Pirate Bay website banned in Netherlands

THE HAGUE — A Dutch court on Thursday temporarily banned Swedish filesharing website The Pirate Bay from operating in the Netherlands by granting an application brought by a copyright lobby group.

A judge ordered three owners of the site to "cease infringing the copyright of the members" of Stichting Brein, a trade association which represents the Dutch recording industry. It had brought an urgent application for the ban at the district court in Amsterdam.

For every day the ruling is ignored, the owners will be fined 30,000 euros (42,000 dollars) up to a maximum of three million euros, said a judgment published by the court.

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Media Matters: Fox News graphics department has shaky grasp of Mideast geography

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DutchAmsterdam.nl - Amsterdam craze: tossing Smart cars into the canals

Amsterdam, July 25, 2009 [DutchAmsterdam.nl] — Amsterdam police is deeply concerned about a new craze in which vandals toss parked cars from the Smart brand into the city’s canals.

The so-called ‘Smart tossing’ takes place mainly during the weekend, when many youths are out for a night on the town.

According to locally-published newspaper De Telegraaf police has not wanted to publicize this form of vandalism for fear of copy-cat incidents. However, police officers are paying extra attention to Amsterdam’s canals, especially during the weekends.

The Smart cars are small enough to be parked with head or tail pointing to the water.

One man who parked his Smart car that way said police woken him with the message that his car had been pushed into the canal.

“Several weeks ago the same thing happened to my companion’s Smart,” Casper de Jong said. “In both cases the Smart was declared a total-loss.”

Alongside most canals a low guard rail helps prevent cars from taking a dip, but the Smart car is small enough to be lifted and tossed.

It is not clear how many Smart cars have been vandalized this way, but an employee of Smart Center Amsterdam confirmed the company has recently been confronted with it ‘a number of times.’

Car Tipping

In recent years vandals have also targeted other small vehicles, including scootmobiles and tiny cars from the Canta brand — both used primarily by people with handicaps and limited mobility.

In an urban version of cow tipping, yobs apparently derive fun from tipping over these types of vehicles.

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FP - The List: The Middle East's Most Powerful Spooks

In a region known for cutthroat espionage, these five intelligence chiefs have leveraged their skills and connections to gain influence far above their pay grades.

Position: Director of Egypt's General Intelligence Service

Career: The archetypical Arab intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman has risen from anonymous government apparatchik to serious candidate for the Egyptian presidency in less than a decade. Dubbed "one of the world's most powerful spy chiefs" by London's Daily Telegraph, Suleiman was born in 1935 in a poverty-stricken fundamentalist stronghold in southern Egypt. Choosing the military as his profession, he excelled academically, collecting degrees in Egypt and abroad and earning a transfer to military intelligence. His selection as director of Egypt's intelligence service in 1993 came just as the regime was reeling from extremist attacks against tourist sites and other critical infrastructure.

In 1995, he famously insisted that President Hosni Mubarak's armored Mercedes be flown to Ethiopia for a state visit; The car saved the Egyptian leader's life during an assassination attempt the next day. In response to the attack, Suleiman helped dismantle Mubarak's Islamist opponents, a campaign that earned him a reputation for ruthlessness. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Suleiman's experience with combating Islamist terrorists has made him a favorite of Western intelligence services hungry for insights into al Qaeda and affiliated organizations.

Influence: More than from any other single factor, Suleiman's influence stems from his unswerving loyalty to Mubarak. Of Suleiman's allegiance, a former senior Israeli intelligence officer told Haaretz, "His primary task, perhaps his only one, is to defend the regime and protect the life of the president." In a sign of presidential gratitude, Egypt's secret warrior has also recently served as its diplomatic face, traveling throughout the region as Mubarak's personal emissary. This charge includes working as a mediator during ongoing Israeli and Palestinian negotiations and as Cairo's interlocutor to dozens of Palestinian groups, including Hamas. Whether this unofficial promotion is a trial run for a Suleiman presidency remains to be seen.

