ABU DHABI — Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairperson of the Family Welfare Foundation, received a delgation of diplomats’ wives from Dubai and the Northern Emirates here yesterday. They had come to extend Eid greetings to Shaikha Fatima.

By Kate Gaier 6:45 pm January 1, 2007 An arrest is made in a year old murder case in Cairo... but the motive is still anyone's guess. Neighbors say Pearl Johnson was a kind-hearted woman. Even though she was disabled, she would help anyone.

Al-Qaida's number two man is aiming some New Year's criticism at the leaders of Egypt and the Palestinians. But Ayman al-Zawahri's statement hasn't been authenticated.

Panaji, Jan 1 Muslim brethren celebrated Bakr-Id with ritualistic fervour in Goa. Friends and relatives besides people from other faiths wished the members of Muslim community Eid Mubarak on the auspicious occasion. Prayers were offered at mosques throughout Goa during the day.

Israeli officials on Monday denied claims that they were close to a deal that would secure the release of a captured soldier held by Palestinian militants, citing excessive demands by the Islamic Hamas.

State and Politics

Egypt has been a republic since 18 June 1953. President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has been the President of the Republic since October 14, 1981, following the assassination of former-President Mohammed Anwar El-Sadat. Mubarak is currently serving his sixth term in office. He is the leader of the ruling National Democratic Party. Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif was sworn in as Prime Minister on 9 July 2004, following the resignation of Dr. Atef Ebeid from his office.

Egypt is regarded by many as being ruled by a military dictatorship. Although power is ostensibly organised under a multi-party semi-presidential system, whereby the executive power is theoretically divided between the President and the Prime Minister, in practice it rests almost solely with the President who has traditionally been elected in single-candidate elections for more than fifty years. Egypt also holds regular multi-party parliamentary elections. The last presidential election, in which Mubarak won a sixth consecutive term, was held in September 2005 (see below).

In late-February 2005, Mubarak announced in a surprise television broadcast that he had ordered the reform of the country's presidential election law, paving the way for multi-candidate polls in the upcoming presidential election. For the first time since the 1952 movement, the Egyptian people had an apparent chance to elect a leader from a list of various candidates. The President said his initiative came "out of my full conviction of the need to consolidate efforts for more freedom and democracy." However, the new law placed draconian restrictions on the filing for presidential candidacies, designed to prevent well-known candidates such as Ayman Nour from standing against Mubarak, and paved the road for his easy re-election victory.

Concerns were once again expressed after the 2005 elections about government interference in the election process through fraud and vote-rigging. In addition, violence by pro-Mubarak supporters against opposition demonstrators and police brutality were evident during the elections. This poses major questions about the government's purported commitment to democracy.

As a result, most Egyptians are skeptical about the process of democratisation and the role of the elections. A very small proportion of those eligible to vote actually turned out for the 2005 elections. Newspapers, however, have exhibited an increasing degree of freedom in criticizing the president, and the results of the recent parliamentary elections, which saw Islamist parties such as the banned Muslim Brotherhood winning many seats, genuinely indicate that a change of some sorts is underway.

The permanent headquarters for the League of Arab States (The Arab League) is located in Cairo. Egypt was the first Arab state to establish diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, after the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty at the Camp David Accords. Egypt has a major influence amongst other Arab states, and has historically played an important role as a mediator in resolving disputes between various Arab nations, and in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Most Arab nations still give credence to Egypt playing that role, though its effects are often limited.