Latin American ties
Off to MENA
Power to
Egypt will supply power-starved Lebanon with 200 megawatts of electricity to help it meet a drastic energy shortfall. According to Energy Minister Hassan Younis, Egypt has an excess of 600MW of electricity which will be divided between Jordan , Syria and Lebanon . Many businesses in Beirut have bought generators to tide them over during lengthy blackouts.
Egyptian head
Egypt ’s Central Auditing Organisation Chairman Gawdat al-Malt has been named head of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) working group on fighting money laundering and corruption. INTOSAI’s coming meeting will be held in Indonesia in July 2009.
Aware of bird flu
A recent celebration held jointly by UNICEF and the Health Ministry marked the results of the first stage of the local community awareness programme against bird flu. Veteran actress Karima Mukhtar was honoured for her role in a documentary designed to spread awareness about the disease.
Headless sphinx
Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed four small statues of the sphinx, the Antiquities Authority said last weekend. The headless sandstone statues were found on the road linking the ancient temples of Luxor and Karnak in Luxor , Upper Egypt . They were unearthed in a spot once occupied by a police station that was demolished as part of a project to rescue the monuments in the area. The statues date to the fourth century BC.
Shy moon
A partial eclipse of the moon was visible in Egypt last weekend. On Saturday evening, the eclipse started at 10:36pm Cairo time and lasted for three hours and nine minutes, the National Institute of Astronomical and Geophysical Research said. It was seen clearly in Egypt and the Arab region.
Ritz-managed
Emaar Misr for Development, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Emaar Properties, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ritz-Carlton Company to manage the Mediterranean beachfront resort of Marassi in Egypt , scheduled to open in 2012. The resort’s six-kilometre long seafront on Sidi Abdel-Rahman bay is among the finest beaches in the region. The LE9.92 billion ($1.74 billion) Marassi will be a Mediterranean-styled self-sustaining neighbourhood, easily accessible from Alexandria , Burg al-Arab and Alamein airports. The project is close to historic sites and a world-class golf course, and will include a 150-room resort and 50 private villas.
‘Miracle’ septuplets???
Ghazala Khamis, 27, from