave, but refused to
corroborate the squatters’ claims.
Four days later the squatters were
attacked by men allegedly hired by
the governorate and called the army
again for help, but were arrested,
Salmani said.
Article 198 of the new constitution
allows for military trials for civilians
in special circumstances “as regulated
by the law”. Over 12,000 civilians have
faced military trials since the January
2011 uprising that toppled former
president Hosni Mubarak.
There have been three military trial
cases since the adoption of the constitution in December.
By Menna Mourad
A group of journalists along with
sympathisers staged a protest in
front of Al-Tahrir newspaper’s office
today for not being hired along with
30 of their colleagues.
Protesters
chanted
slogans
against Ibrahim Eissa and the newspaper’s administration. Mona Selim,
one of the protesters, said that only
30 journalists were hired instead of
50 and that the standards for hiring
were not clear.
Selim claimed that the nine journalists who left the Al-Dostour AlAsly newspaper were given a verbal
commitment by the Press Syndicate
and Eissa that they would be hired
in any future endeavour. She added
that they will not allow anyone to
Railway drivers’ strike continues for a second day
He said he personally approached Abdel Latif’s advisor and asked him to tell
the public that the striking drivers are
not “thugs” and that their demands
are legitimate.
“Passengers are angry after being told by authorities that we are a
bunch of thugs,” Rabeh said.“We can’t
go back to work and risk being attacked by angry passengers.”
Passengers were disappointed by
the strike, describing it as “destructive” for society. Others called on the
Minister of Justice to refer the striking
drivers to trial.
The Egyptian Centre for Economic
and Social Rights (ECESR) reported
on Monday that 100 railway drivers
in Luxor were summoned to the Railway Authority in Cairo. The ECESR
added that Special Forces are forcing
railway drivers in Cairo’s railway station to drive trains.
Rabeh said the Railway Authority
had summoned pensioned drivers to
drive the trains. “1,360 trains set out
every day,” Rabeh said. “Today, about
five trains set out.”
Tarek Al-Beheiry, vice president
of the Independent Transport Workers’ Union, said that the Ministry of
Transportation is considering tasking
military drivers with driving the trains
until the conflict is resolved.
“That doesn’t solve the crisis,” AlBeheiry said. “The solution lies in giving people their rights, even if it takes
a while.”
Misr Al-Qawia Party’s Workers’
Committee announced its solidarity
with the striking drivers in a statement released on Monday. The committee accused the Railway Authority
of resorting to the former regime’s
methods of marginalising labour
rights.
Mohamed Abdel Sattar, head of
the Independent Railway Workers’
Syndicate, stated that the syndicate
supports all the strikers’ demands.
“But we believe there are other solutions instead of a strike,” Abdel Sattar
said. “We should all sit at a table and
negotiate instead.”
Drivers suspended their strike on
Tuesday after negotiations with the
Cabinet and Ministry of Manpower
and resumed the strike this weekend.
presidency orders cathedral violence investigation
Pope Tawadros II addressed the unrest surrounding St. Mark’s Cathedral
in Abbaseya, calling for calm.The pope
said he was in constant contact with
security officials, including Minister of
Interior Mohamed Ibrahim.
“The Presidency asserts its firm rejection of heinous actions that target
unity and harmony among the Egyptian
people,” said the office of President
Mohamed Morsi on its official Twitter
account on Monday. “President Morsi
ordered an immediate investigation
into the cathedral clashes and said the
culprits will be brought to justice,” it
added. The presidency claimed it had
issued directives to the Ministry of the
Interior to take “necessary measures”
to protect citizens and ordered an immediate investigation.
“President Morsi urged all citizens
to avoid being dragged into unlawful
acts that would jeopardise the nation’s security and stability,” the statement added.
Morsi called the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church to confirm that
the state was following up on measures to protect the cathedral and the
citizens in the area.
Prime Minister Hesham Qandil met
with his cabinet on Monday morning
to discuss proceedings for measures
to be taken at the cathedral, reported
Ahmed Arab
By Basil El-Dabh
Demonstrators in Alexandria condemn the deadly violence that took place in
the vicinity of St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo
state-owned Al-Ahram. The cabinet
discussed accelerating a submission
for stricter penalties for those carrying unlicenced weapons.
Qandil reportedly also spoke with
Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed
Al-Tayyeb and Pope Tawadros II to
discuss ways in which such violence
could be avoided in the future.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom
and Justice Party’s (FJP) official statement condemned the violence, blaming
the attack on “dubious parties” seeking
to create unrest that was “leading to
widespread sectarian strife designed to
drag the country into chaos that would
benefit the enemies of Egypt and their
associates, the corrupt criminals”.
A spokesperson for the party’s
Alexandria branch and secretary of
foreign relations Mohamed Soudan
blamed the violence on Christians
leaving the cathedral after a funeral
which took place there on Sunday.
Soudan claims those leaving the cathedral provoked police officers and
neighbours, vandalising vehicles in the
immediate area.
“The Copts then took their arsenal
and started the violence, and it seems
they were prepared for a civil war and
not a common funeral,” Soudan said in
his statement.“Do you think Christians
are preparing for something?” he asked.
The National Salvation Front (NSF)
condemned the violence, blaming President Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood,
and the Ministry of the Interior. “The
[NSF] is demanding an independent and
transparent investigation to find the in-
stigators and perpetrators,” the opposition group said in a Monday statement.
The Front called for citizens to refrain
from violence and support national unity.
Misr Al-Qawia Party said that
its chairman Abdel-Moneim Aboul
Fotouh spoke with Bishop Moussa
of the Youth Bishopric to express his
condolences to victims of the violence.
Aboul Fotouh held the Ministry
of the Interior accountable for failing in its role to protect the funeral,
the place of worship, and public and
private property.
The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, who is in Cairo for talks
with prominent political figures, also
expressed her concern.“Tonight I am
extremely worried about the violent
incidents at the [cathedral] in Cairo.
On hearing the news I immediately
contacted the Presidency, strongly
urging restraint and advocating for
the security forces to control the situation,” she said in a statement.
The United States Embassy in Cairo
also condemned the violence, supporting Morsi’s call for an investigation and
expressing condolences to Egyptians
who had been killed or injured.
Violence erupted at the cathedral
on Sunday when mourners were leaving a funeral for Copts killed in AlKhasous two days before when a fight
escalated to sectarian strife.
discredit their call for their rights as
a political move against Eissa.
Eissa has since submitted his resignation this morning, as confirmed
by Ibrahim Mansour,Al-Tahrir newspaper executive editor. Amr Badr,
one of the journalists who joined
the protest in solidarity asked:“Why
has he resigned? Is his resignation
in solidarity or a threat to the journalists that their newspaper will be
closed?”
Badr has also filed a complaint
against the newspaper and Eissa
with the Press Syndicate for removing his name from the writers’ banner. Mansour responded by saying
that the administration has the right
to restructure the newspaper and
that the syndicate has no authority
in this regard.
Mansour added that the hiring
process is being done in several
stages and that those who were
excluded from the first stage will
be hired in the second; however, he
said the protesters want to be hired
immediately.
The protest ended with Mahmoud Badr, a protester, saying that
they will not give up their rights and
that they will follow those who have
wronged them wherever they go.
Reactions from activists have varied. Nawara Negm, a renowned writer and activist expressed solidarity
with Eissa and announced that she
will stop writing for Al-Tahrir newspaper as long as he is not editor-inchief, whereas Ahmed Douma and
Rasha Azab criticised Eissa and his
sympathisers on Twitter.
FJp’s legal advisers’
office torched in
Damietta
Machines and documents destroyed, office seriously
damaged
By Hend Kortam
The Freedom and Justice Party’s legal advisers’ office in Damietta was
torched in the late hours of Sunday.
Legal adviser for the party in
Damietta Yasser Dawoud alleged
the office was torched by members of the 6 April and Revolutionary Socialists movements. Dawoud
said around 100 people, including
20 “thugs”, were responsible for
setting fire to the office.
He said the political movements
held a protest at Al-Sa’a Square on
Sunday, after which they marched
to the office to burn it down.
He said the office, computers
and documents were destroyed
and added that a dental clinic near
the office was also torched.
Fady Abu Samra, a member of
the 6 April Youth Movement in
Damietta, said that he “completely
rejected” Dawoud’s accusation. He
added that Dawoud should present specific names and allegations
to the prosecution.
Abu Samra added that the 6
April Youth Movement rejects all
violence and rejects the burning of
buildings. He added that his movement believes in non-violent resistance.
Dawoud claimed he was aware of
the perpetrators’ identity because
Damietta is a small town. “It is just
a strip along the Nile… everyone
knows one another here,” he said.
Abu Samra claimed that the 6
April movement did not take part
in protests on Sunday. He said there
were protests by craftsmen and
roads were blocked on Sunday, but
the Movement was not involved.
The Freedom and Justice Party in
Damietta released a statement saying that the party is shocked by the
blocking of roads and the closure
of Al-Sa’a Square by “thugs”. The
party was also disappointed by the
lack of police intervention to resolve the issue, the statement said.
“Vandals burnt down
the legal advisers’
office… and the
police intervened
neither before nor
after the fire, as if
they are supporting
the violence... This
violence that takes
place in the name
of protest has a
negative impact
on the people of
Damietta who
depend entirely on
trade”
“Vandals burnt down the legal
advisers’ office… and the police
intervened neither before nor after
the fire, as if they are supporting the
violence,” the party said.
