As thousands of census takers scurried across the nation with pen and paper in November and December, the media tore to shreds the massive public awareness campaign urging people to cooperate with the agents.

Now that the public’s role in the counting has ended, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), which conducts the decennial count, has quietly released preliminary results.

Though the final report is still a full year away from release, senior officials say that preliminary results show several interesting demographic changes, particularly in the Red Sea and Sinai. More detailed findings will be released on March 15.

Nationwide, the number of households grew by 37.6 percent to 17.5 million. By governorate, the largest increase was in South Sinai at 110.6 percent, followed by the Red Sea’s 108.4 percent increase and the New Valley’s increase of 65 percent. Cairo, many may be surprised to learn, saw the smallest increase in population, at 26.6 percent.

Analysts suggest the relatively slow growth rate in the capital may be due to the large number of households and businesses already packed into the increasingly limited territory of the city.

Prior to 1976, the count was only conducted on the population; since then, it has included data on the number of buildings and businesses in all 26 governorates. Since 1996, there has been a 41.6-percent increase in the number of businesses nationwide to 4.4 million. South Sinai again witnessed the largest growth rate at 135.3 percent, followed by the Red Sea with 101.9 percent and Matruh with 85.1 percent.

Mohsen Allam Cinema goers will be able to attend midnight shows, after all.

Census takers logged more than just the numbers of buildings and people, asking also for detailed financial and social information about building owners, the buildings itself, the types of businesses operating, their legal status and the number and position titles of employees. Businesses were also asked about their computer and internet use, along with other questions about technology and facilities.

More than a few eyebrows shot up when census agents not only documented demographics such as marital and educational status, nationality, religion and age, but also inquired about the household’s finances. Questions ranged from employment information to the family’s means of transportation and the number of household appliances.

While everyone was required to complete the census form, respondents were not obligated to answer the question about their religion.

“Those who abstain from filling the [census form] can receive six months of jail sentence,” Gen. Mahmoud Samy, head of public relations at CAPMAS, told Business Today Egypt last month. “And if someone [working for CAPMAS] revealed the personal data of any person, that person could sue CAPMAS and the [CAPMAS employee] who revealed the information will be jailed for six months.”

He adds that CAPMAS has pressed charges against 310 people who refused to play ball.

Mohsen Allam Minister of Awqaf Mahmoud Zaqzouq

“The project cost LE 160 million, 90 percent of which went toward wages for the 120,000 workers involved in the census,” says Samy. “Each counter took 200 [forms] and took LE 2 for each [form] he filled, which takes about 20 minutes to fill, meaning each counter was paid LE 400 in this project.” Census takers visited each and every household for information.

As a new feature in the census procedure, the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (best known by the acronym IDSC) is auditing the results with a randomly sampled survey of respondents. The 2006 census is the first to use digital scanning for the survey results, rather than the manual input of previous tallies.

CAPMAS provides demographic, geographic and economic data to the private and public sectors, the public, researchers, regional and international organizations as well as individuals.

This is Egypt’s thirteenth census.

Officials have promised full disclosure of census results: “The information is open to the public, and anyone who wishes to see any data we have can check our library and copy whatever they need,” says Samy. “There are no secret reports.”

Brennan Linsley Five years after the United States began detaining terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, hundreds of prisoners still have not seen trial.

The Higher Judicial Council is looking into a proposal from Minister of Justice Mahmoud Marei to allow women to become judges and public prosecutors through the simple act of application. Today, women cannot legally apply to hold what are known as executive judicial positions, although president Hosni Mubarak has appointed three female judges, starting with Mme. Justice Tahani El-Gebali, who joined the Supreme Constitutional Court in 2003.

More than 6,000 people currently hold executive judicial posts.

There are no official laws or articles in the Constitution preventing women from holding executive judicial positions, and a number of Muslim scholars have announced they do not oppose the concept of female judges.

Most recently, however, senior Muslim Brotherhood member Essam El-Erian declared the Brotherhood is against female judges because the seventh-century scholar Imam Abu Hanifa banned women from holding executive judicial positions.

Hasan Jamali Marketing stunts cannot rob the Giza Pyramids of their Wonder status.

Many women have applied to the Supreme Council of Judges to join the Public Prosecutor’s office, a first step toward becoming a judge, but have been rejected solely on the basis of their gender.

