Egypt

U.S. to pull out of UNESCO amid Palestinian tensions

CTV News

PARIS -- U.S. officials have told The Associated Press that the United States is pulling out of UNESCO, after repeated criticism of resolutions by the UN cultural agency that Washington sees as anti-Israel.

While the U.S. stopped funding UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member in 2011, the State Department has maintained a UNESCO office at its Paris headquarters and sought to weigh in on policy behind the scenes. The withdrawal was confirmed Thursday by U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to be publicly named discussing the decision. It was not clear when the move would be formally announced.

The decision comes as the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is voting to choose a new director this week, in tense balloting overshadowed by the agency's funding troubles and divisions over Palestinian membership.

Many saw the vote to include Palestine as evidence of long-running, ingrained anti-Israel bias within the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.

UNESCO is best known for its World Heritage program to protect cultural sites and traditions around the world. The agency also works to improve education for girls in desperately poor countries and in scientific fields, to promote better understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust and to defend media freedom, among other activities.

The Trump administration has been preparing for a likely withdrawal for months, and a decision was expected before the end of the year, according to U.S. officials. Several diplomats who were to have been posted to the mission this summer were told that their positions were on hold and advised to seek other jobs.

In addition, the Trump administration's proposed budget for the next fiscal year contains no provision for the possibility that UNESCO funding restrictions might be lifted.

The lack of staffing and funding plans for UNESCO by the U.S. have been accompanied by repeated denunciations of UNESCO by senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

The U.S. pulled out of UNESCO in the 1980s because Washington viewed it as mismanaged and used for political reasons, then rejoined it in 2003.

Lee reported from Washington.

via www.ctvnews.ca

How Egypt is tackling Hepatitis C

Africa Portal, by Azza Radwan Sedky

Egypt is believed to have the largest prevalence of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in the world, with 7% of the population - approximately eight million people - infected. 

The causes of this rampantly widespread disease originated primarily from a massive government-led medical campaign launched in the 1960s to treat Egyptians suffering from schistosomiasis, better known locally as bilharzia. Unsterilised needles were used to inject millions of villagers across the country. These were likely contaminated with the blood-borne HCV and resulted in the current epidemic. 

Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the HCV. The infection may clear up in a few weeks, but in many patients, it lies dormant and asymptomatic for decades, surfacing later as a precursor for many fatal liver diseases including liver cancer, cirrhosis, and liver failure.  

Dr Wagida Anwar, member of the National Committee for the Control of Viral Hepatitis and Professor of Public Health at Ain Shams University, says millions of Egyptians were injected with the bilharzia treatment, reducing bilharzia infections to about 3%, but allowing the HCV to spread.

She adds that contaminated blood transfusion methods, unsafe injection practices, poorly sterilised surgical and dental equipment, and poor health standards and medical care may have compounded the infections even further. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognises HCV as a global challenge that necessitates an urgent response: 325 million people worldwide are living with chronic HBV or Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and the majority of them lack access to life-saving testing and treatment. This scenario was evident in Egypt until recently. 

The WHO noted in 2014 that just about every family in Egypt was touched by Hepatitis C with approximately 165 000 new infections occurring each year. Around 40 000 patients died of the epidemic on a yearly basis. According to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, the economic burden of HCV in Egypt was estimated at $3.81 billion, equivalent to 1.4% of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

Cognisant of the scale of the epidemic and the urgent need to scale up efforts at addressing it, the ministry of health developed the “The Plan of Action for the Prevention, Care, and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis 2014–2018”. It focuses on seven main components of viral hepatitis prevention and control: surveillance, infection control, blood safety, HBV vaccination, care and treatment, communication, and research.

According to Anwar, since the treatment programme began, about 1.8 million HCV patients have been treated with an efficacy rate of about 98%.

