Newsreel

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Oil-spill cleanup

THE ENVIRONMENT Ministry began cleaning up an oil spill on Monday, after two tankers collided in the Mediterranean Sea about 14 nautical miles from Egypt's Damietta Port, north of Cairo.

Thousands of barrels of crude oil spilled into the sea when the tankers, the Marshal Islands- registered Genmar Kestrel and the Singapore- flagged Trijata, collided.

Strong winds were blamed for the collision, which came less than two months after the Suez Canal Authority contained a slick in the strategic waterway caused by a leak from a Kuwaiti oil tanker.

Last week's spill was contained using a ship equipped with suction hoses, an Environment Ministry spokesman said.

Successful surgery

ON MONDAY, news of the successful surgery to reconstruct the skull of one of the formerly conjoined Egyptian twins inspired much hope for his brother's chances in a similar operation set for March. Three-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim was operated on for four hours at the Medical City Children's Hospital in Dallas.

The operation was the latest in doctors' long- term plan for Ahmed and his twin brother, Mohamed. According to their surgeon, Kenneth Salyer, the plan was progressing even better than expected. There were no surprises during the operation, Salyer said, which would take future skull replacement in children to a new level.

The team of surgeons from the Dallas-based International Craniofacial Institute in charge of the twins said they would be watching Ahmed for signs of infection following the surgery. The young boy must remain inactive for the next 10- 12 weeks so that the new bone formation can solidify.

The twins, who were born joined at the top of their heads, were separated in October 2003 in Dallas.

Sequestration continues

HUNDREDS of engineers demonstrated in front of their syndicate's headquarters on Sunday as security forces denied them access to the premises, despite a court ruling, Mona El-Nahhas reports.

Although the syndicate was placed under judicial sequestration in 1996, an administrative court recently granted engineers permission to convene, and use the premises to hold an emergency general assembly. The security forces cordoning off the downtown syndicate, however, had instructions not to allow anyone inside; the engineers thus decided to hold their meeting in the street in the midst of the heavy security presence.

Frustrated by the inexplicable police interference, the engineers demonstrated for hours, saying they had the right to choose a council to represent them. According to Omar Abdallah, one of the engineers fighting the sequestration, the assembly was crucial for the syndicate, which needed to update its members on matters like the budget, "about which they have been kept in the dark for nine years".

Engineers with different political affiliations established the group fighting the sequestration last year; their efforts have included jumpstarting legal procedures towards lifting it.

During last week's protest, the engineers shouted slogans condemning the sequestration and the court-appointed custodians who had been given power over their syndicate. According to Abdallah, the 1,500 engineers who showed up agreed that efforts to "liberate the syndicate" must continue.

Taba militants killed

TWO SUSPECTED militants, as well as a policeman and an officer, were killed on Saturday in clashes involving security forces hunting armed suspects connected to October's Taba resort bombings, who were hiding in the mountainous caves of the Sinai peninsula. Police were in hot pursuit of the two suspects for days before clashing with them in the mountainous region on Sinai's western coast near Ras Sudr.

Although many were reportedly injured in the exchange of fire, the exact numbers were not revealed. The Interior Ministry did identify one of the suspects killed in Saturday's shootout as Hammad Tarabeen, saying it could not identify the other due to the severity of his injuries.

The fugitives had taken refuge in the rugged mountainous areas of Sinai. With the help of local Bedouins, police had been searching for them for several weeks. The suspects were wanted in connection with a series of bombings that took place in October at a Taba resort and two camps in Nuweiba that left 34 people dead and 105 injured. (see p.20)

Long-term knowledge

DURING a two-day symposium organised by the American University in Cairo (AUC) and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina last week, participants agreed on the bases for building a knowledge- based society in the Arab world.

Dubbed the Knowledge Society Symposium, the gathering discussed higher education in the Arab world. Bibliotheca Alexandrina Director Ismail Serageldin said the conference marked "the start of an on-going long-term process. We are engaged in this for a long haul". He said the conference's main goal was not necessarily to find solutions, but rather to take a first step towards building the knowledge-based society the Arab world needs.

Participants agreed that the next steps should include general public policies that require both government support as well as the proactive role of all civil society institutions, human resources management, outstanding specialised centres which stand out based on merit, efficiency and achievements, and a greater private sector role in funding scientific research.

The participants included State Minister for International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga, Nobel Prize laureate Ahmed Zuwail, Aga Khan Foundation General Manager Thomas Kessinger, and internationally renowned heart surgeon Sir Magdy Yacoub.

Following the closing session, AUC President David Arnold said, "by bringing this impressive group together for two days of working sessions, we hope to provide the time and freedom for a candid exchange of experience, successes, failures and works in progress. It is only through this kind of exchange that we can explore creative strategies and promising initiatives for the future."

Compiled by Mustafa El-Menshawy