Politics/headline news
Shaath beams proceedings back to Ramallah
(cairolive.com, September 7, 2002) The Arab Foreign Ministers meeting that took place at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League on Wednesday and Thursday ended with a universal Arab stand against any US-led attack on Iraq.
The meeting's final statement was considered a unique and strong stance by most papers, and was well-covered in the international press.
The warning that hell would rain down on the Middle East if Iraq was attacked was the most oft-quoted sentiment coming out of the meeting.
Thursday's Al-Wafd also featured an interesting picture on its front page related to the meeting. Showing the back of Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath's head, as well as his hand holding a mobile phone, the item was headlined "Shaath transmits the ministers' meetings live".
The story was about Shaath's new mobile phone, which has a built in camera, with which Shaath was able to beam the proceedings at the meeting back to his boss, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who has been unable to leave the occupied territories for fear of not being let back in by Israel.

Commentary
Support for Al-Limby
(cairolive.com, September 7, 2002) A columnist in El-Akhbar wonders what all the fuss is about regarding the so-called satirical remake of an Um Kulthum song, sung by actor Mohamed Saad in the hit summer film Al-Limby.
The writer, Ali Bayoumi, argues that the character played by Saad, a drugged-up hooligan, is based on real people who are out on the streets, and that similar "Limbys" exist everywhere in the world.
He says that although he agrees that classic Egyptian heritage should be left alone, at the same time, the sheer number of people who have been enjoying Saad's antics in the film surely reveal something about what audiences want these days.
He suggests that critics of the film who haven't even seen it give the movie a whirl, and that maybe its formula of laughter will take their minds off the problems of the world for just a little while.

To see the original "Classic Cairo Live" item about the controversy surrounding Al-Limby, click here.

Education
Who's to gain?
(cairolive.com, September 7, 2002) The papers are filled with articles, and advertisements relating to the "back to school" season. With parents complaining about the prices of school uniforms, a feature story in El-Akhbar is headlined "School uniforms change annually to the benefit of certain stores that exaggerate their prices."
Another article in the paper advises parents that their kids' backpacks should never weigh more than 10 per cent of the weight of the child himself.

For much more information on children's education and development, make sure to visit cairokids.com

Miscellaneous
Just doing his job
(cairolive.com, September 7, 2002) El-Akhbar's front page recently featured one of those recurring items about a lowly worker who found a large sum of money and decided to return it to its rightful owner, no questions asked.
This time the good Samaritan was a conscript who came across LE5 thousand in cash and LE15 thousand in letters of credit in a small bag left on the street. The honest conscript found the money while performing his duties directing traffic at an intersection in Nasr City.
It turned out that the owner of the bag had indeed submitted a lost and found request at a nearby police station, and the bag was promptly returned to him.
The conscript, the story says, then refused the 10 per cent reward offer proffered to him by the man who had lost his bag, saying he had done nothing special -- just his duty and job.

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