Their presidents hugged on the tarmac but the talks were kept brief -- another sign, perhaps, that relations between Egypt and the US have rarely been cooler. The strains with a longtime ally are affecting everything from Middle East peace hopes to foreign aid.
US President George W. Bush spent the night in each of the other five countries he visited on his eight-day Middle East tour -- including two nights in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. But his last stop in Egypt was the shortest -- a few hours in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
Egypt historically has been a top US Middle Eastern ally. But growing frustration in the US over Egypt's lack of democratic reform and inability to prevent weapons from being smuggled via border tunnels to the Gaza Strip has soured the once chummy ties.
At the same time, Egypt's role as the key Middle East mediator has seen its status slip to another power player -- Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps the most bitter issue is Washington's move for the first time to put conditions on the US$2 billion in aid, including US$1.3 billion in military assistance, that Washington gives annually to Egypt, the second largest recipient of US aid after Israel.
US Congress and Bush -- who signed the bill into law last month -- agreed to withhold US$100 million from Egypt until it stops smuggling, implements judicial reforms and curbs police torture.
The pinning of conditions has angered Egyptian officials. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has accused Israel of stirring up US lawmakers against Cairo.
Mubarak, who generally publicly ignores US criticism, has struck a defiant tone in recent months. In a nationwide speech in October, he vowed Egypt would not bow to foreign pressure, clearly referring to the US.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS