Traffic with Libya EGYPT's Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr discussed with his Libyan counterpart Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Sabah traffic congestion on the Egyptian-Libyan border and ways to resolve the problem. In a phone call on Tuesday, the two officials expressed mutual concern regarding this kind of problem through coordination between the two states, as Foreign Ministry spokesman Nazih Nejari said. Traffic intensified earlier this week with as many as 3,000 trucks reported stuck on the Egyptian side and unable to cross into Libya. According to Egyptian officials, however, the basic problem is one of congestion because too many trucks arrive at the border crossing over the five-day closure period and that Libyan border police are too slow in processing them. Meanwhile, in Kuwait, the authorities arrested three Egyptians for allegedly belonging to a Muslim Brotherhood cell and planning to topple the regime in Kuwait. In the UAE, Human Rights Watch said the authorities should charge or release 13 Egyptians with alleged ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and grant them immediate access to lawyers. UAE security services detained the Egyptians between 21 November 2012 and 7 January 2013. While no charges have been filed, local media have alleged that Egyptians had formed a covert Muslim Brotherhood cell attempting to establish a foothold in the UAE. Bearded police ON TUESDAY, dozens of bearded policemen protested in front of the headquarters of the Interior Ministry to press for implementing a court ruling that would allow them to go back to work. Forces from Central Security were summoned to secure the ministry. Last week, the Higher Administrative Court ruled that policemen are allowed to grow beards. Dozens of police officers were suspended from work for breaking the decades-old ban on beards. Last week's ruling backed a previous edict issued by a lower court, and is the fifth ruling to be passed in the policemen's favour. Locust invasion SWARMS of locusts coming from the Red Sea and the Sudan invaded nine villages in Aswan on Monday. They are now heading to Delta provinces. According to a FAO report, a swarm of locusts can devour around 100,000 tonnes of plants daily. Hundreds of farmers in Aswan headed to governorate officials asking for help in fighting the locusts which threaten their crops. Talaat Mustafa ill REAL estate tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa, serving a 15-year sentence for his role in the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim has been transferred from prison to a private hospital after a heart attack. Officials in Tora Prison said on Monday that the facility's doctors diagnosed Mustafa as suffering from a severe heart attack and decided to transfer him to Al-Salam International Hospital for treatment. It is not clear why the prison administration allowed Mustafa to be transferred to a private hospital instead of a public institution while ousted president Hosni Mubarak was deprived of the same when he suffered from health problems last year. The former member of parliament and former chairman of real estate firm Talaat Mustafa Group had been sentenced to death for paying Egyptian security man Mohsen Al-Sukkari to kill Tamim, 30, in Dubai. That verdict was later commuted to 15 years in prison. Opera's Kamel dies FORMER director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel died last Monday in Alexandria at the age of 64 from a heart attack after concluding rehearsals for Swan Lake at Sayed Darwish Theatre in Alexandria. Kamel was born on 21 February 1949 in Cairo, graduated from the Ballet School in Cairo in 1969, received his PhD in arts from Moscow in 1979 and participated in La Scala in Milan in 1980. He married Erminia Kamel, presently the director of the Cairo Opera Ballet Company. Kamel returned to Egypt in 1982 where he worked in various ballet productions following the opening of the new Cairo Opera House. Kamel headed the Cairo Opera Ballet Company in 1991 and added to the repertoire of the company his own versions of Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Cinderella, Le Corsaire, Carmina Burana, Bolero, Hamlet, Zorba, Rites of Spring and Danses qu'on Croise. Later Kamel became chairman of the Cairo Opera House from 2004 to 2012. Kamel's funeral took place on Tuesday at the Cairo Opera House mosque, while the Ministry of Culture announced a period of mourning and postponed all cultural activities in the Cairo Opera House.
