1.
Suez Canal
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The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It was constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, after 10 years of construction, it was officially opened on November 17,1869. It extends from the terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km, including its northern and southern access channels, in 2012,17,225 vessels traversed the canal. The original canal was a waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass. It contains no locks system, with seawater flowing freely through it, in general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez, the canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag. In August 2014, construction was launched to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km to speed the canals transit time, the expansion was planned to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. At a cost of $8.4 billion, this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities, the New Suez Canal, as the expansion was dubbed, was opened with great fanfare in a ceremony on 6 August 2015. On 24 February 2016, the Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel and this side channel, located at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal anytime of day and night. Ancient west–east canals were built to travel from the Nile River to the Red Sea. One smaller canal is believed to have been constructed under the auspices of Senusret II or Ramesses II. Another canal, probably incorporating a portion of the first, was constructed under the reign of Necho II, the legendary Sesostris may have started work on an ancient canal joining the Nile with the Red Sea. In his Meteorology, Aristotle wrote, One of their kings tried to make a canal to it, so he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making the canal, lest the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it. Strabo wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and Pliny the Elder wrote,165. Later the Persian king Darius had the idea, and yet again Ptolemy II. This proved to be the canal made by the Persian king Darius I
2.
Dar Al-Handasah
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Dar Al-Handasah is an international project design, management and supervision consultancy and founding member of the Dar Group. It is a multidisciplinary consulting organization for architecture, engineering, planning, environment, project management, Dar Al-Handasah was established in November 1956, and initially given an Arabic name دار الهندسة Dar Al-Handasah which means in Arabic the house of engineering. It was founded by four professors in Engineering from the American University of Beirut Engineering School, Dar Al-Handasah has its headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon with clients all over the world. In 2006 the firm won the IStructE Supreme Award and the Award for Transportation Structures for the design of Sungai Prai Bridge
3.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
4.
Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
5.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
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Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi, is the sixth and incumbent President of Egypt, in office since 2014. Sisi was born in Cairo and after joining the military, held a post in Saudi Arabia before enrolling in the Egyptian Armys Command and Staff College. In 1992 Sisi trained at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in the United Kingdom, Sisi served as a mechanized infantry commander and then as directory of military intelligence. After the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and election of Mohamed Morsi to the Egyptian presidency, as chief-of-staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Sisi launched the 2013 Egyptian coup détat that deposed President Morsi on July 3,2013, in response to earlier mass protests on June 30. Morsi was replaced by a president, Adly Mansour, who appointed a new cabinet. The government cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist supporters in the months that followed, on 14 August 2013, the Sisi-backed government carried out the August 2013 Rabaa massacre, which led to international criticism. On 26 March 2014, in response to calls from anti Muslim Brotherhood protesters, Sisi resigned from his military career, Sisi was sworn into office as President of Egypt on 8 June 2014. El-Sisi was born in Zagazig in Old Cairo on 19 November 1954, to parents Said Hussein Khalili al-Sisi, Sisi would later enroll in the Egyptian Military Academy, and upon graduating he held various command positions in the Egyptian Armed Forces and served as Egypts military attaché in Riyadh. In 1987 he attended the Egyptian Command and Staff College, in 1992 he continued his military career by enrolling in the British Command and Staff College, and in 2006 enrolled in the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Sisi was the youngest member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and he was later chosen to replace Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and serve as the commander-in-chief and Minister of Defence and Military Production on 12 August 2012. Sisis family originated from Monufia Governorate and he is the second of eight siblings. His father, a conservative but not radical Muslim, had an antiques shop for tourists in the historic bazaar of Khan el-Khalili. He and his siblings studied at the library at al-Azhar University. They were married upon el-Sisis graduation from the Egyptian Military Academy in 1977 and he became Commander of the Northern Military Region-Alexandria in 2008 and then Director of Military Intelligence and Reconnaissance. El-Sisi was the youngest member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt, while a member of the Supreme Council, he made controversial statements regarding allegations that Egyptian soldiers had subjected detained female demonstrators to forced virginity tests. He was the first member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to admit that the tests had been carried out. On 12 August 2012, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi made a decision to replace Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and he also promoted him to the rank of colonel general. Sisi was then described by the website of FJP as a Defense minister with revolutionary taste
6.
Suez
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Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sukhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities, together they form a metropolitan area. Railway lines and highways connect the city with Cairo, Port Said, Suez has a petrochemical plant, and its oil refineries have pipelines carrying the finished product to Cairo. In the 7th century AD a town named Kolzum stood just north of the site of present-day Suez and served as terminus of a canal built by Amr ibn al-As linking the Nile River. Kolzums trade fell following the closure of the canal in 770 by the second Abbasid caliph al-Mansur to prevent his enemies in Arabia from accessing supplies from Egypt, nonetheless, the town benefited from the trade that remained between Egypt and Arabia. By 780 al-Mansurs successor al-Mahdi restored part of the canal, the Qarmatians led by Hasan ibn Ahmad defeated a Fatimid army headed by Gawhar al-Siqilli at Kolzum in 971 and thereby captured the town. Following his defeat in Cairo by al-Siqilli at the end of year, Hasan. Suez was situated nearby and served as a source of drinking water for Kolzum according to Arab traveler al-Muqaddasi who visited in 986, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, Saladin, fortified both Kolzum and Suez in to defend Egypts eastern frontier from Crusader raids by Raynald of Chatillon. Between 1183-84, Raynald had ships stationed in the Red Sea to prevent the Ayyubid garrison at Kolzum from accessing water, in response, Saladins brother al-Adil had Husam ad-Din Lulu build a naval fleet which sailed to the southern port of Aidab to end Raynalds venture. By the 13th century it was recorded that Kolzum was in ruins as was Suez which had replaced the former as a population center. According to Muslim historians al-Maqrizi and al-Idrisi, Kolzum had once been a prosperous town, Arab geographer al-Dimashqi noted that Kolzum belonged to the Mamluk province of al-Karak at the time. Following the Ottomans conquest of Egypt at the beginning of the 16th century, the Ottoman fleets at Suez were instrumental in disputing control with the Portuguese over Indian Ocean trade. However, by 1798, during Napoleonic invasion, Suez had devolved into an unimportant town, fighting between the French and the British in 1800 left most of the town in ruins. Its importance as a port increased after the Suez Canal opened in 1869, the city was virtually destroyed during battles in the late 1960s and early 1970s between Egyptian and Israeli forces occupying the Sinai Peninsula. The town was deserted following the Six Day War in 1967, reconstruction of Suez began soon after Egypt reopened the Suez Canal, following the October War with Israel. Suez was the first city to major protests against the government of Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 Egyptian revolution and was the scene of the first fatality of that uprising. On account of this, it has called the Sidi Bouzid of Egypt. The city is divided into five districts, It is most populous district of the city
7.
