Tarek Atia's web log
Find
out how
the world media sees Egypt...
FEBRUARY
2004
Media plays up
initiative rejection
News agency claims Mubarak takes the "reins
of revolt" against the US's Greater Middle East Initiative, placing the Egyptian president's rejection of the
plan in the perspective of Mubarak's upcoming meeting with
Bush in April.
Speaking earlier
this year at the Book Fair, Mubarak
opts for a step
by step approach to democratization....
Good news
Egypt and the Ukraine have been removed from the blacklist of countries
that do not have adequate controls against money
laundering.
Southern standoff
Sudden dangerous
hostage situation in southern town famous for drug trafficking and
vendettas -- and more details here.
Security
forces storm from river and land...
battle rages...
Dangerous
travelers?
The Toronto Star reports that "Helmy
Elsherief says he's tired, eager to come home and wants to thank the
Canadian and Egyptian officials who helped secure
his release after 20 days of questioning by authorities in Cairo.
FBI chief says
cooperation with Egypt and other Arab countries has been "very
good," since September 11.
Story critical of
the US embassy in
Cairo's attitude towards visa seekers. The story is about an
Egyptian woman married to an American, who went back to Egypt to visit
her family, then wasn't
allowed back to the States again.
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Saturday, February 28, 2004 14:00 CAIRO
Clash
Still more confusion over the coach
selection process for Egypt's national team... One nominee is upset
that the press got a hold of his name...
Inspired
Roller coaster ride of a column on Egypt's bid
to host the World Cup, by Maria Golia in The Daily Star...
Hoax
Argument over excess baggage
leads to fake bomb threat?
Globalization
Job shift
to Egypt causes disequilibrium with global airline IT labor market
No
"Egypt rejects Gaza
control," reports the Washington Times, quoting al-Musawar
Nice
Huge new ancient Egypt portal co-sponsored by the Supreme Council of
Antiquities and IBM -- news article
about it, and the Eternal
Egypt site itself.
Serious
Egypt and Saudi Arabia say Arab states “do
not accept that a particular pattern of reform be imposed on Arab and
Islamic countries from outside.”
Powell immediately responds, in an interview on
Al-Hurra -- “I
agree with the Egyptians and the Saudis: (reform) can’t be imposed
from outside. It has to be accepted from the inside. We would
never suggest a reform plan that should come from outside.”
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Thursday, February 26, 2004 12:00 CAIRO
Plane update
Boeing to be sued
by some Egypt crash victims.
Nile update
AFP covers the brewing controversy over use of Nile
water, highlighting possible Egyptian reactions...
Iran update
It's official: Maher says Egypt and Iran are set to restore
full diplomatic ties...
Soccer
update
More from the BBC on who might take over the top
coach job for the national Egyptian soccer team
Very
interesting:
"An Egyptian scholar based in London, England," reports
CNN, is trying to prove that Arabs and Muslims had a basic
understanding of hieroglyphics
and could even translate some of them, long before Champolion and
the French did so in the 1800s.
Press
rights
Mubarak steps in to eliminate
prison sentences for journalists...
Strange?
A somewhat obscure article in the Khaleej Times claims that belly
dancers are getting younger....
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Tuesday, February 24, 2004 17:00 CAIRO
Update
Journalist can come back
Journalist's expulsion
was a misunderstanding -- Egypt's ambassador to the US Nabil Fahmy
goes on the record saying Charles Levinson can go back to Egypt any
time...
Trouble
underwater?
Barrier reefs gone
by 2050 -- same thing in Sinai?
Egyptomania
Interesting Egypt-themed
hotel in New Zealand.
Complicated case
Egyptian American flight
attendant living in California being held without bond as FBI
investigates alleged credit card fraud they suspect may be linked to
terror... entire thing seems like hearsay, judging from this rather
scary bit...
"According to the indictment, agents
started investigating Elsaai after a witness in another case told them
Elsaai had made statements implying the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were
justified. When agents checked further into her background, agents said
they found Elsaai's name in FBI files just one month after the attacks,
when according to the indictment, "Elsaai had numerous credit cards
and held views that were hostile to the United States." Her
brother, though, says that just can't be true. "My sister, she's
been here 16 or 17 years. She loves America," Ashrraf Elsaai said.
