WATANI International
18 October 2009
School closed
Last Thursday saw the closure of the first school in Cairo because of (A)H1N1 virus infection, commonly known as swine flu. The College of the Mother of God will close for two weeks following the discovery of three swine flu cases among pupils, the health and education ministries said. The girls school founded by French Catholic nuns in the 19th century has 1,200 pupils of various faiths. Last month Egypt delayed the reopening of schools across the country to 3 October as a preventative measure to limit the spread of the virus. Some classes have previously been scrapped because of the virus but the College of the Mother of God is the first school to close completely. So far the health ministry has recorded 1,053 cases of swine flu in Egypt, including three fatalities. Egypt is developing its own vaccine against H1N1 swine flu for production in 2011 and, in the meantime, will import vaccines to inoculate school children and key public workers, the health minister said.
Telecom licences
Egypt will offer two licences to provide telecommunications services for upscale suburbs outside the capital, including fixed lines, a government official has said, in a move expected to bring in USD1 billion worth of investments over the next five years. The licences will be granted to a pair of consortia to operate so-called “triple-play” services that group internet, cable TV and phone services. The move marks the first potential crack in the state-owned Telecom Egypt’s total monopoly over fixed line communications. The companies will not be required to submit an upfront payment, but the licences would be based on a revenue sharing program in which the government would get 8 per cent of the proceeds of operations.
Fishing boats
Six Italian fishing boats have arrived at Alexandria from Mazzara del Vallo. The boats will be taking part in research projects and fishing activities at depths between 500m and 1000m deep in Egyptian regional waters along the Mediterranean. The visit comes within the context of a cooperation protocol signed with the fishing sector of Mazzara del Vallo earlier this year.
Bread partnership
The 13th seminar on cereals will be held in Cairo next Wednesday, organised by the French cereal export union and sponsored jointly by the French embassy and the Egyptian Agriculture Ministry. Key figures from the grain trade sectors in France, Egypt, Libya and Sudan will be taking part. Discussions will focus on the properties of and specific benefits to be gained from French grain, France being one of the top producers in the world. A partnership is expected to be announced between the Egyptian centre for bread technology and the French cereal export union.
Louvre returns goods
The National Scientific Commission for the Museum Collections of France has decided to hand over to Egypt five ancient Egyptian fresco fragments after ruling that they were stolen from a tomb in the Valley of the Kings in the 1980s before ending up at the Louvre in 2000 and 2003. Egypt had two days before suspended cooperation with the Louvre, following what it saw as stalling on the part of the museum to return the 3000-year-old items.
And in Miami, the US is taking legal steps to return a stolen, 3,000-year-old sarcophagus to Egypt. The sarcophagus wound up in Miami last year following a series of transactions that began at an antique dealership in Barcelona, Spain.