At press time, three recent law school graduates had submitted applications to the Prosecutor General’s Office, but despite meeting the requirements (an average GPA of “good” and Egyptian citizenship) had been turned down. Admissions officers reportedly threw the applications out without considering them, saying that the Minister of Justice’s end-of-year statements encouraging female lawyers to sign up at the General Prosecutor’s office were “just newspaper talk.”

Stay tuned for more next month. (MJ)

You don’t often find a woman in charge of the local mosque, but that could soon change with the Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Endowments)’s new breed of female preacher. The ministry has assigned 50 female preachers recently graduated from Al-Azhar University to mosques to provide spiritual guidance and advice on social issues to women.

Dana Smillie The Aswan High Dam’s supply may dwindle if Egypt chooses to loosen control of the Nile.

“They know the Holy Qur’an by heart, are well versed in Islamic jurisprudence and have a very persuasive manner,” Abdel Latif Ayyoub, undersecretary at the ministry, told reporters.

Earlier in the month, Minister of Awqaf Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq reportedly ejected a munaqaba student preacher from a lecture, thundering that preachers should not be setting a wrong example. Zaqzouq is a staunch opponent of the niqab, which he maintains has nothing to do with Islam. (NM)

Maadi residents were on high alert last month as a knife-wielding man attacked, in separate instances, four women on the streets of Maadi, Basateen and Old Cairo.

At press time the Maadi saffah, or the Maadi Ripper, as he has been dubbed, was still at large. Police had intensified their search by calling in the victims and having them come up with a composite drawing to help identify the perpetrator, a senior prosecution official told Egypt Today.

Nasser Nasser Continued fighting in Sudan has endangered humanitarian workers.

None of the women were seriously injured in the attacks, although all four were rushed to the hospital for treatment, the official said.

Security has been beefed up at all entrances and exits of Maadi, Basateen and Old Cairo, and a government official announced that police had issued a warning to residents, women in particular, not to go out alone after dark or call undue attention to themselves.

The local council was also hard at work restoring street lights throughout the tony Cairo suburb.

“We are now 90 percent sure of what our suspect looks like and it’s only a matter of days before we apprehend the suspect,” the official added. (YM)

On January 6, the party-affairs department of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) turned down an appeal for official recognition from 12 would-be political parties, the most prominent of which are Hamedein Sabbahy’s Nasserist spin-off Al-Karama and Abul El-Ela Madi’s Al-Wasat, a “soft” Islamist group that has reached out to Coptic intellectuals.

Associated Press The man, the war criminal, the midan

The would-be parties were appealing an earlier rejection by the Shura Council’s Political Parties Affairs Committee, which certifies applications for official party status.

After the final verdict was issued, Al-Karama and Al-Wasat supporters gathered outside the courthouse to protest the SAC decision.

Madi told the press that the party would look into the option of taking the judges to court, pointing out that this verdict proves that the recent talk about political reform is anything but serious.

Sabbahi, on the other hand, pointed out that his party exists regardless of what the government has to say about it. He added that some of his party members are members of Parliament and would continue to play a big part on the nation’s political arena.

Suad Nasr with Mohammed Sobhi

Other parties affected by the verdict were Al-Amal Al-Democraty, Al-Qawmi Al-Masri, Nahdet Masr Al-Kinana, Al-Salam Al-Watani, Nahdet Masr and Al-Hurriyya Al-Democratiyya, amongst others.

The SAC based its ruling on the premise that the applications had already been turned down before by another court. Although some of the groups involved had been trying to establish their parties for several years, the court applied the 2005 codicil to Law Number 40 of 1977 in denying their applications. The codicil states that 1,000 members from 10 different governorates, with at least 50 members from each governorate, must sign the petition to establish the new party.

Under the original law, only 50 signatures were required. (MJ)

Imagine opening up your morning copy of Al-Ahram and not finding Salama Ahmed Salama, Makram Mohammed Ahmed, Ahmed Abdel Moati Hegazy, Salah Eddin Hafez, Salah Montasser or Sanaa El-Beisi.

Courtesy Zahi Hawass Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary General‚ Dr. Zahi Hawass

In fact, imagine that every single one of these widely read columnists disappeared at the same moment.

It nearly came to pass in January when top administrators at Al-Ahram decided to end many of these writers’ contracts over the objections of Editor-in-Chief Osama Saraya.

