British airways and Lufthansa's flights temporary suspension : What is the problem in Cairo ?

I am suffering from current blogging block but this news and its developments are forcing me to go back and ask one question: What kind of information the British airways got that made the airways giant decide to halt to its flights to Cairo for a whole week?

Already it will be a long night for the Egyptian government especially in the foreign ministry, tourism ministry and Civil Aviation ministry in addition to a bunch of National security agencies in the country.

Saturday evening, the British airways surprised everyone and declared that it was suspending its flights from London to Cairo for seven days.

Yes, the British airways “BA” decided to suspend its flights from London to Cairo for seven days starting on Saturday shocking everybody including passengers who knew about the decision while waiting for their flight to Cairo.

In short statement, BA says the flights to the Egyptian Capital Cairo have been suspended for seven days as a “Precaution to allow for further assessment.” 

The statement did not mention what kind of assessment but many point out to the foreign security assessment of Cairo International airport.

Now it is only for the flights from London to Cairo and vice versa for seven days, the suspension does not include cities other than Cairo.

When I checked I found that there are still flights to Sharm El-Sheikh and other Egyptian cities so the problem is in Cairo or rather Cairo International airport. Also, other British airliners have not suspended their flights too.

"Updated on 21/7/2019:"

British airways office in Cairo tells BBC that the flights will continue on Friday. There are no further details on why the suspension decision was taken. Egyptians are speculating everything starting with a Middle East war in the Gulf to the Algerian football fans stuck in Cairo international airport. 

Yet an Egyptian security source spoke with Reuters and said that “that British staff had been checking security at Cairo airport on Wednesday and Thursday”, so what the results of this assessment were not that good I guess !?

Egypt’s Ministry of civil aviation issued a statement after a couple of hours following the British airways’ decision.

Seen in Giza : Partial Moon eclipse

Seen in Giza in a very hot night: a moon eclipse taking shape currently. The moon celebrated Apollo 11's 50th anniversary in its own way having a partial eclipse that was witnessed in part of the world.

All respect to the brave men and women around the globe who worked decades and helped in making a man walk on the Moon.

Despite his current political views, all respect to Egyptian American geologist Farouk El-Baz who played a role in the Apollo program especially in the Moon landing.

More photos coming on the way for that night. 

Farewell Youssef Cherif Rizkallah , Egypt’s true Cinema lover

Egypt and Egyptian cinema lost on Friday one of its unsung heroes: Famous film critic and historian Youssef Cherif Rizallah.

Late Youssef Cherif Rizallah

Rizallah worked many things since his graduation from Cairo University’s Economic and Political sciences in 1966 yet he presented himself as a film critic and he was a great one in Egypt.

The 1942-born Juiset educated started his career in Egyptian State TV news rooms especially he knew French and English fluently yet his true passion was cinema and its history.

Youssef Cherif Rizkallah who descended from a Levant-family was fond of cinema, its history, film review and criticism.

In Mid-1970, he made a Cinema history and glory when he created Cine Club TV show featuring weekly a foreign film or even a rare Egyptian masterpiece like Shady Abdel Salam’s The Mummy on Egypt's State-owned Channel One.

I do not know who was the head of the Egyptian State TV then but it was one of the greatest decisions taken.
It was worth to mention that it was that time during the Sadat Era Egypt adopted the open door policies.

Nubian Day 2019 : A New State plan to compensate Nubian Egyptians

On Saturday 7 July 2019, Egyptian Nubians celebrated the World Nubian Day along other Nubians across the World.

That day comes in a very interesting and critical time as for the first time since adopting the 2014 Constitution, the Egyptian government started its plan to compensate the Egyptian Nubians for the forced displacement they had to surface due to the construction of Aswan’s low and high dam last.

