Playing with fire The illicit manufacture of fireworks maims and kills men, women and children in the nation’s forgotten hamlets. As the poorest of the poor continue to ply their deadly trade, activists and security officials alike are demanding citizens say “no” to the noisy amusements that remain a hallmark of our celebrations. YOUR GUIDE to El-Nazla is a cute, one-eyed little girl named Rahma, whose serene smile does little to prepare you for the sour faces roaming the settlement’s narrow streets and crowded back alleys. The twinkle in her big, brown eye blinds you to the fact that the little seven year old innocently taking your hand is just another social outcast, one of the village’s band of outlaws.
Suspected of ties to the Taliban regime and Al-Qaeda, Sami El-Laithi spent more than three years in America’s Guantanamo Bay detention facility before finally being declared a non-combatant. A media celebrity of sorts since returning to Egypt, his case has put the spotlight on at least two other Egyptians still in US custody. It’s an open question whether anyone — including the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the best lawyers in America — can help resolve their cases.
With American military police guards at his sides, Sami El-Laithi returned to his cell bloc after having finished his mandatory post-lunch exe
The banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood is now the biggest (if unofficial) opposition group in Parliament. Is it enough to turn the Brothers into democrats? Supreme Guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef talks about the group’s future.
They were the most-anticipated parliamentary elections in Egypt’s history. For weeks, the nation woke up to headlines about nothing but campa
Hope Floats IPO fever gripped the nation last month as the government sold a 20 percent stake in Telecom Egypt. While institutional investors got what they expected, first-time buyers were taken to school in the ways of the market —and treated to a lecture about what’s haram and what’s halal. ByKristina Roic Read more
Morgan Freeman The man behind the Million Dollar Babble is a consummate professional — and shockingly down to earth ByNesrine Etman Read more
Noam Chomsky The man who’s a Zionist but stands up against Israeli policy in a no-holds-barred interview about democracy in the Middle East and the West’s role here ByKarim Elsahy Read more
Volume
# 27
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