Although the decision did not specify these names, these writers, all over the age of 65, are automatic targets for the axe. Working their way out of millions in old debts, the administrators recently decided to end the contracts of current writers who are past retirement age. A total of 65 writers received letters from Al-Ahram’s personnel department announcing that the newspaper was not planning to renew their contracts, which end this year.

Fahmy Howeidy, who did not receive the letter because his normal contract ends in March, labeled the move “a political decision.”

The news caused quite a stir in journalistic circles, prompting Fawzi El-Eryan, the director of Al-Ahram’s legal-affairs department, to clarify that the decision applies to only 24 writers, not 65. El-Eryan added that these 24 were well past the retirement age and that their contracts had already been renewed several times.

In doing what they did, El-Eryan argued, Al-Ahram was merely abiding by Article 61 of Law Number 96 of 1996, which stipulates the mandatory retirement age for journalists.

El-Eryan disclosed that the law would not affect Hafez, Howeidy, Hegazy and El-Beisi. He also pointed out that the organization has no intention to refuse articles written by former employees and gives editors-in-chief the freedom to assign articles to whomever they please as long as the writers are paid as freelance contributors. (NM)

The cinema industry was up in arms last month when the administrative branch of the vice police decided to cancel midnight shows at movie theaters — without giving theater managers a copy of the order. The decision, which gave proprietors one month’s notice ending on February 15, required that cinemas close their doors at midnight in winter months and 1am during the summer.

According to Mounib El-Shafei, president of the Cinema Production Chamber, the decision could put some cinemas out of business. In an industry that is already ailing, El-Shafei noted, receipts from midnight shows, which make up 30–40 percent of theaters’ overall revenues, are a much-needed source of income.

Rumor has it that Muslim Brotherhood MPs were behind this decision in an effort to put an end to sexual harassment. It seems they’ve conveniently forgotten that harassment often takes place in broad daylight.

The decision was short-lived: It was reversed within 24 hours after a public outcry and pressure from film producers.

Mamdouh El-Leithi, chairman of the Cinema Syndicate, told the press that Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly had announced the decision had not come from his ministry and was therefore null. (MJ)

Since the Iranian revolution swept the Shah from power in 1979, Egypt’s relationship with Iran has been rocky at best. The mullahs have long refused to maintain diplomatic relations with Egypt in light of the Camp David Accords, going so far as to name a street after President Anwar Sadat’s assassin, and political barbs have been traded back and forth over the years.

Last month saw the discourse take its worst turn since last April, when President Hosni Mubarak accused the Iraqi Shi’a of being more loyal to Tehran than Baghdad.

The new year seemed to be starting well enough when, in early January, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told the state-run Iranian Student’s News Agency, that Iran wanted to normalize diplomatic relations with Egypt. But by the end of his speech, he was laying the blame for the strained ties on Egyptian shoulders, saying, “Egyptian officials need to take practical steps to realize this aim and normalize relations.”

Although he didn’t directly respond, one week later President Mubarak gave an interview to the weekly Al-Osboa in which he issued his strongest warning to Tehran so far: “Iran is trying to gain support in Iraq and the region, and I say to all: Don’t touch Iraq.”

Iran’s nuclear program — which Iranian officials maintain is for peaceful purposes — has raised eyebrows around the world, including in Egypt. For the first time, Mubarak has stated that should Iran develop nuclear weapons, Egypt would reverse its position on non-proliferation and consider developing an arsenal of its own.

No other Arab country has voiced a desire to acquire nuclear arms, but Jordan and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council have all declared their interest in a nuclear program, following developments in Iran.

The elevated rhetoric falling along sectarian lines is fueling worries of the problems in Iraq spilling across its borders. Emad Gad, a specialist in international relations at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told reporters in January, “The reality of the current situation is that we are approaching an open Sunni-Shiite conflict in the region. And Egypt will also be a part of it as a part of the Sunni axis. No one will be able to avoid or escape it.”

The question is what shape this conflict would take. Given the fact that the hands of ‘Doomsday Clock’ — maintained by the global-security group Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists — were pushed two minutes closer to midnight, some fear it could be the shape of a mushroom cloud. (CS)

Two Egyptian inmates were released last month from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, after American officials determined they did not pose a threat to the US. Egyptian authorities said they were not at liberty to release the identities of the two men, but did say that one had since returned to Egypt while the other had filed a request to go to Albania.

