President Obama used his State of the Union address to declare his determination to raise the U.S. minimum wage above 10 dollars. Wage policy in the rest of the world may surprise you.
Tag: egypt
There is power, and there is truth. Then it’s up to you what to say and do. An essay to mark Jan. 25 in an Egypt where things change and stay the same.
Khaled’s family is one of the 190 from Syria that have recently moved to poor and isolated Gaza. Doors elsewhere for refugees are closing, especially to the Palestinian minority fleeing Syria.
Just three years after wave of democracy, Egyptians appear ready to trade in freedom in order to have more stability. Is Cairo set to usher in a new era of pure military rule?
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Why Egypt Is No Longer Too Big To Fail
Over the past three years, most Egyptians have failed to see beyond the most immediate aspects of its crisis. Meanwhile, in the outside world, the most basic formulas have changed.
CAIRO – Another year down the drain for Egypt’s economy. Three years since the January 2011 revolution, and little has been done to salvage what’s left of the crumbling economy, weighed down by the burdens of political turmoil and mismanagement. Now, a growing fear of terrorism has been added to the many economic ailments. I […]
CAIRO — Tayarah, which calls itself a new mixed-media hub, launched in late August with its first video campaign, entitled “Laffah,” with a very specific objective: to bring back tourism to Egypt. The project invited people to film themselves shooting short videos by turning in a circular motion to give a 360-view of their surroundings, […]
CAIRO — In the sunlit reception area of Jana Dan International School in Cairo’s Maadi neighborhood, golden-framed certificates line a prominent wall. Next to international accreditation and state inspection documents is a notice to staff: “Please refrain from discussing politics at school.” Through the halls and into a large courtyard flanked by the swimming pool […]
Morsi accused of “espionage”Mohamed Morsi, the former Egyptian president deposed in a military-backed coup this past summer, is facing charges alongside 35 other defendants. The charges? Espionage and aiding terrorism. Morsi was specifically accused of collaborating with the Palestinian political organization Hamas, in an alleged attempt to orchestrate what prosecutors characterize as an Islamist takeover. […]
CAIRO — After being unemployed for three years, 26-year-old Emad Hassan was offered a job at a local bank on the condition that he take a blood test. It was then that he discovered he had been infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which can cause liver disease and eventually hepatocellular carcinoma — better […]
Your weekly shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing and sharing.
BEIJING — Belly dancing has long been associated with the Middle East, but there seems to be plenty of evidence to suggest that its future may be here in China. There has been a huge growth in popularity of belly dance shows, contests and schools across the country. A recent belly dancing convention in Beijing brought stars from around the world for a weekend of workshops and performances. Two dozen dancers are going through their routines at an afternoon class at the Wen Kexin Belly Dancing School, located in a plush new commercial complex on Beijing’s east side. Fan Hui […]
Your weekly shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing and sharing.
ALEXANDRIA — It is filthy and squalid here, putrid air and the smell of sewage palpable amid the din and dust from the constant passage of heavy vehicles. Far away, beyond the silhouette of a refinery, the horizon is hardly distinguishable. It is from this shore, in the suburbs of Alexandria, Egypt, that Mohammed tried […]
CAIRO — “Have you seen this? The streets are so filthy, it’s disgusting!” Suzie Greiss doesn’t even live in one of Cairo’s notoriously poor corners, but rather in the middle-class neighborhood of Heliopolis, where the head of Egypt’s Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE) says she can no longer stand the filth that […]
There are many victims in the civil war in Syria. One woman in the capital, whose husband and children have managed to flee to Egpyt, suffers a particular kind of fear and solitude.
Your weekly shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing and sharing.
TUNIS – At a recent Ghana vs. Egypt World Cup qualifying match, Ghanaian soccer fans wore yellow t-shirts and held signs featuring a dark black hand holding up four fingers. The clear attempt to taunt the Egyptian fans is the latest appearance of what has become an increasingly important symbol of the sharp divisions in […]
Edward Snowden’s father spoke up this week, so did Bashar Al-Assad. Meanwhile in Washington…
SILAH — The men entered by the window of Silah’s police station. There were maybe 60 of them, their unmasked faces easy to recognize since they all live in the small town. “Average citizens, aged between 18 and 45,” one policeman says. That mid-August day, these “average citizens” set about sacking the station, taking radio […]
From 6% to 850,000,000, here’s a quick tour of the world this week — by the numbers.