The party added that fire engines
were not allowed to reach the
scene of the fire. Dawoud claimed
that the perpetrators did not allow
firefighters to reach the site and
the police ignored their actions.
“This violence that takes place in
the name of protest has a negative
impact on the people of Damietta
who depend entirely on trade,” the
party said.
4
(AFP) - A massive suicide car bomb
ripped through the heart of Damascus on Monday, killing at least 15
people and littering a central street
with dead bodies and the carcasses
of charred cars.
“Terrorists detonate car bomb between Sabaa Bahrat Square and Shahbander Street,” state television reported, adding that initial information
suggested it had been a suicide attack.
“The preliminary toll from the
terrorist bombing... is more than 15
martyrs and 53 injuries,” the broadcaster added.
An AFP correspondent said the
blast caused extensive damage and
that intense gunfire was heard shortly
afterwards.The blast damaged the AFP
Damascus office, blowing out the windows, but no staff were hurt.
State television broadcast scenes
of devastation as huge plumes of thick
black smoke billowed up around buildings in the area, partly obscuring them.
Dozens of vehicles were damaged,
some crumpled almost beyond recognition, others with their windows
blown out or cracked by the blast.
Several were completely gutted, only
their charred chassis remaining.
Firefighters rushed to the area, attempting to control blazes started by
the explosion, which one state broadcaster said took place near a school,
adding that children were believed to
be among the dead and wounded.
The footage showed bloodied bodies with limbs askew and chunks of
flesh strewn on the streets, with bystanders draping clothes or cardboard
boxes over them.
One group of men worked to retrieve a body from a badly damaged
yellow taxi, tugging at its jammed
doors. A veiled woman wept as she
walked from the scene, passing a man
holding a terrified, sobbing young girl.
“I was in the street with my colleague
when the ground shook beneath our
feet,” 32-year-old Anana told AFP, not
far from Sabaa Bahrat Square.
“People started to scream ‘explosion, explosion’ and we saw a cloud of
thick, black smoke emerge from the
scene of the attack.”
“We have to stop this bloodbath!
When we leave home we don’t know if
we’ll return alive,” sobbed Mayssa, who
worked near the scene of the blast.
AFP / Louai Beshara
at least 15 dead in huge Damascus suicide bomb
Rescue teams recover bodies from the scene of a car bomb explosion which rocked central Damascus
“We say to those behind these
attacks that the Syrian people... will
move forward to crush these armed
terrorist gangs,” Prime Minister
Wael al-Halaqi said, speaking to media at the scene.
The attack, which was not claimed
by any group, occurred near the Syrian
central bank, and security forces and
the army quickly moved into the area
to prevent people from approaching
the site of the attack.
On March 21,a huge explosion ripped
through a Damascus mosque killing at
least 49 people, including a key pro-regime Sunni cleric. And a month earlier,
on February 21, at least 83 people were
killed in a spate of bombings in the city.
Elsewhere, UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that a
UN inspection team was in Cyprus
and ready to deploy to Syria to probe
the alleged use of chemical weapons
in the conflict.
“I can announce today that an advance team is now in Cyprus, the final staging point” before the mission
heads to Syria, Ban said in The Hague.
“We are ready.”
“The UN is now in the position
to deploy in Syria -- in less than 24
hours all logistical arrangements will
in place,” Ban said after President
Bashar al-Assad called on the UN
to probe allegations rebels had used
chemical weapons.
“All we are waiting for is the goahead of the Syrian government to determine if any chemical weapons have
been deployed,” he added.
“We are still in the process of discussing it with the Syrian government.”
Syria’s conflict, now in its third year,
is believed to have killed more than
70,000 people. On Sunday alone, 157
people were killed throughout the
country, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog.
Bomb hits afghan bus, kills nine
(AFP) - Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s
first female prime minister, who died
on Monday aged 87, will be remembered as ‘The Iron Lady’ who helped
end the Cold War and whose economic reforms divided the country.
Behind the bouffant hair, trademark
handbag and schoolma’am voice was
an uncompromising Conservative who
regularly cut her male colleagues and
opponents down to size with a sharp
tongue and even sharper political brain.
Right-wingers hailed her as having
hauled Britain out of the economic
doldrums but the left accused her
of dismantling traditional industry,
claiming her reforms helped unpick
the fabric of society.
On the world stage, she built a close
“special relationship” with US president
Ronald Reagan which helped bring the
curtain down on Soviet Communism.
She also fiercely opposed closer ties
with Europe.
But in the final years of her life,
Thatcher, the 20th century’s longest
continuous occupant of 10 Downing
Street, from 1979 to 1990, cut a subdued figure.
After a series of minor strokes, she
was told by doctors to quit public speaking in 2002 and, as dementia took hold,
she appeared increasingly rarely in public.
Her daughter Carol revealed the
former premier had to be repeatedly
reminded that her husband Denis had
died in 2003.
Meryl Streep portrayed both her rise
to power and her period of failing health
in the Hollywood film ‘The Iron Lady’,
which hit the screens in December 2011.
Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda
Roberts on October 13, 1925 in the
market town of Grantham, eastern
England, the daughter of a grocer.
(AFP) - A roadside bomb exploded under anAfghan bus southwest of Kabul on
Monday, killing nine people and wounding at least 22 others in an attack blamed
on Taliban militants, officials said.
The bus bombing in the flashpoint
province ofWardak came as Afghanistan
endures a bloody few days at a time of
year that often sees a surge in violence
as the cold winter recedes and the socalled “fighting season” begins.
A woman was among the dead and
children among the wounded, officials
said.
“Today at around 8:00 am an IED (improvised explosive device) hit a bus,” Attaullah Khogyani, the governor’s spokesman in Wardak province, told AFP.
“At least 22 people are wounded and
nine others,including a woman,are dead.”
Khogyani said the Taliban, who have
been fighting for 11 years against the USbacked Kabul government, were behind
the attack.
The bus was a government service
making daily trips between the capital
Kabul and Ghazni, the neighbouring
province further to the southwest.
“I helped evacuate several dead and
wounded. There were lots of people
in the bus. Only a few survived unhurt,
others were killed and wounded,” witness Mohammad Sarwar told AFP by
telephone.
Ghulam Farouq Wardak, the public
health director of the province, confirmed that nine people had died and
said there were three children among
the wounded.
Several of those taken for medical
treatment were described as in a critical
condition.
Wardak is a Taliban hotbed close to
Kabul and seen as a key strategic battleground in the fight against the Islamist
AFP Photo / Carl Court
Margaret thatcher,‘iron lady’ who changed Britain, dies
A book and floral tributes are left in honour of former British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher outside her home in central London following her death
earlier on Monday
After grammar school and a degree in
chemistry at Oxford University,she married businessman Denis in 1951 and two
years later had twins, Carol and Mark.
She was first elected to the House
of Commons in 1959 and succeeded former prime minister Edward
Heath as opposition Conservative
leader in 1975 before becoming pre-
mier four years later.
Her enduring legacy can be summed
up as ‘Thatcherism’, a set of policies
which supporters say promoted personal freedom and broke down the
class divisions that had riven Britain
for centuries.
Pushing her policies through pitched
Thatcher’s government into a string of
tough battles, though.
When Argentina invaded the remote
British territory of the Falkland Islands
in 1982,Thatcher dispatched troops and
ships, securing victory in two months.
Two years later, an Irish Republican
Army bomb planted at her hotel in
Brighton on the southern English coast,
nearly killed her and her Cabinet during
the Conservatives’ annual conference.
And her government crushed a coal
miners’ strike against pit closures in
1984-1985 after a bitter struggle, and
union powers were curbed.
But it was the same uncompromising style that initially earned her respect
which eventually proved her undoing.
One of her closest allies, Geoffrey
Howe, resigned in 1990 with a devastating speech which blamed Thatcher’s
fierce Euroscepticism.
She faced a leadership challenge
soon afterwards and quit after failing
to receive the expected level of support, to be replaced by her finance
minister John Major.
After a tearful departure from
Downing Street, she was appointed
to the House of Lords as Baroness
Thatcher of Kesteven.
She also wrote her memoirs and delivered lectures around the world.
But her public appearances became
increasingly scarce in recent years as
her health deteriorated. She was even
forced to miss a planned 85th birthday party at Downing Street.
Thatcher did, however, live long
enough to see another Conservative,
David Cameron, return to Downing
Street after a gap of 13 years, albeit at
the head of a coalition government.
“We have lost a great leader, a great
prime minister and a great Briton,” Cameron said following her death.
extremists.
US-led coalition forces are winding
down their operations before a scheduled withdrawal of the bulk of their
100,000 troops by the end of 2014, with
Afghan security forces gradually taking
over the battle against the Taliban.
In February, Afghan President Hamid
Karzai demanded US elite troops withdraw completely from Wardak, accusing
US special forces of harassing civilians
and their Afghan militia colleagues of
torturing and murdering people.
On March 30, the US military pulled
out of one district inWardak as part of a
deal with Karzai although no dates have
been announced for the transition of the
rest of the province to Afghan government control.
LastWednesday,Taliban gunmen killed
46 people at a court in the far-western
town of Farah to try to free insurgents
standing trial, another incident raising
questions about the Afghans’ ability to
secure the country.