To reach all those infected, the programme established facilities to combat HCV infection within 100 kilometres of every Egyptian city and village, says Anwar. Each facility was overseen by trained hepatologists. Patients were tested to confirm HCV infection, were screened for eligibility for subsidised treatment, and then provided care and treatment services, including medication and testing. 

In 2014, Egypt reached an agreement with the San-Francisco-based pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences, to purchase a new course of medication to treat HCV at a greatly discounted price. Sovaldi, a direct-acting antiviral treatment with high cure rates, became available in Egypt for $900, a fraction of the $84 000 it is sold for elsewhere. This was a 99% reduction in price.

Simultaneously, since the epidemic is largely prevalent in rural, poverty stricken areas more than urban ones, the Ministry of Health offered the treatment for free or through medical insurance.

That was the start. Today, Egypt relies on much cheaper and locally produced generic medication that sells for approximately $83 while phasing out the manufactured-abroad Sovaldi. 

Other players were involved in the campaign to eradicate HCV in Egypt, in particular civil society organisations and the WHO. 

Treatment tourism

The success of Egypt’s HCV programme has inspired a turn to medical tourism. A local drug maker that manufactures the HCV treatment, in collaboration with Egypt’s Health, and Tourism and Aviation Ministries, initiated the Tour n’ Cure campaign in June 2016. It is aimed at attracting HCV patients from countries where treatment remains expensive, promising an affordable cure with no waiting lists and attractive tourist perks.

For approximately $6 200, Tour ‘n Cure offers flights, a week’s stay at a five-star hotel in Cairo or Sharm el Sheikh, blood tests, three months’ worth of treatment and tours to Egypt’s historic landmarks. The treatment is completed upon the patients’ return to their own country. 

Egypt has solicited the support of celebrities to promote its Tour n’ Cure campaign. Football stars Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, and Dani Alves, and squash champion Ramy Ashour, are among ambassadors of the campaign. According to the website, over 1 million patients have been treated since 2016. 

More importantly, what the National Committee on HCV hopes to achieve is reduce the HCV prevalence to about 1%, which is the rate existing in developed countries, says Dr Anwar. This is quite the challenge since newly infected cases will take between 20 to 40 years to bloom into full-fledged HCV cases. 

On a positive note, researchers have found that there is less ignorance and lack of awareness of the need to properly sterilise equipment and medical instruments than in the past. Egyptians are cognisant of the implications of needle sharing and blood transfusion methods are well controlled today, says Anwar. In fact, since 1994, all blood bank donors are HCV screened. 

Egypt’s efforts were duly acknowledged as a “tremendous success story for public health” by former WHO director-general Margaret Chan in 2016. While the country is on track to winning the battle against Hepatitis C, experts have correctly recommended that a commitment to ongoing investment in research and development of medication, adequate government funding and public awareness campaigns remains crucial. 

