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Alexandria studies importing 15 new trams to join its tramway network

A total of 15 new trams are expected to join the Alexandria tramway network that serves the Mediterranean city, according to statements by the head of the General Authority for Passenger Transport in Alexandria, Khaled Elewa.

The authority has finalized the technical terms of the project, but still studying four offers from Ukraine, Italy, China and Belarus, Elewa told Youm7.

Began operating in 1863, the tramway network in Alexandria consists of 20 lines and serves 140 stops.

The price of single tram ride differs according to the carriage used, and it usually varies between 0.50 EGP to 5 EGP.

(thecairopost.youm7.com)

August 12, 2016
Rare find of mosaic depicting the Labours of Hercules uncovered during Larnaca works

Mosaics from the second century AD which may depict the Labours of Hercules, have been uncovered in Larnaca during roadworks and appear to be of mayor importance, Sigmalive reported on Monday.

The mosaics which are reportedly in better condition than those at the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos are thought to have been inspired by the Labours of Hercules.

The antiquities were discovered while the Larnaca sewerage board was carrying out works on the Kyriakos Matsis road.

According to a statement, there is a possibility that they will be left where they are and arrangements to construct an outdoor museum are planned.

The interior and transport minister will visit the site and hold a meeting with the Larnaca municipality this week.

The site has been covered with sand for safety reasons.

According to Phileleftheros, the mosaic measures 20 x 4.5 metres. “Such discoveries are made only once every hundred years,” Giorgos Philotheou from the Antiquities Department told the newspaper.

(cyprus-mail.com)

August 12, 2016
Egypt Government Approves Five Oil And Gas Exploration Deals

Egypt’s government has approved five oil and gas drilling and exploration agreements with foreign companies, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said on Wednesday.

Once an energy exporter, Egypt has turned into a net importer because of declining oil and gas production and increasing consumption. It is trying to speed up production at recent discoveries to fill its energy gap as soon as possible.

Four of the deals are offshore Mediterranean gas exploration and drilling agreements between Egypt’s state gas board EGAS and BP, Eni, Total, and Edison.

The fifth deal, which is an oil drilling deal in the Gulf of Suez, is between state petroleum board EGPC and local company Trident Petroleum.

Egypt currently produces about 3.9 billion cubic feet of gas per day and imports another 1-1.1 billion cubic feet per day.

(www.rigzone.com)

August 12, 2016
UCLA Library to offer digital images of rare ancient manuscripts in Egypt

St. Catherine’s Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s located on rugged terrain at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, houses the oldest continually operating library in the world, containing ancient and medieval manuscripts second only to those held by the Vatican Library.

These remarkable manuscripts, which delve into subjects ranging from history and philosophy to medicine and spirituality, were never easily accessed by scholars and students, who had to travel to this desert region, considered sacred to three world religions — Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Today, access is even more problematic given security concerns in the Middle East.

That will all be changing, thanks to a major grant from The Ahmanson Foundation to the UCLA Library. The grant will fund key aspects of the Sinai Library Digitization Project to create digital copies of some 1,100 rare and unique Syriac and Arabic manuscripts dating from the fourth to the 17th centuries. The three-year project is being initiated by the fathers of St. Catherine’s Monastery.

It’s being made possible through the participation of the UCLA Library and the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL), a nonprofit research and service organization based in Southern California that uses digital technologies to make manuscripts and other historical source materials accessible to scholars and the public. It specializes in the design of systems to support fragile manuscripts during digitization and in the recovery of text from damaged, deteriorated or erased manuscripts.

“The manuscripts at St. Catherine’s are critical to our understanding of the history of the Middle East, and every effort must be made to digitally preserve them in this time of volatility,” said UCLA University Librarian Ginny Steel. “The Ahmanson Foundation’s visionary support honors the careful stewardship of St. Catherine’s Monastery over the centuries and ensures that these invaluable documents are not only accessible, but preserved in digital copies.”

