Year: 2016

  • ‘In the Last Days of the City’ eliminated from CIFF for participating in previous festivals

    ‘In the Last Days of the City’ eliminated from CIFF for participating in previous festivals

    After the great success of “In the Last Days of the City” since its screening in Berlin in February, the audience had been highly anticipating its screening at the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), which starts 13 November. However, the Egyptian audience was shocked to find that the festival’s administration not only eliminated the film from participating in the competition, but also from screening at the festival.

    In a press release issued by the filmmakers on Tuesday, they stated that the film was eliminated due to “its participation in a large number of international film festivals preceding the CIFF”.

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    Photo handout to DNE

    This is despite their agreement with the festival which clearly stipulated that the film’s CIFF screening would be its Middle East and North Africa premiere. “In no way at all was it required that we refrain from taking part in festivals outside of the region,” the filmmakers said.

    The administration claimed that this could be interpreted by some as a sign of disrespect to the festival, the press release stated.

    “Youssef Cherif Rizkallah, the artistic director for the festival, knew from the very beginning, since February, that I had already agreed to screen the film at other festivals in America and Europe [and would not cancel these screenings],” said film director Tamer El-Said. “We only agreed that not to screen it at any other festival in the region or in Africa, and not to accept any new offers from festivals until after the CIFF.”

    According to El-Said, the film was supposed to make its first appearance in the region through the CIFF and any screening preceding this had already been agreed upon before the film was declared to be participating in the Egyptian festival.

    “They only asked that not to screen it at any other festival in the region or in Africa, and after the agreement, they asked not to accept any new offers from International festivals until after the CIFF. We accepted that because we wanted to move forward” he said.

    But on 13 October the filmmakers were surprised to be informed that “In the Last Days of the City” is no longer participating at the festival.

    The CIFF administration published a press release in an attempt to clarify the circumstances of this elimination. “El-Said agreed to participate in a limited number of festivals (three or four as he mentioned). However, after this agreement, it came to the festival’s attention that the film would be participating in nearly ten festivals, all of them preceding the Cairo International Film Festival,” the statement read.

    “There was no such agreement on how many festivals the film could be screened at We only agreed to the concept, which is vague in of itself,” El-Said stated. “The film was not only eliminated from the competition, but also from the entire festival—even from being shown there.”

    “There are no words to describe our disappointment. We were living for the moment when our film would be screened in its hometown. No success that the film has achieved so far can match that feeling.  And I can assure, that there’s no worse feeling than having no voice in your own country,” El-Said concluded.

  • Mövenpick Aswan completes marketing plan for attracting tourists this winter season: director of sales and marketing

    Mövenpick Aswan completes marketing plan for attracting tourists this winter season: director of sales and marketing

    Mövenpick Aswan has completed its programme to attract tourists for increasing occupancy rates during the coming winter season, said the hotel’s director of sales and marketing, Khaled Aboul Fath.

    The winter programme was created in cooperation with Misr Travel and the Egyptian National Railways with the overall goal of boosting tourism amid the current crisis.

    How is Mövenpick Aswan preparing for the coming winter season?

    The hotel has completed preparations for the coming winter tourism season, when tourism to Luxor and Aswan increases owing to milder weather in both cities during the winter.

    Mövenpick is putting a particular emphasis on attracting local tourism until next May, with the exception of certain holiday periods when international travellers will be targeted. This will be in cooperation with Misr Travel and the Egyptian National Railways through a set program with attractive prices starting from EGP 1870 per person in a double room.

    How do you find the current occupancy rate in the hotel?

    Egyptian tourism is suffering from an unprecedented retreat in the number of the tourists from abroad and occupancies mainly consist of local travellers, families, and conference tourists. Pharmaceutical companies in Upper Egypt are helping in regards to conference tourism.

    The occupancy rate currently stands at 38%, 60% of whom are Egyptians, followed by Chinese and British tourists. The tourism crisis has made it difficult to predict what the situation will be like in the coming period.

    The tourism crisis, which has lasted for over five years, has led to a change in the reservation policy for tourists coming from abroad. Foreign companies have started to control the market and are now responsible for conducting last minute reservations, whereas previously reservations from the European marker were being handled up to a year in advance.

