Egypt

هيئة الأوقاف: إجمالى أملاكنا تريليون و37 مليار والإيرادات مليار و210 ملايين

كتب محمود حسين, اليوم السابع 

أكد سيد محروس، رئيس مجلس إدارة هيئة الأوقاف المصرية، على أن اجمالى أملاك الهيئة تبلغ تريليون و37 مليارا و370 مليونا و78 ألف جنيه، وذلك فى الحصر الذى يتم لأول مرة لأملاك هيئة الأوقاف.

جاء ذلك خلال اجتماع لجنة الخطة والموازنة بمجلس النواب اليوم، برئاسة مصطفى سالم، وكيل اللجنة، لمتابعة تنفيذ توصيات اللجنة التى وردت بتقريرها عن الحساب الختامى فيما يتعلق بالهيئات العامة الاقتصادية والهيئة القومية للإنتاج الحربى للعام المالى 2016/2017.

وقال "محروس" أمام اللجنة، إنه تم تنفيذ توصيات اللجنة وتم عمل حصر لأول مرة لأملاك الهيئة منذ إنشائها، كما تم إحالة حالة التجاوز لوجود 4 ونصف مليون جنيه لدى أحد عملاء الهيئة بالإسكندرية إلى النيابة الإدارية، كما تم حصر الأملاك التى تم الاستيلاء عليها والتعديات على أراضى وأملاك الهيئة للمرة الأولى.

وأضاف رئيس مجلس إدارة هيئة الأوقاف المصرية، أنه تم عقد برتوكول بين الهيئة والمساحة والاتصالات لحصر كل الأراضى والأملاك التعدى عليها والتى يتم إزالة التعديات عليها كما صدر قرار من وزير الأوقاف لتدقيق البيانات فى سجلات الهيئة وتطابقها على أرض الواقع مع هيئة المساحة، وهناك منشور لتقنين وضع اليد وإزالة التعديات على الأملاك.

وأكد محروس فى كلمته، على أن مساحة الأطيان الزراعية للهيئة تبلغ 390 بقيمة تقديرية تبلغ 759 مليارا و181 مليون جنيه، وهناك أطلس خاص بأراضى الأوقاف وبلغت مساحة الأملاك " مبانى وعقارات " المملوكة للهيئة بلغت 7 ملايين و391 مترا مسطح وبلغت قيمتها التقديرية 136 مليارا و824 مليونا و95 ألف جنيه، بينما بلغت مساحة الأرض الفضاء المملوكة للأوقاف 9 ملايين و714 ألف متر بقيمة 141 مليارا و364 مليون جنيه وبذلك تتخطى أملاك الهيئة تريليون.

وجانبه، قال محمود الزيات مدير الشئون المالية بهيئة الأوقاف، إن إيرادات الهيئة فى العام المالى 20171/ 2018 بلغت مليار و210 ملايين و55 ألف جنيه منها 450 مليون جنيه ايرادات أطيان زراعية و400 مليون جنيه إيرادات إيجار أرض فضاء ومساكن ووحدات وهناك استثمارات اوراق مالية وأخرى 550 مليون جنيه.

Braving the rhetoric

Ahram Weekly and Ahram Online, by Azza Radwan Sedky

Is today’s divisive political rhetoric in the US, much of it used by US President Donald Trump, fostering hostility or criminal acts

In October this year, 15 potentially explosive devices, or what are known as pipe bombs, were sent to prominent and high-ranking Americans including the Obamas and the Clintons.

Film star Robert De Nero, former vice-president Joe Biden, Eric Holder, former US attorney-general, and billionaire George Soros were amongst those who received the bombs.

A pattern emerged whereby all those targeted were critics of US President Donald Trump or had been slighted or defamed by him.

The US then went on the defensive as the authorities asked anyone who had been a critic of Trump, or whom Trump may have publicly slandered, to remain vigilant.

Once the suspect, Cesar Sayoc, was caught, his partisanship surfaced. His van, which doubled as his base, was festooned with stickers that supported Trump and denounced his critics. He had also plastered red targets over the faces of those he construed as enemies in the van.

Trump has had altercations with most of the bomb recipients. He has denigrated Democratic Party presidential elections candidate Hillary Clinton, for example.

He listened to and chuckled at the “lock her up” rants during his campaign rallies, he said that the “Second Amendment people,” those who believe in the right to keep and bear arms in the US, should “do something” to Hillary, and he dubbed her “crooked Hillary.”

The same thing goes for all those who were targeted.

Later, in a shoot-out on 27 October a gunman, Robert Bowers, a white supremacist, killed 11 Jews at a synagogue in Pittsburg in the US. He had targeted Jews on social media and made anti-Semitic statements during the shooting.