Late Saturday a NATO air strike in the
eastern province of Kunar, bordering on
Pakistan, killed 11 children during a joint
Afghan-NATO operation.
The deaths put further pressure on
strained ties between Karzai and the US
as the transition of security responsibilities to national forces gathers pace.
An Afghan official involved in the
operation said air support was called
in after local and coalition forces came
under attack.
The strike came after five Americans,
including a young female diplomat, were
killed in two Taliban attacks in the country’s east and south on Saturday.
A suicide car bomber struck a NATO
convoy in the southern province of Zabul,
killing three US soldiers and two civilians,
one of whom was the US diplomat.
(AFP) - Top US diplomat John Kerry
on Monday held talks in Jerusalem
with Palestinian premier Salam Fayyad
ahead of a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres on his second trip
to the region in two weeks.
Kerry, who is US President Barack
Obama’s new pointman on the Middle East, is back on a fresh mission to
coax Israel and the Palestinians back
to negotiations which have been frozen since September 2010.
After touching down in Israel on
Sunday, he headed straight to the
West Bank town of Ramallah for
90 minutes of talks with Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas, in what a
top State Department official said was
“a constructive meeting.”
Early on Monday, he attended an
official ceremony marking Holocaust
Memorial Day then headed to the US
consulate in west Jerusalem for talks
with Fayyad, a US-educated economist who has won respect for cleaning up the finances of the Palestinian
Authority and improving security in
the West Bank.
“I believe if we can address the
security needs of Israel, and they are
real, and if we can the state aspirations of Palestinian people, and they
are real, I believe that if we can get on
a track where people are working in
good faith to address the bottom line
concerns, it is possible to be able to
make progress and to make peace,”
Kerry said before the meeting.
He was to meet Peres immediately afterwards then have dinner with
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
with whom he was to hold a working
meeting on Tuesday morning.
During his talks with Abbas, their
third meeting in little over a month,
they first discussed economic development with several top aides, then
held a private session at which Kerry
insisted the specifics be kept under
wraps “in order to keep moving forward in a positive direction.”
Abbas told him the release of pris-
oners held by Israel was a “top priority” for resuming peace talks, his
spokesman told AFP.
The Palestinian leader has repeatedly made clear there would be no
return to negotiations without a settlement freeze, but he has also made
it known he would suspend for two
months all efforts to seek international recognition of a Palestinian state to
give US-brokered efforts a chance.
Abbas also wants Netanyahu to
present a map of the borders of a
future Palestinian state before talks
can resume, his political adviser told
AFP last week.
“Any return to negotiations requires Netanyahu to agree on 1967
borders,” Nimr Hammad said.
Netanyahu has said he would not
accept a return to the borders of
before the 1967Middle East war, and
on Monday a high-ranking political
official told Israel’s Maariv newspaper that presenting a map was out
of the question.
“It would be insane to present such
a map. In effect, this means giving up
our most important asset, without
the Palestinians having committed
themselves to anything, neither recognition of Israel as a Jewish state nor
security arrangements,” he said.
“It seems that the Palestinians are
looking for an excuse to prevent the
possibility of renewing the talks.”
Speaking in Istanbul before flying to
Israel on Sunday, Kerry said he saw
Ankara as “an important contributor
to the process of peace”.
But Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s newly appointed lead negotiator for
peace talks, played down the idea of Ankara’s immediate involvement, saying it
was “interesting, but it could take time”.
Washington’s top diplomat also
urged Turkey and Israel to fully normalise their relationship, two weeks
after the Jewish state apologised for a
deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza aid flotilla,
ending a nearly three-year rift between
the two key US allies in the region.
AFP Photo / Paul J. Richards
Kerry meets Fayyad, peres on new Mideast trip
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) talks with Israeli President Shimon
Perez before the start of their private meeting at Perez’s official residence in Jerusalem
Disclaimer: Commentaries published
by Daily News Egypt do not reflect the
position of the paper,but the independent
opinions of their authors.
commentary
Daily news egypt
5
april 6 celebration and “please be nice!”
iranian tourists
The April 6 celebration
Mohamed Salmawi
Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper
Commentators in major Egyptian newspapers discussed the celebration of
the sixth anniversary of the April 6 Youth Movement and the potential for
establishing its own political party. Meanwhile, some writers continued
to condemn the negative reaction of the Salafis in Egypt after the recent
visits of Iranian tourists to Luxor.
The Salafis are mistaken but the
president is not
Emad Al-Din Hussein
Al-Shorouk newspaper
Salmawi narrates the celebration of
the sixth anniversary of the April
6 Youth Movement. Being among
those honoured in the celebration,
the writer expresses his gratitude
to the political group. April 6 has
reached a level of political maturity that enables it to proceed further with the establishment of its
own political party, says the writer.
Salmawi gives some background
about the movement and the political success it has achieved, both
in terms of social mobilisation or
the ability to align with other revolutionary forces. The movement’s
participation in the “national revolutionary bloc” which is led by
Tareq Al-Kholy and Tamer Al-Kady
has also added more weight to its
political importance in Egypt.
April 6 was one of the main triggers of the 25 January Revolution,
according to Salmawi, and has the
clear potential for developing into
a political party with the ability to
run in upcoming parliamentary elections.The writer concludes by saying
that the formation of a new political party led by 6 April is one of the
most obvious results of the uprising.
He believes that such a move would
have a great influence on the future
political developments occurring
in Egypt. This party, currently being
formed, also requires some sort of
celebration says Salmawi.
Hussein condemns the negative reaction of the ultra-conservative Salafis towards the recent visits of Iranian tourists to the Upper Egypt city of Luxor.
He starts off his column by saying that
he has repeatedly written against the
foreign policy of President Mohamed
Morsi. Despite this, Hussein is supportive of Morsi’s openness with Iran and
willingness to maintain good relations
with the Persian state.As for fears that
the Shi’a country would have a negative influence on Egypt, a predominantly
Sunni country, Hussein believes that
only if our Sunni community does not
hold a strong faith then it would be affected by any sect, and not just the Shi’a.
If Egypt continues to maintain a good
relationship with the Zionist state of
Israel, Hussein says, why wouldn’t we
build relations with countries like Iran?
The visits of Iranian tourists, from the
writer’s perspective, will not affect
the Egyptians’ Sunni faith. Morsi was
not mistaken to attend conferences
in Tehran or receive the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Cairo.
It is apparently the fault of the Salafis in
Egypt who want to limit our relations to
certain countries, states Hussein.
No revolution based on lies
Wael Qandil
Al-Shorouk newspaper
Qandil believes that there can be no
revolution based on lies and rumours.
Instead,he believes that all revolutions
established their foundations only on
facts and prove truths. Therefore, a
regime like that of the ousted president Hosni Mubarak was brought
down by a revolution. When millions
of Egyptians took to the streets to
protest against the corruption that
spread to almost all the country’s
institutions, the revolution managed
to replace the lies with truths. The
writer criticises the recent lies and
rumours resurfacing around various
issues including claims that Qatar will
buy shares in the Suez Canal and that
Palestine will own a part of Sinai.
Most recently, the writer was provoked by the debate revolving around
the Halai’b and Shalateen territories
in Upper Egypt. During President
Morsi’s two-day visit to Sudan, it was
said that he promised his Sudanese
counterpart to do his utmost best
to return the areas back to Sudan.
Although the presidency has refuted
the statements and described it as
“unacceptable”, Qandil believes that
the circulation of such lies and the
repetition of meaningless rumours
completely conflicts with the concept
of the revolution. He wraps up his column stating that tourism in Egypt has
been negatively affected by such lies.
After the death and the dozens
of injuries, along with those who
were suffocating inside St Mark’s
Cathedral because of the policefired teargas which was targeted
against those inside the church and
not against outside assailants, our
mighty president finally spoke and
called for calm!
If the attack on the cathedral is
an attack on him (as he said before), why didn’t he go there to
sniff some teargas? Why can’t he
couple words with deeds?
If he had made one gesture, only
one, to show he respects Egyptian
Christians, maybe his people would
follow his lead. If he had made one
attempt to bring justice for Christians after attacks on them, maybe
the minister of interior would have
taken a hint.
During the dark days of Morsi’s
presidency, Egypt has witnessed
assaults on its Christian citizens.
Verbal assaults on the Coptic community (especially the women)
on TV channels and attacks on
churches have become ongoing
occurrences, only adding to the
rift between the people of this
country. Every time, with every
small incident, the rift widens. You
would expect a president to try
to bring his people together, but in
Egypt’s case, every time our president speaks, he manages to isolate
some group.
And then he calls for calm and
wisdom, then he shows support
with a phone call to the pope.
Well, to be perfectly clear, in these
horrible days, calm and forgiveness and love are not necessary
to end the violence.You can’t push
a person to be peaceful and love
others, but you can enforce the
law.
In any given country, no matter
how advanced it is or how “tolerant” its people are deemed to be,
the law must be upheld or else violence will ensue. Countries with
many cultures and religions also
have violent extremists, and the way
to stop them is by law. Punish those
who commit crimes, regardless of
their political or religious affiliation
(and regardless of their benefit to
your electoral campaigns), and you
will have the calm that you so ardently demand.
A phone call to the pope is not
exactly a solution. A meeting of
love and support between the
grand sheikh and the great priest
will not solve the problem, and
will not make people love each
other. Again, no one cares anymore about who loves who, it is
the law that should define the relationship.
