Tarek Atia's web log
Find
out how
the world media sees Egypt...
The details
emerge
The
Egyptian delegation going to Zurich to present the 2010 World Cup bid
to FIFA is named. It
is headed by Parliamentary speaker Fathi Surour and also includes
actor Omar Sharif, reports the BBC.
One of the members
is quoted as saying that "The file is 3,700 pages long and weighs
34 kilograms,... Fifa officials will find answers to all their
questions in this file. I am sure it will be more than satisfactory
for them."
No new
expeditions
South
is off limits as the Supreme Council for Archaeology wants foreign
missions to concentrate on the Delta
In memoriam...
Hoda Abdel-Nasser launches nasser.org on 33rd
anniversary of her father's death
New mufti!
Ali Gomaa -- the "modern
sheikh" (as described in an interview a few years ago in Nisf
El-Donya magazine) ha been appointed Egypy's new mufti...
Repentant
militant released
Karam Zohdi -- the Sadat assassination mastermind who has made high
profile renunciations of violence -- was released from jail...
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Tuesday, September 30, 2003 3:00 CAIRO
NDP in the news
The National Democratic Party's (NDP -- Egypt's ruling party) first
annual conference is all over the foreign press.
An AP
pre-conference report says people are skeptical about the ruling
party's claims about introducing more democratization to the country,
and that many think the conference is just a way to boost presidential
son Gamal Mubarak's profile.
Ahram Strategic
Studies Center head Abdel-Moneim Said, meanwhile, is quoted as urging
the president to follow through on the economic reform plans begun in
the 90s. "He
said capitalism is bound to create a middle class that also would push
for political reform," AP reports. This is certainly a highly
debatable point, however, since it is unclear whether those with money
would ever consider dropping their "pro-wasta (connections)"
attitude, an attitude that is in many ways the true antithesis of
democracy.
At the same time,
AFP does a story generalizing that more Egyptians are falling
from middle to lower class because of rising prices and dwindling
incomes. The report says dependence on cheaper Chinese goods has
been the net result of this worrying trend.
AFP also provides
excerpts from Gamal's
speech to the NDP congress.
Meanwhile...
the boldest
prediction yet on this matter comes from Refaat al-Said, a
political analyst quoted in the New York Times: "This is a
step-by-step elevation of Gamal to power... I believe Gamal will be
president in one or two years."
And in the
US...
Foreign Minister Maher
waxes poetic about Saddam and Arafat during a meeting with a top
political think tank.
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Sunday, September 28, 2003 14:00 CAIRO
An
ode to Heikal
Lebanon's Daily Star recounts the high
and low points of esteemed journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal's life,
as he turns 80 and considers retiring
Important decision
Children
with foreign fathers and Egyptian mothers may now "seek"
Egyptian citizenship. Each case will be examined to see if it
meets the proper conditions, which have not really been spelled out
by the media as of yet. It seems the catalyst for the decision was
lobbying by the National Council of Women.
How to fly
Kites
used to survey ancient sites near military area, says this
National Geographic report
Where's the
beef?
In-depth article on beef
imports from Farminglife.com
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Thursday, September 25, 2003 14:00 CAIRO
Censorship
can be scarier
That's
the conclusion to be drawn from this AP article on censorship
in Egypt picked up by MSNBC.
Population
explosion
That's the root of problems like the current
bread shortage, Mubarak says.
The carnage
continues
A tragic crash kills eight
schoolgirls and seriously injures 12 more.
Arrested in Italy
Investigated for terror ties, the Egyptian fishermen
immigrants say they did nothing wrong.
Interesting?
Egyptian Yahoo
millionaire wants to be the Amazon of Egypt
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Tuesday, September 23, 2003 5:00 CAIRO
Money talks
Of the many articles that have appeared in the last
few days about the Euromoney conference on Arab investment that just
took place in Cairo, the one highlighting Minister Youssef Boutros
Ghali's statements about Egypt
boosting its export production, might be the most interesting.
It appears in Business Day.
