• Egypt dance fest in Alexandria's public spaces
• Egypt: Lost city of Heracleion gives up its secrets
• Egypt discovers ancient port and writings

• Programmes to create coherence, peace through Transcendental Meditation planned for Egypt

• Egypt security forces clash with Cairo protesters
• Egypt: Air pollution indoors and outdoors high, threaten health and environment
• Egyptian Copts and Muslims clash again, in central Cairo

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Positive Trends
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Egypt dance fest in Alexandria's public spaces
2 May 2013 - Alexandria, Egypt's second-largest city, will see contemporary and multiple arts in their public spaces from 2 -9 May. In its third year, Nassim el Raqs (A Breeze of Dance) festival will feature local choreographers, such as Mirette Mechail, alongside dancers and artists from Lebanon to Latvia to France. (more)

Egypt: Lost city of Heracleion gives up its secrets
28 April 2013 - A lost ancient Egyptian city submerged beneath the sea 1,200 years ago is starting to reveal what life was like in the legendary port of Thonis-Heracleion. Its life at the heart of trade routes in classical times are becoming clear, with researchers forming the view that the city was the main customs hub through which all trade from Greece and elsewhere in the Mediterranean entered Egypt. (more)

Egypt discovers ancient port and writings
11 April 2013 - Egypt's state minister of antiquities says a Franco-Egyptian exploration team has discovered a Red Sea port dating back about 4,500 years to Great Pyramid builder King Cheops of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. The port was discovered at Wadi el-Jarf, nearly 180 kilometers (110 miles) south the coastal city of Suez, and was used to transfer copper from Sinai to the Nile valley, Minister for Antiquities Mohammed Ibrahim said. The team also discovered hieroglyphic papyri, considered the oldest found in Egypt. (more)

Egypt's President in Sudan, hopes for better ties
4 April 2013 - Egypt's President is visiting Sudan, his first trip to his country's southern neighbour since he took office nine months ago. Mohammed Morsi's two-day visit is the longest by an Egyptian President to Sudan in decades. It underlines Egypt's renewed interest in boosting cooperation after what was seen as neglect and deteriorating relations under ousted leader Hosni Mubarak. (more)

Egyptian solar power
28 March 2013 - Egypt is preparing to build a billion dollar solar power plant with help from a suite of international donors. Construction of Kuryamatt, a 150-megawatt hybrid power plant that will use both solar energy and natural gas to generate electricity, is underway 90 kilometers south of Cairo. Plans for a second large solar plant, in Upper Egypt's Kom Ombo, are also underway. (more)

Egyptian rivals renounce violence at crisis meeting - attendee
31 January 2013 - Rival Egyptian parties signed a document renouncing violence during a meeting called by the country's top Islamic scholar to end a crisis that has triggered street violence, attendee Ahmed Maher wrote on his Twitter feed. Maher, founder of the 6 April activist movement, wrote that the signatories included liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei, leftist leader Hamdeen Sabahi and 'all the heads of the Egyptian political parties'. (more)

ElBaradei says optimistic after Egypt crisis meeting
31 January 2013 - Egyptian liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei said he was optimistic after a meeting called by the country's top Islamic scholar to try to end a political crisis and street protests. 'We come out of this meeting with a type of optimism,' ElBaradei told journalists after the meeting called by Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the head of Al-Azhar mosque and university. 'Each of us will do what we can, with goodwill, to build trust once again among the factions of the Egyptian nation.' (more)

Israel, Hamas teams in Cairo for more truce talks
26 November 2012 - Egyptian mediators began separate talks on Monday with Hamas and with Israel to flesh out details of a ceasefire agreed last week that ended eight days of fighting in the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian official told Reuters the talks would discuss Palestinian demands for the opening of more Israeli crossings into Gaza -- a move that would help end six years of blockade of the coastal enclave ruled by the Islamist Hamas. (more)

Reuters analysis: Egypt proves peace role can survive Arab Spring
22 November 2012 - Mediating the Gaza truce was a bravura diplomatic performance by Egypt's new President Mohamed Mursi, jacking up his personal stature and reassuring an anxious Washington that the architecture of Middle East peace can survive the Arab Spring. Praise from Washington has come fast and thick. 'I want to thank President Mursi for his personal leadership to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and end the violence,' said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spent Wednesday at Mursi's palace being briefed on the negotiations by his staff. (more)

Hilton Hotels to share food surplus in hungry Egypt
9 November 2012 - Hilton Worldwide has launched a pilot programme to distribute surplus food to community organizations that feed the poor in Egypt. The hotel chain has teamed up with Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network to collect food that would otherwise be thrown away from cafes, restaurants, and conferences and distribute it to school feeding programmes, food pantries, soup kitchens, and other community programmes. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
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Programmes to create coherence, peace through Transcendental Meditation planned for Egypt
13 January 2011 - For the first time, Egypt has its own native Teacher of the Transcendental Meditation Programme, who graduated from Teacher Training last December. In the past, Teachers from other countries traveled to Egypt to offer courses, through which many people have learned the technique. One initiative planned is to establish a group of people regularly practising Transcendental Meditation and its advanced programmes together, to create an influence of invincible coherence, harmony, and peace in the collective consciousness of the nation. (more)

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Flops
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Egypt security forces clash with Cairo protesters
17 May 2013 - Egyptian security forces have fired tear gas at protesters hurling firebombs at them in central Cairo, hours after hundreds of opponents of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi rallied peacefully in the streets denouncing his rule and demanding early presidential elections. The Friday protests witnessed low turnout but come on the heels of a campaign dubbed 'Rebel,' which aims at collecting 15 million signatures on a petition to oust Morsi and hold early elections. Coordinators said they have collected 2 million signatures. The demonstrators earlier marched through Cairo before converging on Tahrir Square, chanting: 'Down with the rule of the Guide,' in reference to the leader of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. (more)

Egypt: Air pollution indoors and outdoors high, threaten health and environment
21 April 2013 - The average Cairene inhales more than 20 times the acceptable level of air pollution every day, according to the World Health Organization. That means that every Cairo resident's daily air pollution intake is akin to smoking a pack of cigarettes. Industrial plants -- especially factories that burn mazut, a heavy, low-quality fuel used in generating plants -- are the biggest culprits, as they emit large amounts of greenhouse gases that feed global warming. With much of Egypt being desert, seasonal sandstorms also contribute to lower air quality, and the growing number of vehicles adds to the problem. Aliya Abdel Shakour, who heads the Air Protection Advisory Unit at the National Research Center, says air pollution can be defined as the introduction of chemicals, particles, or biological materials into the atmosphere in a high concentration, over long periods of time. Pollution eventually affects the health of humans, animals, and food, and can cause discomfort. The growing number of cars, factories and power plants, and the use of old heating methods such as burning coal and wood are considered to be the main man-made sources of air pollution. Cairo has more than 2 million vehicles, which release tons of sulphur, carbon dioxide, and other pollutants daily, according to a 2011 study by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. A 2002 World Bank report estimated that environmental damage caused by pollution costs Egypt US$2.42 billion each year. (more)

Egyptian Copts and Muslims clash again, in central Cairo
7 April 2013 - Clashes broke out between Coptic Christians and Muslims in central Cairo on Sunday after the funeral of four Copts killed in sectarian violence outside the Egyptian capital on Friday night, a witness said. The state news agency MENA said 17 people had been injured in fighting after a funeral ceremony at the city's Coptic Orthodox cathedral. Public television showed riot police firing tear gas to disperse the crowd. In some of the worst sectarian violence for months on Friday, four Christians and one Muslim were killed in El Khusus, north of Cairo, when members of both communities started shooting at each other. Christian-Muslim confrontations have increased in Muslim-majority Egypt since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 gave freer rein to hardline Islamists repressed under his rule. (more)

Egypt: Call for investigation into post-revolution deaths
11 February 2013 - Clashes during the second anniversary of the revolution which deposed Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak have brought the number of Egyptians killed since the uprising began to at least 1,085, according to an IRIN tally of media reports, Ministry of Health figures, and independent assessments by local NGOs. As Egyptians pour into the streets once again today, to mark the second anniversary of Mubarak's departure from office on 11 February 2011, more violence is expected. Egypt's so-called Arab Spring was always seen to be peaceful compared to its counterparts in Syria, Libya, and Yemen. But the numbers tell a different story. On the second anniversary of the anti-Mubarak revolt, tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets, in almost all governorates, not to celebrate the removal of the former president, but to protest against the new president. Following is a round-up of the human toll of the Egyptian revolution in the last two years. (more)

Army warns unrest pushing Egypt to the brink
29 January 2013 - Egypt's army chief said political unrest was pushing the state to the brink of collapse -- a stark warning from the institution that ran the country until last year as Cairo's first freely elected leader struggles to curb bloody street violence. Sisi's comments, published on an official army Facebook page, followed 52 deaths in the past week of disorder and highlighted the mounting sense of crisis facing Egypt and its Islamist head of state who is striving to fix a teetering economy and needs to prepare Egypt for a parliamentary election in a few months that is meant to cement the new democracy. It seemed unlikely that Sisi was signalling the army wants to take back the power it held for six decades since the end of the colonial era and through an interim period after the overthrow of former air force chief Hosni Mubarak two years ago. But it did send a powerful message that Egypt's biggest institution, with a huge economic as well as security role and a recipient of massive direct US subsidies, is worried about the fate of the nation, after five days of turmoil in major cities. (more)