Ismailia
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Ismailia is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Known in Egypt as The City of Beauty and Enchantment, Ismailia is situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, the city has a population of approximately 750,000 inhabitants. It is located halfway between Port Said to the north and Suez to the south. The Canal widens at that point to include Lake Timsah, one of the Bitter Lakes linked by the Canal, Ismailia was founded in 1863, during the construction of the Suez Canal, by Khedive Ismail the Magnificent, after whom the city is named. Following the Battle of Kafr-el-Dawwar in 1882 the British established a base there, the head office of the Suez Canal Authority is located in Ismailia at the shore of Lake Timsah. It still has a number of buildings dating from British. Most of these buildings are used by Canal employees and officials. During World War I the British had an air base there, in 1973 the Battle of Ismailia took place in the city. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Ismailia by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928, an underground paramilitary wing was established in the 1940s, primarily to fight British occupation forces. In the early 1950s, Ismailia hosted the British Military HQ, British forces pulled out of Ismailia in 1954. On 1982.12.17 an Eparchy of Ismayliah was established on territory split off from the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria and they face educational problems schools all around Egypt face. Private tutoring is widely accessible and is almost a requirement for all students. Two international schools, Manar Language School and Educational Language Complex School offer American Diploma, Ismailia is the home of Suez Canal University, established in 1976 to serve the region of Suez Canal and Sinai. Suez Canal University now is one of the fastest growing institutions in Egypt with many students studying abroad. The new university of Suez Canal University was established with the help of the Chinese Government, Ismailia hosts two important festivals each year. The first is the International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts that is held in June, in June 2014 the 17th consecutive festival was organized. The second is the Ismailia International Folklore Arts Festival that is held in September, in this festival folkloric troupes from all around the globe meet in Ismailia, where they perform folkloric dances representing the culture of their countries. A major attraction is the Ismailia Museum which was built in 1932, visitors will find a variety of significant archaeological finds especially from sites in the Ismailia governorate such as Tell el-Maskhuta, from North Sinai, and from Upper Egypt
8.
Port Said
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Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 kilometres along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787. The city was established in 1859 during the building of the Suez Canal, Port Said is also an important harbour for exports of Egyptian products like cotton and rice, but also a fueling station for ships that pass through the Suez Canal. It thrives on being a port, as well as a tourist resort especially during summer. It is home to the Lighthouse of Port Said, there are numerous old houses with grand balconies on all floors, giving the city a distinctive look. Port Saids twin city is Port Fuad, which lies on the bank of the canal. The two cities coexist, to the extent that there is hardly any town centre in Port Fuad, the only other metropolitan area in the world that also spans two continents is Istanbul. Most of them were from Mediterranean countries, and they coexisted in tolerance, the name of Port Said first appeared in 1855, It was chosen by an International committee composed of Great Britain, France, the Russian Empire, Austria, Spain and Piedmont. It is a name which composed of two parts, Port and Said, who granted Ferdinand de Lesseps the concession to dig the Suez Canal. Port Said was founded by Said of Egypt on Easter Monday, April 25,1859, the first problem encountered was the difficulty for ships to drop anchor nearby. Luckily, a rocky outcrop flush with the shoreline was discovered a few hundred meters away. Equipped with a wharf, it served as a mooring berth for the boats. Soon after, a jetty was built, connecting the departure islet, as it quickly became known. This rock could be considered the heart of the city, and it was on this highly symbolic site, forty years later. There were no local resources here, everything Port Said needed had to be imported, wood, stone, supplies, machinery, equipment, housing, food and even water. Giant water storage containers were erected to supply fresh water until the Sweet Water Canal could be completed, one of the most pressing problems was the lack of stone. Early buildings were imported in kit form and made great use of wood. A newly developed technique was used to construct the jetties called conglomerate concrete or Beton Coignet, artificial blocks of concrete were sunk into the sea to be the foundations of the jetties. Still more innovative was the use of the concrete for the lighthouse of Port Said
9.
Sinai Peninsula
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The Sinai Peninsula or simply Sinai is a peninsula in Egypt, situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, serving as a land bridge between Asia and Africa. It is the part of Egyptian territory located in Asia. Sinai has an area of about 60,000 km2. The bulk of the peninsula is divided administratively into two of Egypts 27 governorates, the Sinai Peninsula has been a part of Egypt from the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. In periods of occupation, the Sinai was, like the rest of Egypt, also occupied and controlled by foreign empires, in more recent history the Ottoman Empire. Israel invaded and occupied Sinai during the Suez Crisis of 1956, on 6 October 1973, Egypt launched the Yom Kippur War to retake the peninsula, which was the site of fierce fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces. Today, Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its setting, rich coral reefs. Mount Sinai is one of the most religiously significant places in Abrahamic faiths, in addition to its formal name, Egyptians also refer to it as Arḍ ul-Fairūz. The ancient Egyptians called it Ta Mefkat, or land of turquoise, Sinai is triangular in shape, with northern shore lying on the southern Mediterranean Sea, and southwest and southeast shores on Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea. It is linked to the African continent by the Isthmus of Suez,125 kilometres wide strip of land, the eastern isthmus, linking it to the Asian mainland, is around 200 kilometres wide. The peninsulas eastern shore separates the Arabian plate from the African plate, the southernmost tip is the Ras Muhammad National Park. Most of the Sinai Peninsula is divided among the two governorates of Egypt, South Sinai and North Sinai, together, they comprise around 60,000 square kilometres and have a population of 597,000. Three more governates span the Suez Canal, crossing into African Egypt, Suez is on the end of the Suez Canal, Ismailia in the centre. The largest city of Sinai is Arish, capital of the North Sinai, other larger settlements include Sharm el-Sheikh and El-Tor, on the southern coast. Inland Sinai is arid, mountainous and sparsely populated, the largest settlements being Saint Catherine, Sinai is one of the coldest provinces in Egypt because of its high altitudes and mountainous topographies. Winter temperatures in some of Sinais cities and towns reach −16 °C, the mines were worked intermittently and on a seasonal basis for thousands of years. Modern attempts to exploit the deposits have been unprofitable and these may be the first historically attested mines. According to the Hebrew Bible, the peninsula was crossed by the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt and this included numerous halts over a 40-year period of travel sometime towards the end of the Bronze Age
10.
