Egypt: National Council for Human Rights to issue report Tuesday
Egypt: National Council for Human Rights to issue report Tuesday
Bikya Masr
31 August 2009
CAIRO: Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights announced in a statement Saturday that it would send its report on human rights in Egypt to the International Council for Human Rights in Geneva on Tuesday. The council said in the statement that the Geneva-based international council will then discuss the report in the “framework of the comprehensive periodic review session on the situation of human rights in Egypt during the past five years. read more »
Egypt senior national team not to fast ahead of Rwanda match
Egypt senior national team not to fast ahead of Rwanda match
Bikya Masr
31 August 2009
CAIRO: Ahead of a must-win match on September 5 versus Rwanda in Kigali, Egyptian national team players apparently have agreed not to fast on match day, President of the Egyptian Football Assocaition (EFA) Samir Zaher, said in a press statement. According to him, the squad has agreed that it is not a good idea to fast after a number of religious leaders, including the country’s top religious institution, issued fatwas – Islamic opinions – over the subject. read more »
Egypt: Charity stalls in Alexandria attacked by government security
Egypt: Charity stalls in Alexandria attacked by government security
Bikya Masr
31 August 2009
CAIRO: Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood group reported on Sunday that charity stalls established in Alexandria were attacked by government forces and at least two people have been detained. The stalls are part of the Islamic group’s efforts at giving lower income families the opportunity of purchasing school supplies for their children at reduced rates. read more »
Egypt, US disagree over aid
Egypt, US disagree over aid
Bikya Masr
31 August 2009
CAIRO: A report issued by the American Congressional Research Service said there are differences between Egypt and the United States about how to determine the form of the annual aid given to Egypt, especially in the light of an agreement between the two nations to reduce economic aid, but maintain military assistance, America in Arabic reported on Sunday.
The new report comes after an earlier report this month said that Washington would end aid to Egyptian NGO’s not on an approved government list, which led to widespread anger among dozens of local independent NGO’s that would lose much of their funding. read more »
Copts abroad call for national strike in Egypt
Copts abroad call for national strike in Egypt
Bikya Masr
31 August 2009
Egypt Coptic Christian at a service in Cairo read more »
Foreign woman dies in Egypt resort town: witness
Foreign woman dies in Egypt resort town: witness
Bikya Masr
31 August 2009
DAHAB: A foreign woman has been killed after being trampled by a horse in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Dahab, an hour from Sharm el-Sheikh, one eyewitness told Bikya Masr on Sunday. However, one government official in South Sinai has denied that any foreign woman had died, saying that “we have been getting some wind on this, but nothing really has happened.”
Christopher Reeve, an American traveler in the town, said he was drinking coffee and reading at the popular Penguin Village Hotel, when he heard a horse coming from the walkway that separates the hotel from the restaurant. read more »
Egypt Internet activists and “influence”
Egypt Internet activists and “influence”
Muhammad Hamza
Bikya Masr
30 August 2009
The use of the Internet in Egypt as a platform for political activism has been the topic of discussion in various political circles and in the media.
Bloggers have come under the spotlight when they started to expose and bring to public attention cases of human rights violations and physical abuse against detainees in police stations. Others have been expressing their political views, which are quite critical of the government and the policies of the state as a whole.
They have managed to grab the attention of the media at home and human rights and media freedom organizations abroad. read more »
Egypt: Female circumcision crackdown
Egypt: Female circumcision crackdown
Bikya Masr
30 August 2009
CAIRO: Reports on Thursday said that the first doctor in Egypt was being charged under a new Egyptian law that forbids the controversial practice of female genital mutilation, or FGM. The man allegedly illegally circumcised a young girl last week and is being charged after a local hospital notified the authorities following the 11-year-old girl’s admittance into the hospital with heavy bleeding as a result of the procedure.