GIZA — The barber is named Wissam Ibrahim. His shop in this bustling city south of Cairo is halfway up Pyramid Street, a road that is now almost permanently blocked with traffic. Clients come down four steps into the small basement salon next to the temple-like water reservoir. Two plush chairs with headrests give the […]
SYRIAN KURDS FLEE ISISTurkish authorities have closed some of the country’s border crossings with Syria after ISIS’ advance has caused some 130,000 Syrian Kurds to flee to Turkey over the past two days, the BBC reports. But after clashes with the refugees on the border, with Turkish troops using water canons and tear gas, British […]
CAIRO — The show had just started. It was one of those debates that the new private Egyptian channels love to produce: Viewers can call in to denounce a terrorist, live on air. In front of his television, Yasser was listening to the host describe an “individual who seriously affects the image of the country.” […]
AL AKHBAR (Egypt), BBC, REUTERS Worldcrunch CAIRO — Conflicting reports from Egypt are casting doubt over the future of the Muslim Brotherhood as a non-governmental organization. Al-Akhbar, a state-run newspaper, reported Friday that the minister of social solidarity has decided to dissolve the Brotherhood, though it had yet to be announced. “The minister’s decision has […]
REUTERS, AHRAMONLINE (EGYPT) Worldcrunch CAIRO – A car bomb attack that appeared to target Egypt’s interior minister Thursday left at least two people dead, officials told the Egyptian website Ahramonline. Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim survived the attack, in which police killed two of the assailants, according to Reuters, quoting security officials. At least 10 people […]
AHRAMONLINE (Egypt), AFP, THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch CAIRO — After being accused of “inciting hatred” against Coptic Christians and “undermining national unity,” the Islamist Al-Hafez TV channel was ordered by a Cairo administrative court to be closed permanently, according to the Egyptian Ahramonline news website. The station, which was among several to be taken temporarily […]
BBC, AFP Worldcrunch CAIRO — Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is to stand criminal trial for “incitement to murder,” though no trial date has been set, according to Egyptian state television and the AFP. The charges are related to the deadly clashes outside the presidential palace in December 2012, when at least seven people were […]
TEL AVIV — While we talk about a certain economic stability in Ramallah, the economy in Gaza is in free fall, which is due in no small measure to the massive closing of the tunnels used to smuggle in products across the border from Egypt. The Palestinian economy, at least in the West Bank, is […]
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Turkey And Egypt: When Worlds Collide
–Analysis– Over this past weekend one of my Economist-devouring, Washington Post-reading, New York Times-gobbling buddies who does not work in the field of foreign affairs asked me, “Hey, what’s up with Erdogan and the Turks?” I’ve been asked this question so many times this summer by so many people that I’ve lost count. It’s been […]
Gang fights, clandestine excavations, a thriving black market for cigarettes. In post-Mubarak, post-Morsi Egypt, life and violence go on for the people of Bab El Bahr Street.
Spat on and kicked out of his job running a top Cairo theater company, Tamer Abdel Moneim, a bona fide *fulul*, says he’s proud he always stuck by the deposed former strongman.
Since August 14, when Egyptian security forces moved in to disperse the sit-ins of supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi, the nation has suffered considerably. And while the situation is less cut and dry than some observers make it sound, one thing seems clear: there are two players apparently intent on accelarating a conflict that […]
The problem all along, this Turkish writer argues, has been the Egyptian Army. And its takedown of the Muslim Brotherhood will only breed extremist terrorists.
AL JAZEERA, REUTERS, BBC Worldcrunch CAIRO – Egyptian authorities escalated their crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood by arresting Mohamed Badie, the Islamist organization’s top leader, state media reported on Tuesday. The 70-year-old was detained at a residential apartment in Nasr City in northeast Cairo “after information came to the security apparatus locating his place of […]
BBC, Al Jazeera Worldcrunch CAIRO – At least 24 Egyptian police officers were killed Monday morning in an ambush attack in the Sinai peninsula, as the open conflict between state authorities and Islamists opponents deepens further following the deadliest week in recent memory. According to Al Jazeera, two police minibuses were driving through a village […]
Since the army’s assault on Muslim Brotherhood began, Egypt’s non-Muslim minority, the Copts, have been killed and their churches and buildings burned by radicals in the Brotherhood.
CAIRO — In the wake of the deadly army crackdown on supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, La Stampa spoke with Egyptians of different backgrounds and viewpoints. Here is what four of them had to say: Alfred fears Islamists want Egypt to be the next Syria “Every time I try to stop my hatred […]
AL JAZEEARA (Quatar), BBC Woldcrunch CAIRO — Supporters of deposed Egypt President Mohamed Morsi asked their fellow citizens to join them in a nationwide “Friday of Anger” to protest the Egyptian security forces massacre that killed at least 638 people Wednesday. Meanwhile, the U.S. and other countries have urged their citizens to leave the country. […]