Egyptian Armed Forces
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In addition, Egypt maintains large paramilitary forces. The Central Security Forces comes under the control of the ministry of interior, the Border Guard Forces, and The National Guard, comes under the control of the Ministry of Defence. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the uniformed officer, is Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. The Armed Forces inventory includes equipment from different countries around the world, to bolster stability and moderation in the region, Egypt has provided military assistance and training to a number of other African and Arab states. Although not a NATO member, Egypt remains a strong military, the Egyptian military is one of the strongest in the region, and gives Egypt regional military supremacy rivaled only by Israel, besides being one of the strongest in Africa. Egypt is one of the few countries in the Middle East, the Armed Forces enjoy considerable power and independence within the Egyptian state. They are also influential in business, engaging in road and housing construction, consumer goods, resort management, much military information is not made publicly available, including budget information, the names of the general officers and the military’s size. According to journalist Joshua Hammer, as much as 40% of the Egyptian economy is controlled by the Egyptian military. The inventory of the Egyptian armed forces includes equipment from the United States, France, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, conscripts with a General Secondary School Degree serve two years as enlisted personnel. Conscripts with a university degree serve one year as enlisted personnel or three years as a reserve officer, officers for the army are trained at the Egyptian Military Academy. The Egyptian Air Force or EAF is the branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Currently, the backbone of the EAF is the F-16, the EAF is considered to be the strongest in Africa and one of the strongest in the Middle East. The Mirage 2000 is the other modern interceptor used by the EAF, the Egyptian Air Force has 216 F-16s making it the 4th largest operator of the F-16 in the World. The Air Force is undergoing massive modernization, mikoyan confirmed that talks with Egypt are underway for the sale of 40 Mig-29SMT jet-fighters with a possible additional batch of 60-80 planes. The Egyptian Air Defense Command or ADF is Egypts military command responsible for air defense and its commander is Lieutenant General Abd El Aziz Seif-Eldeen. Although the Egyptian Navy is the smallest branch of the military, the Egyptian Navy is known to be the strongest in the African continent, and the largest in the Middle East in spite of the rapid growth of other countries navies within the region. Some fleet units are stationed in the Red Sea, but the bulk of the remains in the Mediterranean. Navy headquarters and the operational and training base are located at Ras el Tin near Alexandria
11.
Anwar Sadat
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Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981. His refusal to reconcile with them over the Palestinian issue resulted in Egypt being suspended from the Arab League from 1979 to 1989, the peace treaty was also one of the primary factors that led to his assassination. Anwar Sadat was born on 25 December 1918 in Mit Abu El Kom, Monufia, Egypt to a poor Nubian family, one of his brothers, Atef Sadat, later became a pilot and was killed in action during the October War of 1973. His father, Anwar Mohammed El Sadat was an Upper Egyptian, thus, they said his mother did not look Egyptian enough and some called him Nassers black poodle. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo in 1938 and was appointed to the Signal Corps and he entered the army as a second lieutenant and was posted to Sudan. During the Second World War he was imprisoned by the British for his efforts to help from the Axis Powers in expelling the occupying British forces. Along with his fellow Free Officers, Sadat participated in the coup that launched the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Sadat was assigned to announce the news of the revolution to the Egyptian people over the radio networks, during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sadat was appointed minister of State in 1954. He was also appointed editor of the newly founded daily Al Gomhuria, in 1959, he assumed the position of Secretary to the National Union. Sadat was the President of the National Assembly and then vice president and he was reappointed as vice president again in December 1969. Sadat succeeded Nasser as president after the death in October 1970. Sadats presidency was widely expected to be short-lived, viewing him as having been little more than a puppet of the former president, Nassers supporters in government settled on Sadat as someone they could manipulate easily. Sadat surprised everyone with a series of political moves by which he was able to retain the presidency. On 15 May 1971, Sadat announced his Corrective Revolution, purging the government, political, Sadat encouraged the emergence of an Islamist movement, which had been suppressed by Nasser. Believing Islamists to be socially conservative he gave them considerable cultural and ideological autonomy in exchange for political support and this peace initiative failed as neither Israel nor the United States of America accepted the terms as discussed then. The Egyptian and Syrian performance in the stages of the war astonished both Israel, and the Arab World. The most striking achievement was the Egyptian militarys advance approximately 15 km into the occupied Sinai Peninsula after penetrating and this line was popularly thought to have been an impregnable defensive chain. As the war progressed, three divisions of the Israeli army led by General Ariel Sharon had crossed the Suez Canal, although agreed upon, the ceasefire was immediately broken
12.
Hosni Mubarak
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Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak is a former Egyptian military and political leader who served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was an officer in the Egyptian Air Force. He served as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rose to the rank of air marshal in 1973. Some time in the 1950s, he returned to the Air Force Academy as an instructor and he was appointed Vice-President of Egypt by President Anwar Sadat in 1975 and assumed the presidency on 14 October 1981, eight days after Sadats assassination. Mubaraks presidency lasted almost thirty years, making him Egypts longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha, who ruled the country from 1805 to 1848, Mubarak stepped down after 18 days of demonstrations during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. On 11 February 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned as president, on 13 April 2011, a prosecutor ordered Mubarak and both of his sons to be detained for 15 days of questioning about allegations of corruption and abuse of power. Mubarak was then ordered to trial on charges of negligence for failing to halt the killing of peaceful protesters during the revolution. These trials began on 3 August 2011, on 2 June 2012, an Egyptian court sentenced Mubarak to life imprisonment. After sentencing, he was reported to have suffered a series of health crises, on 13 January 2013, Egypts Court of Cassation overturned Mubaraks sentence and ordered a retrial. On retrial, Mubarak and his sons were convicted on 9 May 2015 of corruption, Mubarak is detained in a military hospital and his sons were freed 12 October 2015 by a Cairo court. He was acquitted on 2 March 2017 by Court of Cassation and he was released on 24 March 2017. Hosni Mubarak was born on 4 May 1928 in Kafr El-Meselha, Monufia Governorate, after leaving high school, he joined the Egyptian Military Academy where he received a bachelors degree in Military Sciences in 1949. Mubarak served as an Egyptian Air Force officer in various formations and units, some time in the 1950s, he returned to the Air Force Academy as an instructor, remaining there until early 1959. Mubarak undertook training on the Ilyushin Il-28 and Tupolev Tu-16 jet bombers, in 1964 he gained a place at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow. On his return to Egypt, he served as a commander, then as a base commander. In November 1967, Mubarak became the Air Force Academys commander when he was credited with doubling the number of Air Force pilots, two years later, he became Chief of Staff for the Egyptian Air Force. In 1972, Mubarak became Commander of the Air Force and Egyptian Deputy Minister of Defense, on 6 October 1973, the Egyptian Air Force launched a surprise attack on Israeli soldiers on the east bank of the Suez Canal. Egyptian pilots hit 90% of their targets, making Mubarak a national hero, the next year he was promoted to Air Chief Marshal in recognition of service during the October War of 1973 against Israel
13.
