Archive: egypt
8th January 2010
Following the drive-by shootings in Nag Hammadi on Tuesday night, Coptic Christians marked their Christmas Day by going on the rampage yesterday. Here is the New York Times' account.
Once again, though, it is the Emirates-based paper, The National, which has the most perceptive reporting in English… Read more
7th January 2010
Seven people were shot dead outside a church in upper Egypt late last night following a mass to celebrate the Coptic Christmas. Al-Jazeera says three men in a car drove past and opened fire with machineguns in Nag Hammadi, 40 miles from Luxor.
A local bishop was quoted as saying he and members of… Read more
26th December 2009
Why, you might wonder, is the Virgin Mary apparently spending so much of her time at the moment in Cairo?
The Coptic Pope, Shenouda III, has an explanation: "The Virgin Mary loves Egypt, where she stayed for three-and-a-half years when Jesus was a child," he told worshippers in his weekly sermon. "… Read more
24th December 2009
The document above has been posted on the internet by several Egyptian bloggers, including Amr Salama and Wael Abbas. It appears to be the start of a four-page memo from the interior ministry, discussing plans for surveillance of Mohamed ElBaradei and his family by state security.
ElBaradei, the… Read more
24th December 2009
Seventeen years after Egyptian Islamists decided his religious views were suspect, Nasr Abu Zayd is still paying the price. Arriving in Kuwait last week with a valid visa, he was turned away at the airport on the orders of the State Security department.
He had been due to give two lectures at the… Read more
22nd December 2009
The results of elections to the Muslim Brotherhood's 16-member Guidance Bureau in Egypt are being interpreted as a victory for the conservative camp amid a growing rift with reformist elements.
The wing now dominating the movement is more focused on the religious aspects and is not in touch with… Read more
21st December 2009
Supporters of the niqab (face veil) have won the latest round in their long-running battle with the Egyptian authorities.
Yesterday, the Administrative Court annulled a decree by the education minister that banned students wearing the niqab from entering dormitories at Cairo's Ain Shams University… Read more
19th December 2009
An Egyptian member of parliament has filed a lawsuit against a female journalist over a newspaper article headed “My four husbands and I”.
Writing in the independent daily, al-Masri al-Youm (here, in Arabic), Nadine al-Bedair asked why Muslim men are allowed to have more than one wife, while women… Read more
15th December 2009
Among the objects on sale at the British Museum shop in London are miniature reproductions of the Rosetta Stone, along with Rosetta Stone bags, Rosetta Stone neckties, Rosetta Stone mugs, Rosetta Stone teatowels, even Rosetta Stone umbrellas.
All that could stop if Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s… Read more
9th December 2009
The Egyptian authorities seem to be worried about the growing number of women adopting the niqab – the face veil traditionally worn in the Gulf countries. Its use is relatively new in Egypt, and it tends to be favoured by those of a Wahhabi/Salafi religious disposition.
Various news sources are… 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