     

  • International championships a key pillar for attracting tourism to Egypt: Sports Minister

    International championships a key pillar for attracting tourism to Egypt: Sports Minister

    Sports tourism is one of the most important patterns of tourism that is popular across all different ages and nationalities. Sports tourism directly helps to increase tourist influx and hotel occupancies to the cities where championships are held.

    This is why Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Khaled Abdel Aziz commented: “Periodically, there should be a roadmap to attract sports tourism to Egypt.”

    In order to boost tourism, besides creating prestigious sporting events, the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism, has been incredibly selective about the championships celebrated in Egypt.

    This included the re-launch of the 2016 Al-Ahram Squash Open at the Giza Pyramids after a 10-year absence; the 2016 FIE Senior World Cup for Men’s Foil at the Saladin Citadel of Cairo; in addition to many ongoing sports tournaments at Egypt’s most touristic cities such as Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada.

    Abdel Aziz highlighted the importance of Egypt hosting major sporting events, supported by the presence of the media and large audiences, as one of the most important tools, which serves as for providing a quick promotion of Egypt abroad.

    “The ministry wants to support all international championships and sporting events. In the upcoming period, the ministry will focus more of its attention on international sporting events to promote tourism in Egypt through these tournaments,” he added.

    Wadi Degla Clubs are celebrating Thursday the opening of the Wadi Degla PSA Men’s World Squash Open Championship and the PSA Women’s International Squash Open Championship.

    This is the first time that the Professional Squash Association (PSA) has granted a club the great responsibility of organising the World Men’s Squash Open Championship, rather than a federation or association.

    Abdel Aziz said: “Wadi Degla Clubs made a great effort to host both prestigious events, which will add a lot to Egypt’s credit of international championships held on Egyptian soil in recent times.”

    He concluded that the ministry is keen to offer support to sports federations, associations, and clubs so as to host major sporting events where Arab and African countries will participate, as well as other nations from around the world.

     

  • Calls for release of young detainees echoed during state-sponsored youth conference  

    Calls for release of young detainees echoed during state-sponsored youth conference  

     

    President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi announced on Tuesday evening plans to form a youth committee to review the conditions of young people who are currently detained and to provide reports as a preliminary step to facilitate their release according to the law and the Constitution.  The president’s declaration came during the National Youth Conference, currently held in Sharm El-Sheikh.

    The president’s initiative came during the conference following a call by well-known writer and intellectual Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, who asked Al-Sisi to issue a presidential remission for young people detained for non-violent cases or who were not detained by a judicial verdict.

    Egypt’s first National Youth Conference, entitled “Create …Go Ahead” began on Tuesday and is scheduled to last for three days. A number of prominent state figures, politicians, and media representatives are to attend, including Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.  Several political party members and about 3,000 young people are also present for the conference, according to state media.

    In his opening speech on the first day of the conference, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi announced that the National Youth Conference will be held annually in order to bolster the connection between the state and its youth.

    Moreover, and on the second day of the conference, the president pledged to organise a monthly meeting with youth leaders to follow up the execution of the recommendations that will come out of the conference.

    “I will not wait until 2017 to hold a meeting with young people. Instead, we should schedule a monthly meeting with them to follow up on the execution of recommendations from this conference. Every committee should show what achievements were done concerning all recommendations,” Al-Sisi said on Wednesday afternoon during a seminar discussing relationships between public freedoms and political participation that was held during the conference.

    On the second day, several young men who were participating welcomed the president’s initiative to form youth committees to review detainees’ conditions.

    In a televised interview in June, Al-Sisi said that 90% of the young people in prison weere there due to their involvement in crime-related cases while the state is looking into the cases of the other 10%.

    While the conference is ongoing, an online opposition campaign has been launched to publish the stories of detained youth. The online campaign includes political party members, former detainees, activists, and youth who previously announced that they were boycotting the conference. The campaign looks to explain the details of detained youth in prison who organisers believe must contend with human rights violations and medical negligence. The campaign seeks to circulate stories of enforced disappearance cases across social media platforms as well.

