20 - 26 September 2001
Issue No.552
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 20 - 26 September 2001 Issue No.552 |
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Aida cancelled
ONE RESULT of the 11 September terrorist attacks in New York and Washington was the cancellation of the extravagant annual production of Verdi's Aida, which was originally scheduled to be held at the foot of the Giza Pyramids next month.
Because preparations were near completion, the cancellation cost Egypt LE7 million, according to Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.
"It is impossible to present Aida in the current international situation," said an opera official who requested anonymity. "Sorrow and grief are being shared by all parties to the world community," he added. He said that following the attacks, all American and European visitors cancelled their reservations for the performance, resulting in a huge drop in ticket sales.
A makeshift stage specially constructed at the site will not be dismantled but will remain for next year's production.
Building collapse
A FOUR-STOREY building in Cairo's low-income neighbourhood of Sayeda Zeinab collapsed in the early hours of Saturday, killing a man and his two sons, aged two and six months. All three were asleep at the time. Two other men were injured and taken to hospital. Ten managed to escape before the building caved in.
Police and firefighters were able to remove bodies from under the rubble as well as rush those injured to the nearest hospital. Police ordered the evacuation of four nearby buildings believed to have been in danger of collapsing.
According to news reports, some 14,000 buildings in Sayeda Zeinab have been in need of repair for years but very little has been done thus far.
Glider death
A FRENCHMAN was killed on Monday after his glider crashed over the Red Sea resort of Hurghada a day earlier. Didier Demoulin, a flying instructor in his thirties, slammed into a sailboat on Sunday, according to the French Embassy and local police.
Police said Demoulin was flying between six to 20 metres above sea level when the accident occurred. Demoulin, who was on a visit to Egypt for a few weeks, was rushed to hospital but later died of head injuries.
Monkey business
OFFICIALS at Cairo Airport weighed what to do with a four-month-old baby gorilla that landed on Sunday. The gorilla was flown in from Nigeria without the necessary permit regulating the import, export and trade in gorillas which is based on the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species.
The primate belonged to an Egyptian-Nigerian woman who said the gorilla was her pet. Gorillas in Nigeria are of the western lowland species and are threatened by illegal hunting. Older gorillas are killed for food while babies are trafficked as pets.
Egyptian officials detained the gorilla but did not know what to do with it -- put it to sleep, as some had suggested, or donate it to the Giza Zoo, as was preferred by wildlife officers. However, other experts say the zoo is not suitable for the gorilla since the animals are a sociable species; the baby will have no-one to play with.
The matter has been taken to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Sentence passed
AN EGYPTIAN court for juveniles on Tuesday sentenced a teenage boy to three years in prison for practicing "immoral sex."
The boy, 17, also received three years probation. He was one of 53 males arrested in May on The Queen, a Nileside boat which gays had reportedly often frequented. The group is being tried in the State Security Court on charges of "habitual debauchery with men." All 53 have pleaded not guilty.
Three years is the maximum sentence for this misdemeanour but unlike the rest of the group, the boy, whose identity has not been released, can appeal. His relatives reportedly wept in the courtroom after the verdict was announced.
The case has received wide media coverage and became highly controversial after human rights groups denounced the charges.
Compiled by Rana Allam
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