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BBC News: Egyptian jailed for insult poem

A civil servant in Egypt has been jailed for three years for insulting President Hosni Mubarak in a poem, according to newspaper reports.

Moneer Said Hanna's family said he wrote satirical poetry for fun, to entertain his work colleagues, and never meant to hurt anyone.

The case was largely unknown until the family asked a newspaper to publish an appeal for clemency.

The Arab Network for Human Rights says it will appeal against the sentence.

It says Mr Hanna, who worked as a civil servant in a small town in upper Egypt, was tried without being given access to a lawyer.

Under Egyptian law, insulting the president can land the offender in jail for up to three years.

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Trimming the Date Palms

Weekend Desert Trip

President Obama Speaks to the Muslim World from Cairo, Egypt

Egypt Reports 1st Swine Flu Case

Egypt's health minister has announced the country's first confirmed case of swine influenza A-H1N1.

In remarks carried by state news media Tuesday, Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali said a 12-year-old American girl showing flu symptoms arrived in Cairo Monday on a flight from Europe. The minister said she tested positive for the virus and is being treated. He said she is in good condition.

The girl's family is of Egyptian origin, and she was traveling to Egypt with her mother to spend her summer holiday there. Her mother has not tested positive for the disease.

The case marks the first confirmed case of swine flu on the African continent.

When the global swine flu outbreak began, Egyptian authorities ordered the slaughter of all 300,000 or more pigs in the country, a decision that sparked riots in the mainly Christian community where pigs are raised. The United Nations condemned the pig cull as an overreaction, since this outbreak of swine flu has been spread by humans far more than by pigs.

Egypt has been hit hard by a different flu strain in recent years. The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 27 people in Egypt since 2006, when the disease first arrived in the country. It also has devastated Egypt's domestic poultry industry.

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Jinx

He wants to go out on the balcony. But it's 39C and way to hot for the fur ball.

Babylon & Beyond: Obama speech great news for Cairo University

Over the last couple of weeks, Cairo University has been at the center of the Middle East’s attention. The university, which will be hosting President Obama’s anticipated June 4 speech, is undergoing major renovations.

The Egyptian government is installing a first-class press and media center near the main hall, where Obama will make his address. The main hall itself is getting a new Egyptian flag – instead of the old torn one –along with air conditioning, lighting and sound systems. Campus roads are being refurbished and swept, and the university’s famous dome is being polished by hand.

Many areas around the university campus also are having renovations. A number of neighboring streets will be covered in flowers when Obama arrives, a scene that didn’t even occur when Cairo University celebrated its centennial last year.

Cairo University has been a main pillar in Egyptian higher education for generations. But until it was chosen as a venue for the speech, the university had looked pretty much the same for the last 30 years.

It was thought that Al-Azhar Mosque was a main contender as the site for Obama’s speech. Now Azhar officials are looking at Cairo University with envy. Their mosque missed out on a great redecoration opportunity.

Watching how Cairo University and its surroundings are being transformed in a fortnight to one of the tidiest and most beautiful spots in the country may make Egyptians hope the U.S. president visits more often.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Cairo University. Credit: Reuters

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First Day of Summer

Doortje and I have declared today as the First Day of Summer here in Cairo as it's the first day we've swam in our pool. And it was nice though it's not that hot today, just around 34C/93F.

NRC: Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals

The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty.

During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees.

Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons will be closed, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Natural redundancy and other measures should prevent any forced lay-offs, the minister said.

The overcapacity is a result of the declining crime rate, which the ministry's research department expects to continue for some time.

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StrategyPage.com: Egypt Legalizes Corruption

The Egyptian parliament passed a law allowing the president to buy military equipment and weapons for the next three years, without making details of the deals public, or even reporting them to parliament. The justification for this was the need for secrecy while making certain types of purchases. Exactly what types of purchases the government was considering was not revealed. It's a secret.

