Despite the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, religion still dominates the public sphere. Against the odds, the founders of a new party are fighting for the separation of mosque and state.
Tag: egypt
Families of certain social standing in Egypt often educate their children in English. Publishing houses too are getting in on the Anglo influence, publishing literary works and texts written directly in English.
CAIRO — There are two smiling European-looking 30-somethings waiting to welcome you to the new website, Liberland.org, while a hopeful-sounding logo proclaims, “Live and let live.” Formerly referred to as Gornja Siga, the seven square-kilometer state (slightly larger than the Vatican and Monaco) came into existence following a border dispute between Croatia and Serbia. The […]
TEL AVIV ― Annual results for 2014 for Israeli tourism companies, hotels and airlines are not good, though few are surprised. Every sector linked to the travel and tourist industry is losing money due to the consequences of last summer’s conflict in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had approved a measure that promised that […]
In the deafening Egyptian capital, a small group of independent artists quietly present an art relying on everything the performer has to give … except their voices.
Lake Burullus, the country’s second-largest natural lake, which yields a third of all the fish sold in Egypt, is slowly being ruined, as are family businesses.
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Life On The Nile
On our Nile cruise down to Abu Simbel, we passed by these locals harvesting sugarcane. I couldn’t help but think of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile — and particularly about its 1978 movie adaptation with Peter Ustinov, a favorite of mine and of my grandson’s. Thankfully, nothing dramatic happened and no Hercule Poirot had […]
CAIRO — International lingerie store Victoria’s Secret came to Cairo in 2013, but somewhat surprisingly for a country of Muslim modesty, there has been a varied and flourishing lingerie business in Egypt’s capital for years. Most of the lingerie downtown is imported from either Turkey or Syria. The owners of the two lingerie shops who […]
Egypt’s participation in the military operation “Decisive Storm” against the Houthis in Yemen is a question of interests, alliances and cold, hard cash.
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Egyptian Dwarfs Fight For Their Rights
It’s a different kind of Arab Spring in Egypt that you may have missed.
CAIRO — Amid shifting copyright and publishing norms, adaptation and translation of existing works is as contentious an issue today as ever in the literary world. The questions are particularly relevant for the Arabic novel, both for its recent and not-so-recent history. Many have accused Ahmad Mourad of reproducing characters from Naguib Mahfouz in his […]
As electricity costs climb in the face of energy shortages and a steep reduction in government subsidies, a new website helps consumers track their consumption and calculate costs.
Governments are taking Twitter to task for inadvertently helping jihadists “recruit, incite and horrify.” But they’re forgetting what a valuable law enforcement resource the platform is too.
CAIRO — Antique dealers, second-hand markets, auction showrooms, music lovers and historians are the cornerstones of the wondrous world of vintage vinyl records in Egypt, just as they are in similar dusty corners around the world. Egypt’s phonographic history is particularly rich in oriental music, with record labels running from the end of the 19th […]
CAIRO — Much has been made about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Cairo. There has been speculation since the 2013 coup that Egypt’s ruler Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been contemplating a shift in alliances toward Russia. This has been in response to the popular belief in Egypt, propagated by the regime and its media […]
The Cairo regime is facing criticism after the ISIS beheading in Libya of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt. Too many poor Egyptians risk it all in search of work across the border.
A group calling itself “Defenders of Jerusalem” is throwing its lot in with ISIS, making the battle between Cairo and Islamists ever more since the army ousted the Muslim Brotherhood.
Australian colleague Peter Greste has been deported, and Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy is expected to be released to Canada. But Baher Mohamed, the third Al Jazeera prisoner, is being treated differently for what appears to be a very simple reason.