     

  • Cairo airport thwarts attempt of 19 young Egyptians to travel to Libya via UAE

    Cairo airport thwarts attempt of 19 young Egyptians to travel to Libya via UAE

    Passport authorities at Cairo International airport held back 19 young Egyptian men who were attempting to fly to Libya via Sharjah, United Arab Emirates on Tuesday in search of job opportunities, according to state-owned agency MENA.

    Egypt has banned its citizens from travelling to countries of conflict, like Libya, which require security permits. From the 19 travellers held back at the airport, 13 came from Kafr El-Sheikh and the rest came from El-Gharbeya, El-Menoufiya, El-Fayoum, and Qena.

    While carrying out the regular travel procedures for passengers departing for Sharjah, the officers at the passport checkpoint were suspicious about this group in particular. So the head of the airports internal auditing division, along with one of the officers, examined their travel papers to find that they do not hold UAE visa permits for either residency or employment.

    The young men admitted to the head of airport investigations bureau that they secured a deal with a travel agency based in Daqahleya, and the agents were the ones who booked the tickets on their behalf.

    The chief of airport security therefore banned them from travelling and told MENA that they legal action will be taken against them.

    “The legal situation here is unknown since their travel plans were carried out legally—it isn’t an illegal migration case, for example. However, they should be presented before the prosecution 24 hours after their arrest,” Haleem Henish, lawyer at the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms told Daily News Egypt. “Similar situations have happened before and the travellers were accused of being affiliated with terrorist groups like the Islamic State.”

    Spokesperson for the Ministry of Civil Aviation Ehab Raslan was not available for comment.

  • Despite already being in custody, police storm journalist’s house inquiring after him

    Despite already being in custody, police storm journalist’s house inquiring after him

    Security forces stormed the house of Akhbar Al-Youm journalist Mohamed El-Battawy at 3.00am on Tuesday, his wife Rofaida stated on her Facebook.

    According to head of the Press Syndicate’s Freedoms Committee Khaled El-Balshy, they were looking for him, despite him being in custody since June 2015.

    Moreover, the journalist was reportedly put in solitary confinement. His wife reported that he has been in pretrial detention for 490 days as of 20 October.

    In June, the Ministry of Interior revealed that the 30-year-old journalist was held in Tora Prison, in response to an inquiry by the Press Syndicate on his whereabouts after his family claimed his disappearance following his arrest from home.

    El-Battawy is accused of belonging to an illegal organisation—in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

     

  • Parliamentary Planning and Budget Committee suggests 10% tax rate for SMEs

    Parliamentary Planning and Budget Committee suggests 10% tax rate for SMEs

    The House of Representatives is awaiting the introduction of a tax law for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by the government.

    The parliament’s Planning and Budget Committee recommended that the tax rate for the proposed law be reduced to 10% instead of 22.5%, member of parliament Yasser Omar said.
    Omar expects a draft of the law to be introduced to the House of Representatives before the end of 2016, for discussion in the parliament during the second legislative term.
    The House of Representatives approved the Value-Added Tax (VAT) Law at a rate of 13% during the current fiscal year, with plans to increase this rate to 14% during next fiscal year.

    Fellow member of the Planning and Budget Committee Talaat Khalil said that reduction of tax rate for SMEs is not enough, and should be extended to facilitated lending by the banking system and facilitating licensing processes in municipalities, civil protection, and industrial security.
    Khalil believes that the state should lower the interest rate on these projects and determine what projects require for supporting, developing, and marketing production programmes by allocating the purchase share to the state.
    President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi announced a EGP 200bn initiative for lending to SMEs within five years at an interest rate of 5%; however, the initiative may collide with the current legislative infrastructure necessary for lending operations.
    A member of the Association of 1,000 Factories in east Cairo said that SMEs are facing great difficulties in borrowing from banks due to impossible conditions set by the banks with regards to civil protection and industrial security.
    He added that although 70 factories requested loans, due to the stringency of the loans conditions and terms, only two of them were actually able to obtain the loans.