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
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Following the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, it first had great success. The party won almost half the seats in the 2011–12 parliamentary elections, however President Mohammad Morsi was overthrown after mass protests within a year and a crackdown ensued that some have called more damaging to the movement than any in eight decades. Hundreds of members were killed, and hundreds—including Morsi and most of the Brotherhoods leadership—were imprisoned, among the general Egyptian population, a huge hostility was felt towards the MB. Inspired by Islamic reformers Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida, he believed that Islam had lost its dominance to corrupt Western influences. The organisation initially focused on educational and charitable work, but quickly grew to become a political force as well. It championed the cause of poor Muslims, and played a prominent role in the Egyptian nationalist movement, fighting the British, Egypts occupier/dominator. Over the years, the Brotherhood spread to other Muslim countries, including Syria Jordan, Tunisia and these groups are sometimes described as very loosely affiliated with the Egyptian branch and each other. In November 1948, following several bombings and assassination attempts, the government arrested 32 leaders of the Brotherhoods secret apparatus, at this time the Brotherhood was estimated to have 2000 branches and 500,000 members or sympathizers. In succeeding months Egypts prime minister was assassinated by Brotherhood member, in 1952 the monarchy was overthrown by nationalist military officers of the Free Officers Movement. While the Brotherhood supported the coup it vigorously opposed the secularist constitution that the leaders were developing. In 1954 another unsuccessful assassination was attempted against Egypts prime minister, the Brotherhood was again banned and this time thousands of its members were imprisoned, many of them held for years in prisons and sometimes tortured. Qutbs ideology became very influential outside of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, imprisoned Brothers were gradually released after Anwar Sadat became president of Egypt in 1970, and were sometimes enlisted to help fight Sadats leftist opposition. Brethren were allowed to publish the magazine Dawa, though the organization remained illegal, during this time, more radical Qutb-inspired Islamist groups blossomed, and after Sadat signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, the Muslim Brotherhood became confirmed enemies of Sadat. Sadat was assassinated by a violent Islamist group Tanzim al-Jihad on 6 October 1981, again with a new president, Brotherhood leaders were released from prison. Mubarak cracked down hard against radical Islamists but offered a branch to the more moderate Brethren. The brethren reciprocated, going so far as to endorse Mubaraks candidacy for president in 1987, the Brotherhood dominated the professional and student associations of Egypt and was famous for its network of social services in neighborhoods and villages. However, the government did not approve of the Brotherhoods renewed influence, in the 2000 parliamentary elections, the Muslim Brotherhood won 17 parliamentary seats. In 2005, it won 88 seats to form the largest opposition bloc and it lost almost all but one of these seats in the much-less-free 2010 election, which was marred by massive arrests of both Brethren and polling place observers
14.
Hesham Qandil
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Hesham Mohamed Qandil is an Egyptian engineer and civil servant who was Prime Minister of Egypt from 2012 to 2013. Qandil was appointed as Prime Minister by President Mohamed Morsi on 24 July 2012, Qandil previously served as Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation from 2011 to 2012. Qandil was Egypts youngest prime minister since Gamal Abdel Nassers appointment in 1954 and he holds a bachelors degree in engineering, which he obtained from Cairo University in 1984. After graduation, Qandil joined the Egyptian civil service in the water department in 1985. He was granted an award in 1995 for services to irrigation. He participated in the work of the Nile Basin Initiative, was an member of the Joint Egyptian-Sudanese Water Authority. He was also Chief of Water Resources at the African Development Bank and he returned to Egypt following the revolution to help rebuild the country. In 2011, he was appointed Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation as part of Prime Minister Essam Sharafs second cabinet, on 24 July 2012, Qandil was appointed as Prime Minister by President Mohamed Morsi. His appointment was seen as unexpected by the Arab media, including The Majalla, on 2 August 2012, the newly formed Egyptian cabinet was sworn in consisting of a technocrat-dominated government, with a few political parties. Qandils first cabinet consisted of 35 ministers, including technocrats, the Freedom and Justice Party members, the Al-Wasat Party members, on 6 January 2013, ten ministers in the first cabinet of Qandil were changed. Following the reshuffle, the number of the ministers who were the members of the Freedom, Mohamed Kamel Amr, the foreign minister, resigned as well. The sports minister, El Amry Farouk, resigned on 2 July 2013, subsequently, on the same day, a military coup unfolded deposing President Morsi from office and resulted in his detainment by the Egyptian army, along with other leading Muslim Brotherhood figures. He had initially decided to remain in his position as a caretaker PM until the formation of a new government, in late September 2013, the Cairo Misdemeanor Court upheld the sentence against Qandil and he was arrested on 24 December 2013. On 13 July 2014, the Court of Cassation accepted Qandils appeal and abolished the verdict to imprison him for a year, to him from his job. He was subsequently released on 15 July 2014, Qandil is married and has five daughters. Media related to Hesham Qandil at Wikimedia Commons
15.
Suez Canal Authority
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Suez Canal Authority is a state owned authority which owns, operates and maintains the Suez Canal. It was set up by Egypt to replace the Suez Canal Company in the 1950s which resulted in the Suez Crisis, after the UN intervened, Egypt agreed to pay millions of dollars to shareholders of the nationalized Suez Canal Company. SCA is an independent authority having legal personality, SCA was established by the nationalization act signed on 26 July 1956 by the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. The act at the same time nationalized the Suez Canal Company and transferred all its assets, the head office is located in Ismaïlia. In Port Said the administration building of the earlier Suez Canal Company is used and its Board of Directors comprises 14 persons, including the Chairman & Managing Director. SCA issues the Rules of Navigation, fixes the tolls for the use of the canal, the tolls are expressed in XDR and collected in USD, GBP, EUR and other currencies. In 2008, the revenue in tolls was 5,381.9 million USD for the passage of a total of 21,415 vessels - resulting in an average toll of 251,314.5 USD per vessel. SCA is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Suez Canal, for the safety of the traffic, SCA is responsible for the computerized traffic management supported by radar, for the 14 pilot stations and their pilots. Since 1996, SCA operates the Maritime Training and Simulation Center for its pilots, SCA operates some 60 ships and boats, such as tugs, dredgers, cranes, and smaller boats. Suez Canal Authority official website Port Said Port Authority Egyptian Maritime Data Bank, a service of the Egyptian government
16.
Orascom Construction Industries
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Orascom Construction Industries SAE is a leading engineering, procurement, and construction contractor and fertilizer producer based in Cairo, Egypt, and active in more than 25 countries. The company was Egypts first multinational corporation, and is one of the core Orascom Group companies, OCI is one of the region’s largest corporations. OCI was established in Egypt in 1950 and owned by Onsi Sawiris, OCI owned and operated cement plants in Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, Pakistan, northern Iraq, North Korea and Spain, which had a combined annual production capacity of 21 million tonnes. In December 2007, OCI announced the divestment of its cement group, Orascom Building Materials Holding, the sale closed in January 2008. The Nile City Towers consist of a pair of 32-floors office buildings, Orascom Telecom Holding Orascom Development Orascom Construction Industries website
17.
Mohab Mamish
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Vice Admiral Mohab Mamish is the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority. He was the Commander of the Egyptian Navy from 27 September 2007 until August 2012 and he was also a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which governed Egypt de facto after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Mamish graduated from the Egyptian Naval Academy in 1969 and he served as an anti-submarine specialist in the 1973 War. He received a fellowship from the Nasser Military Academy in 1977 and he has received additional military training in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates, China, Greece, and France. He is married, with two daughters
18.