“St. Catherine’s Monastery proposed a program to digitize its unparalleled manuscript collection, and an international team was assembled to help digitally preserve the ancient pages,” said Michael Phelps, EMEL director. “EMEL is collaborating with the monastery to install world-class digitization systems, and the UCLA Library will host the images online on behalf of the monastery.”

Among the monastery’s most important Syriac and Arabic manuscripts are a fifth century copy of the Gospels in Syriac, a literary language based on an eastern Aramaic dialect; a Syriac copy of the “Lives of Women Saints,” dated 779 A.D.; the Syriac version of the “Apology of Aristides,” of which the Greek original has been lost; and numerous Arabic manuscripts from the ninth and 10th centuries, when Middle Eastern Christians first began to use Arabic as a literary language.

Just as the 19th-century discovery at St. Catherine’s of the Codex Sinaiticus — the oldest complete Bible (345 A.D.) — spurred new theological scholarship, this project will enable scholars to gain new insights and pose new lines of inquiry, project leaders said.

“We are deeply grateful to The Ahmanson Foundation for its generous investment in this important project, and for its longstanding partnership with the UCLA Library,” Steel concluded.

As one of the world’s leading research libraries, the UCLA Library maintains a research collection of record, making its materials accessible to a broad audience of students, scholars, researchers, and the public. Last year, more than 20 million people accessed UCLA Library’s digital and online resources. By preserving global cultural heritage, the UCLA Library fuels the transfer of knowledge across generations and across the world.

(newsroom.ucla.edu)

August 12, 2016
Mohamed Ihab Wins Egypt’s Second Medal at Rio Olympics

Egyptian weightlifter Mohamed Ihab won Egypt’s second medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 77kg men’s weightlifting event.

Ihab, who managed to lift 361kg, came in third place, scoring Egypt’s second bronze medal of the day and of the Rio Olympics.

The Egyptian bronze medalist came third after Kazakhstan’s Nijat Rahimov and China’s Lu Xiaojun, who both lifted 379kg and set new world records.

The bronze medal is Egypt’s second of the day after weighlifter Sara Ahmed came in third place in the women’s 69kg event.

(egyptianstreets.com)

August 12, 2016
Sara Ahmed Achieves Egypt’s First Medal at the Olympics

Egyptian weightlifter Sara Ahmed won Egypt’s first medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics after finishing in third place in the women’s 69kg weightlifting event.

Sara, who managed to lift 255kg, also became the first Egyptian woman to win a medal during the Olympics.

The 18-year-old Egyptian weightlifter came third after Kazakhstan’s Zhazira Zhapparkul and China’s Xiang Yanmei, who came second and first respectively.

Sara’s achievement also marked Egypt’s first weightlifting Olympic medal since 1948, when Attia Hamouda won silver.

While this marks Egypt’s first medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Egypt has continued to impress many at home and overseas. Many of Egypt’s athletes have broken personal and continental records at the competition.

(egyptianstreets.com)

August 12, 2016
Gold for Anna Korakaki at Rio Games

Tuesday was the fourth day of the Rio 2016 Olympic games and Greece’s Anna Korakaki beat out the competition in the women’s 25 meter pistol competition to become the first Greek woman to win more than one medal in the same game.

Korakaki won 4 out of 7 series in the intense gold medal match against Germany’s Monika Karsch to win the gold medal.

The 20-year-old shooter also won Greece’s first medal at the Rio games, taking bronze in the women’s 10 meter pistol event on Sunday.

(greece.greekreporter.com)

August 11, 2016
Egypt nominates Moushira Khattab for UNESCO director-general

Egypt decided on Saturday to nominate former Minister of Family and Population Moushira Khattab for the position of director-general of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

The decision came after current director-general Irina Bokova announced candidacy for the UN secretary-general position. Citing officials, state-owned news agency MENA reported that Khattab has started visiting top officials from the UNESCO member states to secure their stances regarding her nomination.

Officials stated that the tour is secretive and far from media follow-ups. However, privately-owned newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabaa reported that many member states have welcomed the decision and support Khattab’s nomination.

Rights lawyer Gamal Eid opposed the nomination, saying that he is not against Khattab’s nomination because she is secular, but rather because she is one of the prominent figures of the era of former president Hosni Mubarak.

