Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 7 -13 December 2000 Issue No.511
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Newsreel

Filling parliamentary posts
PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak has met with top aides to discuss preparations for the first session of the newly-elected People's Assembly, scheduled to open on 13 December, announced Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif this week. Mubarak, who will meet deputies of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) on Monday, will address the new parliament on 17 December. El-Sherif said the process of coordination between the government and the NDP and parliamentary committees was also discussed. El-Sherif said President Mubarak would devote a special meeting to discussing the recommendations of a committee formed after the recent parliamentary elections to suggest reform plans for the NDP. The NDP has decided to renominate Fathi Sorour as speaker of the new People's Assembly, and Amal Othman and El-Sayed Rashed as his deputies. The NDP has also chosen its nominees for the new chairmen of eight parliamentary committees. These include Hamdi El-Sayed, head of the Doctors' Syndicate, who has been picked as the ruling party's nominee for chairman of the Health and Environmental Affairs Committee; Hamdi El-Konayessi, chairman of Egyptian Radio, as chairman of the Information and Culture Committee; Hossam Awad, a businessman from El-Gharbiya governorate, as chairman of the Youth Committee; and Mohamed Ali Mahgoub, a former minister of Al-Awqaf (religious endowments), as chairman of the Religious Affairs Committee. New chairmen for the committees of Arab Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications, National Security, and the Budget and Plan Committee have yet to be named.
Crumbling buildings
IN YET another tragedy, a building collapsed last Friday in Alexandria, killing six people including a four-year-old child.
An order for the evacuation of the building was issued 12 years ago but housing prices delayed the departure of residents. The building was eventually cleared last year, but a bakery on the ground floor continued to function.
Heat from the bakery ovens coupled with rainstorms which hit Alexandria throughout the week appear to have proved too much for the building. Last Friday it collapsed on customers lining up before sunset to buy bread for iftar.
Four people rescued from beneath the rubble -- the bakery owner and three workers -- are in critical condition at a local hospital.
The next day, also in Alexandria, a woman died when the bathrooms on three floors of an adjacent five-storey building crumbled, causing the part of the building in which she lived to collapse.
Only last July, 20 people died in the collapse of an Alexandria clothes factory.
... and port facelift
BUILDINGS in Alexandria may be falling left and right but the port is getting a $250 million facelift. The three-year upgrading project, in cooperation with the German port of Hamburg, is expected to boost tourism and increase the port's capacity.
The project provides for computerising the port, importing state-of-the-art x-ray machines, building new warehouses and a five-star hotel, and lifting 25 wrecked ships.
Offshore wonders
A SUNKEN collection of artefacts that date back to the Ptolemaic and Roman eras was discovered by an Egyptian underwater excavation team in collaboration with European archaeologists offshore of Alexandria, reports Nevine El-Aref.
At Ma'amoura bay, east of Alexandria, an entire Roman cargo harbour with huge stone docks and the remains of shipwrecks was discovered.
One dock, weighing approximately half a ton, was hauled up for further study which is expected to reveal more of the history of the harbour, especially when it was destroyed.
In the western harbour of Alexandria, in front of the Silsila area, at a depth of between four and six metres, a 350-square-metre Ptolemaic marine yard covered with tiles was also found. "This yard was used by marine forces to construct and repair their vessels during the Ptolemaic reign," said Ibrahim Darwish, general director of underwater archaeology. The yard was discovered in collaboration with the European Institute of Marine Archaeology.
Also found in the area were Roman-style reddish marble pillars, with their corona intact, and two golden rings with one big precious stone.
Previous excavation work in this area uncovered many other Ptolemaic monuments, including Timonium Palace, where Cleopatra and Mark Anthony courted for three years. Other ruins include Anti-Rhodes Island, the royal quarter of Cleopatra and the Portus Magnus, the main harbour used by the Ptolemies and miscellaneous objects.
Meanwhile, on the eastern side of Nelson Island at Abu-Qir bay, east of Alexandria, a joint Italian-Egyptian mission discovered the ruins of a small Roman city which had a huge well, a pedestrian sidewalk and the remains of limestone houses.
With the help of a Greek team, a full underwater survey of Alexandria beaches has been conducted. The result was the discovery of many small floating docks spread along the Alexandrian coast starting at the Chatby area in the west to Sidi Gaber in the east.
Achiooo!
IF YOU think you have become more susceptible to colds and influenza, you are not a hypochondriac. A recent study sampling 18,000 cases indicated that not only have common cold and flu viruses become more widespread in Egypt, but illnesses are now more prolonged. The increase is blamed on greater pollution levels.
According to Sobhi Said, head of Helwan University's Faculty of Pharmacology, who supervised the study, the common cold now afflicts victims for eight days, compared with five in the past. He noted that tension increased the risk of infection.
Since prevention is better than cure, he suggests a zinc intake of 25 milligrammes per day and a daily ingestion of vitamins A, H, G and B6. The study also suggests that, as much as possible, people should avoid medication which affects the immunity system.
Compiled by Fatemah Farag

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