Africa Portal, How Egypt is tackling Hepatitis C

خسائر الربيع العربي: 833 مليار دولار + 14.4 مليون لاجئ

 CNBC

شعوب الربيع العربي قامت بثورات دفعت فيها من دماء أبنائها الكثير اعتقاداً منها أن التغيير دائماً يأتي بالأفضل ، ثارت ضد أنظمة حكمت هذه البلدان لعشرات السنين ونهبت ثرواتها واستعمرت شعوبها داخل مستعمرات الجهل والمرض. وبعد انتصار شعوب الربيع العربي وتغيير الانظمة السابقة لازالت تدفع الثمن غاليا ولكن هذه المرة الثمن اقتصادي ، فتكلفة الربيع العربي وصلت الى 833.7 مليار دولار شاملةً تكلفة إعادة البناء وخسائر الناتج المحلي والسياحة وتكلفة اللاجئين وخسائر أسواق الأسهم والاستثمارات، تقديرات خسائر الربيع العربي جاءت في تقرير "تكلفة الربيع العربي" الذي أصدره "المنتدى الاستراتيجي العربي"، وتناول التقرير بالأرقام نتائج هذه التداعيات وانعكاساتها السلبية على التنمية الاقتصادية والاجتماعية في المنطقة. واستند التقرير على تحليل المعلومات الواردة في تقارير عالمية صادرة عن البنك الدولي، والمفوضية السامية للأمم المتحدة لشؤون اللاجئين، ومؤتمر الأمم المتحدة للتجارة والتنمية، واللجنة الاقتصادية والاجتماعية لغربي آسيا التابعة للأمم المتحدة ، ومكتب الأمم المتحدة لتنسيق الشؤون الإنسانية، والمركز التجاري العالمي التابع لمنظمة التجارة العالمية. ويكشف التقرير حجم التكلفة الكبيرة التي تكبدها العالم العربي نتيجة لأحداث الربيع العربي من خلال تغطية 9 محاور هي: الناتج المحلي الإجمالي، والقطاع السياحي، والعمالة، وأسواق الأوراق المالية، والاستثمار الأجنبي المباشر، واللاجئين، وإعادة بناء البنية التحتية المدمرة. ويشير التقرير إلى أن التكلفة التي تكبدها العالم العربي بفعل الربيع العربي بين العام 2010  و 2014 وصلت إلى نحو 833.7 مليار دولار أميركي، بالإضافة إلى 1.34 مليون قتيل وجريح بسبب الحروب والعمليات الإرهابية، وبلغ حجم الضرر في البنية التحتية ما يعادل 461 مليار دولار أميركي عدا ما لحق من أضرار وتدمير للمواقع الأثرية التي لا تقدر بثمن، وبلغت الخسارة التراكمية الناجمة عن الناتج المحلي الإجمالي الذي كان بالإمكان تحقيقه 289 مليار دولار أميركي عند احتساب تقديرات نمو الناتج الإجمالي المحلي نسبةً إلى سعر صرف العملات المحلية. كما بلغت خسائر أسواق الأسهم والاستثمارات أكثر من 35 مليار دولار حيث خسرت الأسواق المالية 18.3 مليار دولار أميركي وتقلص الاستثمار الأجنبي المباشر بمعدل 16.7 مليار دولار

via www.cnbcarabia.com

Mohamed Salah sends Egypt wild after securing World Cup finals spot as Essam El Hadary – aged 44 – eyes history

The Telegraph

Mohamed Salah sent Egypt into rapture on Sunday night after the Liverpool forward scored twice to send the north Africans to the World Cup finals for the first time for almost 30 years after beating Congo 2-1.

Salah scored both Egypt's goals, with the second from the penalty spot in the fourth minute of second-half injury time for a dramatic finish in front of a capacity crowd of 30,000 at a military stadium in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.

Egypt finished top of Group E in African qualifying with a game to spare. A seven-time African champion and the continent's most successful team, Egypt last qualified for the World Cup in 1990 in Italy.

Salah broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute when he latched on to a through pass from midfielder Mohamed Elneny of Arsenal. Congo substitute Arnold Bouka Mouto drew level in the 86th minute with a ferocious left-footed volley that stunned Egypt's goalkeeper Essam el-Hadary.

Egypt substitute Mahmoud Hassan was brought down in the box two minutes into injury time and Salah restored Egypt's lead from the spot, using his left foot to find the back of the net and clinch Egypt's place in Russia next year.

Egypt celebrate first World Cup appearance in 27 years

After making his international debut in 1996, goalkeeper Essam El Hadary could make history in Russia next summer by becoming the oldest player to appear at a World Cup is he is selected by their Argentine coach Hector Cuper.

Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary, 44, celebrates his country's 2-1 defeat of Congo CREDIT: REUTERS

Colombia goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon is currently the oldest player to play at the World Cup – 43 in 2014 – but El Hadary, who turns 45 in the new year, appears poised to set a new record in Russia.

Egypt fans celebrate on the streets of Cairo CREDIT:  EPA

The win sent hundreds of thousands of fans across the country celebrating, honking car horns and waving Egypt's national flags.

