Archive: egypt
23rd February 2013
President Morsi's announcement of the dates for parliamentary elections has angered Egyptian Christians.
Polling is to be phased over two months but the first stage – in Cairo and four other provinces – is scheduled for 27-28 April, overlapping with Palm Sunday in the Coptic calendar. The run-off,… Read more
13th February 2013
"Egypt sinks deeper into junk status," a headline in the Financial Times says after Moody's announcement that it has downgraded the country's bond rating from B2 to B3 with a threat to downgrade it further "depending on the severity of possible adverse developments".
Moody's gives three reasons for… Read more
13th February 2013
What are we to make of Egypt today, on the second anniversary of the people's uprising? Mubarak may be gone but the old, paternalistically authoritarian attitudes linger on under the country's new leaders.
The problem was neatly encapsulated yesterday in reports of a contretemps between Ahmed Fahmy… Read more
4th January 2013
The requirement in Egypt's new constitution for the state to protect "public morality" is facing its first test with a lawsuit filed by a former member of parliament.
Hamdy al-Fakhrany – who was an independent member of the People's Assembly before it was dissolved – has launched a case against… Read more
3rd November 2012
In the first of the "Arab Spring" countries – Tunisia and Egypt – political debate now centres on the drafting of a new constitution. In both cases there is much discussion about the role of Islam in relation to the state and the rights of women (here and here, for example). But there is far less… Read more
1st November 2012
Seven men have been arrested in Cairo on charges of belonging to a “debauchery” network.
The men, aged between 20 and 31, are said to have been in possession of “underwear, cosmetics, wigs and a number of bottles of liquor”, and a judge has ordered them to be sent to Heliopolis Hospital to be… Read more
1st June 2012
Egypt claims to have succeeded in blocking discussion of "health care issues concerning the homosexual community" at the World Health Organisation's board meeting on 29-30 May.
According to health minister Mostafa Hamed, Egypt was joined by other member states of the Eastern Mediterranean and… Read more
11th May 2012
Last night's presidential sparring match in Egypt proved a huge success – at least for the TV companies who managed to spin it out to four-and-a-half hours with a barrage of lucrative advertising.
As for the candidates – who knows? The debate itself began with handshakes but inevitably descended… Read more
18th November 2011
It's almost a year since I wrote a series of blog posts about the scandal of human trafficking in the Sinai desert of Egypt, and the Mubarak regime's ludicrous denials than anything untoward was happening (here, here, here and here).
Well, the trafficking is still going on though there are a few… Read more
17th November 2011
TUNISIA
After some delay, the definitive results in Tunisia's hung election were announced earlier this week. There are some minor changes (the Ennahda party has 89 seats out of 217 – one less than originally reported).
The Tunisia Live website has produced useful a graphic showing… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