After years and years of hate
speech delivered in underground
mosques by the likes of the Bible burner Abu Islam, it is highly
unlikely that this can be turned
around by a meeting between
lovely forgiving tolerant religious
figures who weigh nothing in the
extremist world of Islamists. This
must be turned around by the
state, by the enforcement of the
law, by the implementation of the
constitution articles they voted
for.
Forget tolerance when you
have a president insulting followers of a religion his constitution
accepts. I am positive that if one
digs a bit deeper, one could find
hate speech from Morsi against
Christians not very different
from that notorious one against
Jews. But of course, the time is
not right for such a video to appear, if it exists. If you listened to
what Brotherhood supporters
say about Christians, you would
have no doubt that their president
has no respect for Christianity, to
say the least. In fact, the president
seems to have no regard for anything except his extremist group
of Islamists. They are the only
ones allowed to practice their
version of religion, and attempt to
enforce it on the rest of Egyptians.
And I say: enough with the marketing campaign that the Muslim
Brotherhood are moderate Muslims- they are not. Listen to what
R A NA ALL A M
they say, to what their supporters
believe, and relate that to the rise
of the extremist Salafis in the political arena. Moderate Muslims do
not find Sadat’s killer to be a hero,
but our Muslim Brotherhood rulers found him worthy of having a
role in Egypt’s political life. It is
the Muslim Brotherhood that is
allowing terrorists to be part of
the scene!
Forget calm and peace when you
have a ministry of interior that is
brainwashed to kill and torture citizens when the state says so. A ministry of interior that guards with its
life the headquarters of the Muslim
Brotherhood, but fires teargas and
birdshot at unarmed families marching in a funeral and hiding inside
church walls. A security apparatus
that got away with many crimes
against Egyptians is now supposed
to respect and uphold the law.What
a farce this is!
It is time to set aside condemnations and calls for tolerance. It
is time to stop Mubarak-style love
and forgiveness appearances of
priests and sheikhs on TV shows.
It is time to stop depending on a
delusional notion that people will
be peaceful without a law to punish criminals.
It is time to harshly and severely
uphold the law!
r.allam@thedailynewsegypt.com
Follow @Run_Rana
morsy’s christian problem
“Any attack on Egypt’s Christians
is an attack on me personally,” said
President Mohamed Morsi during
his 100th day as president speech
last September, a statement which
he again reiterated when he spoke
to Pope Tawadros II, the pope of
the Coptic Orthodox Church, last
night after 8 hours of attacks on
St Mark’s Cathedral, during which
he stayed silent, as he usually does.
Given how wildly unpopular our
president is, people on Facebook
were joking whether or not this
statement should be considered
inciting violence against Egypt’s
Christians. We are Egyptians. We
make jokes when we are horrified,
but what happened on Sunday is no
laughing matter.
On Sunday the Coptic cathedral was attacked after a funeral
for four Christians who were
killed two days earlier in sectarian
clashes in the town of Al-Khosous
that also left one Muslim dead.The
funeral was attended by hundreds
of Christians and sympathetic
Muslims, who started chanting
for the removal of Morsi and his
Muslim Brotherhood buddies
from power, which apparently was
unacceptable to “some people”.
Those “people” started attacking the emerging mourners the
moment they stepped out of the
cathedral, and shortly after, they
were joined by riot police with
armed vehicles, who stood next
to the attackers and shot teargas
canisters into the cathedral. So,
not only was the cathedral not
getting protected by the Egyptian
police as it was being attacked by
thugs, the police were actively providing cover to the attackers, and
tear-gassing the mourners trapped
inside. The country was watching,
half in horror and the other half
probably in glee, as the police of
the Islamist state of Egypt actively
joined a mob in their attack on the
cathedral.
To put things into perspective, St
Mark’s Cathedral is the heart and
brain of the Egyptian Coptic Church.
It is where the pope lives and works,
and the home of one of the oldest
churches in recorded history, and
the only church worldwide that
has equal standing with the Roman
Catholic Church in terms of history
and influence over Christianity.The
cathedral runs the affairs of Egypt’s
Coptic minority, as well as churches
in over 150 countries, and it was
being attacked by the police of our
Muslim Brotherhood president. It
should be noted that worldwide,
in countries where there is active
civil war and genocide churches are
places of refuge for victims, because
of their holy standing as places of
worship.We don’t care about that in
Egypt. Over here, we attack cathedrals after funerals with mourners
inside, and the state helps.
The Muslim Brotherhood-
Daily
news
egypt
Editor
Maher Hamoud
Rana Allam
Chairman
Mostafa Sakr
dominated Ministry of Interior
naturally released a statement,
blaming the Christian mourners
for the clashes, and claiming to be
doing its best to stop the clashes.
Known Islamist activist Abdelrahman Ezz, who incited the attack on the Itihadiya protesters
back in December and was never
investigated, was openly calling
and encouraging the attack on
the cathedral, citing it as proof
that the church has “militias” and
“weapons”. Joining the crazy wagon was the Salafi TV channel AlHafez, which aimed to capitalise
on the situation by having a text
message-poll on “whether or not
a civil war between Muslims and
Christians will erupt in Egypt”,
with each text message costing
the sender EGP 3. The following
day, the foreign relations secretary of the ruling Freedom and
Justice Party, Mohamed Soudan,
sent an email blaming all that took
place around the cathedral on the
Coptic mourners, who claimed
that the Christians finally showed
the weapons they were hiding inside the churches, and that, and
I quote here, “ they seem to be
up to something”. And yet when
I posted on Sunday on Twitter my
belief that the Morsi administration doesn’t care about the Egyptian Christian population at all,
Brotherhood apologists abroad
accused me of having a Kanye
Chief Editor
Saad Zaghloul
Deputy Editor
Laurence Underhill
West “Bush moment”. Fine, let’s
go over the evidence, shall we?
Since Morsi took office, the following attacks took place on the
Coptic churches: 5 November,
Muslims tried to seize the lands
belonging to the Central Shobra
AlKhaima church; 26 February, the
administrative building of the Abu
Maqar church in Shobra AlKhaima
was attacked; 1 March, the Kom
Ombo church in Aswan was attacked while on the same day
the administrative building of the
Beni Suef Central church was ransacked. Those are only the attacks
on the churches and their properties, the same Church that Morsi
never visited, never met with its
leader and whose pope’s coronation he didn’t attend.
This is the same President Morsi
that openly espoused anti-Semitic
and hateful views on video and
then claims to be taken out of
context.This is the same president
who during the constitutional crisis openly stated that he enjoys the
support of 90% of all Egyptians and
that the protesters were pushed
by the church. This is the same
president who during his reign ,
Beshoy Kamel was sentenced to
six years for insulting “Islam and
the president’s family” on Facebook, Alber Saber was arrested
for “blasphemy” on Facebook , and
10-year-old Nabil Nagy Rizk and
9-year-old Mina Nady Farag from
Politics Editor Sara Abou Bakr
Arts & Culture Editor Adel Heine
Business Editor Ahmed Arafa
MA HMouD SA LEM
Beni Suef were arrested in October 2012 on charges of tearing up
the Quran. The children were illegally arrested, and Morsi didn’t
move a finger to release them.
They were, after all, Christians.
Needless to say that in none of
those incidents of church attacks,
no one was seriously charged.
Needless to say that the Brotherhood apologists in the west will
claim that he doesn’t fully control
the Interior Ministry or its actions, despite the ministry’s defense of the Muslim Brotherhood
Guidance Council office (which
is neither a state institution nor
a holy place) and vicious attacks
against anti-Brotherhood protesters. The ministry can apparently be ordered to protect the
two-year-old Guidance Council
office but cannot protect the almost 2,000-year-old cathedral.
Art Director
Abdel-Azim Saafan
The Brotherhood apologists will
blame all of this on the remnants
of the old regime in the Ministry
of the Interior, and cite that Morsi
is not yet in complete control of
it. If this is him without complete
control of the Interior Ministry,
I openly dread the day he does
control it.
In other news, during those
clashes, European Union officials
were in Egypt discussing with the
president and opposition figures
the parliamentary elections and
how they intend to monitor them,
with the Egyptian newspaper citing Catherine Ashton promising
to help Egypt get that IMF loan,
so that the EU, alongside the US
can continue to prop the Muslim
Brotherhood regime as it continues its reign of terror. I have a suggestion, EU: How about we resort
to your magical ballot box to solve
Morsi’s Christian problem once
and for all? We can start a referendum asking whether or not to burn
all of Egypt’s churches and kick all
the Christians out. I am positive
it will pass with a stunning rate,
and then the state can persecute
the Egyptian Christians and attack
their churches legitimately. After
all, the ballot box has spoken. Dear
EU, you can monitor that if you like.
Mahmoud Salem is a political
activist, writer, and social media
consultant. www.sandmonkey.org
Sales and Marketing Director
Ramy Kamal
Circulation Manager
Sally Kandil
Published by Business News for Press, and
Distribution under License from the Supreme
Council of Journalism
12 Haroon St., Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
Tel: +202 37486853 | Fax: +202 37486936
info@thedailynewsegypt.com
Daily news egypt
Business
Morsi invests in sudan
By Nada Badawi
Sudan, known for its fertile land,
will grant Egyptian businessmen
two million acres of land north of
the capital Khartoum to launch an
industrial complex to produce biofuel and drugs and cultivate strategic
crops like wheat.