For much of the media, Trump’s behaviour and rhetoric had egged on Bowers and his like. During an earlier white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, a civil rights protester was killed, and Trump’s comment then was that there were “very fine people on both sides,” equating white supremacists with ordinary Americans.

In a petition, thousands asked Trump not to visit Pittsburg after the shooting unless he denounced white nationalism ahead of it.

The question today is whether the divisive political rhetoric in the US fosters hostility or even criminal acts. In other words, was Sayoc a by-product of Trump’s rhetoric? Was Bowers a consequence of the same? And is this rhetoric reshaping American politics as well as Americans at large?

Trump’s rhetoric is indeed divisive and racially charged. It has polarised Americans and fed partisanship, stoking hatred and empowering the heartless.

According to Trump, no one is above defamation. Envision the message that Trump supporters receive when they hear the following: “the Democrats will give illegal immigrants free cars;” “the Democrats will abolish American borders;” “the Democrats want to open our borders to a flood of deadly drugs and ruthless gangs,” “the Democrats want to turn America into a giant sanctuary for criminal aliens… don’t kid yourself. That what’s going to happen,” for example.

Does this kind of crassness pass unnoticed by Americans, or will grudge-bearing pro-Trump individuals follow suit in tone and standards? “Knock the crap out of him, would you? I promise you, I will pay your legal fees;” “I’d like to punch him in the face;” “I’ll beat the crap out of you;” “maybe he should be roughed up;” “we are tired of the garbage; get out of here;” and “part of the problem is that no one wants to hurt each other anymore” are samples of Trump’s outbursts.

Trump is also bringing out the worse in those who dislike him, for partisan infighting rules in the US today.

Robert De Nero slammed Trump on the US TV programme Saturday Night Live, and Soros described Trump as “a danger to the world.”

Holder used a sentence from former US first lady Michelle Obama, “when they go low, we go high,” but then kicked it up a notch by saying “when they go low, we kick them.”

Can such ranting go unnoticed and not leave its mark on Americans? I doubt it. Moral and ethical standards are sinking and losing ground; vulgarity rules; trifling sacred beliefs is taken lightly; and wishing others ill has become the norm.

The end result is that Americans will change, as this rhetoric provides a green light to the Sayocs and the Bowers of the world.

When asked if he plans on toning down or softening his rhetoric, Trump said that his intention was to “tone it up.” He has no intention of restraining himself, for Trump is at the most “Trumpish” when he is combative.

* The writer is a political analyst.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 22 November, 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Braving the rhetoric

via english.ahram.org.eg

Is this the end of Egypt’s Jamaa Islamiya?

The Arab Weekly, by Amr Imam (Link: Is this the end of Egypt's Jamaa Islamiya?)

Jamaa Islamiya is facing a tough test of survival after the Cairo Criminal Court ruled to include 164 of the group’s members on a new National Security Agency terrorism list.

CAIRO - One of Egypt’s most prominent remaining Islamist groups, Jamaa Islamiya, is facing a tough test of survival after the Cairo Criminal Court ruled to include 164 of the group’s members on a new National Security Agency terrorism list submitted by Egyptian authorities last month.

This is the first time the Sisi administration has sought to directly target leaders of Jamaa Islamiya, a staunch ally of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which was designated as a terrorist organisation in late 2013 following the ouster of Islamist President Muhammad Morsi.

The list includes leaders of the organisation, both inside and outside Egypt, and some senior members of the group’s still functional political wing, the Building and Development Party.

The move, political analysts said, threatened Jamaa Islamiya’s existence and paved the way for the dissolution of its political party.

Jamaa Islamiya was a prominent terror group in the 1980s and 1990s before officially renouncing violence in 2003. In the 80s, it was famously led by Omar Abdel-Rahman — the “Blind Sheikh” — who was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York. He died in prison in February 2017.

More recently, Jamaa Islamiya has largely managed to sidestep growing popular discontent and government initiatives targeting political Islam in Egypt, but the recent blacklisting could change that, analysts said.

“Now, the organisation has to appeal the inclusion of its leaders in the list,” said Sameh Eid, a specialist in Islamist movements. “It faces the prospect of total illegalisation if it does not take this move.”

The new terror list falls into the wider context of Egypt’s ongoing crackdown on political Islam.

Since coming to power in mid-2014, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has staged an unwavering clampdown on Islamist movements, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies.

