A summary of news from around Egypt.
Kuwaiti tanker oil spill pollutes stretch of Suez Canal
ISMAILIYA, EGYPT - A spill from a damaged Kuwaiti oil tanker has polluted a 16-kilometer (10-mile) stretch of the Suez Canal, northeast of the Egyptian capital, canal authorities said on December 15. They said the 161,000-ton Samidoun was damaged in a collision with a dredger near Ismailiya. Authorities allowed the tanker to continue on its way north to the Mediterranean due to the high rate at which the oil was leaking, fearing an environmental disaster, canal officials said. Solvents were being used and boats deployed in an operation to mop up the oil.
Egypt to raise Suez transit fees by 3 percent
PORT SAID, EGYPT - Egypt will increase transit fees for ships using the Suez Canal by an average of 3 percent next year, the first rise for nine years, the canal authority said on December 14. The decision affects all categories of ships using the canal, one of the world's major waterways that links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. By the end of 2004 a total of 16,700 vessels are expected to have passed through the canal, an increase of some 7 percent on 15,667 last year, said canal authority chairman Ahmed Ali Fadhel. Total cargo using the canal should reach 600 million tons, up 12 percent on last year's 550 million. Income is expected to hit some $3 billion in 2004 against $2.5 billion last year, with container ships the biggest users of the canal.
Israeli missile lands on Egyptian soil
RAFAH, GAZA STRIP - A missile fired by an Israeli Apache helicopter landed on December 14 on Egypt's side of the border with Gaza, without causing casualties, security sources said. Witnesses said that the aircraft was pursuing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip when it fired a missile that came down near Ahrash village, leaving a crater one meter (three feet) deep. Egyptian border guards routinely complain about stray Israeli army bullets and shells landing inside Egypt.
Mubarak in Bahrain for Mideast, Iraq talks
MANAMA - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Manama on December 8 for talks on the Middle East and Iraq after holding similar discussions in Kuwait. "The circumstances are now favorable" to relaunch the Middle East peace process, the official BNA news agency quoted Bahrain's King Hamad Al Khalifa as saying. The monarch added that Manama and Cairo were seeking "to improve security, stability and prosperity in the Gulf Arab region, by uniting Arab efforts".
German defense minister in Egypt
CAIRO - German defense minister Peter Struck arrived in Egypt on December 8 on a Middle East trip that will also take him to the United Arab Emirates to visit German troops who are training Iraqi soldiers there. In Cairo Struck will hold political talks with President Hosni Mubarak and defense minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi during which they will discuss Egypt's role in the US-led war on terrorism.
Egypt reaches out to Israel
CAIRO - Cairo has made an unprecedented gesture toward Israel by letting an Israeli embassy spokesman be interviewed on Egyptian television, reported Ha'aretz on December 8. No comparable interview has ever been aired in Egypt. Israel Tikochinsky was interviewed by Umayma Tamim, wife of a senior aide to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Egypt has also given indications that it will soon return its ambassador to Tel Aviv after a four-year absence.
Egypt Briefs
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