DSE: Local and International Press Round-up

Press Round-up

By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 14, 2006

CAIRO: Egypt newspapers continue to take different angles on news; independent newspapers are reporting the latest clashes in Egypt’s upper-house meeting and are following up corruption cases while updates of the president’s diplomatic tour in Europe rules the state-owned papers’ front pages.
“[Hosni] Mubarak concludes his European tour by meeting the Vatican Pope,” read a headline in Al-Ahram. According to news reports, Mubarak attempted to meet the Pope Benedict XVI around five days ago but the pope was engaged in spiritual duties. Mubarak will return to Italy next Monday, where the Pope has agreed to meet with him.
In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Egypt’s ambassador to the Vatican Nevine Simaika described the visit as “very significant.” “Mubarak wanted to meet the Pope in order to [above all] congratulate him on his election," Simaika told the press adding that Mubarak’s return to Italy only shows how important the meeting is. In the wake of conflicts over Danish cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed in a manner that was deemed offensive, Mubarak sees his next visit as an act of “reconciliation” between Arab and European countries, Simaika had earlier told the press.
According to Al-Akhbar newspaper, Mubarak’s talks with European nation on the general level have focused on “peace talks and relationships between the Islamic World on one hand and the European countries on another.”
Meanwhile, independent Al-Masry Al-Youm is intensive on a different angle of political stories: particularly National Democratic Party and parliament news. Following the resignation of NDP member and Editor Osama Ghazali Harb, two more high-profile NDP leaders have followed his lead. According to the newspaper, inner strife in the party, Parliamentarian Ahmed Ezz’s domination of power and the inner oppressive policies have lead the two active leaders to walk out.
Al-Masry Al-Youm also reports verbal clashes in the parliament’s recent assembly. According to the daily, many NDP-affiliated upper-house members have “viciously attacked” government policies accusing it of dishonesty. One member was quoted to declare the government responsible for the extreme poverty that Egypt farmers are experiencing, along with other major problems in education and health.
On the international level, Associated Press is reporting a new archeological discovery in Egypt where “an Egyptian-German archaeological team has unearthed 17 statues of the ancient Egyptian war goddess Sekhmet in southern ancient city of Luxor.”
The statues, life-sized, were found in the temple of Amenhotep III during restorations, according to reports.
“The condition of the 17 statues was not revealed, though the council's chief, Zahi Hawass, said in the statement that each figure will be removed from the site for maintenance,” read the AP report. “Hawass said Amenhotep III's different names and titles were delicately engraved on both sides of the statues' thrones, reflecting the advanced stage of arts during the 3 000 years of the 18th dynasty rule.”

Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=908