Jamaa Islamiya, which has been linked to the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in October 1981 for signing a peace treaty with Israel, witnessed a political renaissance following the 2011 popular uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Those implicated in Sadat’s assassination, including cousins Aboud and Tarek al-Zomor, were released from jail after the uprising following three decades of incarceration. Exploiting the group’s popularity, especially in Egypt’s southern provinces, they quickly formed the Building and Development party. It became the third pillar in a loose Islamist political alliance that included the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Al-Nour party. This Islamist bloc came to dominate parliament, with the Building and Development party securing its first ever parliamentary seats.

Following Morsi’s ouster in mid-2013, Jamaa Islamiya sided with the soon-to-be outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, joining a so-called national coalition that rejected post-Morsi rule. According to documents submitted to Cairo’s criminal courts, members of the group held meetings following Morsi’s ouster and agreed to provide financial support for the purchase of weapons and ammunition. The government also accused some of the group’s members who are included on the list of staging terror attacks against state institutions and churches.

“Jamaa Islamiya’s collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood was a fatal mistake,” said Nagih Ibrahim, a former leading figure of the group. “To survive the test it is undergoing now, Jamaa Islamiya has to chart a totally new course, one that has nothing to do with violence.”

This is exactly what the group and its party are seeking to do to ensure that they will not face the prospect of dissolution.

Apart from preparing an appeal against the new terrorism list, the Building and Development Party has launched a charm offensive to improve its image. The campaign includes a large number of seminars and the publication of articles by moderate members, in which they renounce violence. In one of the videos on the party website, a member speaks against the targeting of army troops and policemen.

In an interview on the website dated October 15, leader Mohamed Tayseer said his party backed state institutions, supported equal rights for all citizens and called for peacefully settling political conflicts.

Tayseer’s claims appear to completely contradict the intelligence gathered by the National Security Agency and submitted to the court. According to media reports, the agency received information about plans by the organisation’s fugitive leaders to enlist services from jihadists returning from battlefields in Syria and Iraq to form an armed wing.

Jamaa Islamiya sought to form its own militia — called “Vigilante Committees” — in 2013 during Morsi’s term in office to keep law and order in some of the southern provinces where the group had strong representation. Locals complained that the committees acted as de facto morality police, haranguing people to attend prayers and preventing unrelated men and women from walking in public together.

Jamaa Islamiya’s charm offensive is also expected to include the replacement of leaders included on the terrorism list with organisation doves, such as Ibrahim.

Imprisoned for years after Sadat’s assassination, Ibrahim was one of dozens of Jamaa Islamiya leaders who made ideological revisions in prison and renounced violence. He became a hated figure inside the party for opposing Jamaa Islamiya’s belligerence against the authorities and also its alliance with the Brotherhood.

Nonetheless, those following the organisation and its struggle to retain influence said such efforts are unlikely to succeed. Jamaa Islamiya, they said, was violent at heart and there is a renewed insistence inside decision-making circles in Egypt to put an end to its presence on the political stage.

“There is no future for the group unless it initiates full ideological revisions,” said Tarek Fahmi, a political science professor at Cairo University. “Only then can the authorities accept its presence on the political stage.”

Written ByAmr Emam

Amr Emam is a Cairo-based journalist. He has contributed to the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and the UN news site IRIN.

Egypt celebrates antiquities museum before new institution takes the limelight

Arab News

CAIRO: Bright lights illuminated the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Monday during a celebration that could mark the last time the two-story museum is feted as one of Egypt’s main tourist attractions.

Located in one of Egypt’s most famous squares, the museum has been the country’s principal keeper of antiquities for over a century, but a bigger museum is under construction.

Officials celebrated the 116th anniversary of its founding and insisted it will not become obsolete once the Grand Egyptian Museum opens its doors. Antiquities will be moved to the new museum, which is expected to partially open next year.

“Our ceremony this evening is to tell the world this museum will never die,” said Antiquities Minister Khaled Al-Anany.

The old museum will be used to display recent discoveries as well as antiquities from store rooms, the minister said.

Housing the world’s biggest collection of pharaonic antiquities has been a challenge for the museum building, which was established in 1902.

Tens of thousands of objects have been sitting in its storerooms and galleries were often said to be too packed.

The Grand Egyptian Museum will be located near the Pyramids and Cairo hopes it will help a tourism industry that has suffered from the turmoil that followed a 2011 uprising.

Highlights of the evening were exhibitions of mummies and the ornamented coffin covers of pharaonic courtier Yuya and his noblewoman wife Thuya.
A 20-meter-long papyrus said to be the longest on display in Egypt was also on show during the ceremony.

via www.arabnews.com

Egypt as a second home

Al Ahram Weekly, by Doaa El Bey (Link: Egypt as a second Home)

What are living conditions like for the Syrian community in Egypt, asks Doaa El-Bey

 

“Generally speaking, Syrian people living in Egypt have one dream — to return to their country soon. But until then they are trying to live as part of this society, work for it, enjoy its privileges and accept its shortcomings. They live here as if it were their country,” said Hoda, a Syrian housewife who has lived in Egypt for the last six years.