Egypt also plans to import 5,000
cows on a monthly basis to serve
the poor in Upper Egypt.
“What we have noticed here with
our Sudanese counterparts is the
abundance of red meat in the area,”
said Minister of Supply and Internal
Trade Bassem Ouda in a joint press
conference with several ministers.
Besides establishing projects in
the agricultural and livestock sec-
tors, the countries plan to invest in
water infrastructure, construction
of a land route, a shipping company,
bio-fuel projects, and a railway line
between Egypt and Sudan.
President Mohamed Morsi said
that the collaboration is aimed at
“doubling bilateral trade between
Egypt and Sudan”.
“We can see that there’s a wave
of pressure on the average citizen
when it comes to purchasing certain
commodities, especially those that
are deemed basic Egyptian foods,”
said Ouda.
Sudan is known to have imported
much of its food from Egypt, such as
fruit juices, yoghurt products, strawberry and oranges.
“We have agreed to look for op-
‘Begging tourists’: grand Museum donations
plan for tourists slammed
portunities to benefit from our resources, and start joint farming and
livestock projects,” Morsi reported
to the media.
Both governments aim to stimulate investments and trade especially through establishing the first
direct road link and two cross-border roads between the two nations,
which are expected to open soon.
During his visit, Morsi underlined
the important role of EgyptianSudanese bilateral relations, calling
for benefiting from the two countries’ human capacity to promote
economic, trade and investment
cooperation.
The presidency announced on
Sunday that Morsi’s visit to Sudan
achieved its objectives.
By Hend El-Behary
suez Canal authority building to become
international museum
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is
in talks with French-based Friends of
de Lesseps and the Suez Canal, along
with Gaz de France Suez (GDF Suez),
to transform the SCA headquarters
building in Ismailia into an international museum.
“This museum will be a great thing,”
said Hatem Mounir, General Secretary
of Tourism Buildings of the Red Sea.
“The SCA’s building was established for
the administration of the Canal, and this
museum will showcase the historical
background of this building in addition
to renovating its fabulous architecture.”
The SCA headquarters building
was erected during the time of the
Khedive Ismail in the 19th century.
SCA Chairman Mohab Mamish visited France on Thursday to discuss the
process with the French team, accompanied by a delegation from the SCA.
The museum will tell the story
of the Canal, from the first digging
through to its eventual opening.
It will also focus on the areas surrounding the Canal, and will explore
the evolving relationship between the
Canal and bordering governorates
such as Suez and Ismailia.
The museum will also explore how
the populations of these areas grew
through the recruitment of both foreign and Egyptian workers, as well as
the resulting construction boom in
the Canal governorates.
Mounir believes the museum will
encourage French tourists to visit
Egypt: “When Egyptians go to the
Louvre Museum in France, we visit the
Wikimedia Commons
By Hend El-Behary
The Suez Canal Authority is in talks with French-based Friends of de Lesseps
and the Suez Canal, along with GDF Suez, to transform the SCA headquarters
building in Ismailia (above) into an international museum. The building was
erected in the 19th century during the time of the Khedive Ismail
Egyptian side there, which presents
Egyptian antiquities, and we feel proud
of our ancestors. The same thing will
happen with the French, who might
flock to Egypt to visit the museum in
order to understand the accomplishments of their predecessors.”
He also believes the museum will
promote internal tourism, especially
one-day trips to Ismailia.
Previously,France has offered to aid
in the restoration process of the SCA
headquarters by providing French
technicians and technical support to
maintain the monument, transforming the Suez Canal area into a tourist
attraction to support the economy
and create job opportunities for Canal governorate residents.
Economic expert Magdy Toulba,
however, criticised the project: “The
Suez Canal is a navigation artery for
international trade, and not a place
for museums.”
Toulba added that Egypt should have
other strategic alternatives to promote investments and the economy.
“The Canal can only accommodate 250,000 tonne shipments,” he
said. “However, there are ships that
carry more than one million tonnes,
and they have to go around the Cape
of Good Hope.”
“We need to enlarge the width of
the Canal,” he added.
He also said that traders, businessmen and investors rely on shipping in
the Suez Canal, and that the museum
was unlikely to make a substantive
contribution to tourism in Egypt.
“Why does Egypt, which possesses
two thirds of the world’s antiquities, the
pyramids, and other tourist attractions,
need another museum?” he asked.
Ferdinand de Lesseps was the French
developer of the Suez Canal, which
opened for navigation in 1869, connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
Deputy Head of the Hotels Chamber
in Egypt Hani Al-Saher criticised a plan
to collect donations from tourists to
help fund the building of the Grand
Egyptian Museum in Giza.
The Ministry of Antiquities signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with the Tourism Ministry and the
Chamber of Hotel Facilities to launch
a donation campaign to collect money
from tourists to complete the establishment of the Grand Egyptian Museum,
according to state-owned Al-Ahram.
“Has begging in Egypt reached this
extent?” asked Saher, commenting on
the initiative. “Well, I guess in Egypt
everyone begs now: Ministries, officials and the citizens themselves.”
The initiative will ask tourists to donate $1 or its equivalent in Egyptian
pounds for each night they stay at an
Egyptian hotel. The donation request
will be printed on the hotel receipt
tourists receive as they check out,
though a maximum donation of $7 for
any period has been set.
These funds will then be transferred to a Ministry of Antiquities
account, said Minister of Antiquities
Mohamed Ibrahim.
“It will be optional, of course,” he
added.
The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza
will overlook the pyramids, and is expected upon completion to be the largest museum in the world. It will cover
an area of 100,000 square metres.An-
Commercial Bank
NSGB
Ezz Steel
ELSWEDY ELECTRIC
MRRIDIVE
AIC Contracting
Amer Group Holding
EK Holding
EFG-Hermes
Pioneers Holding
Citadel Capital
Raya Holding
Telecom Egypt
Orascom Telecom Media And Technology
Orascom Telecom
Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals
Egyptian Financial and Industrial
AMOC
Juhayna Food Industries
Orascom Construction Industries (OCI)
Delta Construction & Rebuilding
Modern Co. For Water Proofing
Palm Hills
TMG Holding
National Real Estate Bank
Six of October
El Kahera Housing & Development
Arab Cotton Ginning
Oriental Weavers
Egyptian Tourism Resorts
Reuters
Code
Sector
COMI
NSGB
ESRS
SWDY
MOIL
AIND
AMER
EKHO
HRHO
PIOH
CCAP
RAYA
ETEL
OTMT
ORTE
SKPC
EFIC
AMOC
JUFO
OCIC
DCRC
WATP
PHDC
TMGH
NRPD
OCDI
ELKA
ACGC
ORWE
EGTS
Banks
Banks
Basic Resources
Industrial Goods and Services and Automobiles
Industrial Goods and Services and Automobiles
Financial Services excluding Banks
Technology
Telecommunications
Telecommunications
Telecommunications
Chemicals
Chemicals
Oil and Gas
Food and Beverage
Construction and Materials
Real Estate
Real Estate
Real Estate
Real Estate
Real Estate
Personal and Household Products
Personal and Household Products
Travel & Leisure
29.73
27.51
9.11
18.63
1.08
0.46
0.54
1.20
9.75
3.78
3.14
5.10
13.4
0.49
4.6
13.79
8.22
69.05
7.7
240.00
5.62
1.68
1.93
3.76
16.56
19.50
6
3.35
21.7
0.89
3.28%
2.05%
-0.43%
1.56%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
1.72%
0.41%
0.80%
1.29%
1.39%
0.61%
0.00%
2.25%
0.82%
0.36%
-0.09%
0.00%
1.37%
1.26%
1.21%
1.58%
0.54%
0.54%
1.09%
1.71%
0.00%
1.50%
1.15%
22.58%
-5.59%
40.21%
-12.52%
-13.60%
-12.96%
-19.40%
5.36%
-22.80%
6.21%
6.10%
-7.44%
-3.28%
32.30%
41.88%
-1.67%
-14.21%
-20.94%
79.07%
-5.66%
-0.53%
-45.60%
12.87%
1.90%
-14.99%
30.36%
27.14%
24.44%
21.67%
-15.38%
29.90
27.88
9.25
19.10
1.10
0.47
0.55
1.20
9.84
3.81
3.16
5.14
13.40
0.51
4.60
13.79
8.35
69.23
7.70
241.50
5.63
1.69
1.96
3.78
16.95
19.58
6.05
3.41
22.46
0.90
and others. How can the tourist be
expected to bear all these burdens?”
“If a tourist comes to spend a whole
week with his family,” he continued.“It
means he would have to pay $7 for
each individual. The question is, why
should he pay this money for building
a museum in Egypt? Especially since
Egypt is now witnessing the B and C
class of tourists.”
“I think it would have been better
to increase the price of EgyptAir flight
tickets by, say, EGP 3, rather than do
something like this,” he concluded.
The Grand Egyptian Museum is located approximately two kilometres
from the Giza Pyramids. It will house
artefacts from ancient Egypt and has
been described as the largest archaeological museum in the world.
The museum is scheduled to open
in 2015. It is also known as the Giza
Museum.
new horizons for specialised residential communities.”
He added:“The project pays special attention to fine art.