Now there are two types of military purchases that would be made easier because of this new law. The most obvious ones are corrupt purchases, with lots of payoffs and exorbitant prices. This, however, is risky, as the law expires in three years, and Egypt is already pretty corrupt. Government officials don't need a special law to help them steal. They do very well without it.

The other type of military purchase that would benefit from this law would be those items needed to build a nuclear weapon. Were such a project to be made public knowledge, the international community would go nuts and, worse for Egypt, much foreign aid would be halted.

Can you think of any other reason for a secrecy law like this?

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Andy's Egypt Pictures

Andy has his pictures from his Egypt visit on Picasa.

We're Back

We are back from Holland.

Doortjes Mom

More pictures here.

Doortje at the Embassy

Koptisch Cairo

Op weg naar de kerk van St. George ( Mar Girgis) loop je langs prachtige mozaieken; deze afbeelding gaat over de Heilige Familie op weg naar Egypte , waar Jozef en Maria schuilen voor koning Herodes.

Hier is de ingang naar een convent van nonnen die hier wonen.

Het gebouw met de koepel is het Koptisch Museum, waar ze een schat aan koptische bezienswaardigheden, geschiedenis en natuurlijk iconen ten toon stellen.
Hier een doorkijkje vanaf de trap van de Mar Girgis.

Islamic Cairo

Hier hebben we 2 mooie, beroemde,grote moskeeen bezocht, de El Rifai en de El Hassan als ik me niet vergis, waarbij we prive uitleg kregen over de bezienswaardigheden in de 2 moskeeen, want er waren amper toeristen! Het was echt bijzonder:we kregen onderricht in zingen in de moskee ( Allah il Alla ha), en hoe we richting Mekka moesten buigen en bidden: dus nu zijn we half muslim....(hm)

We staan op het hoogste punt van de citadel ( El Ka alla) en kijken over Cairo uit naar de moskeeen op de vorige foto. De citadel ligt in de moslimwijk van Cairo en is gebouwd als vestingwerk door een Pasja. Het is een prachtige, zonnige dag zonder zowaar veel smog zodat we ver konden kijken; links boven aan de foto is de richting waar Door en Brian wonen, wij zagen zowaar de piramiden liggen.

Hier weer een kijkje over Cairo en als je goed kijkt zie je midden bovenaan de piramiden van Gizeh liggen, daar in de buurt wonen Door en Brian.

Marga in Cairo

hier staat ze dan...in Cairo bij de piramides van Gizeh.Het was eigenlijk typisch hollands weer: harde wind, zonnetje en wolken; maar te staan bij zo,n oude cultuur is toch indrukwekkend.

het is een heel plateau: het plateau van Gizeh, de farao die er begraven ligt heet Cheops, en met hem zijn er vrouwen, bedienden etc. hier begraven

er is veel te zien op het plateau: toeristen,kamelen,ezels....egyptenaren aan het picnicken op hun vrije dag,en natuurlijk....zand,en nog eens zand. Door en Brian wonen vlak bij de piramiden van Gizeh en dus ook dichtbij de woestijn

hier staan we op het hoogste punt van het plateau, met op de achtergrond Cairo, en als je dan naar rechts de weg naar beneden volgt kom je bij de Sfinx, de Bewaker van de Dodenstad

hier lopen we naar beneden naar de Sfinx toe; een steile weg naar beneden waar de paardjes en ezeltjes een moeilijk traject hebben. We zullen het hier maar niet over de behandeling en toestand van de dieren in Cairo hebben....

De Sfinx........hij/zij mist de neus waar allemaal vogels op bivakkeren; echt zuinig op hun oudheden zijn de egyptenaren niet echt!!!

In het sjieke Mena House waar we heerlijk!!!! gegeten hebben; ik geniet...hm.....

My Dad and Sister in Egypt

Our visitors left this morning for home, it was a good visit and we hope they enjoyed themselves. I don't have any pictures to post as I didn't take any as my sister took tons, but she wasn't willing to let me copy any of them so we have none of their visit. Pity.

Andy and Doortje at the Souk