Thousands of Syrians are now living in Egypt, mostly in relatively new communities like 6 October city and Rehab, the Haram area, Nasr City and Obour. There are also small numbers in other governorates like Alexandria, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Mansoura, Suez, Port Said and Ismailia.

In areas heavily populated with Syrians, it has become a common sight to see Syrian shops selling famous Syrian delicacies and Syrian food. Perhaps one of the most famous is Halab (Aleppo) Street in 6 October city — a name it has acquired because of the Syrian shops on both sides of the street. 

Numerous Syrian restaurants offering delicious Syrian food have also opened in other places in Egypt. “In the past, when I fancied a Syrian shawerma or a falafel sandwich, I had to travel. Now, my fancies are easier to find,” said Marwa, an Egyptian who is a big fan of Syrian food. 

Many Syrians flocked to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt after the eruption of the country’s civil war in 2011. According to the UN refugee agency the UNHCR, there are 130,300 registered Syrians in Egypt, or 43,763 households. 

Egypt is part of the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), a coordination effort between countries neighbouring Syria such as Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq and UN agencies and NGOs including UNHCR and other partners. Egypt is the only non-neighbouring state in the plan. 

Most Syrians now abroad suffered from the horrors of war before deciding to leave for a safer place. Integrating into the new society is not only an important matter for them, but is also a therapeutic factor that helps them to regain the sense of security, according to Fadya Farag, who helps Syrian families to settle into their new homes.

“Educated and open-minded families have no problem settling in. But it is more difficult with the less privileged. Some families are so scared that they just want a roof over their heads and a life away from people. Fortunately, most of them give up their fears gradually and start to mix with society,” she said. 

Marwa believes that society should accept them and help them to integrate. “There are people, a tiny minority from my experience, who have a problem accepting newcomers. They argue that the Egyptian economy cannot bear further burdens from refugees, notably in terms of social services, medical treatment, education, jobs and shelter,” she said.

Perhaps the most challenging problem that faces Syrian families is finding shelter and a job. When many Syrians came to Egypt, rent was relatively cheap. However, because of high demand for accommodation, rents in areas like Sheikh Zayed or 6 October city have started to increase, posing a real challenge to Syrian families especially those on low incomes.

“I pay LE1,100 of my husband’s salary of LE2,300 on rent. The rest of the money is hardly enough for food and basic needs,” said Um Omar, a Syrian housewife living in 6 October city. She came to Egypt illegally via Sudan over a year ago. Her husband joined her a few months later. Her husband now works in a plastics factory. Um Omar works from home wrapping sweets to help make ends meet.

EMPLOYMENT ISSUES: Finding a job to meet life’s basic needs is a challenge facing many Syrian refugees in a country that is already suffering from unemployment. 

Most Syrians living in Egypt work in trade, the clothes industry and manual work. Not everyone sticks to the type of job they used to do back home, according to Syrian worker Abu Wagih.

“I used to be a carpenter, but now I work in a clothes factory. It was not easy to find a job that suits my background, and I do not have the luxury of waiting until I find one. I need to pay the rent and feed my children,” he said.

It was probably easier for Hossam to stick to his original job. He is a wholesale merchant who used to have a clothes factory making the kind of traditional Syrian coats that many Syrian women prefer to wear.

“Working in wholesale trade here in Egypt is not easy because of the low demand in comparison to home. I thought that renting a shop would boost my business, but the rising prices are not working in my favour. Consumers are not willing to buy clothes because of the prices,” he said.

In 2011, the government decided to allow Syrians access to state schools, a step that meant sending children to school a straightforward matter. However, the already crammed schools and the bureaucracy have presented problems for some Syrians. In addition, the decision only applies to those who have valid residence papers. 

Others say that children have difficulty coping with the school system in Egypt. This prompted Hoda to enrol her children in a Syrian learning centre in 2016-2017, though she could not afford to do so last year.

The learning centres that have opened their doors over the last three or four years offer a Syrian curriculum as well as assistance with the Egyptian curriculum for students. They are also a source of jobs for Syrian teachers. But students need to sit for exams in Egyptian schools to guarantee that they will be granted residence in Egypt.

Um Omar was left with no option apart from sending her children to a Syrian learning centre. “I do not have a legal residence here because I entered the country illegally via Sudan. Egyptian schools are closed as a result. I cannot afford the fees of the private centres, but fortunately a kind Syrian family pays them for me,” she said.

Egypt used to have straightforward residence procedures. Any family with children enrolled in school could get residence, but renewing it has become more difficult and time-consuming, according to many Syrian families. 