The world’s canals can attract all sorts of old indestructable items, from plastic bags to styrofoam cups. But if you’re in Egypt that can apparently include your occasional floating sarcophagus. Madr Masr reports that Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry has launched an investigation into the mysterious discovery last Friday of three ancient wooden coffins carrying sarcophagi drifting […]
Editor’s Note: Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, who was imprisoned in Cairo for 400 days with two of his colleagues, has been released by Egyptian authorities. The two other Al Jazeera journalists — Baher Mohamed, a producer, and the channel’s Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy — still remain imprisoned in Egypt. The three journalists were […]
CAIRO — As I hop on the Wednesday night Upper Egypt train from Cairo, I hear a newbie ask when we will get to Aswan, my destination and the end of the line. His question is met with collective laughter from a group of old Nubian men who seem to make the trip often. “You just relax and don’t even ask this question,” one of them answers. “We will get off when the train lets us go.” The man seems to have made his peace with the uncertainty that comes with using the Egyptian railway system, with all its downfalls […]
CAIRO — Ironically enough, the roads to the Cairo premier of Sherief Elkatsha’s traffic-centered documentary Cairo Drive weren’t at all crowded. The special screening at the recent Zawya cinema happened on arguably one of the coldest days the capital has ever seen.
CAIRO — Yasmine Hamed worked hard to save money for her marriage five years ago. But by the time her daughter Jannah was old enough for school, she realized that the savings race would have to start all over. Hamed had stopped working as a secretary after bouncing between two jobs so she could finally […]
Driven by economic necessity or pushed into prostitution after traumatic abuse, sex workers in Egypt lay bare grim realities in a conservative country with little empathy for their plight.
Nicknamed the “atheists’ cafe,” police say there was evidence of devil worship at the shop. Twitter users are now mocking Cairo authorities, asking when the war on vampires begins.
Despite strong opposition, Egypt has just approved the contruction of coal-fired energy plants that are still years away from operation. Meanwhile, it’s nowhere on harnassing wind and solar energy.
There’s always a clever argument – security, stability, secularism – to put rule of law and democracy on hold. But denying human rights is a certain recipe for destruction.
An American artist uses pastels and polka dots to transform the Egyptian capital’s tangled rooftops.
Searching for a quiet public space in Cairo sets you up against unscrupulous police and leering neighbors, oppressive moral codes and an eternal maze of streets. One woman’s failed hunt for tranquility in the Egyptian capital.
A policy of war abroad, mixed with tighter border controls at home, won’t meet the challenge.
Egypt is forcing civilians to move to create a buffer zone after terrorists hit again in the Sinai. From Vietnam to Algeria, such tactics have caused as much hardship as they’ve prevented.
CAIRO — In February 2014, the Egyptian military announced that it had found a cure for AIDS and hepatitis. This supposed miracle of medical technology was developed by the Armed Forces’ Engineering Authority, which claims to use electromagnetic waves to eradicate the viruses in infected blood. Known as the Complete Cure, or CC for short, […]
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My Grandson’s Treasure Hunts
However neatly and methodically organized my 20,000 slides may be, in more than 60 years of travels I am bound to draw some blanks here and there. So whenever I can’t remember where I snapped this windmill or that mosque, my grandson puts his Internet detective hat on and helps me track it down. In […]
To appease conservatives, Egypt’s government is again targeting the LGBT community, arbitrarily arresting them, conducting anal examinations and jailing them for “debauchery.”
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A Case For Animal Welfare In Egypt
Walking down a Cairo street with an adopted stray dog can elicit a range of reactions, from surprise to rebuke. Their skittish behavior and curled-up tails make them easily distinguishable from the more preferred purebred pets, says Mada Masr. If these animals, commonly known as baladi dogs, are not rescued, they are at risk of […]
In Sinai’s Sharm el-Sheikh, a cliff restoraton project has mobilized a community against an over-the-top contractor.
There are around 20 to 25 metal bands active across Egypt. Though their concerts are increasingly rare and their audiences small, the fans they do have are passionate about the music, Cairo-based website Mada Masr reports. “I was a metalhead since I was born,” Sherif Tarek, 24, told Mada Masr. “I’m a very hardcore metalhead.” […]
-OpEd- CAIRO — The record of police violations is extensive, ranging from murder to extortion and illegal bribes. While some claim these are individual incidents and that the situation should not be generalized, tedious accounts of numerous violations reveal the dysfunctional role of police in daily Egyptian life. Within the old structures of authority under […]
Despite the fanfare of the huge financial commitments from Arab and Western countries to rebuild Gaza after the latest Israel offensive, collecting the cash is a whole different story.
More than three years since the Jan. 25 revolution, and with much having returned to the past, signs are everywhere of a shell-shocked nation. Analysis of an Egyptian psychiatrist.