In Cairo, an army helicopter dropped hundreds of Egyptian flags on thousands of fans gathered at the city's iconic Tahrir square.

Egypt supporters around the world, too, celebrated after Salah had ended their long wait to appear on the world's biggest stage.

 

 

 

via www.telegraph.co.uk

Remembering Ahmed Mazhar: The knight of Egyptian cinema

Ahram Online, by Ashraf Gharib

“I was born on horseback!” Ahmed Mazhar used to say to his friends and the media. When asked to explain this statement, he answered laughingly that his mother loved horse riding and that she felt labour pains whilst she was riding a horse, so she hurried to her house and shortly thereafter gave birth to Ahmed, on 8 October 1917, one hundred years ago.

Although this account isn’t supported by logic, it revealed the profundity of Mazhar's relationship to horses. It fits marvellously as a key in understanding the personality of a man who didn’t forsake chivalry in word or deed, in ethics and behaviour as well as in lifestyle. It became an original part of his psyche, to the extent that the word knight and Ahmed Mazhar became inseparable.

In the prime of his youth, Egypt was living the political turmoil of the 1940s and the 1950s. Mazhar believed that sacrificing his life was nothing for the sake of a principle or achieving an objective. He faced many moments of danger when a member of the group of General Aziz Al-Misri, one of the symbols of the nationalist struggle in the 1940s. Then he became a member of the Free Officers organisation, which mounted the July 1952 Revolution.

It was the knight’s ethics itself that prevented him benefitting from a historical event such as the July Revolution and not even attempting to exploit his friendship with the revolution’s men. If he didn’t have inner constraints, he would have amassed personal gains at a time when the military elite was controlling all the state’s key posts.

Even after leaving the armed forces for the sake of art, Mazhar always kept trying to prove that his was not a fleeting success, but he was capable of staying the course. This was confirmed in memorable roles, for the knight proved his impeccable capability to reach the highest pinnacles of appreciation and endearment.

The man was the star of Egyptian cinema’s most important three historical films: Saladin (El Naser Salah El Dine), Oh My Islam and Al-Shaimaa. He was also the star of important and remarkable films such as The Curlew Prayer, Djamilah, Cairo 30, Soft Hands, I Won’t Confess, The Last Night, Nadia and The Empire of M.

All the aforementioned films and others prove that his success wasn’t a coincidence and he deservedly attained special stature among Egyptian cinema actors.

Ahmed Mazhar graduated from military college in 1936. His colleagues were late presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar El-Sadat, as well as Khaled Mohieddin, Abdel-Hakim Amer and other members of the Revolutionary Command Council that ruled Egypt following the July Revolution.

Sportive in his youth, Mazhar enjoyed boxing, shooting and equestrianism for which he participated in both the London Olympics (1948) and the Helsinki Olympics (1952), which prevented him from partaking in the events of the 23 July Revolution.

As for his work in cinema, it started as a kind of adventure when he played a limited part in the historical film The Advent of Islam (1951) directed by Ibrahim Ezz-Eldine, while he was still an officer in the cavalry. It took six years before Mazhar left the military for the sake of acting.

He started with A Romantic Journey directed by Mahmoud Zulfikar, Port Said and My Heart is Restored by Ezzel-Dine Zulfikar (all released in 1957), which were only the beginning of a long road that see him act in over 90 films.

Mazhar emerged in an age where Omar Sharif and Abdel-Halim Hafez were romantic leads while Farid Shawqi, Rushdy Abaza and Ahmed Ramzi were the stars of action films. Mazhar had to search for a distinctive artistic persona.

He also entered cinema when he was 40 years old, and this confined him to certain roles. Perhaps this drove him in his early beginnings to choose mature roles, such as in The Road of Hope, directed by Ezzel-Dine Zulfikar, The Blocked Road by Salah Abu-Seif (both released in 1958) and The Curlew Prayer by Henry Barakat in the following year.

