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Hebrew media sources have revealed that an atmosphere of pessimism prevailed on the meeting of US Vice-president Joe Biden with Egyptian president Husni Mubarak in Sharm e-Sheikh due to the failure of the steel barrier strategy in tightening the grip on the besieged Gaza Strip. Military and security consultants from both countries were profoundly disappointed after "Hamas engineers" in the Gaza Strip succeeded in penetrating the barrier, the sources added. The sources also disclosed that reports received by Biden alleged that "Hamas engineers" succeeded in excavating 18 meters under the ground and in planting burning materials in the way of the steel slabs that melted the foundations of the barrier and made them of no effect. Furthermore, the sources said that that the USA decided to abandon the project and stopped financing it, and started to pull out all American military engineers participating in and supervising the project. The US-Egypt plan was meant to destroy all tunnels along the Gaza Strip borders with Egypt in a bid to complete the Israeli siege and suffocate the 1.6 million Palestinians living in the Strip. |
Friday, June 11, 2010
Egypt-US concede failure of steel barrier along Gaza borders
National inflation rate hits 10.5%
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Thursday announced that the annual inflation rate in urban areas had reached 10.5 percent due to a 16.5-percent rise in foodstuff prices.
The rate jumped by 0.5 percent last May, when grain and bread prices rose by 2.4 percent; meat and poultry by 18.3 percent; eggs and dairy products by 9.2 percent; cooking oil by 10.7 percent; fruit by 22.9 percent; and vegetables by 38.6 percent.
"And inflation rates are expected to rise further in July and August," said economy expert Riham el-Dessouqi.
Planning Institute adviser Mahmoud Abdel Hai noted that rising inflation rates stood to affect average family incomes. "The average Egyptian family currently spends 50 percent of its income on food," he noted.
Economy expert Ahmed Adam, however, questioned the accuracy of the official figures, contending that the inflation rate is in actuality much higher than that being reported.
The rate jumped by 0.5 percent last May, when grain and bread prices rose by 2.4 percent; meat and poultry by 18.3 percent; eggs and dairy products by 9.2 percent; cooking oil by 10.7 percent; fruit by 22.9 percent; and vegetables by 38.6 percent.
"And inflation rates are expected to rise further in July and August," said economy expert Riham el-Dessouqi.
Planning Institute adviser Mahmoud Abdel Hai noted that rising inflation rates stood to affect average family incomes. "The average Egyptian family currently spends 50 percent of its income on food," he noted.
Economy expert Ahmed Adam, however, questioned the accuracy of the official figures, contending that the inflation rate is in actuality much higher than that being reported.
Policemen beat young Alexandrian man to death
Khaled Said, a 28-year-old Alexandrian man was beaten up to death by two policemen as he refused to give them money, a human rights group said on 10 June.
Witnesses called el-Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Torture and recounted to its lawyers the incident.
“On Sunday, Khaled was at cyber café at around 11:30 in the evening. Two policemen asked him for money and when he said he didn’t have, they beat him,” Muhammad Abdel Aziz, lawyer with el-Nadeem, told al-Masry al-Youm. “As he was beaten up, his head hit a marble table and he started bleeding.”
According to Abdel Aziz, the policemen took Said out of the cyber café and continued to beat him. “He screamed at them saying ‘I am dying, leave me’, and he fell on the floor.” Abdel Aziz added that witnesses saw a yellow liquid coming out of Said’s mouth when he fell on the floor, after which there was bleeding. A pharmacist and a medic passing by confirmed he was shortly dead after they checked his tension.
Witnesses said a police car picked Said up. His family was later contacted and told he is in the morgue of Kom el-Dekka, to which they were denied access. At the prosecutor’s office, security told Said’s mother and brother that he swallowed a bag of drugs and that there were witnesses to the incident who confirmed seeing the bag. Ahmad Badawy, an activist in Alexandria with al-Ghad Party went on 11 June to the cyber café where the incident happened and said witnesses told him the drugs bag belonged to the two policemen who beat him up as he was shooting a video of them while making a deal.
The police has ordered an autopsy of Said's body.
“The forensic authorities report will be crucial in tomorrow’s investigation,” Abdel Aziz said. “Alexandria’s forensic authorities are well reputed for the quality of their reports. But it is the prosecutor’s final report that will decide for the future of the case.”
In the evening of 10 June, a group of activists protested in front of the Sidi Bishr prosecutor office in Alexandria against the alleged torture of Said. Protestors recounted in a video that they gathered in solidarity with the family of Said, demanding a fair investigation into the issue, when police intervened and attacked some of them. According to Abdel Aziz, 11 protestors were arrested, four of whom were released and the rest is still facing accusations of disturbing public order and of illegal association.
The incident sparked a state of anger on online social media, which have been recently key in spreading news about human rights violations in the country.
Alexandria’s prosecutor office was unavailable to comment.
Human rights watchdogs have repeatedly called Egypt’s torture practices as consistent and systematic.
Witnesses called el-Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Torture and recounted to its lawyers the incident.
“On Sunday, Khaled was at cyber café at around 11:30 in the evening. Two policemen asked him for money and when he said he didn’t have, they beat him,” Muhammad Abdel Aziz, lawyer with el-Nadeem, told al-Masry al-Youm. “As he was beaten up, his head hit a marble table and he started bleeding.”
According to Abdel Aziz, the policemen took Said out of the cyber café and continued to beat him. “He screamed at them saying ‘I am dying, leave me’, and he fell on the floor.” Abdel Aziz added that witnesses saw a yellow liquid coming out of Said’s mouth when he fell on the floor, after which there was bleeding. A pharmacist and a medic passing by confirmed he was shortly dead after they checked his tension.
Witnesses said a police car picked Said up. His family was later contacted and told he is in the morgue of Kom el-Dekka, to which they were denied access. At the prosecutor’s office, security told Said’s mother and brother that he swallowed a bag of drugs and that there were witnesses to the incident who confirmed seeing the bag. Ahmad Badawy, an activist in Alexandria with al-Ghad Party went on 11 June to the cyber café where the incident happened and said witnesses told him the drugs bag belonged to the two policemen who beat him up as he was shooting a video of them while making a deal.
The police has ordered an autopsy of Said's body.
“The forensic authorities report will be crucial in tomorrow’s investigation,” Abdel Aziz said. “Alexandria’s forensic authorities are well reputed for the quality of their reports. But it is the prosecutor’s final report that will decide for the future of the case.”
In the evening of 10 June, a group of activists protested in front of the Sidi Bishr prosecutor office in Alexandria against the alleged torture of Said. Protestors recounted in a video that they gathered in solidarity with the family of Said, demanding a fair investigation into the issue, when police intervened and attacked some of them. According to Abdel Aziz, 11 protestors were arrested, four of whom were released and the rest is still facing accusations of disturbing public order and of illegal association.
The incident sparked a state of anger on online social media, which have been recently key in spreading news about human rights violations in the country.
Alexandria’s prosecutor office was unavailable to comment.
Human rights watchdogs have repeatedly called Egypt’s torture practices as consistent and systematic.
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