“Perhaps the increasing number of people applying for or renewing residence contributed to making the procedures more challenging and taking longer than before. They also ask for a lot of documents,” said Um Ammar, who has three children in school. She came to Egypt more than four years ago.

Hoda, who also has three children in school, said the renewal of residence should take place every two years, especially for those who have been staying for more than four years and abide by the law. Perhaps the most challenging matter facing many Syrians is receiving medical treatment, however, according to Syrian mother Um Islam. 

The government has taken the decision that Syrians should be treated in public hospitals in Egypt like Egyptians. Egypt, with the help of the UNHCR and NGOs, has mainstreamed healthcare for Syrian refugees, but the increasing number of refugees together with the conditions in some Egyptian hospitals have presented obstacles.

“Egyptians and Syrians face the same obstacles when they have medical problems, especially if they require admission to hospital. Besides, hospitals prefer to deal with Syrians as expatriates and charge them non-Egyptian rates that are usually double or triple the Egyptian rates,” Um Islam said.

Meanwhile, the number of Syrian refugees is increasing, though more slowly than before, and integrating them into society is not an option but a must. 

 “I took my Egyptian neighbour to the Damascus Club, a private social club on the outskirts of 6 October city. We attended a moulid [religious festival] that I used to attend in Syria. I felt that this was a real piece of home,” she said.

 

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صعود أسعار النفط بعد إعلان المملكة خفض إمدادات ديسمبر

الشبكة الإعلامية السعودية -نوال الحارثي

ارتفعت أسعار النفط بنحو واحد في المئة اليوم الاثنين بعد أن أعلنت المملكة أكبر مصدر للنفط في العالم عن خفض إمدادات شهر ديسمبر كانون الأول وهو ما ينظر إليه على أنه إجراء لوقف تراجع السوق الذي شهد هبوطا بنسبة 20 في المئة منذ أوائل أكتوبر تشرين الأول

وبحلول الساعة 0051 بتوقيت جرينتش، ارتفعت العقود الآجلة لخام القياس العالمي مزيج برنت 93 سنتا أو 1.3 في المئة إلى 71.11 دولار للبرميل

وصعدت العقود الآجلة لخام غرب تكساس الوسيط الأمريكي 54 سنتا أو 0.9 في المئة عن آخر تسوية إلى 60.73 دولار للبرميل

وتحدث وزير الطاقة خالد الفالح يوم أمس الأحد عن عزم السعودية على خفض إمداداتها من النفط للأسواق العالمية 0.5 مليون برميل يوميا في ديسمبر كانون الأول وذلك في الوقت الذي تواجه فيه أوبك آفاقا غامضة في محاولاتها لإقناع المنتجين الآخرين بالموافقة على خفض منسق للإنتاج

via www.smn-sa.net

Egypt's energy dreams materialize

The Daily Star, Lebanon, by Mona Salem (Link: Egypt's energy dreams materialize) 

CAIRO: Egypt is looking to use its vast, newly tapped undersea gas reserves to establish itself as a key energy exporter and revive its flagging economy. Encouraged by the discovery of huge natural gas fields in the Mediterranean, Cairo has in recent months signed gas deals with neighboring Israel as well as with Cyprus and Greece.

Former Oil Minister Osama Kamal said Egypt has a “plan to become a regional energy hub.”

In the past year, gas has started flowing from four major fields off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, including the vast Zohr field, inaugurated with a great ceremony by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

Discovered in 2015 by Italian energy giant Eni, Zohr is the biggest gas field so far found in Egyptian waters.

The immediate upshot has been that since September, the Arab world’s most populous country has been able to halt imports of liquified natural gas, which last year cost it some $220 million per month.

Coming after a financial crisis that pushed Cairo in 2016 to take a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, the gas has been a lifeline.

Egypt’s budget deficit, which hit 10.9 percent of GDP in the financial year 2016-2017, has since fallen to 9.8 percent.

Gas production has now hit 184 million cubic meters a day.

Having met its own needs, Cairo is looking to kickstart exports and extend its regional influence.

It has signed deals to import gas from neighboring countries for liquefaction at installations on its Mediterranean coast, ready for re-export to Europe.

In September, Egypt signed a deal with Cyprus to build a pipeline to pump Cypriot gas hundreds of kilometers to Egypt for processing before being exported to Europe.

That came amid tensions between Egypt and Turkey which has supported the Muslim Brotherhood, seen by Cairo as a terrorist organization, and has troops in breakaway northern Cyprus.

In February, Egypt, which is the only Arab state apart from Jordan to have a peace deal with Israel, inked an agreement to import gas from the Jewish state’s Tamar and Leviathan reservoirs.