He began moving between different roles and starring in several Egyptian classics, on the top of which comes Saladin (1963) directed by Youssef Chahine, Oh My Islam (1961) by Andrew Marton, The Black Eyeglasses by Hossam Eddine Mostafa, The Last Night by Kamal Al-Sheikh (both released in 1963), Cairo 30 (1966) by Salah Abu-Seif and Al-Shaimaa (1972) by Hossam Eddine Mostafa.

Perhaps Mazhar didn’t show outstanding acting abilities in his early roles, but with the succession of roles and the accumulation of experience, he became capable of holding characters skillfully, even when the differences between these characters were delicate.

If played the womaniser many a time, he had a total grasp of the difference between a man who is seeking to entrap his female victims with calculated movements and a low voice — as manifested in The Road of Hope, The Blocked Road and The Curlew Prayer — and the man whose victims come willingly to satisfy his desires, as in Cairo 30 and Sins of Love (1977) directed by Yehia El-Alami.

The actor’s professionalism becomes evident when he is capable of projecting emotional differences according to the character he portrays. Thus, the impotent husband’s nervousness in The Virgin Wife (1958) directed by El-Sayed Bedeir was quite different from that of the coarse-natured husband in The Agony of Love (1960) by Salah Abu-Seif and from that of a third husband, moved by doubts concerning his wife’s fidelity, in The Olive Branch (1962) by El-Sayed Bedeir.

What if the emotion expressed from a character is neither sinister nor grey, but from an almost spotless character. In Saladin, Mazhar chose a calm voice tone that dominated his portrayal of the great leader throughout the film, even in the hardest and most difficult situations save one scene. It was the famous trial scene in which Ahmed Mazhar’s emotional performance reached a crescendo in his voice, movement and facial expressions, projecting extreme sorrow, charged with bitterness and articulating anger that engulfed this grand personality.

Mazhar showed in every character he portrayed an obvious dexterity in comprehending their psychological dimensions and dramatic motivations. Indeed, he earned his place as one of the greats of Egyptian cinema.

 

via english.ahram.org.eg

Mo Salah’s late penalty gives Egypt first World Cup qualification since 1990

Mabrook ya Misr. The Guardian

Egypt’s Mo Salah scored twice to seal the Pharaohs’ place at Russia 2018. Photograph: Tarek Abdel Hamid/AFP/Getty Images

An injury-time penalty from Liverpool’s Mo Salah ensured Egypt qualified for next year’s World Cup finals in Russia after beating Congo 2-1 on Sunday to move into an unassailable position at the top of their group with one match still to complete.

The Pharaohs, who have not reached the World Cup finals since 1990, needed victory in Alexandria to guarantee their place next summer after Uganda and Ghana drew on Saturday. They looked on course when Salah put Héctor Cúper’s side ahead just after the hour, only for Arnold Bouka Moutou to equalise with his first international goal, , firing past 44-year-old goalkeeper Essam Al Hadary with three minutes left.

But a late penalty from Salah ensured Egypt will be in Russia, making them the second African nation to qualify after Nigeria’s victory over Zambia on Saturday.

Poland sealed their first World Cup spot since the 2006 tournament after an early onslaught and a late flourish, including a goal from the excellent Robert Lewandowski, gave them a 4-2 home win over Montenegro.

The result left Poland top of Group E with 25 points from 10 games, five ahead of second-placed Denmark who sealed a play-off berth after a 1-1 home draw with Romania despite Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen scoring for a sixth successive match.

 

Queen Nazli’s Great Granddaughter on Her Legacy of Fine Jewelry

Written by Nayera Yasser and featured in the October 2017 issue of Vogue Arabia.

Amina El-Demirdash wearing her great-grandmother Queen Nazli’s diamond necklace and Elie Saab. Photographed by Julian Torres for Vogue Arabia

 

The great granddaughter of Queen Nazli, artist Amina El-Demirdash remembers Eqypt’s last royal family.

