Niqab-wearing Fayoum University students to re-sit exams
CAIRO: Fayoum University’s administration has upheld a legal ruling giving a group of female students wearing the niqab, or full-face veil, the right to re-sit examinations. The university’s president was…
Mubarak not attending Africa summit
CAIRO: Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak will not go to the African Union summit in Uganda despite officials earlier citing his planned attendance as proof of his good health, the state…
Egyptian border guards kill African migrant
CAIRO: An Egyptian official says border guards have fatally shot an African man and detained four as they tried to cross the border into Israel. Hundreds of Africans seeking asylum…
16 killed, 22 injured in two road accidents in the south
CAIRO: Two road accidents killed 16 people and injured 22 south of the Egyptian capital, according to authorities. The first accident involved a head-on collision between a car and a…
Mubarak keeps Egypt guessing on future
CAIRO: Egypt's veteran President Hosni Mubarak has stepped up his public appearances and meetings to counter rumors of declining health but the burst of activity leaves open the question of…
Oil versus tourism: At odds on the Red Sea
HURGHADA/CAIRO: Home for pristine diving spots and almost 200 oil drilling platforms, the Red Sea is a battlefield for two of Egypt’s pivotal sources of income, tourism and petroleum. A…
Putting an end to intolerance in Indonesia
JAKARTA: The beginning of 2010 saw much violence directed towards Indonesia’s religious minorities. On Jan. 3, a group called the People Communication Forum burnt down the Filadelfia Church, a house…
Why Jerusalem? The politics of poetry
JERUSALEM: one of the most ancient and richly-imagined cities in the world, and also the city that seems most intractable to peaceful resolution. At least since the time of King…
Life by the numbers
NEW YORK: Last week, I learned that I don't have cancer. My doctor called and said, “I have some good news!” Fortunately, we were in the middle of a fire…
The niqab or an education?
CAIRO: Last October, in an editorial titled “Confronting the Niqab” I supported the decision by now deceased Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Tantawy to ban the full face-veil (niqab) from all-girls…