A U.S.-Israeli consortium leading the development of Israel’s offshore gas reserves in September announced it would buy part of a disused pipeline connecting the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon with the northern Sinai peninsula.

That would bypass a land pipeline across the Sinai that was repeatedly targeted by militants in 2011 and 2012.

The $15-billion deal will see some 64 billion cubic meters of gas pumped in from the Israeli fields over 10 years.

Independent news website Mada Masr reported that Egypt’s General Intelligence Service is the majority shareholder in East Gas, which will earn the largest part of the profits from the import of Israeli gas and its resale to the Egyptian state.

Kamal said he sees “no problem” in that, adding that the agency has held a majority stake in the firm since 2003.

“That guarantees the protection of Egyptian interests,” he said.

Ezzat Abdel-Aziz, former president of the Egyptian Atomic Energy Agency, said the projects were “of vital importance for Egypt” and would have direct returns for the Egyptian economy.

They “confirm the strategic importance of Egypt and allow it to take advantage of its location between producing countries in the east and consuming countries of the West,” he said.

The Egyptian state is also hoping to rake in billions of dollars in revenues from petrochemicals.

Its regional energy ambitions are “not limited to the natural gas sector, but also involve major projects in the petroleum and petrochemical sectors,” Kamal, who is former oil minister, said.

Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek al-Molla recently announced a deal to expand the Midor refinery in the Egyptian capital to boost its output by some 60 percent.

On top of that, the new Mostorod refinery in northern Cairo is set to produce 4.4 million tons of petroleum products a year after it comes online by next May, according to Ahmed Heikal, president of Egyptian investment firm Citadel Capital.

That alone will save the state $2 billion a year on petrochemical imports, which last year cost it some $5.2 billion.

Egypt is also investing in a processing plant on the Red Sea that could produce some 4 million tons of petro-products a year as well as creating 3,000 jobs in a country where unemployment is rife.

 

 

Video: Egypt’s Cabinet reviews ‘1st smart parking in Middle East’ - Egypt Today

Egypt Today, by  Amr Mohamed Kandil

The Roxy Garage consists of four underground floors with an area of 10,000 square meters each – Screenshot of Cabinet’s video

CAIRO – 15 November 2018: The Egyptian Cabinet published a video showing the first phase of the “first smart parking in the Middle East” in Heliopolis’s Korba district, Cairo.
Maged Zarif, the operating manager of the Roxy Garage, said that the parking is the largest in the Middle East in terms of area and is the world’s largest garage regarding capacity as it can accommodate as many as 1,700 vehicles. The first phase will accommodate 900 cars, Zarif added.

The Roxy Garage consists of four underground floors with an area of 10,000 square meters each, he said.

The parking operates automatically without human interference, Zarif said. Clients will put their cars inside elevators for parking and then use smart cards to restore them, he explained, adding that each of the two operations does not take more than three minutes.

Ebrahim Saber, deputy Cairo governor, said that the first phase of the Roxy Garage has been completed and is ready to operate, revealing that the current expense of the parking amounts to LE 230 million ($12.8 million).

The Roxy Garage is part of the government’s plan to resolve traffic congestion, especially that Korba is one of Egypt’s most crowded areas.

According to a study published by the World Bank in 2013 titled “Cairo Traffic Congestion", traffic congestion costs Egypt LE 50 billion ($8 billion) a year, which is four percent of Egypt’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This loss is caused by the productivity wasted when citizens spend most of their time held up in traffic rather than at work, the fuel wasted and the pollution caused by vehicle emissions.

via www.egypttoday.com

اشاعات ...اشاعات ...اشاعات

ألاهرام اليومي 

د. عزة رضوان صدقى

منذ عدة سنوات وحتى قبيل ثورتى يناير ويونيو كنت متوجهة إلى منزلى فى تاكسي. أثار السائق فضولى عندما قال: فيه حاجة غريبة بتحصل، ده خامس واحد أشوفه يشترى كراتين مياه. وعند وصولى إلى المنزل، كانت شائعة أن المياه فى مصر قد لوُثت وأصبحت غير صالحه للشرب، قد وصلت لذروتها وكان لابد من ظهور وزير ما على التليفزيون لإنكار القصه وتهدئة الأعصاب

هناك احتمال أن تكون الشائعة افتُعلت من قبل شركة تعبئة مياه مثلا، فبالتأكيد ربحت شركات تعبئة المياه كثيرا فى هذا اليوم.. وهذا أسلوب متبع من بعض الشركات الدولية التى قد تلجأ للشائعات حتى ترتفع أسهمها أو تنخفض أسهم الشركات المنافسة أو حتى تحث المنافسين لتطوير منتجات أو التخلى عن بعض المنتجات. ولكن هناك من صدّق الشائعة واقتنع بشراء زجاجات مياه فورا وإلا فالعطش قادم لا محالة

