State-owned Al-Ahram newspaper leads with the headline “Mubarak starts today his European tour including Germany and Italy.” President Hosni Mubarak, according to the story, will start off his trip in Berlin where he will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He will then head to Rome for the re-opening of the Egyptian Academy for Arts after renovations. Mubarak will also meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi while in town.
During his tour, according to the paper, the Egyptian president will focus on supporting the peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. He is expected to demand that international efforts be intensified to maintain the continuance of the peace process–considering that the negotiations remain in their first phase. The talks will include Egypt’s perspective on how to overcome several main obstacles in the negotiations that have inhibited progress thus far. Egyptian officials have described Europe's role in the negotiations as indispensible.
In addition, the paper reports that Mubarak supports the freeze of Israeli construction settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, insisting that a moratorium could spell the collapse of the talks. They also report on his demands that Israel must take into consideration the current crucial phase of the talks in order to reach a satisfactory solution for both states.
At the bottom of independent newspaper Al-Shorouk’s front page there is coverage of a conference held yesterday by an “American” association which aims to support Gamal Mubarak in the 2011 presidential elections. The first conference for the National Association for Stability and Development, which was held in Hawar club in Daqahliya, focused on the future of Egypt and the most suitable candidate, who, they say, is Gamal. The newspaper quotes Hamed Abdel Magid al-Bayoumi, founder and CEO of the association, as saying that “for ElBaradei, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former UN nuclear chief, to stand in the next presidential elections would be in vain because he has already passed the period for join another party to run.”
Al-Bayoumi said the association was established last April in Manhattan, founded in the belief that the sentiments of Egyptians residing in the US play a crucial role in Egypt’s future political life.
In other front-page news, Al-Ahram reports on a speech delivered by Egypt’s first lady Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak at the opening session of the International Atomic Energy Agency conference.
In her speech Mrs. Mubarak called for confronting cancer in developing countries, with the support of developed countries, through scientific exchange and the non-monopolization of medicine. According to Al-Ahram, she said that the battle with cancer is a challenge for all nations, including developed ones, although the spread of the disease is more controllable in developed countries “due to early detection, means of raising awareness and proper nutrition.”
In addition, Mrs. Mubarak urged support for a robust international pharmaceutical industry for the sake of a better future for humanity.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhorriya: Daily, state-run
Rose el-Youssef: Daily, state-run, close to the National Democratic Party's Policies Secretariat
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouq: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
Sawt el-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
