New Central Bank of Egypt’s acting governor, old faces in a time of crisis (Part-1)

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree on 18 August to appoint veteran banker Hassan Abdallah as the acting governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

Hassan Abdallah

Amidst a hard economic crisis, former Governor of the CBE Tarek Amer presented his resignation from his position on a day earlier after serving seven hard years. News or rather rumours spread on news websites that Sisi dismissed Amar first.

The nephew of Egypt’s infamous Abdel Hakim Amer was appointed as a presidential advisor.

Whether he was dismissed or resigned or was told to resign, it had a very positive impact on Egypt’s stock exchange.

Amer presented his resignation a day before the meeting of the scheduled meeting of CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which many expected to raise the key interest rates and thus lead to more depreciation of the Egyptian pound.

What will happen on 9/15 in Egypt for real?

What is going to happen next 9/15 in Egypt??

On Sunday, many people were surprised to find TV host and MP Youssef El-Hossainy warning Egyptians on Ch.1 of Egyptian State TV to sell their US dollars to banks and to buy Egyptian pounds by 9/15.

According to El-Hossainy who understands economics, Egypt will attract investments by then enough to make the price of the US dollar drop.

What El-Hossainy said found its way to Pro-regime news websites like Sada El-Balad and Facebook pages.

The shot : Tahrir square before turning off its lights

Kodak Agfa proudly presents in video short moments of the Ramses II obelisk in Tahrir square in March 2022.

Just few seconds when Egypt’s most famous square was all lit up after its renovation in 2020.

We did not need all those lights in Tahrir square in 2020. The government spent about EGP 60 million to light it up like that at the same time we had the Golden mummies parade then.

The obelisk in the full moon in March 

This scene does not exist no longer because its lights are turned off so we can save energy or rather gas so we can export it to Europe and get foreign currency that can help us in increasing our foreign reserve and solve our endless and bottomless economic problems.

The Black Sunday Mass: Notes on Abu Sefein church tragedy

Egypt woke up to a tragedy on Sunday. At least 41 Egyptians including children died in a fire at a Giza church earlier Sunday.

14 others are injured including four in critical condition in the fire that erupted at Abu Sefein Coptic Orthodox Church in Imbaba district, Giza governorate.

Many children and the elderly died in the fire due to suffocation from smoke. We lost about 18 children in this fire.

Giza's Abu Sefein church after the fire by Khaled Desouki for AFP

The victims include children as young as 3 years old “Ibram Tamer Wagih” and elderly as old as 75 years old “Farg Kamal Farg”. 

I got a victim list for the deceased who were transferred to Imababa General hospital and shockingly there are many children who are siblings including triplets “Mehrael, Youssef, Philopater Bassam Amir” as well as twins “Barsina and Mariam” and their young brother “Ibram Tamer Wagih” in addition of their mother, aunt and grandmother !!

The Wagih siblings died along with their mom, aunt and grandma

The Wagihs lost a lot in this fire in a way that I can’t comprehend or imagine. Three generations in a few minutes. It is one of the worst if not the worst fire incidents in Egypt in the last ten years if I recall.

Early reports say that it happened due to the malfunction in electricity during Sunday’s divine liturgy.

The fire was caused by a short circuit that took place at Abu Sefein Coptic Orthodox Church according to both the Public Prosecution and the Ministry of the interior.

Summer of scorned lovers and femicide: University Student Salma Bahgat of Zagzig joins Naira Ashraf "Updated"

Earlier Tuesday, Egypt found out that it has new femicide that seems to be a copycat murder of late university student Naira Ashraf.

Two months have not passed yet and we got another murder that seems to be identical to Ashraf’s murder.

20-years-old University student Salma Bahgat was stabbed to death by a scorned young man for rejecting him earlier Tuesday in the city of Zagzig, Nile Delta.

The young lady studying mass communication at Shorouk Academy was stabbed several times by suspect 22-years-old Islam Mohamed Fathy at the entrance of a building near Zagzig Court in Sharkia governorate.

Salma Bahgat in the circle with her colleagues and professors 

Bahgat was reportedly heading to her friend’s work in the building according to General Prosecution’s statement. “Some news reports say that she was heading to the building because she was an intern in a local news website located there”

The news reports say that the 2002-born was stabbed 17 times !!

Reportedly, Islam Fathy was madly in love with Salma Bahgat to the level that he tattooed her name twice on his body and arm but lately she ended their relationship and he could not accept that.

Kodak Agfa Presents : A glimpse into El-Sayeda Zeinab’s shipping trucks world in Cairo

Cairo has many small-worlds inside it from local businesses and some of those businesses people do not usually pay attention to.

They play a role and became a part of this old great city with its chaotic beauty.

In 2021 , I was doing my usual Ramadan lanterns market photoshoot in Cairo’s El-Sayida Zeinab district when I saw those so-many trucks being loaded with goods and furniture.

They were huge trucks. They are on the other side of the Islamic Museum of Cairo. I could not ignore them so I began to capture their photos on-the-go while I was in the car. “I was not driving and that’s why the quality is not the best”

The big trucks loaded with all sorts of goods 

I asked about them and it turned out that there are many shipping companies that transfer goods from Cairo to all governorates.

Protecting the loaded goods with cloth and ropes 

Humans of Palestine : Doniana Al-Imoor (2000-2022) and Alaa Qaddoum (2018-2022)

Once again, Israel is attacking Gaza and once again as usual the humans of Gaza, the weakest people of Gaza from children, women and elderly are paying the price before anyone else

They are paying the price and the Israeli forces do not care and do not consider them humans in the first place.

Among those Palestinians who seemed to be unfortunate enough to be consider as less as humans in this unfair world is Doniana Al-Imoor who was born in 2000.

Doniana was killed in the Israeli shelling on Friday. She was an artist and sharing her painting online.

She drew this in March

She wrote this caption on this painting "It is strange that you still wait despite the disappointment that is shown on your face. 

Ayman El-Zawahiri: From Maadi to Kabul

Maybe ten years ago, I would be more enthusiastic to write a longer post about Ayman El-Zawahiri but now it seems that he is less interesting compared to what the world is really facing.

Anyhow here I am writing a post about Ayman El-Zawahiri who was reportedly killed last night in some fancy villa in Kabul, Afghanistan by US drones while standing on a balcony. “It is too Egyptian, old generation’s habit to stand in balconies to get early morning’s summer breeze”

Ayman El-Zawahiri (1951-2022)

It is not every day that we have an Egyptian man on the top of the FBI's most wanted list. There was a USD 25-Million-reward on his head.

Born in July 1951, Ayman El-Zawahiri would have been living a comfortable life in Egypt and would have died as a loving grandfather among his big successful family of doctors in Cairo’s Maadi if he has chosen a different path of life.

Ironically, I read for some leftist Egyptian writer on Monday following the news that it was one of life’s strange ironies that Ayman El-Zawahiri was the grandson of the famous Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohamed Ahmadi El-Zawahiri.

Old Sheikh El-Zawahiri, who is being overshadowed by his grandson’s infamous reputation was a reformist who did a lot to modernize Al-Azhar and its institution in Egypt and the world.