“Sitting in my workspace, I am surrounded by women I have only started to sketch over the past few years. I tie my hair up into a loose bun and stare at one lady, and then another. My thoughts wander as I look at my family members; heroes I have always wanted to meet. I set my canvas and brushes in place and start drawing the outlines of a new leading star. She comes to life at her own pace. I introduce myself to her. ‘Hello, new friend. I am an artist, the great-granddaughter of EgyptianQueen Nazli and granddaughter of Princess Faika.’

The months leading up to my first exhibition at Zamalek Art Gallery in Cairo quickly unfold. With every date that I cross off the calendar, my foremothers’ history becomes more vivid. I remember the day, in my  late teens, when my parents sat me down along with my siblings to tell us about the monarchy that ruled Egypt. My great grandmother, Nazli Sabri (1894-1978), was King Fuad’s second wife and the first queen of Egypt, until King Faud’s death in 1936.

Together, their authority stretched over Egypt, Sudan, the Sovereign of Nubia, Kordofan, and Darfur. She had five children: Prince Farouk (who would become king), Princess Fawzia (who became Queen of Iran and was the first wife of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), Princess Faiza, Princess Faika (my grandmother), and Princess Fathia. I recall taking a few moments to grasp the reality of the relation between myself and the family that existed in many pictures scattered throughout our home. Even though I awoke every day to images of Queen Nazlisurrounded by her children, I never gave them much thought, until my friends started to enquire.

Queen Nazli with four of her children.

I grew up in a house that valued education and rejected dependence on family names and connections. Born years after my grandmother’s final days and decades after my great-grandmother’s time, I know very little about my family and the women who once dominated the front pages. As an artist, their collections of paintings and sculptures are the one thing I spend hours researching. Art is my instinctive way to meet them, learn their preferences, and even relive a historical moment with them. After the 1952 Egyptian revolution, my family was exiled and dispersed throughout many countries.

Accordingly, details about my grandmothers and their lives before the 1950s have always been something of a jigsaw puzzle.

My great-aunt Fawzia and grandmother Faika refused to leave Egypt. The sisters were allowed to each keep a house and use its belongings during their lifetimes. After their passing, both properties  were obtained by the government. Inside my grandmother’s home were many Mahmoud Sa’id paintings, as he was Farida Zulficar’s uncle and she was King Farouk’s first wife. My great-aunt Fawzia had a portrait of a local lady drawn by Sa’id that always caught my eye during our visits.

Now, during my daily Vespa rides between the art gallery and my workspace, I can almost hear Fawzia’s soft and fragile voice narrating stories of her world before the 1950s. As the one ancestor whom I met, my memories of my time at her house in Alexandria comes back to me in waves. My grandmother passed away at the age of 54, without me having had the chance to talk with her even once. After years of conversing with her pictures, I took the leap and went to visit what used to be her home. My mother refused to walk through its doors without her in it, and so my father led me through the rooms. Although  it was already a school for ballet and art, my father could still imagine each detail in his mind. With a wide smile, he pointed to one spot and told me that he proposed to my mother there as he recalled further memories of their early days as an engaged couple.

Every time my father helped me decipher a fragment of who my grandmother was, her pictures appeared to whisper to me once more and the three items of hers that were passed on to me began to feel more intimate. Hidden in my wardrobe is my grandmother’s brown fur coat featuring a discreet embroidery of the family coat of arms. It needs mending, but I do not have the heart to let anyone toy with it. Her favorite charm bracelet and the ring she designed for my mother are kept inside a jewelry box. My grandfather gave her this bracelet and she would add a charm to it from each country they visited together. It carries many – some that resemble the world’s greatest monuments, and a few local tokens such as miniatures of old passports. Scared that one charm will fall off, and a part of their history lost forever, I have worn it only four times. I do slip on the ring every now and then. It displays a portrait  of King Fuad engraved on a coin that is surrounded by an art deco frame.