President of Egypt
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The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt. Under the various iterations of the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the first president of Egypt was Muhammad Naguib, one of the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. He took office on 18 June 1953, the day on which the monarchy of Egypt was overthrown. Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Hosni Mubarak, who held office from 14 October 1981 until 11 February 2011, was forced to resign following calls for his removal from office. On 10 February 2011 Mubarak transferred presidential powers to then-Vice President Omar Suleiman, on 30 June 2012, Mohamed Morsi was sworn in as President of Egypt, having won the 2012 Egyptian presidential election on 24 June. The Egyptian Constitution has had various forms since its 1953 change to become a republic, under the 1980 amendments of the 1971 Egyptian Constitution, the president of the republic was elected indirectly in a two-stage system unique to Egypt. The People’s Assembly, the house of Parliament, nominated one of a number of candidates for presidency. In 2005 and 2007, constitutional amendments were made, principles in the amended constitution include, The election of the president of the republic by direct secret ballot from among all citizens who have the right to vote. Ensuring that multiple candidates be put forward for the people to choose from, ensuring the credibility of the nomination process. Providing the opportunity for political parties to put one of their leaders to contest the first presidential elections to be held in light of the amendment. The establishment of an election commission that would enjoy complete independence to supervise the election process. Carrying out the election in a single day, ensuring judicial supervision over the voting process. The following provisions regarding the process are stipulated in Article 76 as amended. If no candidate attains such a majority, elections will be repeated after at least seven days between the two candidates having the highest votes. In case of a tie between the candidate who attained the second highest votes and a candidate, the third candidate shall participate in the second round. The candidate who receives the highest votes in the second round shall be declared president, the amendment also provides that a law will be passed to regulate the relevant election procedures. This law is expected to regulate the various aspects of the process itself, including campaign funding, equal access to the media. As required by the amendment, the law will be submitted to the Supreme Constitutional Court to opine on its constitutionality
19.
Suez Governorate
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Suez Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the part of the country and is coterminous with the city of Suez. It is situated north of the Gulf of Suez, according to population estimates from 2015 all 622,859 residents of the governorate live in urban areas. With an urbanization rate of 100% the Suez Governorate is one of the most urbanized in the country, along with Cairo, natural resources in the Suez Governorate include limestone, clay, coal, petroleum, marble, and lime. The chief exports of Suez are papayas, ein El-Sokhna, a well known recreational and medical destination. Moses springs Judaic Hill at El-Khoor In 1975, the Suez Public Free Zone was established and it is divided between two main locations, Port Tewfik and Adabeya. Suez Canal Suez crisis Official website Ministry of Trade and Industry Free Zones site
20.
Fish farm
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Fish farming or pisciculture involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosures, usually for food. It is the form of aquaculture, while other methods may fall under mariculture. A facility that releases juvenile fish into the wild for recreational fishing or to supplement a species numbers is generally referred to as a fish hatchery. Worldwide, the most important fish species used in farming are carp, tilapia, salmon. Demand is increasing for fish and fish protein, which has resulted in widespread overfishing in wild fisheries, china provides 62% of the worlds farmed fish. As of 2016, more than 50% of seafood was produced by aquaculture, Farming carnivorous fish, such as salmon, does not always reduce pressure on wild fisheries, since carnivorous farmed fish are usually fed fishmeal and fish oil extracted from wild forage fish. The 2008 global returns for fish farming recorded by the FAO totaled 33.8 million tonnes worth about $US60 billion, Aquaculture makes use of local photosynthetic production or fish that are fed with external food supply. Growth is limited by food, commonly zooplankton feeding on pelagic algae or benthic animals, such as crustaceans. Tilapia filter feed directly on phytoplankton, which makes higher production possible, photosynthetic production can be increased by fertilizing pond water with artificial fertilizer mixtures, such as potash, phosphorus, nitrogen, and microelements. Another issue is the risk of algal blooms, when temperatures, nutrient supply, and available sunlight are optimal for algal growth, algae multiply at an exponential rate, eventually exhausting nutrients and causing a subsequent die-off. The decaying algal biomass depletes the oxygen in the water because it blocks out the sun and pollutes it with organic and inorganic solutes. An alternate option is to use a system such as that of Veta la Palma in Spain. Despite these limitations, significant fish farming industries use these methods, in the Czech Republic, thousands of natural and seminatural ponds are harvested each year for trout and carp. The large ponds around Trebon built from around 1650 are still in use, in these kinds of systems fish production per unit of surface can be increased at will, as long as sufficient oxygen, fresh water and food are provided. Because of the requirement of sufficient fresh water, a water purification system must be integrated in the fish farm. One way to achieve this is to combine hydroponic horticulture and water treatment, the exception to this rule are cages which are placed in a river or sea, which supplements the fish crop with sufficient oxygenated water. Some environmentalists object to this practice, however, these higher protein level requirements are a consequence of the higher feed efficiency of aquatic animals. Fish such as salmon have an FCR around 1.1 kg of feed per kg of salmon whereas chickens are in the 2.5 kg of feed per kg of chicken range
21.
Megaproject
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A megaproject is an extremely large-scale investment project. Megaprojects are temporary endeavours characterized by, large investment commitment, vast complexity, and long-lasting impact on the economy, the environment, the European Cooperation in Science and Technology categorises megaprojects as having extreme complexity and by a long record of poor delivery. Megaprojects attract a lot of attention because of substantial impacts on communities, environment, and budgets. Megaprojects can also be defined as initiatives that are physical, very expensive, Bent Flyvbjerg, a professor at the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford says that globally, megaprojects make up 8 percent of total GDP. Megaprojects are often affected by corruptions leading to higher cost and lower benefit, according to Bent Flyvbjerg, as a general rule of thumb, “megaprojects” are measured in billions of dollars, “major projects” in hundreds of millions, and “projects” in millions and tens of millions. The logic on which many of the typical megaprojects are built is collective benefits, for electricity for everybody, road access. They may also serve as the means for opening frontiers, megaprojects have undergone a wide criticism for their top down planning processes and for their ill effects on certain communities.2 million farmers. In the 1970s, the Highway revolts involved urban activists opposing government plans to demolish buildings in freeway routes that would disadvantage the working class to benefit commuters. Anti-nuclear protests against proposed nuclear plants in the United States. However, just like the old megaprojects, the new ones also foreclose upon a variety of social practices, reproducing rather than resolving urban inequality. Because of their plethora of land uses these mega-projects inhibit the growth of oppositional and contestational practices, the collective benefits that are often the underlying logic of a mega-project, are here reduced to an individualized form of public benefit. Political sublime - the rapture politicians get from building monuments to themselves, economic sublime - the delight business people and trade unions get from making lots of money and jobs from megaprojects. Aesthethic sublime - the pleasure designers and people who appreciate good design get from building, using, proponents of infrastructure-based development advocate for funding large scale projects to create long-term economic benefits. Investing in megaprojects in order to stimulate the economy has been a popular policy measure since the economic crisis of the 1930s. Recent examples are the 2008–09 Chinese economic stimulus program, the 2008 European Union stimulus plan, megaprojects often raise capital based on expected returns - though projects often go overbudget and over time, and market conditions like commodity prices can change. Concern at cost overruns is often expressed by critics of megaprojects during the planning phase, if the megaproject is delivered in a country with relevant corruption the likelood and magnitude of having overbudgets increases. One of the most challenging aspects of megaprojects is obtaining sufficient funding
22.