Another far flung piece -- in
justauto.com --
highlights the minister's criticism of Daimler Chyrsler for not
being supportive about the fact that Egypt
had begun selling its locally assembled Mercedes to China -- since that was
cutting into the parent company's market.
This is interesting
Egypt is making
a concerted effort to attract seniors to spend their winters here,
as this World Leisure News article points out.
Angling for
history
A Sports Minister's sound bite -- "You
dive or sail in the morning and watch the World Cup in the afternoon"
-- figures prominently in this BBC piece that basically promotes
Egypt's bid to host the 2010 World Cup
Monakabas dealing drugs
AFP echoes an Akhbar story on the veiled
Assuit bango dealers
Tall tale?
Egyptian border patrol allow couple in because they're
related to a soccer star, the British tabloid The Mirror claims
Strange days
Egyptian diplomat in Yemen gets tangled up in
a botched
kidnapping.
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Sunday, September 21, 2003 4:00 CAIRO
A day of
politics
The
US vetoes the Arafat resolution in the UN, and Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed
Maher and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa weigh in with
their reactions in this Washington Post piece.
In a Sharq Al-Awsat
interview picked up by the agencies, Maher
has advice for both sides. He tells the Palestinian resistance
to stop killing innocent women and children, and Israel to stop
consistently breaking international laws.
A strong card
Salama Ahmed Salama's astute
reaction to the Arafat expulsion brouhaha makes the Bahraini
press.
A slightly
better job
AP does a eulogy for Sadat's peace efforts on Camp
David's 25th anniversary...
Meanwhile,
former US President Jimmy Carter, one of the architects of that
treaty, says that current US president George W Bush would need at
least 13
days of concentration on this issue alone to forge a similar
deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Meanwhile...
Arab News tries to figure out why
the Israeli diplomatic mission in Cairo is so huge. This
editorial says there's some snooping going on.
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Thursday, September 18, 2003 4:00 CAIRO
Globalization
at work
at work
Egypt soccer league sponsorship is part of mobile giant Vodafone's
global plan, this article makes clear.
Politics and
opera
A charming story about a Tennessee college student's recent
visit to Egypt as part of a Model Arab League tour...
Museum upgrade
AP makes an intriguing comparison between traditional
human guides and the new digital guides at the Egyptian museum in
Tahrir
See
cairolive.com's dispatch
on the museum's centenary
Anniversaries
come and go
Reuters does a superficial
analysis of Camp David 25 years later...
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Tuesday, September 16, 2003 3:00 CAIRO
Revoking the
curse
Egypt's top archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, waxes poetic about the
"pharaoh's curse". Also called the "mummy's
curse", this was allegedly a way the ancient Egyptians used to
prevent people from digging up tombs. You
dig up the tomb, you die.
Hawass has always
dismissed these curses as myths. This week, 
he's
gotten massive world press after announcing that the Supreme Council
of Archeology will be conducting tests on tombs to see if the
"pharaoh's curse" really exists...
He still thinks it
doesn't. Now, however, he wants to prove it scientifically, to show
that any accidents that did happen in the past may have been caused by
other factors, like diseases that develop from human mummies...
Sharif won't
quit
International superstar Omar Sharif keeps getting quoted in the world
press -- this time about the possibility of winning an Oscar, the Sodom
and Gomorrah he saw in the Hollywood in the 60s, and much more...
''Monumental
error''
That's what President Hosni Mubarak says kicking
out Arafat would be.
Tour news
AP and CNN do Farafra.
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Saturday, September 13, 2003 19:00 CAIRO
Migrant tales
Egyptian immigrant to New Zealand makes headlines for not being able
to find a job for 3
years. He has 500 rejection letters in a folder. So now he's going
to try his luck in Australia...
Meanwhile, here's
another sad story about an Egyptian immigrant to the States who may
soon be leaving
his wife and kids behind...
Meanwhile..
Egyptian
sailors try to slip ashore illegally...
PLUS
People-smuggling gun
battle takes place in Sinai.
