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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 June 2000 Issue No. 484 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 June 2000 Issue No. 484
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Heritage Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Imperial visit
IN THE FIRST visit to Egypt by members of the Japanese imperial family since 1975, Prince and Princess Takamado arrived in Egypt this week. The royal couple were received by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.The couple had a busy schedule with visits to tourist sites at Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel as well as to a children's hospital in Cairo, financed by the Japanese government. Further, the Prince launched a Japanese cultural week in Cairo yesterday. (for information on the events of the cultural week, see Listings)
Easier access?
ACCORDING to the Sudanese press, restrictions on Egyptian entry visas for Sudanese nationals will be phased out. No specific implementation date was mentioned. The report came after a joint Egyptian-Sudanese committee wound up two days of talks in Khartoum.The Egyptian delegation, led by Mustafa El-Fiqi, an assistant to the foreign minister, came to Khartoum in order to discuss strengthening bilateral relations. Discussions also covered Egypt's joint initiative with Libya to broker a settlement to the 17-year Sudanese civil war.
Defence upgrade
THE AMERICAN Department of Defence announced a new arms deal with Egypt. An official statement said the deal will help "improve the security of a friendly country which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East."The sale includes self-propelled howitzers and support equipment. The Pentagon said that these additions to the Egyptian armed forces will in no way alter the military balance in the region.
More water than ever
LAST week, the High Dam Authority began releasing 260 million cubic metres of water from the reservoir in order to make room for the flood season, which will begin soon.According to specialists, the amount of excess water being discharged this year is the highest on record.
Unhealthy food
FOOD quality standards do not seem to be a major concern for most consumers, but perhaps it is time to take the issue very seriously.According to a study prepared by the Egyptian Society for the Protection of the Consumer, some of the processed meat products on the market are well below acceptable standards.
To give readers a taste of the findings, two out of five well-known sausage brands tested were found to contain enough bacteria to induce vomiting and diarrhea.
Dubious medicine
THE PHARMACISTS Syndicate has blacklisted 400 medicines. The list was distributed to all pharmacies with a plea not to sell them.This action is part of the syndicate's effort to lobby the Ministry of Health to prohibit a wide range of suspect medicines.
In the past, syndicate officials have criticised what they describe as the government's "random policy" of licensing, distributing and pricing drugs.
Crushing reality
IN YET another instance of buildings collapsing, one man was killed in the coastal city of Alexandria while getting a haircut. This time round the site was Karmuz, a working class district, and the building was a 55 year-year-old three-storey building, on the ground floor of which was the local barbershop owned by Magdi Musa.Mohamed Badr was in for a haircut when the building simply collapsed, crushing 17-year old Badr to death. Another 15-year old customer and the proprietor were able to escape the disaster with only a few minor injuries.
Only two weeks ago, 16 people died in the collapse of a building in the district of Sayeda Zeinab in Cairo, while last year alone it is estimated that dozens more have met with similar deaths.
Who needs books?
NOT only religion is deemed a sensitive subject for fictional or non-fictional writing these days. Crime and the Deviance of Minors, a scholarly work written by Professor Mohamed Ghoneim, head of the Sociology Department at Mansoura University and taught to his students, included the text of interviews he conducted with women imprisoned for prostitution.All in an academic day's work, you may think. Not quite. Apparently the language used by the interview subjects to describe their "deviant behaviour" was found "inappropriate" by the students' parents who, appalled, demanded that the professor's book be withdrawn from the curriculum.
In the now common response to "controversial" books of any sort, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies and Environmental Development, Mohamed Eissa El-Hariri, withdrew the book from the curriculum and launched an investigation.
Lucrative education
SUCCESS this year will be decided for thousands of students by the end-of-year examinations which began this week. For some teachers, however, the results of the past academic year have already been extremely cheerful.The Administration for Combatting Tax Evasion noted the cases of 22 teachers in Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said whose collective income from private lessons was estimated at LE28 million. These successful tutors, however, failed miserably as tax dodgers.
Babies in hock
THEY wanted one child, but got twins. They wanted healthy children, but their babies were born premature. Ahmed Sayed and his wife, who live in the working class district of Al-Marg, are now deeply in debt.The private hospital where the twins were given birth refuses to release the babies until the medical bill is paid in full. Unfortunately, Sayed can only afford LE500, which would have covered a regular birth procedure. However, due to the medical complications of having premature twins the bill came up to LE6,000.
Now, due to delay of payment penalties, the bill currently stands at LE12,000, a sum which Sayed is unlikely to make in a lifetime. No payment, no babies?
Compiled by Fatemah Farag