Lessepsian migration
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Lessepsian migration is the ongoing migration of marine species across the Suez Canal, usually from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, more rarely in the opposite direction. It is named after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat in charge of the canals construction, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created the first salt-water passage between the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Red Sea is slightly higher than the Eastern Mediterranean, so the canal serves as a strait that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The Red Sea is generally saltier and more nutrient-poor than the Atlantic, so the Red Sea species have advantages over Atlantic species in the less salty, accordingly, most invasions are of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean, and only few in the opposite direction. To this day, about 300 species native to the Red Sea have been identified in the Mediterranean Sea, brevipinna off Madagascar and its finding in the Mediterranean has arguably confirmed the previously disputed status of C. brevipinna as a Lessepsian migrant. In addition the parasites originating in the Red Sea have shown an ability to use related native Mediterranean fish species as alternative hosts, the invasion of these parasites may have the effect of reducing the competitive advantages that the Red Sea invaders have in the Mediterranean. Up until 1992 none of the specimens collected were infected with the parasite Heterosaccus dollfusi, the parasite is a barnacle which de-sexes its host and within three years the parasite had spread to southern Turkey and 77% of the crabs collected in Haifa Bay were infected. This rapid increase and high rate is attributed to the extremely high population density of the host. One effect of this was that the population of the Mediterranean native swimming crab Liocarcinus vernalis recovered somewhat, only a comparatively few species have colonised the Red Sea from the Mediterranean, and these are referred to as anti-Lessepsian migrants. The sea slug Chelidonura fulvipunctata was originally described from waters around Japan and is widespread in the eastern Indian Ocean and it was first identified in the Mediterranean in 1961 and was seen in the Red Sea in 2005, most likely as a result of anti-Lessepsian migration. In addition, a survey of polychaete worms in the southern Suez Canal found six species that were regarded as anti-Lessepsian migrants. The deepening of the Welland Canal in 1919 allowed the sea lamprey to bypass the barrier created by the falls, the alewife, a species of shad from the western Atlantic also invaded the Great Lakes by using the Welland Canal to bypass Niagara Falls. They colonised the Great Lakes and became abundant mostly in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, reaching their peak abundance by the 1950s and 1980s
23.
International Monetary Fund
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The International Monetary Fund is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D. C. It now plays a role in the management of balance of payments difficulties. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. As of 2016, the fund had SDR477 billion, the rationale for this is that private international capital markets function imperfectly and many countries have limited access to financial markets. The IMF provides alternate sources of financing and this assistance was meant to prevent the spread of international economic crises. The IMF was also intended to help mend the pieces of the economy after the Great Depression. As well, to provide investments for economic growth and projects such as infrastructure. The IMFs role was altered by the floating exchange rates post-1971. It shifted to examining the economic policies of countries with IMF loan agreements to determine if a shortage of capital was due to economic fluctuations or economic policy, the IMF also researched what types of government policy would ensure economic recovery. Rather than maintaining a position of oversight of only exchange rates and their role became a lot more active because the IMF now manages economic policy rather than just exchange rates. In addition, the IMF negotiates conditions on lending and loans under their policy of conditionality, nonconcessional loans, which include interest rates, are provided mainly through Stand-By Arrangements, the Flexible Credit Line, the Precautionary and Liquidity Line, and the Extended Fund Facility. The IMF provides emergency assistance via the Rapid Financing Instrument to members facing urgent balance-of-payments needs, the IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary and financial system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its member countries. This activity is known as surveillance and facilitates international cooperation, the responsibilities changed from those of guardian to those of overseer of members’ policies. In 1995 the International Monetary Fund began work on data dissemination standards with the view of guiding IMF member countries to disseminate their economic and financial data to the public. The executive board approved the SDDS and GDDS in 1996 and 1997 respectively, the system is aimed primarily at statisticians and aims to improve many aspects of statistical systems in a country. It is also part of the World Bank Millennium Development Goals, some countries initially used the GDDS, but later upgraded to SDDS. The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in the form of policy reform, if the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld. The concept of conditionality was introduced in a 1952 Executive Board decision, conditionality is associated with economic theory as well as an enforcement mechanism for repayment
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Biodiversity
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Biodiversity, a contraction of biological diversity, generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. One of the most widely used definitions defines it in terms of the variability within species and it is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation within an area, biome, terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics and these tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 per cent of earths surface, and contain about 90 percent of the worlds species. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, there are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, the number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It is a component of nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food, fuel, shelter, medicines. The richness of biodiversity depends on the conditions and area of the region. All species of plants taken together are known as flora and about 300,000 species of plants are known to date, all species of animals taken together are known as fauna which includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, molluscs, etc. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions, more than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earths current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described, the total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037 and weighs 50 billion tonnes. In comparison, the mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC. In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all living on Earth. The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, there are microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia. Other early physical evidence of a substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland. More recently, in 2015, remains of life were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. According to one of the researchers, If life arose relatively quickly on Earth, then it could be common in the universe
25.
Ecosystem services
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Humankind benefits in a multitude of ways from all kinds of ecosystems, agroecosystemss, forest ecosystems, grassland ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, natural ecosystems, urban ecosystems, etc. Collectively, these benefits are becoming known as ecosystem services, Ecosystem services are regularly involved in the provisioning of clean drinking water and the decomposition of wastes. While scientists and environmentalists have discussed ecosystem services implicitly for decades, to help inform decision-makers, many ecosystem services are being assigned economic values. Recognition of how ecosystems could provide services to humankind date back to at least Plato who understood that deforestation could lead to soil erosion. Modern ideas of ecosystem services probably began when Marsh challenged in 1864 the idea that Earth’s natural resources are unbounded by pointing out changes in fertility in the Mediterranean. It was not until the late 1940s that three key authors – Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr, William Vogt, and Aldo Leopold – promoted recognition of human dependence on the environment. In 1956, Paul Sears drew attention to the role of the ecosystem in processing wastes. In 1970, Paul Ehrlich and Rosa Weigert called attention to ecological systems in their environmental science textbook, the potential destruction, by man’s own activities, of those ecological systems upon which the very existence of the human species depends. In following years, variations of the term were used, the ecosystem services concept has continued to expand and includes socio-economic and conservation objectives, which are discussed below. A history of the concepts and terminology of ecosystem services as of 1997, can be found in Dailys book Nature’s Services, per the 2006 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. The MA also delineated the four categories of ecosystem services—supporting, provisioning, regulating, by 2010, there had evolved various working definitions and descriptions of ecosystem services in the literature. Ecosystem services that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services and these include services such as nutrient recycling, primary production and soil formation. These services make it possible for the ecosystems to provide such as food supply, flood regulation. Who vote for models that explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and those cultural values do result not from properties produced by ecosystems but are the product of a specific way of seeing within the given cultural framework of symbolic experience. S. Environmental Protection Agency, authorities opted to restore the polluted Catskill Watershed that had provided the city with the ecosystem service of water purification. Pollination of crops by bees is required for 15-30% of U. S. food production, however, intensified agricultural practices can quickly erode pollination services through the loss of species. The remaining species are unable to compensate this, the presence of such ecosystem elements functions almost like an insurance policy for farmers. In watersheds of the Yangtze River, spatial models for water flow through different forest habitats were created to determine potential contributions for hydroelectric power in the region, in the 1980s, mineral water company Vittel faced a critical problem
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Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
27.