The nomination of Khattab came one year after Egypt nominated Ahmed Aboul-Gheit to be secretary-general of the Arab League. Aboul-Gheit served as the Foreign Minister from 2004 to 2011, and his nomination marked a comeback for the prominent figures of the Mubarak era.

In 2014, founding director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina Ismael Serag El-Din was nominated for the UNESCO director-general position. Uproar amid intellectuals and activists also took place as Serag El-Din was a controversial nominee who was facing several charges in court. He was also a prominent figure of the Mubarak era.

In 2009, Egypt nominated former Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni to the post of director-general as well, but chances of his appointment declined after anti-semitic statements were made, saying that if there were any Israeli books in the Alexandria library, he would burn them. The comments sparked international concern over whether he would be appropriate for the position.

Activist Wael Abbas commented on the nomination of Hosni at the time, saying that he was a hypocrite and worked for a dictatorial regime. He also added that his ministry was involved in corruption.

Earlier in May, Qatar nominated cultural adviser to the Emir, Hamad Al-Kuwari, for the same post, which will level the competition, as both Khattab and Al-Kuwari will attempt to win the support of the seven Arab countries that vote in the UNESCO.

Khattab was the former Minister of Family and Population during the era of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in 2011. She also served as Egypt’s ambassador to South Africa, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. She further served at Egypt’s diplomatic mission in Austria, Hungary, and the United Nations.

UNESCO is a specialised agency in the United Nations that aims to facilitate peace and security through fields such as education and natural sciences.

(www.dailynewsegypt.com)

August 1, 2016
Greece Goes to Rio Olympics with 92 Athletes

92 athletes will represent Greece in the Rio Olympics in August, according to the Hellenic Olympic Committee.

Twenty seven athletes will compete on track, while in individual sports, 15 will be in swimming, nine in gymnastics, seven in sailing and six in rowing.

Τhe Hellenic Swimming Federation has the most athletes (30), with 15 of them in swimming, two in synchronized swimming, and 13 in national men’s water polo. Three athletes will compete in cycling, two each in fencing, shooting and judo and one each in wrestling, weightlifting, archery and table tennis.

Evangelia Psarrou, at 42, is the oldest female athlete on the Greek Olympic team (born on 17.06.1974) and taking part in the Olympics for the fifth time (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012). Spyros Gianniotos is also celebrating his fifth time at the prestigious games.

For others it will be their fourth appearance at the games, those athletes include: Vlassis Maras (2004, 2008, 2012), Sofia Bekatorou (2000, 2004, 2008), Angela Skarlatou (1996, 2000, 2012), Ilias Iliadis (2004, 2008, 2012) and Panagiotis Gionis (2004, 2008, 2012).

It is worth noting that this is the first time since 1992 that Greece will have fewer than 100 athletes. In Barcelona, only 70 Greek athletes had participated. In Atlanta in 1996 there were 120, in Sydney in 2000 there were 139, in Athens 2004 there were 436 (the largest participation), in Beijing in 2008 there were 152 and in London in 2012, there were only 103.

Head of the Greek delegation will be Isidoros Kouvelos for the third consecutive time.

The 92 athletes representing Greece are:

Athletics (27)

Lycurgos Tsakonas – 200m.

Kostas Douvalidis – 110m. obstacles

Miltos Tentoglou – length

Anthony Mastoras – height

Kostas Baniotis – height

Kostas Filippides – pole vault

Nikos Skarvelis – shot put

Michael Anastassakis – hammer throw

Christoforos Merousis – Marathon

Michael Kalomoiris – Marathon

Alexander Papamichail – 20km. walking & 50km. walking

Maria Belimpasaki – 200m.

Eirini Vasiliou – 400m.

Elizabeth Pesiridou – 100m. obstacles

Alexia Pappas – 5.000m. & 10,000m.