Aside from the eloquent architectural designs, the buildings carry works of art by famous artists, in addition to
decorative art on the different buildings of the art schools,
and the facades of the buildings have been meticulously
designed with stones and special material which maintains
its image over the years. He also shed light on the fact that
this is not only a luxury residential project or a leisure
community, but an invitation to join a community that
“enjoys life” because it appreciates the importance of fine
art168
and its positive
effect on341,716,315
people and society.17,644
99,915,563
He also stated that Galleria Moon Valley extends over 71
166split into
99,895,863
321,444,888
17,636
acres
seven residential
areas containing 105
buildings 2enjoying the
ultimate
privacy,
and
residents
can
indulge
19,700
20,271,427
8
in a myriad of facilities and services which include six swim0 gardens and kids’
0 playgrounds 0which
ming0 pools, botanical
take8over about
45%
of
the
compound.
269,810
590,767Furthermore,
141there
are retail outlets, a social centre which is home to a music
14 for children,
1,197,200
academy
the biggest8,783,538
art gallery in Egypt, a210
private
family
movie
theatre
and
a
study
room
for
students.
11
801,979
8,161,785
89
Markets
Returns
Daily Performance Turn Over Volume Market Cap.
Daily YTD 12-Mths. Max. Price Min. Price (EGP Mill.) Trade (EGP Mill.)
-15.36%
-22.27%
-7.65%
-17.37%
-6.90%
0.00%
-15.63%
-7.81%
-11.44%
-22.63%
-17.20%
-9.89%
-6.08%
-9.09%
14.36%
2.11%
-16.63%
-5.49%
0.13%
-5.01%
-10.10%
-6.70%
-20.90%
-15.35%
-16.10%
-4.33%
-9.44%
-23.64%
-4.12%
-16.19%
tiquities currently present at the Egyptian Museum near Tahrir Square will be
moved there once it is completed.
The total cost of the museum totals
$800m and will be covered through a
loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and by the
Egyptian government, represented by
the Ministry of Antiquities.
“Despite going through critical
economic woes,” said Minister of
Tourism Hesham Za’zou,“we won’t
halt work even for one day in order
to complete this huge edifice. The
donation campaign aims to avoid
losses caused through halted work
on the museum, which is estimated
at millions.”
Saher, however, is not convinced.
He continued:“This won’t affect tourism, and it has come at a very strange
time, especially in the shadow of the
increase in antiquities fees, electricity,
Arabia Real Estate Network Group took part in Cityscape
Egypt 2013, the largest real estate trade fair which takes
place in Egypt and the Middle East, and the fair was attended by a number of large multinational real estate development companies, from 28 March until the 31 March,
at the Cairo Conference Centre in Nasr City.
The participation of Arabia Group in the real estate
trade fair comes in time with what is taking place in Egypt,
and as an opportunity to meet global investors and interact
with them to project a positive image about the Egyptian
economy, and to confirm its ability to surpass the current
obstacles. Moreover, to prove that the Egyptian market
Listed is
ready to regain the growth rates of the real estate sector,
Stocks
which is a good opportunity for investments in all
sectors.
Tarek Shoukry, Chairman of Arabia Group,PDBonds
said: “We
aggressively took part in the fair this year to showcase
Bonds
our new development, namely Galleria Moon Valley,
a new
concept in property development in Egypt. ThisNilex
concept
will ultimately result in a shift in the conventional perception of luxury communities, which are limited toOTC
unique
architectural designs amongst large landscapes,Deals
and set
Last Close
Price Price
29.26
27.37
9.17
18.93
1.08
0.47
0.54
1.18
9.75
3.76
3.13
5.10
13.29
0.50
4.54
13.53
8.27
69.17
7.70
239.71
5.61
1.67
1.93
3.75
16.73
19.45
5.95
3.36
22.34
0.88
An artist’s impression of the façade of the Grand Egyptian Museum due for
completion in 2015. The Ministry of Tourism has proposed a new initiative to
ask tourists to contribute donations to help fund the building of the museum
inauguration of galleria Moon Valley, egypt’s
first residential community for art lovers
Daily EGX30 index performance
Company
Name
Courtesy of the Grand Egyptian Museum
6
28.28
26.81
9.07
18.60
1.07
0.46
0.53
1.16
9.63
3.70
3.06
5.00
13.09
0.49
4.44
13.40
8.18
68.80
7.56
236.00
5.57
1.63
1.89
3.71
16.17
19.11
5.82
3.30
21.70
0.87
44.49
4.146
23.33
0.298
3.35
2.650
0.56
6.184
10.88
1.980
5.09
0.453
6.37
22.541
26.23
4.729
1.22
0.293
10.20
23.539
0.27
1.875
18.54
5.041
0.50
1.381
1.42
9.051
0.03
1.224
1,520,658
151,458
2,543,465
15,755
453,053
5,666,557
1,038,090
766,985
1,115,973
525,970
1,627,035
88,769
478,833
45,279,760
5,779,278
349,418
148,064
4,229
1,325,172
98,196
48,913
1,124,817
9,601,392
1,343,987
30,095
71,011
238,975
2,693,138
1,326
1,384,650
17,002.60
11,895.63
5,003.47
4,164.51
387.07
251.27
1,641.44
973.58
4,644.24
1,865.00
2,019.99
323.04
22,550.42
2,622.85
23,290.87
7,045.50
571.05
5,960.70
5,436.61
49,407.67
128.01
168.30
1,991.81
7,697.09
64.94
1,744.61
548.44
889.78
1,980.90
913.50
No.
Volume Value(LE)
Trades
Orders
3
395,221
621,753
121
Total
190
101,382,573
351,090,620
17,995
353,725,376,837
Total Market Cap
Market indices performance
Index
Value
Daily Ch.
YTD Ch.
EGX 30
5,112.76
1.59%
-6.40%
EGX 70
440.35
1.63%
-7.70%
736.26
Volume
5,869.80
1.43%
Value(LE)
1.11%
-8.01%
Trades
-7.45%
EGX 100
Markets
No.
EGX 20 Capped
Listed
168
Stocks
166
PDBonds
Bonds
Direction
Markets
Nilex
Listed
OTC
Listed stocks
Deals
Stocks
Orders
PDBonds
Gainers
Total
99,915,563
341,716,315
99,895,863
Market
Brief 321,444,888
17,644
17,636
Volume
Value
No.8 of
0
0
0
0
No.
No.
Volume
Value(LE)
Trades
(000's)
(LE590,767
000's) Trades
8
269,810
141
2
168
14
166
11
166
23
93
190
19,700
20,271,427
99,915,563
1,197,200
99,896
801,979
99,895,863
341,716,315
8,783,538
321,445
8,161,785
321,444,888
395,221
19,700
33,583
0
4,406
269,810
61,906
1,197,200
Value
101,382,573
17,644
210
17,636
89
17,636
621,753
121
20,271,427
8
193,473
12,278
17,995
0
0
353,725,376,837
39,401
2,644
590,767
141
88,571
2,714
8,783,538
210
Daily
Ch. YTD
Ch.
351,090,620
TotalBonds
Market Cap
Decliners
Nilex
Unchanged
OTCIndex
0
29
8
44
14
DealsEGX 30
11
5,112.76
801,979
1.59%
8,161,785
-6.40%
Orders
EGX 100
3
121
-8.01%
EGX 70
EGX 20 Capped 190
Total
Total Market Cap
Direction
Listed stocks
Index
Gainers
EGX 30
No.
166
93
Decliners
29
Unchanged
44
EGX 70
EGX 100
EGX 20 Capped
Direction
No.
440.35
89
395,221
736.26
1.63%
621,753
1.43%
-7.70%
5,869.80
101,382,573
1.11%
351,090,620
-7.45%
17,995
Volume
(000's)
99,896
353,725,376,837
Value
No. of
(LE 000's)
Trades
321,445
Value
33,583
Daily
Ch.
193,473
4,406
39,401
61,906
88,571
5,869.80
5,112.76
440.35
736.26
1.59%
17,636
YTD
Ch.
12,278
-6.40%
2,644
1.63%
-7.70%
1.43%
-8.01%
1.11%
-7.45%
Volume
Value
(000's) (LE 000's)
2,714
No. of
Trades
Listed stocks
166
99,896
321,445
17,636
Gainers
93
33,583
193,473
12,278
Decliners
29
4,406
39,401
2,644
Business
Daily news egypt
7
electricity and energy Ministry to cut down on electricity flow in summer
By Nehal Mounir
Electricity and Energy Minister Ahmed
Imam has said in a series of statements
made to officials over the last few days
that the ministry will cut back on the
supply of electricity this coming summer. The cut backs will occur twice a
day with each period lasting four hours.
Imam also said on Sunday that the
ministry would cut electricity to a
number of the country’s larger factories during non-peak hours. The ministry also stated that it would make
attempts to change and amend its factory maintenance programme.
Egypt’s industrial sector currently
consumes roughly 42% of the country’s electricity.
Tariq Tawfiq, member of the Board
of Directors for the Food Industries
Chamber at the Federation of Egyptian
Industries (FEI), warned that cutting
electricity to factories would cause a
“disaster”, adding that such factories
would have to cut back on their energy
output, thus “threatening future plans
for expansion”.
“Many factories have already cut
back on production,” he said. “They
will therefore need to learn how to
adapt in the event of further cutbacks
on electricity flows.”
Tawfiq also pointed out that factories serving large export markets
would be most affected by the decision.
The country’s energy crisis has so
far led to a number of other crises, fueled by constant energy shortages and
worsening exchange rates.
