Euro area GDP growth accelerates in Q1'25    Germany's regional inflation ticks up in April    Kenya to cut budget deficit to 4.5%    Taiwan GDP surges on tech demand    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    UNFPA Egypt, Bayer sign agreement to promote reproductive health    Egypt to boost marine protection with new tech partnership    Eygpt's El-Sherbiny directs new cities to brace for adverse weather    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    CBE governor meets Beijing delegation to discuss economic, financial cooperation    Egypt's investment authority GAFI hosts forum with China to link business, innovation leaders    Egypt's Gypto Pharma, US Dawa Pharmaceuticals sign strategic alliance    Egypt's Foreign Minister calls new Somali counterpart, reaffirms support    "5,000 Years of Civilizational Dialogue" theme for Korea-Egypt 30th anniversary event    Egypt's Al-Mashat urges lower borrowing costs, more debt swaps at UN forum    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Angola's Lourenço discuss ties, African security in Cairo talks    Two new recycling projects launched in Egypt with EGP 1.7bn investment    Egypt pleads before ICJ over Israel's obligations in occupied Palestine    Egypt's ambassador to Palestine congratulates Al-Sheikh on new senior state role    Sudan conflict, bilateral ties dominate talks between Al-Sisi, Al-Burhan in Cairo    Cairo's Madinaty and Katameya Dunes Golf Courses set to host 2025 Pan Arab Golf Championship from May 7-10    Egypt's Ministry of Health launches trachoma elimination campaign in 7 governorates    EHA explores strategic partnership with Türkiye's Modest Group    Between Women Filmmakers' Caravan opens 5th round of Film Consultancy Programme for Arab filmmakers    Fourth Cairo Photo Week set for May, expanding across 14 Downtown locations    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Ancient military commander's tomb unearthed in Ismailia    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM praises ties with Tanzania    Egypt to host global celebration for Grand Egyptian Museum opening on July 3    Ancient Egyptian royal tomb unearthed in Sohag    Egypt hosts World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup in Somabay for 3rd consecutive year    Egyptian Minister praises Nile Basin consultations, voices GERD concerns    49th Hassan II Trophy and 28th Lalla Meryem Cup Officially Launched in Morocco    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    

Articles of the author Ahmed Tharwat
Notes from America: The mufti made me do it!
During his speech at the 37th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the biggest political blunder of his tenure. Netanyahu argued that "Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time", but "wanted to expel the (...)

25 - 10 - 2015
Notes from America: The victimisation of the villain
According to dictionary definition, a villain is a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. A victim, on the other hand, is a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action. (...)

19 - 10 - 2015
CPA tightens testing procedures on Volkswagen following emissions scandal
The Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) has begun tightening testing procedures for Volkswagen cars, in coordination with the Ministry of Environment, to ensure that the diesel cars conform to emissions standards. In a scandal that has shaken the giant (...)

12 - 10 - 2015
Unlike Al-Sisi, Obama doesn't blame all his country's problems on terrorism
In America, there are no laws to force media to follow government party-line narrative or version of the story, unlike Egypt. This is not perfect but, at least theoretically, readers and viewers will decide for themselves which version to believe. (...)

11 - 10 - 2015
Notes from America: Why Ahmed got arrested and Malala got a Nobel prize
Ahmed Mohamed, the young inventor, and Malala Yousafzai, the young women rights advocate, both have a story. However, each story has a different narrative and a different ending. Ahmed and Malala are both Muslims and were both victims of ignorance, (...)

27 - 09 - 2015
Notes from America: Muslims celebrate Eid at the biggest shopping mall in America
America has a Muslim problem, professed the republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. Muslim-bashing has become a GOP platform, where everyone is trying to outdo each other on how Islamophopic he/she is. Now it is time for Muslims in America (...)

25 - 09 - 2015
Notes from America: The tragic journey of Aylan Kurdi
Killing an Arab! "Standing on the beach With a gun in my hand Staring at the sea Staring at the sand Staring down the barrel At the Arab on the ground I can see his open mouth But I hear no sound..." The song for the British band "The Cure" was (...)

16 - 09 - 2015
Notes from America: Ayatollah Google!
"The control of information is something the elite always do, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people," explained American writer Tom Clancy. If (...)

06 - 09 - 2015
Notes from America: Time for Arab dictators to find a second career
The Arab Spring, in the last four years or so, forced a few Arab dictators prematurely from their jobs, where they have had a heck of a time handling their imposed retirements. In a democratic world, leaders usually get a job review after a few (...)