A Nubian Egyptian and his village as depicted by Egypt's famous painter
Hussein Bicar during the construction of the High Dam in 1960s

On Thursday 4 July, a long statement issued by a-government-assigned-committee detailed that compensation plan.
The implementation of that plan has already started on 25 June 2019 and it would continue its work for three weeks only receiving requests of compensations from the eligible citizens.

According to Ahram Online’s report about the plan, there are three categories of citizens eligible for compensation : 

1. Nubian Egyptians who lost their homes during the construction of the Aswan Low Dam and built new homes without permits on state-owned land in the governorate of Aswan will now be granted legal ownership rights or usufruct right over these lands.
2. Nubian Egyptians who lost their farmlands during the building of Aswan High Dam could choose between commensurate tillable lands in other areas or cash compensation worth LE 25,000 per acre.
3. Nubian Egyptians who lost their homes during the building of the High Dam. They will be offered a choice between new houses in or outside the governorate of Aswan or a cash compensation of LE 225,000 per unit.

The government would receive the requests of compensation for three weeks from 25 June 2019 till mid-July. It will determine whether the citizens are eligible to compensation 10 days later following the admission of the request.

The citizens can appeal before another legal committee within 10 days if their requests are rejected.
The first round of compensation will be in Mid September.

Egyptian Media’s Youm 7 published a report on 27 June with the names of some of the citizens eligible to compensation after 4 hours of the launch of that plan.
Youm 7 published the names of 11,716 citizens eligible for compensation.

WardaGate : Or How Mo Salah let many Egyptian women down

As he was featured as one of the Time Magazine’s Most Influential People in 2019, Mohamed Salah said in his interview to the Time that “Men need to change the way how they treat women in the Middle East”.

Salah and Warda earlier "Tass"

“I support the woman more than I did before, because I feel like she deserves more than what they give her now, at the moment.” The 26-years-old world-famous player told the Time.
In that short interview, Salah admitted that “There is a little bit of pressure” on him for “being a role model”.

It is not a “little bit of pressure” but a “whole lot of pressure” actually.

Salah is not just a popular Egyptian footballer who plays in England’s Premier league, Salah is two steps away from becoming the new Egyptian idol in his time with scary popularity. 

He reads a book called “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***” and the book is still best selling in Egypt with its versions, the English and the Arabic
He wears a “Never Give up” T-shirt in a Liverpool football match and up till now the T-shirt is another best selling T-shirt in Egypt’s local markets.
He becomes the face of a public anti-drug campaign and the hotlines of the campaign were full of calls from people asking for help to get rid of addiction within days of launching the ad.
That’s why his role in the infamous and current WardaGate is something big and many people including yours truly are angry and disappointed about how he dealt with the matter.

WardaGate

Two weeks ago, Egypt’s National Team winger Amr Warda was announced to be excluded from the team’s camp hours before the game against DR Congo in the 2019 African Cup of Nations.
According to the official of the Egyptian FA, the 25-year-old was excluded for disciplinary reasons without any official further details.

استبعاد عمرو وردة من معسكر المنتخب #ThePharaohs pic.twitter.com/IHMZNgXQw8

— Egypt National Football Team (@Pharaohs) June 26, 2019

"EFA president Hany Abo Rida decided to exclude Warda from the camp after discussion with the team's technical and managerial staff and the decision was made to keep ensure discipline and concentration in the team" the statement read.

Greece’s PAOK winger, who played as a second-half substitute in the opener, came under fire hours after the Zimbabwe win over accusations of inappropriate behavior on social media.
Four women accused Warda of online sexual harassment over that week.

#30June in Sudan : The protesters say they are here to stay

In case you do not know the Sudanese people are still protesting against the current ruling Transitional Military Council "TMC demanding a civil rule in Sudan and hundreds of thousands rocked the capital and other cities.

Protesters in Khartoum in the 30 June protests from men, women and children "AFP"

The photos speak about it themselves.

From Khartoum by Reuters, the temperature degree in the city was 39℃

Thousands protest in the heart of Khartoum on 30 June 2019 by Reuters