"She's been working in the airline business for 10 years."
BBC takes aim
In a BBC analysis, Saudi
Arabia is urged to follow Egypt's example when dealing with radical
Islamists...
Meanwhile, the BBC also
investigates AIDS awareness in Egypt, and even interviews the Health
Minister, who says Egypt might soon make its own
Aids medicine.
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Sunday, February 22, 2004 15:00 CAIRO
The
world gets stranger...
Will Egypt soon be importing
camels from Australia? This article makes that amazing claim...
Sudden
meeting
Iranian, Egyptian FMs agree to keep ties
on track.
AUC
student in trouble
Is son being
held for the sins of the father?
Another
feud
Wedding night "taar"
massacre in Assuit.
What's been happening to you?
Critic positively reviews Omar Sharif's new
film.
Business
roundup
USA Today does a reaction story from Baghdad on
the launch
of Orascom's Iraqna Iraqi mobile service...
Saudi Arabian editorialist upset
about Egypt getting Canon photocopier plant contract.
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Thursday, February 19, 2004 00:20 CAIRO
Potential issue?
Big News Network reports on an American
journalist being allegedly deported from Egypt for writing critical articles...
His publisher, the Cairo Times' Hisham
Kassem, comments on the issue,
positing a question -- What if Ahram's Washington correspondent
was kicked out of the US just because he's been writing critical
articles there?
More Nile updates
Tanzania intransigent
about using Nile water...
Meanwhile, Australian site titles
article on same subject: "Africa needs Nile water but Egypt won't
share".
AND: Here's an
African writer who is very angry
about Egypt's control of Nile.
New trends?
Tourists to
become archaeologists...
Plus, a new theory on how the
idea for Pyramids arose, and Southern California looks at ancient
Egyptian medicine
AND: Ancient Egyptian hockey -- hoksha
-- profiled by NDTV.
Smuggling,
etc.
Antiquities smuggling ring nabbed
by undercover cop
Meanwhile, the Guardian
does a very glowing profile of Zahi Hawass, calling him the
"overlord of the underworld."
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Monday, February 16, 2004 15:00 CAIRO
Twins
in good shape
Formerly conjoined twins may get
to go back to Egypt as soon as later this year... They will be
having surgery to reconstruct their skulls in just a few months...
Photo of Texas twins
playing
happily...
New dynamic
Corporate
social responsibility promoted by the UN in Cairo...
Do more
Singaporean Prime Minister -- during visit to Egypt -- urges
Singaporean students studying
religion in Cairo to expand their horizons, do vocational training,
learn some other skill too...
Problems
Three die in Sharm
boat fire.
Emirates changes visa
regulations after plane crash that killed Egyptians, others...
Update
Nile trouble brewing
Nile water tension gets
higher profile -- covered extensively by Guardian,
which says Kenya is planning a conference in March to seek a peaceful
resolution to the issue...
Guess who's
coming to town?
Matrix to finally
show in Egyptian cinemas, Dar Al-Hayat's English site reports..
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Friday, February 13, 2004 13:00 CAIRO
Forward
thinking?
For
the first time in its history, a woman has been named to head Cairo's Egyptian Museum
...
Wafaa Seddiq will "supervise new projects to
expand the museum that are expected to be launched this year, which
include the establishment of a library and a visitors' center,"
Supreme Antiquities Council Secretary General Zahi Hawwas said.
What's this
all about?
The announcement of a "Greater
Middle East" Initiative by the US inspires anger, doubt, and
resignation amongst unnamed Arab and Egyptian officials in this AP
report...
"The way Washington has
handled the initiative so far has added to Arab feeling that the
Bush administration is planning a future for the region behind
their backs, they said."
Trouble
brewing over Nile waters?
Egypt has yet to react to Tanzania's
moves to circumvent a historic treaty governing the river's
use.
Forbe's
take...
Tragedy at
sea
Many from the same Nile Delta town may have been on the ship that sank in Mediterranean...
a survivor
tells his story.
Crime watch
Norwegian stabbed by man angry
about global politics.
More post-Saleh
speculation
Two big
names emerge for top soccer coach job...