The last Egyptian set free from Guantanamo was Sami El-Laithi in October 2005, who had been held incommunicado for some three-and-a-half years after being captured on the Afghan frontier. (After his return to Cairo, El-Laithi spoke with Egypt Today about his incarceration. See “Behind the Wire” in the January 2006 issue.) At the time, El-Laithi’s release raised questions about the official number of Egyptian detainees disclosed by the government, as his name was not among those disclosed by Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit in 2004.

In a written response to a question from the floor of the People’s Assembly in November 2004, Abul Gheit identified five detainees as Sharif El-Mashad, Ayman El-Martafi, Ahmed Habib, Fadel Reda El-Waleili and Adel Fathi Ali El-Gazzar. Habib, who holds Australian citizenship, was released and sent to Australia in January 2005. However, there were conflicting press reports over the exact number and accurate names of detainees.

Ashraf Shiha, a counselor at the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Consular Affairs, told et in December 2005 that there were only four Egyptians still detained in Guantanamo, and that Egyptian security officials had told him that all Egyptian detainees were found to be “non-enemy combatants.” Shiha said the Foreign Ministry only found out about El-Laithi in April 2005.

Assistant Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Abdel-Aziz Seif-El-Nasr told the state-owned MENA news agency last month that the Egyptian foreign ministry will continue efforts to secure the release of the “remaining three Egyptian detainees” at Guantanamo.

“Camp X-Ray,” as the detention facility is called, opened in January 2002. Of the 775 detainees suspected of being Al-Qaeda or Taliban operatives over the past five years, only 10 have been charged with crimes; none have gone to trial. (Most recently, a Moroccoan court acquitted five ex-Guantanamo inmates of terrorism charges.) Some 340 inmates have been released from the prison, and there are 110 more ready for release. Of the 325 remaining detainees, only 70 will be given military trials — the other 250 detainees will continue to be held indefinitely without trial. (NS)

Huwaida Taha Mitwalli, a journalist for London’s Al-Quds Al-Arabi, was arrested for allegedly making a documentary about torture in Egypt for Al-Jazeera. Egyptian security officers charged the journalist with spreading false news that could “harm the national interest.”

A day later, a state prosecutor added “practicing activities that harm the national interest of the country” and “possessing and giving false pictures about the internal situation in Egypt that could undermine the dignity of the country” to the journalist’s charges and ordered her freed on bail of LE 10,000.

Mitwalli’s videotapes and computer were confiscated after it was alleged that she had enlisted local youth to re-enact incidents of torture so she could document them. The arrest came hot on the heels of leaked cellphone videos filmed at police stations of police allegedly abusing detainees. (See related story, page 44) (NS)

Though New Zealand and Egypt have long had a close relationship, they haven’t actually had direct diplomatic ties in 25 years. That changed in December with the soft opening of the New Zealand embassy in Cairo.

“The official opening will be in spring,” New Zealand Ambassador to Egypt Rene Wilson says. “Our prime minister is coming and we’ll have the official ceremonies and presentations then.”

New Zealand’s Minister of Trade and Defense Phil Goff was also in Egypt in December to help further promote the relationship. “We hope this will put New Zealand more on the map of Egypt,” he said.

This is the first time Egypt and New Zealand have had direct diplomatic relations since 1982, when Egypt closed their embassy in Wellington, mainly because the level of trade and ties at the time did not justify an embassy presence. The embassy had only been open for seven years.

Despite the lack of direct diplomatic ties, the New Zealand minister said the countries’ relationship has always been positive. “We have long-standing connections with Egypt,” Goff said. “Two generations of New Zealanders came here during the world wars.”

Arabic words have crept into New Zealand slang, he noted, and Maadi, which was New Zealand’s main overseas base during the Second World War, became the name of several different sporting events after the war.

A more recent connection is New Zealand’s participation in the UN’s Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai, the peacekeeping unit that deployed when the Israelis withdrew from the peninsula in 1982 under the terms of the peace treaty.

“This is also an opportunity to work on areas where we’re very like-minded,” Goff continued. Both Egypt and New Zealand are members of the New Agenda Coalition, which works on nuclear-disarmament issues.