Many in Egypt’s industrial sector
have called for the country to move
back to daylight savings time, allowing
for one extra hour of consumption per
day, as a simple way to avoid having to
cut off electricity to factories.
Mohamed Al-Shabrawi, vice president of the Chamber of Wood Work-
ing and Furniture Industries, pointed
out the need for Egypt to return to
operating on daylight savings time, and
for the state to limit the amount of
hours in which it provides public transportation to residents, suggesting that
they stop doing so after midnight.
He added that cutting back electricity to factories would decrease the
energy output of textile factories by
10% at a time when such factories are
already operating at only 35% energy
capacity as a result of the country’s
struggling economy.
Tawfiq said that a number of companies and factories have already taken
steps to use alternative energy sources
to cope with the expected increases
in energy prices. He pointed out, however, that this would require increased
funding from banks.
Mohamed Al-Haby, another member of the Board of Director’s for the
FEI, pointed to the need to take immediate steps to distribute energy and
import natural gas from abroad.
“A number of large-scale factories,
such as those producing steel, will be
particularly affected by the cutbacks
due to their reliance on ovens and furnaces which require long periods of
time to activate,” he said.“Cutting back
the flow of electricity will decrease the
production at these factories, and will
shorten worker shifts, which will eventually lead to the laying-off of a number
of employees.”
He added that the country’s repeated crises would hurt local production and force domestic merchants to
search for other products to sell and
distribute.
Al-Haby went on to say that converting Egypt’s factories to alternative
energy would require efforts from the
state, not just factory owners and individuals.The conversion process, he said,
would have to be implemented over a
long period of time, and would require
Courtesy of Facebook fan page Wadi Al-Qammar
Members of Federation of Egyptian Industries say they were not informed of the decision
The Portland Cement factory in Alexandria. Such large factories may be affected by a government decision to cut back on the supply of electricity this
coming summer. Minister of Electricity and Energy Ahmed Imam said on
Sunday that the ministry would cut electricity to a number of the country’s
larger factories during non-peak hours
high levels of investment.“The ball is in
the government’s court,” he said.
Sayed Al-Bruhumtushi, vice-president of the 10th of Ramadan City Investors Association, stated that Egypt’s
Ministry of Electricity and Energy had
not yet informed them of the decision
to cut electricity to factories. He said
that this policy would damage factory
machines and facilities.
He added that regions with high
levels of damaged facilities would be
those most affected by this decision.
“In such areas energy cutbacks should
be limited to once a week,” he said.
He said that it was necessary for the
state to distribute an adequate amount
of petroleum resources to electricityproducing factories to avoid these factories suffering losses.“Energy generators will not be enough to serve as a
substitute for cutbacks in the amount
of energy flowing through the country’s national grid,” he said.
Mohamed Al-Morshidi, president of
the Obour City Investors Association,
and president of the country’s Chamber of Textile Industries within the FEI,
also said his organisation had not been
informed of the government’s decision.
“I expect the effects of such a policy to
be limited to lampposts and similar facilities in residential neighbourhoods,
to avoid cutting electricity for factories,” he said.
Hamada Al-Qalyubi, president of
the Al-Mahala Investors Assocation,
said that cutting electricity for four
hours a day would consume half a
shift’s worth of work in the nation’s
textile factories, reducing the energy
output of such factories by 33%. This,
he said, would lead to increases in final
production prices, creating huge losses
for factories.
He added that Egypt’s factories
should begin seeking out alternative
energy sources to operate their facilities, even if converting to alternative
sources would not bring benefits in the
short term. He added that factories
that had not yet converted to natural
gas would face serious problems in the
future, including severe fuel shortages
that would make it difficult for them to
operate electricity generators.
Ossama Rostom, a member of the
Pharmaceuticals Chamber at the FEI,
expected factories relying on a constant energy flow for multiple shifts
per day would suffer the worst losses,
decreasing their profitability and pushing management to lay off workers. He
added that for such factories, electricity generators would not be enough to
meet their needs.
Bahgat Al-Dash, president of the
Electrical Appliances Division of the
Chamber of Engineering Industries at
the FEI, also said that so far his organisation had not been informed by the
Energy and Electricity Ministry of its
decision to cut back electrical output.
He warned against the government
cutting back the flow of electricity
during the morning, as this would have
a particularly negative effect on energy output for factories. He said that
consumers’ purchasing capacity would
also be affected by energy cuts.
Osama Hafila, president of the
Domietta Investors Association, said
that cutting back the flow of electricity
for a period of four hours a day during
peak hours would decrease the energy
output of factories in the city by 50%.
He added that doing so would damage factory machines and facilities used
to produce goods, further saying that
replacing electricity flows with generators would not be a solution because
the country is also experiencing a diesel crisis. He stated that any additional
costs would place a huge burden on
factory owners, saying that such increases would most likely result in
higher prices paid by consumers.
Mohsen Al-Gabali, president of the
Beni Suef Investors Association, stated
that his organisation had also not been
informed of the ministry’s decision. He
added that such a move would result in
work operations being shut down for
an average of half a shift per day in many
factories, decreasing energy output by
40% and forcing a number of factories
to close down or lay off workers. He
went on to say that producers already
faced a number of difficulties in selling
and marketing their goods and products due to constant security lapses
and fuel crises throughout the country.
He added that the use of fuel generators,particularly in Upper Egypt,would
be difficult and would not serve as an
appropriate substitute for electricity
acquired from Egypt’s national grid.
Mohamed Al-Sayed, president of the
Energy Committee for Egypt’s Federation of Industries, and president of the
Sheikh Zayed Investors Association,
stated that such a move would lead to
huge losses in the industrial sector in
addition to the overall deterioration or
destruction of a number of factory machines and facilities.This would lead to
falls in employee wages at a time when
many companies are looking to expand.
He added that it was now clear that
Egypt’s factories should convert to new
and renewable energy sources, in particular solar and wind power. He went
on to say that in order to do so, a concerted effort on the part of the government and investors to provide funding to
cover the cost of the project for a period
of 10 years would be required.Although
these costs sometimes totalled billions
of pounds, after their completion the
government would be able to eliminate
energy subsidies entirely. This, he said,
would free up money for the state to
spend on other sectors. The time had
come, he said, for Egypt to begin taking
steps to avoid suffering further losses
in the future that would have additional
negative effects on the economy.
Al-Sayed added that if Egypt’s Energy
and Electricity Ministry does in fact cut
back the flow of electricity throughout
the country for four hours per day, the
country’s factories could expect to face
a series of difficulties this coming summer.Many factories,he said,were simply
too large to make up for cutbacks in
energy supply with fuel generators.
art & CUltUre
Music
Shaima at Saigon Lounge
Enjoy a romantic night with
Shaima’s sultry tunes at Fairmont
Nile City. Reservations required.
Fairmont Nile City
Nile City Towers
2005 B, Corniche El Nil,
Ramlet Beaulac, Cairo
Tel: ( 02) 2461 9494
9 April 9pm
Dance
Not for Everybody
Hal Badeel festival introduces
contemporary dance company
No Point Perspective, led by
Mirette Michail, in their performance Not for Everybody.
Townhouse Gallery
The Factory Space
6 Hussain El-Me’mary Street, off
Mahmoud Bassiouny Street,
Downtown, Cairo.
Tel: (02) 2576 8086
9 April 8pm
FilM
Boul Fallé, the Wrestling Way
As part of D-CAF festival, director Ramia Thiaw’s film Boul
Fallé, the Wrestling Way, will be
screened. The film handles the
1988 youth protests against the
re-election of President Abdou
Diouf.
Goethe-Institut Kairo
5 El Bustan Street,
Downtown, Cairo
Tel: (02) 2575 9877
9 April 7pm
exhibition
Black, White and Gray
The American University in Cairo showcases some mesmerizing
black and white shots by famous
photographers.
AUC New Cairo
Road 90,
Fifth Settlement, Cairo
Tel: (02) 2615 1000
9 April 10am
roman ruins in Old Cairo
Mahatat launches ‘Face to
Face’ project in Damietta
By Abdel-Rahman Sherief
By Thoraia Abou Bakr
The remnants of Fort Babylon, a colossal round building located near the
Coptic Museum and the Greek Orthodox St. George Church, are often
overlooked by tourists and neglected
by tour guides when they visit the old
Coptic area of Cairo.
The fort was built by the Romans
northeast of the old capital Memphis
and overlooked the Nile, meant to
secure transportation along the river
between Upper and Lower Egypt. In
the present day there is little left of its
former glory.
The fort was built on the southern end of the old Pharaonic town
Per-Hapi-On, or ‘The river house of
On’.According to some historians the
mispronunciation of the name by the
Romans led to the name Fort Babylon
but others claim it was named after
a number of captives brought there
from Babylonia during the time of
Sesostris.
Roman Emperor Diocletian built
the fort in 300 C.E. as the stronghold
of three legions in charge of securing
Egypt. The garrison of Fort Babylon
vowed to secure ships on the Nile and
a canal that passed through the town
connecting the Nile with the Red Sea.
This canal was first established by the
Pharaohs, and was restored and enlarged by the Roman Emperor Trajan.
The fort was renovated and fortified
by the Roman Emperor Arcadius.
The harbour flourished, hosting
ships from the Red and Mediterranean Seas, and the city thrived and
became Egypt’s centre of commerce.
This prompted the Roman emperors
and governors to enlarge the garrison
and dedicate resources to the city.
