Cairo's Computerised Call to Prayer

For more than a millennium, Cairo's call to prayer has been communicated by a chosen person known as a muezzin, or muzim, from the top of the minarets at the city's 4,500 mosques. The muezzin leads the call to Friday...

Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art Reopened

After a seven-year restoration programme, Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art was officially reopened by President Hosni Mubarak on 14 August. However the 25 galleries will not be open to the general public until the beginning of September according the French...

Makro store opens in Cairo

The international retail company Metro Group has opened its first wholesale cash-and-carry supermarket in Egypt, in the El Salam City district on the outskirts of Cairo. The store, which operates under the brand name Makro, caters to retailers, the hospitality...

Egypt Human Development Report 2010

Unemployment, poverty and lack of political participation are three of the main problems facing young people in Egypt according to the Egypt Human Development Report 2010, which was released at the end of June. The report defines “youth” as being...

New Egypt tobacco tax

The price of tobacco products has risen sharply in Egypt as the result of a new tax aimed at encouraging smokers to kick their habit. Under the new levy, which came into force on 1 July, the cost of cigarettes...

Cairo’s Garden City villa to be restored

US and Egyptian experts are involved in a joint project to restore Villa Castagli in the leafy Garden City district in central Cairo. The building, one of a number of stately villas built in this area to house foreign diplomats...

Grand Egyptian Museum under construction

The conservation and restoration centre for archaeological remains, power station and fire-fighting unit have been inaugurated at the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) being built near the Giza pyramids in southwest Cairo, marking the end of the first stage of...

Egypt courts private investment in transport sector

The Egyptian government is planning to attract private sector investment in the road and rail sectors in an attempt to improve its transport network, the daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reports. Under the plans, foreign or Egyptian private companies will be invited...