“This is becoming a big issue in the region with the potential nuclearization of Iran,” he said. “If Iran becomes a nuclear-weapon power, that could lead other nations in the region to do so as well.”

During his visit, Goff met with both Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi to discuss regional issues and looked into the possibilities of expanding educational ties with Egypt.

“We now have a program where international PhD students can study in New Zealand for the same price as domestic students. Their partners can work and their children go to the schools,” Goff explained. “As a more geographically remote country, we welcome the people-to-people relationships we can develop through these types of programs.”

With a relatively small population of just over 4 million, New Zealand has to be a little selective in where it opens embassies.

“Obviously we don’t have embassies in 192 countries,” Goff pointed out. “But we saw Cairo as being important because of its position in the Arab and Islamic world and its connections with Africa, the importance of the role it plays in resolving regional conflicts and the potential for expanding trade into the region.” (CS)

Religious tensions were running high again last month, but this time it wasn’t the Muslim Brotherhood, the Copts or even the Bahaí’ís.

Instead, angry villagers in the sleepy little town of Damitou in Behaira found their space invaded once again as thousands of Jews from all over the world flocked to celebrate the annual moulid of Rabbi Yacov Abu Hatzira (known locally as Abu Haseera).

In the run-up to the celebration, Egyptian police blocked all roads leading to the northern part of the village and beefed up security in anticipation of possible anti-Jewish violence.

Abu Haseera, a rabbi from southern Morocco who wrote Talmudic commentary, was the head of the Jewish community in Damanhour before he died in 1881. He has since been revered as a miracle worker. Legend has it that after the rabbi, whose real name was El-Baz, was denied passage on a Palestine-bound ship by its captain, he reached the Promised Land on a flying carpet — thus earning his moniker Abu Hatzira (father of the straw mat).

The villagers dismiss the story as a myth.

Locals have demanded that the government move Abu Haseera’s remains to Israel and change the name of their village from Damitou to Mohammed Al-Dorra, the Palestinian boy shot in his father’s arms during the second Intifada in 2000.

Both requests have been denied. (NM)

Ten nations bordering the Nile were scheduled to meet in Cairo late last month to discuss the future of the river and the repeal of the 1929 treaty which gave Egypt total control over the Nile’s water flowing from Lake Victoria.

Under the agreement, no other country along the Nile had any rights to divert the water, preventing it from being used for agriculture or hydro-electrical purposes. Decades later, in 1959, Sudan was also given partial rights to the Nile water, but the other eight riparian countries were left out of the deal.

While the meeting was not called to assign shares of river water, it was expected to formalize the principle of equal voices and establish a ten-nation commission to tackle detailed issues later.

“Our focus is not the treaties but rather on how the Nile-Basin countries could work together to reach the common shared vision of achieving sustainable social and economic development through the equitable utilization of and the benefits from the common Nile Basin Water resources,” announced Gordon Mumbo, regional project manager for the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI).

Based in Entebbe, Uganda, the NBI is a forum that brings together water ministers and officials from each country to develop a framework of cooperation regarding use of the Nile waters.

Tanzania is at the forefront of the push to expand water rights to countries left out of the original treaty. Under the current system, Tanzania will not be able to complete a project it had started to irrigate the cotton-growing areas of Mwanza and Shinyanga without permission from Egypt and Sudan. A number of African news sources have reported that the nation has threatened to block tributaries leading into Lake Victoria and the Nile if talks don’t commence soon.

While Egypt is expected to ask for veto privileges to protect its rights, the other countries seem to agree that there can be plenty of water to go around, since so much today is lost to waste and poor rainwater collection. Globally, the world’s supply of fresh water continues to dwindle.

As long as water is used carefully, the other nine countries maintain, the Nile’s supply will remain strong and other Nile countries will be able to supply Egypt with electrical power and products grown through once-impossible irrigation of their land. (JO)

After a string of attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Sudan has threatened to discontinue services for the 4 million people in Darfur unless immediate action is taken against the aggressors. A joint statement from the 13 international agencies comprising the UNCT in Sudan urges all parties involved the Darfur Peace Agreement to safeguard civilians and humanitarian workers and hold accountable those responsible for attacks on civilians.