As the city grew, the fort became
the home of the Roman Governor
and the bastion of the Roman legions
that secured the region. Commercial,
Gérard Ducher
events
Art should make a statement and Culture is what surrounds us.
Partially restored tower of Fort Babylon in Coptic Cairo
economic and political interest drifted
away from the older city of Memphis,
which before the Roman invasion was
the Egyptian capital, towards the new
city of Babylon.
Babylon’s strategic and administrative significance in controlling the
Egyptian province prompted the Arab
Muslim leader ‘Amr Ibn-El ‘Aas to
mark it as his key target and the first
objective in his campaign to conquer
Egypt in 641 A.D.
TheArab army attacked the city and
besieged the fort for seven months,
until on 9 April the fort surrendered
and Fort Babylon fell into the hands
of ‘Amr Ibn-El-‘Aas and his army, as
did Memphis. The importance of the
city of Babylon declined shortly after
the Muslims’ domination of Egypt; all
significant commercial and political
interests moved to the new capital
Fustat, built close by on the same bank
of the Nile.
Today only parts of the inner towers
remain of the fort and do not reflect
the mighty shape the fort once had;
the ground floor was six metres below
where the churches are now. In the
past many Christian religious buildings
and the Coptic museum were built on
what was once part of the fort. The
hanging church (Al-Mu’llaqa) is adjacent to the south towers of the fort,
and the St. George Church sits next to
the northern tower.
The fort occupied an area of half a
kilometre square; it was approximately 15 metres high and its walls were
four metres thick. It was built from
limestone and red rock taken from
ancient Pharaonic temples in Memphis, which were also used for many
other historic buildings, including the
‘Amr Ibn El-‘As Mosque and Cairo’s
Ayyubid boundary wall.
The whole historic area is being
renovated to preserve it for future
generations with the help of several
international organisations. Fort Babylon represents an important phase in
Egyptian history and its once glorious
city is considered part of the three
historic cities from which contemporary Cairo originated: Memphis, On
and Babylon.
After conducting some extensive field
research, the organisation Mahatat for
Contemporary Art launched an artists’ development project called “Face
to Face” in the Damietta governorate. The project aims at helping artists
develop much needed skills, as well as
connecting them with their peers and
the artistic society outside of Damietta.
The project is headed by two of the
Mahatat founders, Heba Al-Sheikh and
Mayada Said. The goals of Mahatat include the decentralisation of art and enabling artists especially in the field of contemporary art. The field research was
conducted from October to December
2012. Research showed the problems
artists of Damietta face are summed up
in two categories: not enough exposure
and the scattered nature of independent
artists without a known community.The
project also aims at dissipating some negative preconceived notions concerning
the people of Damietta.
Participants are chosen through
registration, followed by interviews
conducted by workshop leaders.
The project builds on pre-existing
projects including the Damietta Camera Club.Together with local organisations they try to unite the artistic society and give independent artists more
resources to help them with their art.
“The project depends on face to
face meetings to build relationships
between the artists and the people
outside Damietta,” explained AlSheikh when asked why they decided
to make part of the project offline.
al-safeera aziza at the netherlandsFlemish institute in Cairo
Rana El-Nemr with Photography Workshop Participants
new arrivals on the shelves
Salman Rushdie
By Joseph Anton
The Sixth Sense
6 Contemporary Arts is showcasing the works of two artists
Ayman Salah Taher and Ahmad
Keshta. The collections focus on
the theme of intuition.
6 Contemporary Arts
6 Salah El Din Street
Zamalek, Cairo
Tel: 02 27365772
9 April 10:30am
Free...Frozen
The Modern Egyptian Art Museum is showcasing the works of
visual artist Iman Osama. The
collection explores the issue of
self-knowledge and expression.
Cairo Opera House Grounds
El Borg Gezira Street
Bab Exhibition
Zamalek, Cairo
Tel: (02) 27366667
9 April 10am
Weather
Tuesday, 9 April
Alexandria
21°C / 14°C
Aswan
33°C / 18°C
Cairo
26°C / 14°C
Hurghada
30°C / 17°C
Luxor
32°C / 16°C
Sharm El-Sheikh
32°C / 18°C
Suez
22°C / 10°C
They also offer several workshops,
which started in March and will continue until May.
The workshops include an event
photography workshop by Rana ElNemr, a theatre workshop by Mohamed Shindy, and a visual art workshop by artist Hanaa El-Daghem and
painter Dalia Refaat. The workshops
are organised by Bassant Galal. Mahatat plans to launch the project website and blog within a week, which will
contain information about the project. There is an online component
to the project, which includes using
social media websites to encourage
artists’ interaction with each other
and workshops’ leaders.
In the future the project will expand
to include the entire Delta region.The
next stage of the project is expected to
include Port Said and Mansoura, which
have a special connection with Damietta, with Mansoura considered the
cultural hub. “Mansoura’s university is
the main one, while the rest of the universities [in the other two governorates] are affiliated with it,” Galal said.
The workshops do not have rigid
plans but depend on the participation of the applicants to guide it to
its final form. “Photographers always
feel as if they are intruding on people,
so we try to make them feel at ease
and show them how to make other
people feel comfortable being photographed,” El-Nemr explained.
The workshops are concluded
with a formal evaluation of the participants and then there is an informal
follow up by workshop leaders.
Mahtat for Contemporary Art
8
journey and the struggle for freedom of speech.
The Invisible Arab
By Marwan Bishara
Still from the movie, featuring Soad Hosni and Shokry Sarhan
By Thoraia Abou Bakr
On Sunday, 7 April, NVICinema explored the work of Director Tolba
Radwan, by screening Al-Safeera Aziza (Ambassador Aziza), starring Soad
Hosni and Shokry Sarhan. The black
and white film was made in 1961, and
features the Downtown locations of
Al-Hussein and Sayeda Zeinab.
The tale begins with the relocation
of Ahmed (Shokry Sarhan), a young
teacher, to a new apartment in the AlHussein area. The street in which he
lives is controlled by a bully, the butcher, who conducts all his business by
using violence. He is married and has
a paternal half-sister, who also lives
with him.The sister is Aziza, played by
Soad Hosni.The butcher is a bully with
his wife and sister as well, prohibiting
them to go out and causing harm to
any man who dares look at them.
As the film progresses we also find
out that the butcher has hijacked his
sister’s maternal inheritance. He had
forced her to sign a release of her fortune and has been squandering it on
women. Through threats of violence
he manages to maintain control over
all the people around him.
Aziza manages to maneuver within
the confines of her brother’s misogyny. She works her way to meeting
the young teacher, and then quickly
attracts him by providing him with
food and cleaning his apartment. At
first it appears that Aziza is moving
from one position of inferiority to
another. However, the movie shows
that Aziza has been in control of the
relationship all along.
When Ahmed proposes to the
butcher in order to marry Aziza her
brother reacts violently and attempts
to kill him. The police are called, but
Ahmed refuses to snitch on his future brother-in-law. This compels the
butcher to approve of the marriage,
albeit hesitantly. The only reason he
refused the marriage was the threat of
the new husband demanding Aziza’s
inheritance.
After the wedding, Aziza demands
that Ahmed stands up to her brother
and get her inheritance. He refuses
to cause trouble so Aziza withholds
sex on their wedding night and continues to do so for seven days. Only
when she threatens his manhood and
calls him a coward does Ahmed spring
to action. It culminates into a violent
fight with the butcher in which Ahmed
succeeds to get Aziza’s inheritance.
The film explores a problem that
faced women at the time, especially
those that were not educated like
Aziza. It also shows the wit of Aziza
in working within the confines of
society and family to get what she
wants. However, the film is limited
to Aziza’s demanding that a man (her
husband) fights her battles for her
and we do not see Aziza in a leading role.
The film is complimented with
some humorous sketches that have
caused audiences to belt out in laughter. Despite the movie was made in
1961, it succeeded in showcasing
a still current societal problem in a
funny and interesting context, which
is more than can be said for many
modern films.
Joseph Anton does not exist; the
name is the pseudonym Salman
Rushdie chose to use during the
time he was living underground
under 24-hour police protection.
Rushdie used the names of two of
his favourite writers, Conrad and
Chekhov, as a pseudonym when he
was hiding from the fatwa issued
against him for writing the book
The Satanic Verses.
The book, deemed an insult
against the Islamic religion, had
spurred the Ayatollah Khomeini
to issue the fatwa against Rushdie,
something he was made aware of
when he received a call from a BBC
reporter. For nine years Rushdie
and his family lived away from the
public eye, continuously moving
residences and struggling to stay
safe, sane and find a way to regain
his freedom.
In this book Rushdie shares the
story of these nine years and gives a
detailed account of a very personal
The Arab uprisings have inspired
many books, each taking different
angles. The chief policy analyst of Al
Jazeera English, Marwan Bishara, follows the recent revolts to their beginning in The Invisible Arab. Bishara
combines in-depth reporting, analysis
and research to discover when the
seeds for the uprising were planted
and what contributed to their growth.
Painting a picture of the region
and taking national and international policies into account, Bishara explores the how and why and poses
questions as to what should come
next. He argues that now that several countries are in transition there is
a unique chance to re-establish the
way the Middle East and the Western world deal with each other, an
opportunity to find common ground
as the individual countries struggle
to establish new ways of life.

al-Tayar al-Sha`aby offers alternative economic model for Egypt

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