16 - 08 - 2015
Notes from America: The dark side of Western fascination with Africa
The West's fascination with Africa as a wild jungle or uncivilised continent has a long history that still lives with us today. Most Americans know Africa through National Geographic specials, topless natives and free roaming animals – a continent (...)

09 - 08 - 2015
Notes from America: Watermelon's summer tales
Mark Twain once said: "When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat." And most likely, that angel was an Egyptian. Egyptians were the first to discover watermelons 5,000 years ago and then shared them with the rest of civilisation in (...)

02 - 08 - 2015
Notes from America: Al-Sisi is the self-righteous Egyptian ‘caliph'
American historian Richard Hofstadter once said: "A fundamental paradox of the paranoid style is the imitation of the enemy." The Ku Klux Klan emulated the elaborate rituals and hierarchy of the Catholic Church, and McCarthyism ended up emulating a (...)

11 - 07 - 2015
Notes from America: Ramadan – a personal reflection
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan began last week. This fasting month is observed by millions of Muslims around the world, unless you are in China, where anti-fasting cops resort to force feeding observing Muslims in public. The number of hours that (...)

28 - 06 - 2015
Notes from America: My dad was an average man
In checking out the history of "Father's Day", the date 5 July 1908 is often mentioned when a West Virginia church sponsored the nation's first event explicitly honouring several hundred fathers who had died in a coal mine explosion six months (...)

21 - 06 - 2015
Notes from America: The usual suspects
I live in a northern state in the US called Minnesota, which is also considered the "ice box" of the US for its long, brutal winters, where even the lakes and rivers freeze over. The state is a lot smaller than Egypt, with a population of just 5 (...)

14 - 06 - 2015
Selling lingerie on the Egyptian street
Cairo's Tahrir Square is the global symbol of the 25 January Revolution, where millions of Egyptians, including women, went to demand the toppling of the regime. Lately, Tahrir Square has witnessed the courting of the Egyptian population by General (...)

07 - 06 - 2015
Notes from America: General Al-Sisi brought out the worst of Egyptians
French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) said: "In democracy we get the government we deserve." He was, of course, talking about true representative democracy that produces leaders the people want and choose. The assumption (...)

30 - 05 - 2015
Notes from America: Muslims and Christians – At war in life, at peace in death
Standing along with a few hundred Muslims at the Garden of Eden Islamic Cemetery located in a remote corner of a Christian cemetery in Burnsville, Minnesota, mourning the death of one of our friends, the reverences and the respect were not just (...)

17 - 05 - 2015
Notes from America: Why the West is fixated on Muslim women's wardrobes
Muslim women living in the West are attacked in the streets, supermarkets, buses, and football games, just for wearing the hijab. In France, Muslim students are denied education for wearing hijabs, last week a 15-year-old Muslim student was banned (...)

10 - 05 - 2015
Notes from America: The world is run by ‘generals'
Harry S. Truman once said: "The ‘C' students run the world." That was a long time ago, and now the world is run by "Generals" – still "C" Students – in two different camps. The first camp is usually run by military generals like Saddam, Gaddafi, (...)

25 - 04 - 2015
Notes from America: Muslim men and their beards
"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man." ― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing Facial hair in Islam is complicated, and the politics of wearing a beard brings lots of heated debate and (...)

13 - 04 - 2015
Better in Egypt: Starbucks talks about race campaign
Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks, a coffee company that as he describes it, "is a third place away from home and work where Americans can come and enjoy drinking a good cup of coffee sitting down". Before Starbucks, Americans usually drank (...)

04 - 04 - 2015
Notes from America: The man with big ideas
Thomas Friedman, New York Times foreign affairs columnist, winner of three Pulitzer prizes, writer of several bestselling books, is a man known for his big ideas. Friedman never ceases to amaze us with a new ‘big idea' every now and then, from the (...)

21 - 03 - 2015
The last honest city in America
I just visited Las Vegas for the first time. In all of these years in America, Sin City had never successfully seduced me in spite of its flashy façade screaming its invitation and its attractive moral slogan, promising to keep everything I do a (...)

15 - 03 - 2015
Notes from America: Sex, lies and videotape?
On 18 February 2015, the White House hosted the summit on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). The purpose of the summit according to a statement issued by the White House was, "to highlight domestic and international efforts to prevent violent (...)

07 - 03 - 2015
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