More than 250,000 people have been displaced by fighting in the past six months, exacerbated by multiple military attacks, a shifting front line and fragmentation of armed groups. Countless villages, crops and livestock have been destroyed as a result of the conflict, which has also given rise to rampant sexual violence against women.

Twelve relief workers have been killed, nine workers abducted and 30 nongovernmental agency and UN compounds attacked since mid-2006. Some 400 humanitarian workers have been forced to relocate 31 times. The UNCT reports NGOs have had to downsize or discontinue their health-care services, leading to an outbreak of cholera, which has killed 147 people and affected 2,768.

“In the face of growing insecurity and danger to communities and aid workers, the UN and its humanitarian partners have effectively been holding the line for the survival and protection of millions,” the UNCT statement says. “That line cannot be held much longer. Access to people in need in December 2006 was the worst since April 2004.” (NS)

Elsewhere in the nation, citizens are calling on their local governorates to name streets and midans after their current heroes. In Daqahliyah last month, a National Democratic Party representative presented a written request to authorities to name one of the governorate’s midans after Saddam Hussein.

The deposed Iraqi leader — who was executed on the first day of Eid, much to the consternation of Muslims around the world — was a much-loved figure in the governorate, which had sent more 800,000 of its sons to work in Iraq in the 25 years before the US-led invasion in 2003. (NM)

23,the number of brands of frozen imported chicken on the market. The recent influx, together with the increased demand for meat around Eid El-Adha, brought prices down last month to LE 8 per kilogram.

23,000,the number of taxis and buses on Cairo’s streets. The Cairo Traffic Authority last month announced it would stop issuing licenses, as more vehicles on the streets would only add to the spiraling traffic. The authority is looking into plans to make more streets one-way and is also suspending licenses for the unsafe tok-toks.

250million pounds, the sum being put aside by the government for cultural development and awareness over the next five years. Funds will go toward revamping cultural palaces, the Gezirah Museum of History, Alexandria’s Fine Arts Museum and the National Center for Translation.

100million pounds, the compensation asked for by one Alexandria woman whose husband was allegedly wrongfully executed last month. The woman filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Justice after her husband’s execution went ahead before an appeal could be heard. Her husband was executed on drug charges.

3,564pounds, the damages awarded to the Minister of Interior after two microbus drivers smashed into a Giza-licensed police vehicle belonging to the Ministry of Interior.

3.34billion pounds, the amount reportedly set to be paid by Vodafone Egypt to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority for a 3G-services license. The 15-year license will be the second granted by the authority (the first was given to UAE-based company Etisalat late last year). Under the agreement Vodafone will be required to give 2.4 percent of its 3G revenues to the Egyptian government.

No contest: The Pyramids of Giza are one of the great wonders of the world. That’s the view of both Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni and Supreme Council of Antiquities head Zahi Hawass, who have rejected the notion of the New7Wonders Foundation’s voting campaign to determine the “New Seven Wonders of the World.”

The Giza monuments are one of 21 finalists announced in June 2006; the seven with the most votes will be crowned the wonders later this year. In a media blitz, the foundation exhorts, “People of Egypt, it is now your turn to make a difference! Support the Pyramids, the only remaining Ancient Wonder, to become one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.”

The campaign is billed by organizers as “a cultural initiative to recognize, preserve and promote our common global cultural heritage.”

Hosni was unimpressed, pointing out to the press last month that the Pyramids are the most important and oldest wonders in the world — the only wonder of the ancient world still standing, in fact. He alleged the voting campaign is just a ruse to attract media attention by the New7Wonders founder, Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber.

It’s attracting not just attention, but a whole lot of money. The New7Wonders campaign encourages people to vote for their favorite wonders by SMS, online, mobile phone or landline, with vote prices ranging from LE 3 per SMS vote all the way up to $2 per online vote.

It sounds like New7Wonders is trying to sell us our own Pyramids.

But wait, there’s more. If you register online to join the New7Wonders Foundation, you get the free membership and a one-time vote for seven of your favorite wonders. You will also get emailed newsletters and sales pitches for New7Wonders books, toys, clothing, DVDs and other products and services.

Half the profits from the campaign will be earmarked for global monument preservation, the foundation claims. Topping its to-do list is rebuilding the 53-meter tall Bamiyan Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan for an estimated $50 million.