Would
Mubarak visit Israel?
Only if it would help,
he tells an Italian paper.
Meanwhile,
Mubarak -- in Italy -- says Egypt
doesn't fully trust Arafat, but it would
be wrong to dismiss
him altogether, like the US and
Israel have done.
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Thursday, September 11, 2003 12:00 CAIRO
World
must
speak up, Egypt says
''We condemn Israel's actions against civilians. Destroying homes
and killing
people with aircraft in streets crowded with civilians is a crime,''
Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said of Saturday's attack on Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin.
Change of
heart?
Has Arab League said okay
to Iraqi seat in Cairo?
Meanwhile...
Reuters reports that "Security guards thwarted an
attempt by two Libyan youths to assault Saudi Foreign Minister
Prince Saud al-Faisal Monday at his hotel in Cairo."
Court in
session
Egyptian people smuggler on
trial
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Tuesday, September 9, 2003 11:00 CAIRO
BBC
double whammy
A tiger
mash and rumors of veil
banning on TV.
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Sunday, September 7, 2003 11:00 CAIRO
Reefs in
trouble?
A new report, published in last week's Science magazine, deals with 14
major tropical reef systems, including some in the Pacific, Atlantic,
the Red Sea and off Australia.
It concludes
that "reefs
will not survive without immediate protection from human
exploitation" across wide swaths of ocean.
I guess that's
what they call tourism's double edged sword...
Greater
capability?
The Washington Times carries a UPI wire report about Egypt's vague new
SAM
military technology
"I'm happy
that I'm not going to jail"
Egyptian international soccer star
gets suspension, community service hours, for roughing up his Danish
girlfriend
Flashback?
Chahine gets thoughtful about his new film,
which -- strangely enough -- deals with both post-911 US as well as
the US Chahine visited and fell in love with in the 1940s
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Friday, September 5, 2003 11:00 CAIRO
Too risky
Egyptian government says no
to request for security labor in Iraq....
Religion and
politics
"More important than the government implementing sharia (Islamic
law), people themselves should follow the requirements of sharia in
their everyday lives," Sabir said...
Part of a
thoughtful Reuters look at religion
and politics
No holds barred
A Guardian columnist takes aim at the idea of suing
all Jews for stealing ancient Egyptian treasures
Education in
flux
A major Boston Globe expose on Egyptian education. This one pulls out
all the stops... education is becoming more religious... grades are
finessed to ensure a high passing rate.. etc.
One interesting
note is that there are very few field trips in a country rich in antiquities...
how true..
The award for bluntest
statement of the year goes to Lila Soueif, a lecturer at Cairo
University, who tells the paper that "The core problem is that
the system is flawed completely, from beginning to end."
Meanwhile...
Lebanon's Daily Star deals with Thanawiyya amma suicides
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Wednesday, September 3, 2003 1:00 CAIRO
Sharif's
comeback?
Superstar
Omar Sharif is in Venice
these days -- receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Venice
Film Festival, and promoting his new film, "Monsieur Ibrahim and
the Flowers of the Quran".
The film opened to
critical acclaim; its subject matter -- a profound
friendship between an older Muslim shopkeeper and a young Jewish
teenager in 1960s Paris -- may raise eyebrows back home.
Sharif, meanwhile,
has his mind on other things. He laments never having been in love in
the "most
beautiful city in the world."
Must see
New
antiquities museum for Alex.
A harbor
underground
Interesting discoveries
in the south.
Meanwhile...
There's lots
of evidence against the recent headline grabbing claims of a mummy
being Nefertiti. This Reuters piece picked up by MSNBC presents most
of it.
Raw politics
Update: Now the Al-Azhar cleric
who issued the fatwa against the Iraqi Governing Council is going to
be investigated,
according to AFP. (see "Confusing Fatwa", below)
El-Hakim
was critical of US in last interview -- a final hour interview in
Al-Ahram is picked up by the majors.
Web
posted by Tarek Atia Monday, September 1, 2003 4:00 CAIRO
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