Lawyers reject law AROUND 300 lawyers gathered at the headquarters of the syndicate on Monday to express their rejection of the new draft law regulating the profession. The lawyers, belonging mainly to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood (MB) which has two-thirds of the elected council's seats, had planned to stage a protest march to Abdeen presidential palace. After failing to get official permission from the Interior Ministry, lawyers organised a sit-in at the headquarters of the Bar Association, which was cordoned off by dozens of security men. Amid a heavy security presence, lawyers shouted against the law which they argued, aims at depriving their syndicate of any independence and ousting MB lawyers from running the syndicate. Council members complain that syndicate chairman Sameh Ashour drafted the law and referred it to the People's Assembly for endorsement without informing them. Accusations of a secret deal made with the government to undermine the syndicate were also levelled at Ashour. The draft's first article which has angered lawyers calls for forming a temporary council comprised of the current syndicate chairman and chairmen of the branch syndicates in the provinces. The appointed council, says the article, will be authorised to administer syndicate affairs for a maximum of one year until a date to hold new elections is set. The call to form such a council came after the Administrative Court ruled in February that results of the Bar Association's elections held in February 2005 were null and void, a ruling which required an immediate dissolution of the existing council. Freed bread rioters PROSECUTOR-GENERAL Judge Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud has ordered the release of 28 residents of Borollos in Kafr Al-Sheikh governorate who were detained on Sunday in the wake of widespread demonstrations over bread shortages. The majority of those released on Monday were under 20. Three are currently taking final secondary school exams. On Saturday, it was reported that thousands of protesters clashed with security personnel while demonstrating against a decision by the local city council to end the direct distribution of subsidised flour rations to Borollos residents. Subsidised flour will now go only to bakeries. Residents sealed off the main Cairo-Mediterranean highway for eight hours and burnt tires to stop traffic. Police replied by firing tear gas and arresting almost 90 protesters, according to eyewitnesses. According to local authorities, the decision was made to prevent people from selling subsidised flour to the black market, leading to the shortage. To save money, fishermen in Borollos have started to bake bread themselves rather than buy standard subsidised bread from bakeries. Waiting for the president THOUSANDS of opponents of the construction of the E Agrium fertiliser plant on Ras Al-Barr island in Damietta staged demonstrations following Friday prayers in front of several mosques in the coastal city. Organised by NGOs, political parties and the public, the protests highlighted the increasing local animosity towards the construction of the LE10 billion plant. Demonstrators raised banners reading, "We are waiting for your final decision, President Mubarak" in reference to the president's announcement a month ago that the plant would not be constructed without the consent of the residents of Damietta. "If nobody intervenes to remove the plant, we will demolish it with our own hands," shouted the protesters. They issued a statement condemning what they called "the government's procrastination, and that failure to relocate the plant was prompting the people of Damietta to use violence [to stop its construction]." Recent reports have suggested a relocation of the plant to Port Said, however, many of the coastal governorate residents hung black banners denouncing the idea. "We will never allow a new polluting plant to be built in Port Said, since we already suffer from a high level of pollution," said Mohamed Mustafa Sherdi, a member of parliament from Port Said. "I warn everybody not to relocate the plant to Port Said, which is home to many a natural reserve," he added. Tried again ABDEL-Rahman Hafez, former chairman of Media City, was referred earlier this week to Criminal Court on charges of misusing his post for unlawful earnings. Hafez was referred to the court following a decree issued by Judge Ahmed El-Shalaqani, chairman of the Justice Ministry's illicit gains body. El-Shalaqani asked the court to implement the ruling passed in 2006 freezing Hafez's assets and banning his wife, his son and two daughters from collecting the defendant's money. According to investigations conducted by the body, Hafez managed to garner around LE6 million, besides cars, villas in the northern coast, land in October and Sheikh Zayed cities and huge deposits in Swiss and British banks. In August 2007, the Giza criminal court cleared Hafez of the charge of embezzlement and forgery. TB talks A FOUR-day conference on the National Programme for Combating Tuberculosis (TB) began on 8 June, Reem Leila reports. The conference was held in coordination with the Ministry of Health and Population, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Pharmaceutical Federation, and the Boston Health Science Institute. The event was attended by 16 countries to discuss the possible means of preventing and combating the disease. Nasr El-Sayed, assistant to the minister of health, said the ministry had reduced TB prevalence in Egypt to 30 per cent between 1990 and 2005. The treatment success rate has gone as high as 87 per cent and the detection rate at 67 per cent. El-Sayed said the Egyptian national health reform plan had guided the development of diverse community-based systems which served to mobilise community involvement in fighting TB. However, a WHO report said TB continued to pose a significant challenge to the region, causing loss of human life and threatening the development process. TB, which is a preventable and curable disease, causes 110,000 deaths across the region each year, nearly 300 people every day. According to WHO, the region has reported improved detection and success rates in previous years. Some countries have performed well and others are improving. The average case detection in the region is 53 per cent, against the global target of 70 per cent, part of the Millennium Development Goals. Compiled by Mona El-Nahhas
