Delivering energy needs THE EGYPT Petroleum Show (EGYPS 2020) opened on Tuesday at the International Exhibition Centre in New Cairo. The three-day event is due to host 30,000 people, over 450 exhibiting companies and 15 international country pavilions. Held under the slogan “North Africa and the Mediterranean: Developing the Energy Needs of Tomorrow”, the show aims to provide a platform for industry interaction between national and international oil companies. The exhibition will allow exhibitors to showcase new projects, technologies, key products and services to help grow the Egyptian and North African hydrocarbon sector.
Teacher dismissed THE HIGHER Administrative Court on Sunday upheld a first-degree court ruling dismissing a primary school math teacher in Alexandria for sexually harassing 120 female students. The incident dates back to 2013 when complaints were filed against the teacher accusing him of sexually harassing students in two Grade 6 classes. Investigations revealed that the teacher asked girls to sit on his lap and touched them inappropriately. The teacher was fired from the school in 2013, Education Ministry Undersecretary Youssef Al-Deeb said. The teacher appealed the previous dismissal ruling. However, the ruling was made final on Sunday after the higher court rejected his appeal. The court stressed that teachers have an educational role to teach female students chastity and dignity and that harassing girls in school is an aggression upon society. It called on non-governmental organisations to participate with the government in confronting harassment. The court said any sexual gestures, words or actions should be banned from schools. It also called on the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood to restart the role of the general department for child help line, tasked with receiving complaints of harassment from children and adults, investigating them and sending the investigation's findings to the concerned authorities, according to Article 98 of the Child Law.
Deadly crash SEVEN people died and nine were injured on Monday when a microbus and a truck collided on a ring road leading to Minya's Western Desert road in Upper Egypt. The deadly crash comes days after a road accident in Aswan left 13 people dead and seven injured. Road accidents are common in Egypt due to poor road conditions and speeding. More than 1,500 people were killed in road accidents in Egypt in the first half of 2019, according to the official statistics agency CAPMAS. A comprehensive traffic law aimed at cracking down on drivers who break speed laws and enhancing safety is due to go into effect this year. A government plan to improve and expand road networks is ongoing.
Activist arrested A RESEARCHER in the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights has been arrested and remanded in custody for 15 days pending an investigation. A security source has denied reports that the researcher, Patrick George Zaki, 27, is an Italian national. Zaki, a postgraduate student at Bologna University in Italy, was detained in Cairo Airport on Friday after arriving for a family visit, the rights organisation said. On Saturday, Zaki was taken to the prosecutor's office in Mansoura where he resides. Zaki had been on leave from the NGO since August last year while pursuing a Master's degree in gender studies at Bologna University. According to his lawyers, Zaki faces charges of spreading false news, calling for demonstrations without a permit, inciting against the regime, and managing a social media account aimed at undermining social order and public safety. *A version of this article appears in print in the 13 February, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
