CAIRO: Egyptian train drivers and conductors announced they were on strike yesterday to press demands for better pay, the latest in a seemingly endless series of work stoppages to hit the country in the past two years.
The strike began only hours after Transport Minister Hatem Abdel-Lateef approved a 10 percent hike in the bonuses routinely given to all railway workers. The raise was rejected by the train drivers and conductors as too little, sticking to their demands for a salary raise and a better bonus system. They are members of a national union grouping all railway workers.
Trains stopped running from three key cities — Cairo, the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Tanta in the Nile Delta — bringing to a halt most services around the nation. Thousands of angry passengers crowded train stations in many parts of the country, with long lines formed at ticket windows by passengers seeking to get a refund for unused tickets.
The labor unrest that followed the 2011 toppling of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak has deepened Egypt’s economic woes as well as the political schism pitting President Muhammad Mursi and his allies against the mostly secular and liberal opposition.
The strike followed a night of clashes on Saturday in downtown Cairo between police and opposition supporters outside the city’s main courthouse. Police used tear gas to disperse a rock-throwing crowd of some 3,000 protesters who also threw firebombs at the building, tried to storm it and blocked nearby roads.
The complex is home to the office of Talaat Abdullah, the country’s top prosecutor appointed by Mursi late last year. His appointment was decried as illegal by some judges and fellow prosecutors. A court ruling last week annulled the presidential decree appointing Abdullah, who continues to carry out his duties.
The presidency says it is considering whether to appeal the ruling.
Abdullah yesterday ordered an investigation into the Saturday night events at the courthouse together with similarly violent protests in two Nile Delta provinces.
Strike paralyzes Egyptian railways
Strike paralyzes Egyptian railways
Israel says carrying out ‘large-scale strikes’ on Tehran
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it launched “large-scale strikes” on Tehran on Monday, two days since the start of a US-Israeli campaign against Iran.
“The Israeli Air Force... has begun an additional wave of strikes against the Iranian terror regime at the heart of Tehran,” the military said in a statement.
Israel announced the new “large-scale” strikes, while President Donald Trump vowed to avenge the deaths of US service members and said the war could last for weeks.
In other developments:
• The European Union has warned of the cost to the Middle East of a long war, and said it was reinforcing its naval mission in the Red Sea with additional vessels as Iran’s retaliation to US-Israeli strikes threatens maritime traffic, a European diplomat said.
Two new French ships will join the EU’s Aspides mission, bringing to five the number of warships taking part, the diplomat told AFP.
• Gulf states vowed to defend themselves against Iranian attacks, including by “responding to the aggression” if need be, after the Gulf Cooperation Council convened via video-link to formulate a unified response.
• Top US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the case Tuesday to Congress for the attack on Iran. Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and military chief General Dan Caine “will brief the full membership of both chambers of Congress,” White House spokesman Dylan Johnson said.
• Container shipping company Maersk said it was halting passage through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz for “safety” reasons.
The Danish group was the latest of several shipping groups to make similar announcements after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared the strait closed on Saturday.
• Seven people were injured in the Jerusalem area following the latest salvo of missiles fired from Iran, Israeli firefighters said.
• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had agreed to let the United States use UK bases to fire “defensive” strikes aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and their launchers. But in a video address posted to social media, he added: “We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran and we will not join offensive action now.
• Iranian media reported that a police station in a city on the outskirts of Tehran had been hit, killing an unspecified number of people, with others reportedly trapped under debris. “According to initial reports, a number of citizens were martyred and some were trapped under the rubble,” the Tasnim news agency reported.
• Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Gandhi hospital in northern Tehran had been targeted by strikes. The Fars and Mizan agencies published a video, presented as being from inside the facility, showing debris on the floor among wheelchairs.