Hawass, who has never been shy about marketing Egypt’s monuments, took offense at the popularity contest approach. The nation’s top archeologist noted that the process of choosing new world wonders is not an official one and has no scientific importance or value. Hawass refused to meet with the members of the foundation, who came to Egypt in January on a world tour to promote the 21 potential new seven wonders — and the voting campaign, of course.

The seven winning sites will be announced on July 7, 2007 or 7/7/07, for all you number junkies out there. In the meantime, the folks at the New7Wonders Foundation continue to urge us to run to the phones and “be part of the making of history!”

Sorry guys, you’re a little late. We made history about 4,500 years ago. You’ll find it right over there on the Giza Plateau. (MJ and KD)

I suggest doctors put in zippers at the end of surgery, so they can open and close up at their convenience if anything is forgotten inside a patient’s stomach.

—Al-Akhbar satirist Ahmed Ragab commenting on the rise in the number of incidents of doctors forgetting medical instruments and towels inside patients.

Politics is nothing but a mask through which a few mentally disturbed players can realize their personal interests.

—Actor Yehia El-Fakharany, in an interview with Al-Wafd, the daily newspaper of the political party of the same name.

The essence of the conflict isn’t Sunni-Shi’a, nor is it Islamic-Christian; it’s American-Iranian.

—Salah El-Din Hafez, Al-Ahram columnist commenting on the conflicts unfolding in the Middle East

Carrying out the execution on the first day of Eid Al-Adha is unreasonable and unacceptable images of the execution were barbaric and disgusting. As for the trial, as all legal experts in international law have said, it is an illegal court because it is under an occupation.

—President Hosni Mubarak, following the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein

What happened proves that those in power in Iraq aren’t all that innocent of being terrorists either.

—Al Akhbar columnist Galal Dewidar, speaking about the manner in which former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was executed

It looks like we’ll always be stuck in a vicious cycle — a ruling party forever in power and opposition parties opposing it forever.

—Wafd Party chairman Mustafa El-Tawil, writing in the party paper

DIED, comedienne Suad Nasr last month, after collapsing from a severe drop in blood pressure. Nasr had been in a coma for more than a year following an allegedly botched liposuction in which she was given extra anesthetic at a private hospital in Cairo. She was 54. Nasr is best remembered for her roles with veteran comedian Mohammed Sobhi including Sonbol wil Milyon (Sonbol and the Million), Aelat Sonbol (The Sonbols), Huna Al-Qahira (This is Cairo) and El-Hamaji (The Caveman).

LOST, four divers off the shore of Marsa Alam in the Red Sea. Rescue efforts continued for several days in an effort to find the two Russians, the Dutchman and the Egyptian, but the search was called off after hope was lost of finding them alive. A fifth man survived after becoming separated from the group and swimming to shore.

RECOVERING, Dr. Zahi Hawass from surgery on his right eye after being struck on the head by a falling rock during an excavation. The secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities was flown to the Bascom Palmer Institute in Florida and is expected to be back home this month.

CONVICTED, Kuwaiti Sheikh Talal Al-Sabbah of drug trafficking. Al-Sabbah became the first royal in Kuwaiti history to be handed a death sentence. He was also ordered to pay $35,000. At press time, Al-Sabbah’s lawyers were appealing the verdict.

BORN, a baby at Dar El-Salam metro station. The baby’s mother went into labor shortly after walking into the station on her way back from a visit to her obstetrician, who told her she still had a few days to go before the birth. Luckily for the mother, the crowd of commuters on the platform included both a nurse and an obstetrician.

SIGNED, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy and the International Finance Corporation, the private arm of the World Bank group last month. Aimed at restructuring the gold-mining sector, the MOU’s new policy framework is expected to be completed within a year. Officials predict the industry could bring in more than $10 billion. The country’s biggest mine, Sukari in southern Egypt’s Red Sea hills area, has been discovered to have resources in excess of 7.7 million ounces of gold. (For more on the gold mining industry, see our August 2006 article, “A Gold Mine Worth LE 23 Billion.”)

NAMED, Raleb Majadele as Israel’s first Muslim Arab minister. Majadele takes on the portfolio of science and technology from Ophir Pines-Paz. While some have hailed the historic appointment as a positive step in improving relationships among different groups in Israel, critics have called it a lethal blow to Zionism. Arab-Israelis make up about 20 percent of Israel’s estimated population of 7 million.  et