Moushira Khattab:A woman of accomplishment Moushira Khattab, Egypt's candidate for the position of UNESCO director-general, is going to be very busy in the coming few weeks. She has already started visiting top officials from the UNESCO member states to secure their support regarding her nomination. Khattab, a diplomat and human rights activist, was officially nominated for the position early this week. Khattab is likely to face tough competition since Qatar has nominated the cultural adviser to the emir Hamad Al-Kuwari, for the post. Both Khattab and Al-Kuwari will attempt to win the support of the seven Arab countries that vote. Khattab was the former minister of family and population from March 2009 until February 2011. She served as Egypt's ambassador to South Africa, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. She also served at Egypt's diplomatic mission in Austria, Hungary and the United Nations. She has been advocating the rights of children and women for many years and was the chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child based at the UN headquarters in Geneva. Khattab holds a PhD on the rights of the child from Cairo University, an MA in International Relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA as well as her BA in Political Science from Cairo University. Egypt has nominated other prominent figures to the same position in the past. In 2014, founding director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina Ismail Serageddin was nominated for the UNESCO director-general position causing uproar among intellectuals and activists as he was regarded as a prominent figure of the Mubarak era. In 2009, Egypt nominated former minister of culture Farouk Hosni to the same post but he lost to Irina Bokova who will be succeeded by Khattab if the latter is successful.
“There are difficult questions at this week's summit in Mauritania: Will the summit manage to restore the situation in Iraq, Syria, Libya or Yemen to what it was before the US occupation of Iraq in 2003? Is there an Arab envoy presenting the Arab leaders in any negotiations run by the UN on Syria, Yemen or Libya? What is the impact of the Arab League's participation in resolving the problems of the displaced as a result of the war in Syria, Libya and Yemen? As for Palestine, I will not ask any questions!” Mohamed Al-Sharaidi, Al-Akhbar
23 July Revolution “The lessons we learned from the 23 July Revolution will always remain alive in our memories. Perhaps the most important lesson is that our brave army will always be the last resort of the people, to rid them of any political or social injustice. That fact was crystal clear in the people's response to the 30 June Revolution, which the army led to get rid of the rule of a terrorist group.” Al-Ahram
“The achievements of 23 July Revolution were not only on the external level, but the internal as well. It started by building the High Dam, establishing free education and the cultural movement, as well as other achievements related to social care. Some have tried to tarnish these achievements on the pretext that free education has transformed graduates to half-educated goons, public hospitals have become a nightmare and the public sector was a failure. However, these failures cannot be ascribed to the revolution but to the lack of follow up on these projects.” Gamal Salama, Al-Akhbar
There is something wrong “When President Al-Sisi starts his term with a historical visit to the cathedral to take part in the Coptic feast, then Egypt witnesses incidents of sectarian violence, there must be something wrong! When the president repeatedly says that Muslims and Christians are partners, and then more sectarian violence erupts in Minya, there must be something wrong.” Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, Al-Ahram
No more coups “Why did the Turkish people support their despotic president and reject the military coup? Most probably because people suffered from various military coups, the last of which was in 1997 and led to the sacking Necmettin Erbakan. Thus, the people cannot stand another coup that would negatively impact the economy. Instead, they prefer to keep the tamed opposition and bow to systematic curbing of liberties in different Turkish cities.” Sahar Al-Gaara, Al-Watan Facebook 2 in Arabic “The exaggerated bickering on the part of activists in Egypt regarding the coup in Turkey and Erdogan to detract attention from internal problems is an indication of political bankruptcy among Egyptian elite.” Nader Fergany
“Bickering is one of the old attributes of the elite, unfortunately. It used to be over petty things at cafes and bars. However, bickering has lately been transferred to social media. How then can the elite choose their priorities and focus on their causes?” Mohsen Rashad Abu Bakr
Twitter Mai El-Sadany@maitelsadany When MP Nadia Henry called for investigation of recent violence against Copts in Minya, House Speaker famously said: "Calm down Nadia." #Egypt Rawya Rageh @RawyaRageh 77 incidents of sectarian violence documented in #Egypt's Minya governorate since Jan 2011, inc 10 incidents since Jan 2016. Sophie Anmuth@tweesop Assaults on #Copts in Minya continue, demands for state response. CairoScene.com@CairoScene House of Parliament drama sees Mansour out and El Shobky in.
Egyptian Essence 11 out of 13 companies don't meet standards! “The Ethiopian Health Ministry has suspended importing pharmaceutical products from 11 Egyptian manufacturers following a visit to Egypt that indicated the factories do not meet Ethiopian health standards. A delegation from the Ethiopian Ministry inspected 13 companies and found that in 11 cases, quality-control rules were not being applied to the production of these products." Al-Masry Al-Youm
The Opera House's Hanager Theatre has housed the Afro-Asian Arts Festival that featured various folk Chinese and Egyptian dances. An art display was simultaneously organised in the same place which showed handcrafts, drawings, food from the participant African states in addition to China and Egypt.