تلفيق وبالتبعية تصديق الشائعات شيء متواجد فى كل العالم وبالذات فى الظروف العصيبة. فبعد إعصار كاترينا فى نيو أورلينز بالولايات المتحده سنة 2005 لم تكن المياه الشيء الوحيد الذى غمر المدينة بل هاجم سمك القرش منافذ المياه حول المدينة وزرع الإرهابيون قنابل عند حدودها وامتلأ الاستاد بجثث الأطفال. شائعات فى شائعات في شائعات

فى مصر، وبعد تنحى الرئيس مبارك عن الحكم، قالت الشائعات إنه زهد الحياة وفارقها، ثم قررت أنه رفض الدواء ثم دخل فى غيبوبة حتى تُوفي. كل هذا فى ظرف أيام معدودة فقط. كذلك قالت الشائعات إن السيدة سوزان مبارك هربت إلى لندن ومعها 90 حقيبة مليئة بالأموال وقالت الشائعة المتداولة فى ذاك الوقت إنها باعت تحفًا وكنوزًا مصرية. أما الأموال التى سُرقت فكانت تنمو وتزداد بمعدل فلكى حتى أصبحت رقمًا غير مفهوم بالنسبة لمعظم المصريين، وكان يتساءل بعضهم آنذاك: يعنى إيه 70 مليارا بالضبط؟

أخذت الحروب ضد مصر أشكالا متعددة. بدأت بالهجوم على وحدات القوات المسلحة والكنائس بعدها انفجرت القنابل أمام مبانى الحكومة والشرطة وفى بعض الأماكن العامه ثم جاءت انفجارات أبراج الكهرباء ثم الحرائق التى أصابت منازل ومصانع فى وسط القاهرة وخارجها. الآن هناك أسلوب جديد لغرس الخوف فى نفوس المصريين بشائعات نقص المواد والمأكولات، أو اختلاق الكوارث ونشر الأكاذيب. الشائعات هى أسلوب آخر من الحرب وهى وسيلة فعّاله للتدمير

اليوم فى مصر قصص خزعبلية تارة وأكاذيب تارة أخرى تنهمر علينا لتصيبنا فى الصميم، وتضاعفت آثارها بسبب سهولة وسرعة وصول المعلومة عبر المواقع الاجتماعية والتليفونات الذكية، وسهولة تعديل الصور أو تلفيقها وطبعا سهولة إقناع الإنسان الطيب. سمعنا عن الأرز البلاستيك والبيض البلاستيك والعجيب أننا شهدنا المنتج البلاستيكى بالصوت والصورة. وسمعنا عن ضريبة استعمال الآيفون. وسمعنا عن إعداد الحكومة قاعدة بيانات متكاملة للمصريين فى الخارج لمعرفة رواتبهم تمهيدا لفرض الضرائب *عليهم. وسمعنا عن قانون بناء الكنائس الذى منع وضع الصلبان فوق الكنائس. وسمعنا عن موت الفنان فلان وزواج الفنان علان. شائعات فى شائعات فى شائعات

هناك احتمال أن الشائعة تبدأ بزلة لسان أو سوء فهم أو حتى نكتة فى غير محلها، ولكن فى معظم الأحيان يكون الهدف هو إحداث بلبلة وفوضى وضرب الاستقرار. وأسوأ الشائعات هى التى تأمل فى كسر المعنويات وزعزعة الثقة وبث الرعب وهى إذ تستغل المواطن البسيط فى تداولها وتعميمها سرعان ما تصل إلى الملايين

سرعة تعامل السلطات المصرية مع الشائعة والتفاعل معها يقلِّل من أثرها الخطير على المجتمع. بإمكان المسئولين غلق الطريق أمام الشائعات بالشفافية والدقة والاستباقية فى التعامل مع أى قصة مفتعلة. كذلك إذا خاف المجتمع فسيسهل على الشائعة التسلل داخله. بالتأكيد مصر فى أيدٍ أمينة، ورجالها ونساؤها يعملون من أجلها وهذا الشعور بالاطمئنان يقلِّل من القلق ومحاولة اختراق المعنويات

والأهم هو كيفية تعامل الفرد مع الشائعات. أولا علينا أن نسأل أنفسنا إذا كانت الشائعة منطقية أو غير منطقية قبل تداولها. كذلك لابد من التحقق من مصداقية المعلومة من المصادر الموثوق بها مثل الأهرام اليومى أو جوجل أو الإنترنت عامة. إذا لم تذكر القصة إلا فى مصدر واحد فهى شائعة وبالذات إذا كان المصدر مشكوكا فيه. كذلك فالشائعة تصبح حقيقة عندما تصدر من أكثر من مصدر، لذلك يجب التغلب على الشائعة من أولها بعدم إرسالها للآخرين. وكلمة "بيقولوا" كما هو فى المقولة: بيقولوا فيه عصابات بتخطف فى الستات، لابد من مقاومتها لأنها بمثابة إثبات أن القصة ماهى إلا شائعة. من المقولات المشهوره: اكذب ثم اكذب ثم اكذب حتى يصدقك الناس ثم تصدق أنت نفسك.