According to al-Arabiya news organization, the doctor performed the procedure at the girl’s Minya home – some 400 miles south of Cairo – for 150 Egyptian pounds ($27). read more »
American Egypt researcher says Mubarak “exploiting” country
American Egypt researcher says Mubarak “exploiting” country
Bikya Masr
30 August 2009
CAIRO: Lisa Blaides, an American researcher specialized in Egyptian and the Arab world affairs, who won an award last week for her work and research on Egypt under President Hosni Mubarak’s era, said that the Egyptian political elite is “exploiting” and manipulating politics for personal interests and that elections in Egypt are a means to maintain the regime’s power and status quo. read more »
Egypt: Al-Azhar website hacked
Egypt: Al-Azhar website hacked
Bikya Masr
30 August 2009
CAIRO: The prominent Sunni Muslim religious institution has become Egypt’s latest Internet victim after it was hacked early Sunday morning. Visitors to the website seeking information on Islam were surprised by the new homepage created by the hackers, who had replaced the original site with a new network that posted the name “sovalye-starturk” in its place. read more »
Egypt: Christians, Muslims clash … again
Egypt: Christians, Muslims clash … again
Bikya Masr
30 August 2009
CAIRO: Egyptian security forces reported that at least 6 Christians were injured in sectarian fighting in the Mitt Damsis village in the Daqahliyah governorate in the Northern Delta region on Friday. Eyewitnesses corroborated the reports after police calmed the area and arrested 16 Christians and Muslims.
Egypt has been hit with a recent spate of sectarian violence. Last month, riots broke out in a Delta village near Mansoura after a teenage Muslim boy was stabbed to death by a Coptic street vendor. Muslim residents attacked the homes of a number of known Copts before police intervened to quiet the situation. read more »
Egypt: April 6 movement to launch anti-government campaign
Egypt: April 6 movement to launch anti-government campaign
Bikya Masr
29 August 2009
CAIRO: Egypt’s most successful opposition movement to date, the April 6 Student Movement, has announced it will launch a new anti-government campaign to “expose the regime’s policy and the ruling party’s failures.” On Friday, the movement known for organizing Internet and street demonstrations – said they plan to organize the second annual Electronic anti-National Democratic Party (NDP) conference, according to local newspapers. read more »
Israel okays changes to Egypt gas deal
Israel okays changes to Egypt gas deal
Bikya Masr
29 August 2009
CAIRO: Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) announced that its board members have approved changes to a previous agreement with Egypt. The statement on Thursday says the new deal will create a steady flow of natural gas into the Jewish state.
The IEC said in a statement that as a result of the changes that have occurred in the global fuel market and with new costs of gas production in Egypt, the new deal changes the price of gas for the export deal that has left many Egyptian activists angered.
The IEC did not provide exact details of the new arrangement, but said that it took into account political pressures in Egypt. read more »
Egypt women leaders welcome State Council decision
Egypt women leaders welcome State Council decision
Bikya Masr
29 August 2009
CAIRO: A large number of Egyptian women leaders and the judges of the State Council have welcomed last week’s decision by Counselor Mohammad Husseini, head of the State Council, to appoint women as judicial functionaries of the council. The Private Council, the country’s highest administrative authority, upheld and earlier decision to appoint women to the body in a move that has sparked much hope among the country’s female leaders, who have said “it is long overdue.” read more »
Egypt: Conflicting Ramadan food prices
Egypt: Conflicting Ramadan food prices
Bikya Masr
29 August 2009
CAIRO: Egypt is in the midst of a battle over information pertaining to alleged rises and cuts to food costs during the current holy month of Ramadan. Local media is currently clashing over conflicting official reports issued by the Consumer Protection body and reports by Chambers’ of Commerce over the prices of food commodities in the market during the month of Ramadan as compared to last year. read more »
British woman uses surgery to look like Nefertiti
British woman uses surgery to look like Nefertiti
Bikya Masr
29 August 2009
CAIRO: A British woman wanted to look like Egyptian queen Nefertiti, so she spent more than $300,000 in 51 cosmetic surgeries to get the job done, The Daily Mail reported this week. Nileen Namita, 49, started the process of transforming herself into the famed queen in 1987 following visions she said she had of the deceased queen.
According to an interview with the British newspaper, Namita believed this meant she was the queen in a past life.
Egyptians are laughing at the matter here in Cairo, saying it shows just how “crazy people can be.” read more »
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