Egypt's leader declares a state of emergency
28 January 2013 - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi declared a month-long state of emergency in three cities along the Suez Canal where dozens of people have been killed over the past four days in protests that his allies say are designed to overthrow him. Seven people were shot dead and hundreds were injured in Port Said on Sunday during the funerals of 33 people killed there when locals angered by a court decision went on the rampage as anti-government protests spread around the country. A total of 49 people have been killed since Thursday and Mursi's opponents, who accuse his Islamist Muslim Brotherhood of betraying the revolution that ousted long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak, have called for more demonstrations on Monday. The violence has exposed a deep rift in the nation. Liberals and other opponents accuse Mursi of failing to deliver on economic promises and say he has not lived up to pledges to represent all Egyptians. His backers say the opposition is seeking to topple Egypt's first freely elected leader. (more)

Egypt: Death sentences spark new riots and more victims
26 January 2013 - At least 32 people were killed on Saturday when Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, violence that compounds a political crisis facing Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. The rioting in Port Said, one of the most deadly spasms of violence since Hosni Mubarak's ouster two years ago, followed a day of anti-Mursi demonstrations on Friday, when nine people were killed. The toll over the past two days stands at 41. Al Ahly fans had threatened violence if the court had not meted out the death penalty. They cheered outside their Cairo club when the verdict was announced. But in Port Said, residents were furious that people from their city were held responsible. A security source in Port Said said many of the 32 people killed died from gunshot wounds. He said 312 were wounded and the ministry of defence had allocated a military plane to transfer the injured to military hospitals. (more)

New turmoil hits Egypt's tourism
26 December 2012 - Tourism, one of Egypt's biggest foreign currency earners, was gutted by the turmoil of last year's 18-day uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Scared off by the upheaval, the number of tourists fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 per cent to $8.8 billion. This year, the industry struggled back. By but the number of tourists is still considerably down from 2010. For the public, it has meant a drying up of income, given that tourism provided direct or indirect employment to one in eight Egyptians in 2010, according to government figures. Poverty swelled at the country's fastest rate in Luxor province, highly dependent on visitors to its monumental temples and the tombs of King Tutankamun and other pharaohs. In 2011, 39 per cent of its population lived on less than $1 a day, compared to 18 per cent in 2009, according to government figures. For the government, the fall in tourism and foreign investment since the revolution has worsened a debt crisis and forced talks with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan. (more)

Fear keeps Egypt's Christians away from polls
19 December 2012 - A campaign of intimidation by Islamists left most Christians in this southern Egyptian province too afraid to participate in last week's referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they deeply oppose, residents say. The disenfranchisement is hiking Christians' worries over their future under empowered Muslim conservatives. Around a week before the vote, some 50,000 Islamists marched through the provincial capital, Assiut, chanting that Egypt will be 'Islamic, Islamic, despite the Christians.' At their head rode several bearded men on horseback with swords in scabbards on their hips, evoking images of early Muslims conquering Christian Egypt in the 7th Century. They made sure to go through mainly Christian districts of the city, where residents, fearing attacks, shuttered down their stores and stayed in their homes, witnesses said. The day of the voting itself on Saturday, Christian voting was minimal -- as low as seven per cent in some areas. (more)

Low turnout in Egypt's vote raises questions
17 December 2012 - Just under a third of voters turned out for the first stage of the referendum on a constitution meant to be a historic milestone in setting Egypt's future -- a showing critics say deepens doubts over the legitimacy of a charter that has already polarized the country. The dismal showing also raises the question whether Egyptians have been turned off by the turmoil that has characterized the country's politics throughout the nearly two years since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak's autocratic regime. The turnout was the second lowest of the relentless series of five nationwide elections that Egyptians have been called to in the 22 months since Mubarak's fall in last year's popular uprising. The highest was nearly 60 per cent in the election of parliament's lawmaking lower chamber. The lowest was an embarrassing 8 per cent for the vote for the upper chamber, a largely toothless body that the public cares little about. Besides the low turnout, preliminary results show that the 'yes' vote carried the first round only by a slim margin of 56 per cent -- hardly the resounding endorsement the Islamists were looking for to silence the increasingly vocal and united opposition that called on supporters to vote 'no.' Legal experts have said if turnout is low it would raise damaging questions about how representative the document is of the nation. (more)