اشاعات ... اشاعات... اشاعات خربت بيتنا الشائعات.

 أستاذة إعلام بكندا

لمزيد من مقالات د. عزة رضوان صدقى

رابط دائم: 

https://www.ahram.org.eg/NewsQ/678751.aspx

What’s behind Nikki Haley’s resignation?

Ahram Weekly and Ahram Online, by Azza Radwan Sedky

The world may not have seen the back of US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, despite her recently announced resignation

In an abrupt and unforeseen move, Nikki Haley resigned from her post as US ambassador to the United Nations recently.

The resignation left friends and foes, including White House staff, baffled. Many have reflected on Haley’s future, asking some plausible questions and making a few conceivable predications.

Analysts have asked if Haley’s departure was done in good faith or whether it was a tactic meant to see her return to office stronger, and, if so, what the world should expect.

Haley’s wheeling and dealing have been atypical, and it would pay in the long run to try to make sense of this important politician.

I doubt that Nikki Haley plans on withdrawing from the political arena altogether. In fact, it may be truer to say that she has perfected her exit in the hope of a more profound re-entry at a future date.

Having reached the peak of what the UN can offer her, and since her aspirations do not stop there, Haley is moving on. She also did not leave US President Donald Trump in the lurch, but instead gave him time to find a replacement as she will formally leave office at the end of the year. Her resignation has been the only recent White House resignation that was not fraught, but instead ended on mutually friendly terms.

On her way up, Haley faced hurdles that she easily overcame. Her Indian origins and her parents’ religious affiliation as Sikhs could have been considered as hurdles by some, but they do not seem to have been so for Haley who took up Christianity later in life possibly to avoid any racial discrimination she may have faced.

Once assigned the UN position, Haley made a powerful impact on deliberations in the organisation, mainly due to her hardline bias in favour of the US and Israel. She snubbed many in the process, but she never flinched.

When Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, for example, Egypt put forward a draft UN resolution criticising this move. Haley then issued a direct threat, warning delegates not to vote for the resolution. She also sent a letter to UN delegations saying that the president “will be watching the vote carefully” and that she would “report back on those who voted against us”.

She has defended Trump unreservedly. For instance, when delegates at the UN laughed at him during the General Assembly meetings in September, Haley said that this was prompted “by respect” as they “love his honesty”. Later, she said that delegates at the UN were “falling over themselves trying to get a picture with the president and praising his speech,” a comment that bemused many critics.

As she resigned her office, Haley considered her achievements at the UN. “Now the United States is respected. Countries may not like what we do, but they respect what we do,” she said, even as the polls showed otherwise.

Expectations regarding Haley’s future are tremendous. Some say that she exited her UN post in defiance of Trump since he had bypassed her for the position of US secretary of state twice. Others warn that Haley could be in the White House in 2024.

In the meantime, Haley has announced that she has no intention of running in the 2020 US presidential elections, but that she will support Trump. As for 2024, that will be a different ballgame, and by then Haley will still only be 52 years old.

What does the world, in particular the Arab world, gain or lose from Haley’s resignation from the UN and her continuing presence in the political realm? She has proven to be a staunch ally of Israel, and at meetings of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pressure group, she has proclaimed her allegiance to the country. “The US will always stand with Israel,” she has said more than once.

In contrast, Haley views Palestine as not a “UN member state or any state at all,” and she has adamantly supported Trump’s withholding of aid to the Palestinians. She has even questioned the Palestinian right of return to their land as part of any negotiated peace settlement.

US policy will not change with Haley’s departure, but no one can deny that Haley’s views resonated powerfully in the hallways of the UN. It was she who said loud and clear that “I wear heels, but it’s not a fashion statement. It’s because if I see something wrong, I’m gonna kick ‘em every single time.”

It seems likely that despite her recent resignation as US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley will be back with a vengeance, and the world, in particular the Arab world, should be forewarned.

* The writer is a political analyst.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 1 November, 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline:  What’s behind Nikki Haley’s resignation? 

via english.ahram.org.eg