I have lost the fur coat’s matching hat. I was devastated and this led me to think of how my great-grandmother must have felt when she had to part with so many of her beloved jewels. Queen Nazli was already in California, living in a small apartment with my great-aunt Faitha, when the revolution occurred. At one point, the jewelry represented the mother and daughter’s only means of survival. They had to sell it before going to bankruptcy court.

Van Cleef & Arpels necklace commisioned by Queen Nazli for her daughter’s wedding. Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels

Van Cleef & Arpels necklace commisioned by Queen Nazli for her daughter’s wedding. Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels

Two years ago, an auction was held to resell some of her jewelry, and I took great interest in asking my family about the pieces. It was then that my uncle sent me a picture of her wearing the famous diamond Van Cleef & Arpels necklace in an official portrait. I could not see the details clearly; however, he told me that it was made for her daughter’s wedding. Instantly imagined the significance it held for her.”

 

Pope: 'May the Lord protect Egypt, the Middle East and the world from terrorism'

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Cairo during his apostolic visit to Egypt in April 2017 - RV

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis on Wednesday had a special greeting for an Egyptian delegation led by the country’s Tourism Minister, in Rome to promote a pilgrimage in the footsteps of the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt.

Speaking during the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope recalled his Apostolic Journey to Egypt last April saying that he has fond memories of the visit.

He said Egypt is “a land where Saint Joseph, the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus, as well as many prophets lived: a land that has been blessed with the precious blood of martyrs spilt throughout the centuries”.

And describing Egypt as a land of cohabitation and hospitality; a land of encounter, of history and of civilization, the Pope imparted his blessing on Egyptians and prayed the Lord to protect the nation, the Middle East and the whole world from all kinds of terrorism and from evil.

The Pope also blessed an icon that represents the Flight of the Holy Family to Egypt.

The Egyptian delegation, led by the Minister of Tourism Yahya Rashed, is meeting with tourism officials in Rome in an effort to promote the Holy Family in Egypt route as an important  pilgrimage destination.       

In a statement before the visit Rashed said it falls within the framework of Pope Francis's fruitful visit to Egypt. It also comes within the framework of the importance attached by the Tourism Ministry to religious tourism.

The pilgrimage route takes pilgrims to eight different places that are meaningful to the Holy Family during its flight from Herod’s persecution or during its return to the Holy Land.

It starts in the city of Al-Arish (North Sinai), crosses to the Eastern Delta of the Nile, and reaches Wadi Natroun, home to four important Coptic monasteries.

By reviving the pilgrimage, the government hopes to breathe new life into the tourism sector badly damaged by the 2011 revolution.
It also represents government support for Egypt's Christian minority.

via en.radiovaticana.va

How a TV Station Put Qatar on the Map

A great article though I disagree with the description accompanying the photo. Arab countries don't fear Aljazeera anymore neither do they admire it. Middle East Forum, by Hilal Khashan, Stratfor Worldview (Excerpt) 

It wouldn't be outlandish to say that Al Jazeera is a political project masquerading in the guise of journalism.

Arab views of Al-Jazeera range from admiration to cynicism, distrust, and fear

A New Standard

The network couldn't have made its debut anywhere but Qatar. Ironically, though, it might never have gotten off the ground were it not for Saudi Arabia. In the 1990s, the kingdom decided to drop its sponsorship of BBC Arabic, which went too far in promoting political openness and critical reporting for the royal family's comfort. The decision put "150 talented BBC-trained Arab presenters, writers, producers and technicians" back on the job market, as the channel's former managing editor, Ian Richardson, recently explained in the Guardian, giving Al Jazeera its choice of skilled personnel.

Newly staffed up, the fledgling network fashioned itself after Sawt al-Arab (or "Voice of the Arabs"), the radio station that then-Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser founded in Cairo in 1953. Qatar's emir hoped to use Al Jazeera, much as Nasser used Sawt al-Arab, to advance his image as the pre-eminent pan-Arab leader.