Big news
Sharm El-Sheikh to host major
European golf tournament in April.
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Wednesday, February 11, 2004 17:00 CAIRO
Quick
change
of heart
The calm did not last long...
"Youssef al-Dahshouri told a news conference that the
federation 
had
accepted
Salah's resignation and
a foreign coach was needed
to prepare the team for World Cup qualifiers, which start in June."
BBC
speculates on who the successor
might be...
Meanwhile,
Mido scores a quick goal
right after returning
to Marseilles after failed Egypt African Cup bid.
Another
tragic road accident
19 dead
this time.
Economy
overload?
Sugar
to emerge as big economic issue, according to Reuters report
picked up by Pakistani site.
Jack Kemp delves into Egypt's extralegal
economic sector, predicting great things if certain changes are
made...
Meanwhile, EU trade
agreement will also deal with democracy
Reduction
in textile and apparel tariffs follow consultations with the
United States, this specialized apparel web site says. The US
originally had a problem with customs
duties on its clothes, which this article claims
approached 51,000%.
ALSO:
Egyptian textile companies to be modernized...
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Monday, February 9, 2004 10:00 CAIRO
What's
new?
Egyptian film classics re-mastered
in Seattle on DVD.
Debating Cromer --
a book review...
UPDATE:
PLANE
New theory
Only very
late did cockpit crew realize what was going on in Sharm crash
Very local
Despite local US valve
manufacturer's business woes, Cairo sales office remains
open
Nightmare turned
real
Dog
meat sold in place of lamb
UPDATE:
SOCCER
No snap decision
Egyptian
Football Association finally decides to pause before switching
coaches after a big loss.
Keshi Cries for
Egypt -- an interesting story from an African site called Vanguard
about a fan's
disillusionment at the Cameroon loss.
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Sunday, February 8, 2004 00:00 CAIRO
Still on
Egyptian international judge Nabil
El-Arabi will remain on ICJ panel looking into legality of
Sharon's separation wall
Revealed by UPI
30
Egyptians being held at Guantanamo Bay
Boo hoo...
Egypt loses to Cameroon in dreary
game filled with lost chances
Plus,
national coach typically quits
after dismal performance
Stateside...
An Egyptian doing very well in the States... Mona
Mulhair -- a top educator -- tells her life story to he Contra
Costa times.
Another Egyptian in the US trying to get citizenship sues
the INS for delays...
Plus, strange Egypt-influenced
society in Georgia (registration required).
10 million pounds
Canon Middle East has launched the region's first photocopier
assembly line in Egypt.
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Thursday, February 5, 2004 14:00 CAIRO
Plane
update
The rudder on an Egyptian charter plane was not
the cause of its fatal crash earlier this month, a top French
aviation official said Saturday.
Peace
update
President Hosni Mubarak
said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had assured
him he was ready to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.
Combined with Sharon's Gaza settlements announcement, one would
think there would be more optimism about the chances for peace in
the Middle East? Or is it because it's all been heard so many
times before...
Big game
Preview
of Egypt - Cameroon contest
The
BBC's take
Herafiyeen
anyone?
Anyone who has dealt with the spare
car parts scene will recognize this dynamic, courtesy of an
article about Chinese forgeries... "Ford recently raided a
Chinese factory and turned up 7,000 sets of counterfeit brake pads
destined for Egypt, each stamped with a replica of Ford's blue
oval. A legitimate set of pads for a Ford Taurus would cost the
equivalent of $47 in Egypt; the phony ones might go for $30."
Pre float
figures
Gulf News compares Arab countries' spending
levels for 2002:
"Egypt also had a sizeable private consumption but the daily
average spending was only $2.60 in 2002 as total private consumption
was estimated at around $63.4 billion while it had the largest Arab
population of 65.9 million in 2002."
Mobile
explain
A fairly straightforward
explanation of the latest goings on in the telecom sector --
including Telecom Egypt's purchase of 25 per cent of Vodafone
Egypt, and the possibility of a third mobile provider appearing...
Exciting
new development?
US university exploring
possibility of joint MBA program with Helwan university.
Web posted by
Tarek Atia Tuesday, February 3, 2004 11:00 CAIRO
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