Lili Alexoulis – length

Voula Papachristou – triplicate

Nicole Kyriakopoulou – pole vault

Katerina Stefanidis – pole vault

Chrisoula Anagnostopoulou – discus

Riga Sofia – Marathon

Rania Rempouli – Marathon

Panagiota Vlachaki – Marathon

Despina Zapounidou – 20km. walking

Antigone Drisbioti – 20km. walking

Panagiota Tsinopoulou – 20km. walking

Sofia Yfantidou – Heptathlon

Swimming (15)

Odysseas Meladinis – 50m. free

Christian Gkolomeev – 50m. free & 100m. free

Dimitris Dimitriou – 400m. free

Stefanos Dimitriadis – 200m. butterfly

Panagiotis Samilidis – 100m. breaststroke and 200m. front

Dimitris Koulouris – 200m. breaststroke

Apostolos Christou – 100m. backstroke and 200m. backstroke

Andreas Vazaios – 200m. medley

Christos Katrantzis – 4X100m. free

Nora Drakou – 50 m. free

Theodora Giareni – 50m. free

Anna Ntountounaki – 100m. butterfly

Christelle Vournas – 100m. butterfly

Spyros Gianiotis – 10km. marathon swimming

Kelly Araouzou – 10km. marathon swimming

Synchronised Swimming (2)

Evangelia Platanioti – Duet

Evelina Papazoglou – Duet

Water Polo (13)

Kostas Flegas

Stefanos Galanopoulos

Emmanouil Mylonakis

Giorgos Dervisis

Kostas Gennidounias

Ioannis Fountoulis

Kyriakos Pontikeas

Christos Afroudakis

Vangelis Delakis

Kostas Mourikis

Christodoulos Colomvos

Alexander Gounas

Angelos Vlachopoulos

Gymnastics (3)

Vlasis Maras – individual all

Lefteris Petrounias – rings

Vaso Millousi – individual all

Rhythmic gymnastics (6)

Barbara Philiou – individual all

Stavroula Samara – ensemble

Helen Doika – ensemble

Michaela Metallidou – ensemble

Joanna Anagnostopoulou – ensemble

Zoe Kontogianni – ensemble

Sailing (7)

Byron Kokkalanis – RS: X

Tzeli Skarlatou – RS: X

John Mitakis – Finn

Pavlos Kagialis – 470

Panagiotis Mantis – 470

Sofia Bekatorou – Nacra 17

Michael Pateniotis – Nacra 17

Rowing (6)

Yiannis Christou -‘s four without helmsman

George Djialas -‘s four without helmsman

Dionysios Angelopoulos -‘s four without helmsman

Yiannis Tsilis -‘s four without helmsman

Katerina Nicolaidou – double sculls

Sophia Asoumanaki – double sculls

Cycling (3)

Yiannis Tamouridis – race

Christos Volikakis – keirin

Dimitris Antoniadis – mountain biking

Fencing (2)

Vassiliki Vougiouka – saber

Katerina Kontochristopoulou – exercise sword

Shooting (2)

Efthymis Mittas – skeet

Anna Korakaki – 10m air pistol. & 25m sports pistol.

Archery (1)

Evangelia Psarrou – individual Olympic bow

Weightlifting (1)

Theodoros Iakovidis – 85t.

Wrestling (1)

Maria Prevolaraki – 53k. free

Judo (2)

Roman Moustopoulos – 81k.

Ilias Iliadis – 90K.

Table Tennis (1)

Panagiotis Gionis – single

(greece.greekreporter.com)

August 1, 2016
Greece to be represented by 54 athletes in Rio Paralympics

The Greek Paralympics Committee announced the names of the 54 athletes – 41 men and 13 women – who will represent Greece in the 2016 Paralympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, which are scheduled for 7-18 September.

According to the president of the committee Giorgos Fountoulakis, the finest paralympic athletes will represent Greece in Brazil and expressed his gratitude for the support.

Greece will be represented in 11 sports – the most since the Athens Paralympics: Wheelchair tennis, powerlifting, sailing, swimming, boccia, wheelchair fencing, cycling, shooting, athletics, judo and archery.

(www.tovima.gr)

August 1, 2016