Al Jazeera's lofty claims have stood in stark contrast to Qatar's approach to governing.

 To that end, the network adopted a mission in 2004 that prioritized truth and objectivity in its reporting to "support people's right to knowledge, and to strengthen the values of democracy and respect of liberties and human rights."

Al Jazeera's lofty claims stood in stark contrast to the emir's approach to governing. Critics denounced the project; to spend so much money spreading democracy throughout the Arab world seemed disingenuous for a government that didn't practice what it preached at home.

Qatar, after all, does not recognize pluralism. The government prohibits political parties and jails dissidents.

Mohammed al-Ajami (left) and Najeeb al-Nuaimi

In 2012, a court in the country sentenced Mohammed al-Ajami, a poet, to life in prison for praising the Arab Spring uprisings. More recently, Qatari authorities have imposed travel restrictions on prominent human rights lawyer and activist Najeeb al-Nuaimi. Qatar's interest in promoting knowledge, democracy and liberty went no further than Al Jazeera's broadcasts.

But that didn't stop the network from achieving its goal. Al Jazeera made a splash in the Arab world, quickly setting itself apart from its rivals by giving its viewers what they wanted to hear rather than delivering the same dry, monotonous reporting. The network presented stories on issues that other outlets couldn't or wouldn't touch because of government censorship. As a result, its popularity grew. Knowing how to appeal to its audience gave the network far more political influence than Qatar itself exercised on the global stage, just as Doha intended.

The Cost of Success

Even if the scope of its reportage is more liberal than that of its peers, however, Al Jazeera isn't immune to politics. The network revised its strategy and policies in 2007, to the detriment of its journalistic integrity. Three years later, five female presenters resigned from their positions at Al Jazeera, citing restrictions on their editorial autonomy among the reasons for leaving the station. (The resignees also complained of comments that higher-ups had made about their attire; Al Jazeera observes a strict and modest dress code.) One 

of the women, Lebanese TV anchor Lina Zahr Eddine, described the network as a political project par excellence — an account that came as little surprise. In recent years, the management has obstructed the editorial team's efforts to select its own topics for reporting.

Its claims to objectivity, in turn, have become more and more tenuous. During the Arab Spring uprisings, for example, Al Jazeera devoted more coverage to some protests than to others. It reported extensively on the events in Egypt and in Libya, where it sided with the demonstrators rallying against Moammar Gadhafi's administration. In Bahrain and Oman, by contrast, it took a more even-handed approach while downplaying the scale of the protests. And the network refrained altogether from reporting on the unrest in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province — or on Saudi security forces' fierce response. Since Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani came to power in June 2013, he has taken further precautions to ensure that Al Jazeera doesn't offend Qatar's fellow GCC members. The channel has censored its reporting to avoid antagonizing its neighbors.

Qatar may have to give up its quest for 'truth' in broadcasting and toe the Saudi political line.

Nevertheless, many of the bloc's rulers still view the network as a threat to the political stability they prize above all else. Qatar's critics in the GCC have derided Al Jazeera as a propagator of confusion and hyperbole. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their allies in the blockade against Qatar, moreover, have called on Doha to shutter the outlet as a condition for resuming relations. The UAE minister of state for federal national affairs said in July that at the very least the news outlet must change its policies and practices if it is going to remain in operation. The Emirati minister for foreign affairs added that Abu Dhabi's complaints with Al Jazeera center not on differences of opinion but on the network's "inflammatory rhetoric," which incites "hatred and violence."

These comments speak to Al Jazeera's success as a tool to distinguish Qatar from its fellow GCC states and to buck Saudi Arabia's authority. But they also highlight the costs of that success. If Qatar wants to realize its ambitions as a leader in the Arab world and end the blockade against it, it may have to give up its quest for truth in broadcasting and yield to the Saudi political line.

Hilal Khashan is a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.

via www.meforum.org