Convention on Biological Diversity
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The Convention on Biological Diversity, known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. In other words, its objective is to develop strategies for the conservation. It is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development, the Convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993. At the 2010 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October in Nagoya, Japan, the notion of an international convention on biological diversity was conceived at a United Nations Environment Programme Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on Biological Diversity in November 1988. In 1991, a negotiating committee was established, tasked with finalizing the conventions text. A Conference for the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1992, the Conventions text was opened for signature on 5 June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. By its closing date,4 June 1993, the convention had received 168 signatures and it entered into force on 29 December 1993. The agreement covers all ecosystems, species, and genetic resources and it links traditional conservation efforts to the economic goal of using biological resources sustainably. It sets principles for the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources and it also covers the rapidly expanding field of biotechnology through its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, addressing technology development and transfer, benefit-sharing and biosafety issues. Importantly, the Convention is legally binding, countries that join it are obliged to implement its provisions, the convention reminds decision-makers that natural resources are not infinite and sets out a philosophy of sustainable use. While past conservation efforts were aimed at protecting particular species and habitats, however, this should be done in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity. The Convention acknowledges that substantial investments are required to conserve biological diversity and it argues, however, that conservation will bring us significant environmental, economic and social benefits in return. The Convention on Biological Diversity of 2010 banned some forms of geoengineering, some of the many issues dealt with under the convention include, Measures the incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Regulated access to resources and traditional knowledge, including Prior Informed Consent of the party providing resources. Access to and transfer of technology, including biotechnology, to the governments and/or local communities that provided traditional knowledge and/or biodiversity resources, coordination of a global directory of taxonomic expertise. National reporting on efforts to implement treaty commitments, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety of the Convention, also known as the Biosafety Protocol, was adopted in January 2000. The Biosafety Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. The Biosafety Protocol makes clear that products from new technologies must be based on the precautionary principle, the required number of 50 instruments of ratification/accession/approval/acceptance by countries was reached in May 2003
28.
European Commission
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Commissioners swear an oath at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, pledging to respect the treaties and to be completely independent in carrying out their duties during their mandate. The Commission operates as a government, with 28 members of the Commission. There is one member per state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 28 is the Commission President proposed by the European Council, the current Commission is the Juncker Commission, which took office in late 2014. The procedural languages of the Commission are English, French and German, the Members of the Commission and their cabinets are based in the Berlaymont building in Brussels. The first Commission originated in 1951 as the nine-member High Authority under President Jean Monnet, the High Authority was the supranational administrative executive of the new European Coal and Steel Community. It took office first on 10 August 1952 in Luxembourg, in 1958 the Treaties of Rome had established two new communities alongside the ECSC, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. However their executives were called Commissions rather than High Authorities, the reason for the change in name was the new relationship between the executives and the Council. Some states such as France expressed reservations over the power of the High Authority, louis Armand led the first Commission of Euratom. Walter Hallstein led the first Commission of the EEC, holding the first formal meeting on 16 January 1958 at the Château of Val-Duchesse, Hallstein notably began the consolidation of European law and started to have a notable impact on national legislation. The three bodies, collectively named the European Executives, co-existed until 1 July 1967 when, under the Merger Treaty, the Rey Commission completed the Communitys customs union in 1968 and campaigned for a more powerful, elected, European Parliament. Despite Rey being the first President of the communities, Hallstein is seen as the first President of the modern Commission. The Malfatti and Mansholt Commissions followed with work on monetary co-operation, with that enlargement the Commissions membership increased to thirteen under the Ortoli Commission, which dealt with the enlarged community during economic and international instability at that time. Following the Jenkins Commission, Gaston Thorns Commission oversaw the Communitys enlargement to the south, the Commission headed by Jacques Delors was seen as giving the Community a sense of direction and dynamism. Delors and his team are considered as the founding fathers of the euro. The International Herald Tribune noted the work of Delors at the end of his term in 1992. He arrived when Europessimism was at its worst, although he was a little-known former French finance minister, he breathed life and hope into the EC and into the dispirited Brussels Commission. The successor to Delors was Jacques Santer, the entire Santer Commission was forced to resign in 1999 by the Parliament as result of a fraud and corruption scandal, with a central role played by Édith Cresson
29.
Joint Research Centre
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The JRC is a Directorate-General of the European Commission under the responsibility of Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth & Sport. The current Director General of the JRC is Vladimír Šucha and its Board of Governors assists and advises the Director-General on matters relating to the role and the scientific, technical and financial management of the JRC. The Italian Centre in Ispra originally belonged to the Comitato Nazionale per lEnergia Nucleare and was transferred to the Community on March 1,1961. Since 1973, non-nuclear research evolved rapidly, especially in topics related to safety, in 1992, the results of a study led to a proposal to convert the JRC Ispra site into an environmentally-optimised model site, the ECO Centre. At the beginning of the 1980s, re-examination of the mandate, future activities were to continue to support the Commissions implementations of Community policies. After 16 years of research, the reactor at JRC Ispra was shut down in 1983. The JRC employs around 3,003 staff
30.
Initial public offering
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Through this process, a privately held company transforms into a public company. Initial public offerings are used by companies to raise the expansion of capital, possibly to monetize the investments of early private investors. A company selling shares is never required to repay the capital to its public investors, after the IPO, when shares trade freely in the open market, money passes between public investors. The IPO process is known as going public. Details of the offering are disclosed to potential purchasers in the form of a lengthy document known as a prospectus. Most companies undertake an IPO with the assistance of an investment banking firm acting in the capacity of an underwriter, underwriters provide several services, including help with correctly assessing the value of shares and establishing a public market for shares. Alternative methods such as the dutch auction have also been explored, in terms of size and public participation, the two most notable examples of this method is the Google IPO and Snapchats parent company Snap Inc. China has recently emerged as a major IPO market, with several of the largest IPOs taking place in that country, the earliest form of a company which issued public shares was the case of the publicani during the Roman Republic. Like modern joint-stock companies, the publicani were legal bodies independent of their members whose ownership was divided into shares, there is evidence that these shares were sold to public investors and traded in a type of over-the-counter market in the Forum, near the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The shares fluctuated in value, encouraging the activity of speculators, mere evidence remains of the prices for which partes were sold, the nature of initial public offerings, or a description of stock market behavior. Publicanis lost favor with the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, the first modern IPO occurred in March 1602 when the Dutch East India Company offered shares of the company to the public in order to raise capital. All the shares were tradable, and the shareholders received receipts for the purchase, a share certificate documenting payment and ownership such as we know today was not issued but ownership was instead entered in the companys share register. In the United States, the first IPO was the offering of Bank of North America around 1783. An IPO, therefore, allows a company to tap into a pool of potential investors to provide itself with capital for future growth, repayment of debt. A company selling shares is never required to repay the capital to its public investors. Those investors must endure the unpredictable nature of the market to price. After the IPO, when shares trade freely in the open market, for early private investors who choose to sell shares as part of the IPO process, the IPO represents an opportunity to monetize their investment. This type of offering is not dilutive, since no new shares are being created, once a company is listed, it is able to issue additional common shares in a number of different ways, one of which is the follow-on offering
31.