  • Sugar, foreign currency shortages to push prices up in coming weeks

    Sugar, foreign currency shortages to push prices up in coming weeks

    For more than a month, Egypt has been facing a crisis in supplying sugar, and for more than five years, the country had been facing problems due to a shortage in foreign currencies.

    The two problems are not easily solved, leading to doubts as to when the government will be able to fix them.

    One of the most affected sectors is food industries, because they depend on imported raw materials, particularly sugar, to produce their products. However, a shortage in both is expected to push prices higher in the coming weeks, while Egyptians are already grappling with price hikes from previous weeks.

     

    Alaa El-Bahy, the head of the Food Export Council, said the government is responsible for both the shortage in US dollars and sugar.

    He believes the government’s stagnation in making decisions has heighted both of these crises, leading the dollar to increase in price in the unofficial market.

    Every industry, including food industries, has been injured due to the foreign currency shortage, he noted, explaining that almost all Egyptian industries depend on imported raw materials.

     

    A lot of factories reduced their production capacity because they cannot exchange foreign currencies at the current prices, according to El-Bahy, who stated that product prices will rise next week amid expectations that the price of the dollar will increase.

     

    He noted that the Central Bank of Egypt is unlikely to provide foreign currencies for food industries, which leaves the unofficial market as the only choice for investors.

    Regarding the sugar crisis, he believes the government’s poor decision making and corruption are the main problem areas that have caused this crisis.

    El-Bahy said that government intervention was not a proper move, adding that Egypt has a free-market economy and the government must not get involved in the distribution of goods at any cost.

    There is corruption in subsidising any product, because subsidisation reduces the price of goods, rendering it much cheaper to export and creating huge profits for traders, he said.

     

    He noted that there is corruption in the Ministry of Supply and Trade, explaining that the government says the average annual consumption of sugar per person is 33kg, which is extremely high compared to the global average of 8-14kg per person.

     

    El-Bahy believes that the numbers are unrealistically high due to corruption.

    The only way for the government to find a solution to corruption is to stop subsidising goods and begin to support the poor with cash, El-Bahy said.

    Regarding what happened with companies being raided for storing sugar, he said that this is an irresponsible mistake that harms investments and the government must understand that storing sugar is not a crime.

    Egyptian authorities seized thousands of tonnes of sugar from confectionery maker Edita Food Industries S.A.E. and PepsiCo Inc., raising concerns about the government’s handling of the country’s sugar shortage.

     

  • Egypt vows to support Kenya, Pakistan, Somalia in fighting terrorism

    Egypt vows to support Kenya, Pakistan, Somalia in fighting terrorism

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the terrorist attacks in Somalia, Pakistan, and Kenya, in official statements on Tuesday.

    Over the course of 24 hours, Al-Shabab terror group launched two attacks in Somalia and Kenya, killing 12 people in the latter attack.

    In Somalia, the group shot dead an intelligence officer near Mogadishu, and also attacked an African Union peacekeeping military base with a truck, near Beledweyne.

    Further, Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a guesthouse attack in northwestern Kenya, which resulted in the death of 12 people, claiming they were “infidels”.

    Egypt denounced the attack by the terror group and sent its condolences to the families of the deceased.

    Meanwhile, Egypt also condemned another terror attack that took place on Pakistan’s police academy which led to the death of at least 60 students.

    Egypt also affirmed that it will maintain its support to the aforementioned countries in counter-terrorism efforts.

    Earlier in October, Egypt hosted the third session of the African Parliament in Sharm El-Sheikh where participating countries from multiple African countries discussed potential ways of countering terrorism.

    Egypt has increased its efforts in retaining diplomatic relations with African countries. During its non-permanent membership in the UN security council, Egypt raised the issue of regional challenges in Africa, including terrorism.

    It has also headed the AU peace and security council in September.

    Earlier in July, the 27th African Union summit accepted Egypt’s request to support ambassador Moushira Khattab for the post of director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), after its approval by the executive council of the summit.

  • DNE News Brief: 26 October 2016

    DNE News Brief: 26 October 2016

    Daily News Egypt’s round up of today’s headlines in politics, business, culture, and sports.