Port Fuad
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Port Fouad is a city in north-eastern Egypt under the jurisdiction of Port Said Governorate, located across the Suez Canal from Port Said. It forms the northwesternmost part of Sinai Peninsula and has a population of 560,000, Port Fouad and Port Said are on opposite sides of the canal and face each other. Together they form a metropolitan area, Port Fouad was established in 1926, principally to relieve overcrowding in Port Said, and was named after King Fuad I, the first holder of the title King of Egypt in the modern era. The Suez Canal Authority forms the main employment of the city, residents of Port Fouad travel to Port Said by ferry. After the war of 1967 Port Fouad was the piece of Sinai held by the Egyptians. The Israeli army tried to capture Port Fouad during the War of Attrition, after the October War, the Camp David Accord in 1978 Israel agreed to return Sinai to Egypt peacefully, and later the two countries signed a peace treaty. Today Port Fouad is a major Air Defence Position for Egypt, despite its important location, as of 2006, Port Fouad was still considered a residential zone, with very few facilities and no major downtown or city center
32.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
33.
Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician. Putin is the current President of the Russian Federation, holding the office since 7 May 2012 and he was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000, President from 2000 to 2008, and again Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012. During his second term as Prime Minister, he was the Chairman of the ruling United Russia Party, born in Leningrad, Putin studied German in high school and speaks the language fluently. He studied Law at the Saint Petersburg State University, graduating in 1975, Putin was a KGB Foreign Intelligence Officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring in 1991 to enter politics in Saint Petersburg. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsins administration, rising quickly through the ranks and becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999, when Yeltsin resigned. Putin won the subsequent 2000 Presidential election by a 53% to 30% margin, thus avoiding a runoff with his Communist Party of the Russian Federation opponent and he was re-elected President in 2004 with 72% of the vote. During Putins first presidency, the Russian economy grew for eight straight years, the growth was a result of the 2000s commodities boom, high oil prices, and prudent economic and fiscal policies. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third presidential term in 2008. The 2008 Presidential election was won by Dmitry Medvedev, who appointed Putin Prime Minister, in September 2011, after presidential terms were extended from four to six years, Putin announced he would seek a third term as president. He won the March 2012 Presidential election with 64% of the vote, under Putins leadership, Russia has scored poorly on both the Democracy index and the Corruption index. Putin has enjoyed high approval ratings during his career. In 2007, he was the Time Person of the Year, in 2015, he was #1 on the Times Most Influential People List. Forbes ranked him the Worlds Most Powerful Individual every year from 2013 to 2016, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, the youngest of three children of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina. His birth was preceded by the death of two brothers, Viktor and Albert, born in the mid-1930s, Albert died in infancy and Viktor died of diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad. Putins mother was a worker and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy. Early in World War II, his father served in the battalion of the NKVD. Later, he was transferred to the army and was severely wounded in 1942. On 1 September 1960, Putin started at School No.193 at Baskov Lane and he was one of a few in the class of approximately 45 pupils who was not yet a member of the Young Pioneer organization
34.
United Arab Emirates
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In 2013, the UAEs population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates. The country is a federation of seven emirates, and was established on 2 December 1971, the constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a monarch, together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the monarchs is selected as the President of the United Arab Emirates, Islam is the official religion of the UAE and Arabic is the official language. The UAEs oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the worlds seventeenth-largest, Sheikh Zayed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the first President of the UAE, oversaw the development of the Emirates and steered oil revenues into healthcare, education and infrastructure. The UAEs economy is the most diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, while its most populous city of Dubai is an important global city, nevertheless, the country remains principally reliant on its export of petroleum and natural gas. The UAE is criticised for its rights record, including the specific interpretations of Sharia used in its legal system. The UAEs rising international profile has led analysts to identify it as a regional. It appears the land of the Emirates has been occupied for thousands of years, there is no proof of contact with the outside world at that stage, although in time it developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia and Iran. This contact persisted and became wide-ranging, probably motivated by trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, in ancient times, Al Hasa was part of Al Bahreyn and adjoined Greater Oman. Sassanid groups were present on the Batinah coast, in 637, Julfar was an important port that was used as a staging post for the Islamic invasion of the Sassanian Empire. The area of the Al Ain/Buraimi Oasis was known as Tuam and was an important trading post for camel routes between the coast and the Arabian interior. The earliest Christian site in the UAE was first discovered in the 1990s, a monastic complex on what is now known as Sir Bani Yas Island. Thought to be Nestorian and built in 600 AD, the church appears to have been abandoned peacefully in 750 AD and it forms a rare physical link to a legacy of Christianity which is thought to have spread across the peninsula from 50 to 350 AD following trade routes. Certainly, by the 5th century, Oman had a bishop named John – the last bishop of Oman being Etienne, in 676 AD. This led to a group of travelling to Medina, converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful uprising against the unpopular Sassanids. Following the death of Prophet Muhammad, the new Islamic communities south of the Persian Gulf threatened to disintegrate, with insurrections against the Muslim leaders. The Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army from the capital Medina which completed its reconquest of the territory with the battle of Dibba in which 10,000 lives are thought to have been lost
35.
Petrochemical
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Petrochemicals, also called petroleum distillates, are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas. The two most common classes are olefins and aromatics. Oil refineries produce olefins and aromatics by fluid catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions, chemical plants produce olefins by steam cracking of natural gas liquids like ethane and propane. Aromatics are produced by catalytic reforming of naphtha, Olefins and aromatics are the building-blocks for a wide range of materials such as solvents, detergents, and adhesives. Olefins are the basis for polymers and oligomers used in plastics, resins, fibers, elastomers, lubricants, global ethylene and propylene production are about 115 million tonnes and 70 million tonnes per annum, respectively. Aromatics production is approximately 70 million tonnes, the largest petrochemical industries are located in the USA and Western Europe, however, major growth in new production capacity is in the Middle East and Asia. There is substantial inter-regional petrochemical trade, primary petrochemicals are divided into three groups depending on their chemical structure, Olefins includes ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. Ethylene and propylene are important sources of chemicals and plastics products. Butadiene is used in making synthetic rubber, aromatics includes benzene, toluene, and xylenes. Benzene is a raw material for dyes and synthetic detergents, manufacturers use xylenes to produce plastics and synthetic fibers. Synthesis gas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen used to make ammonia, ammonia is used to make the fertilizer urea and methanol is used as a solvent and chemical intermediate. The prefix petro- is an abbreviation of the word petroleum, since petro- is Ancient Greek for rock. Therefore, the correct term would be oleochemicals. However, the term oleochemical is used to describe chemicals derived from plant, benzene, toluene and xylenes, as a whole referred to as BTX and primarily obtained from petroleum refineries by extraction from the reformate produced in catalytic reformers. Methane and BTX are used directly as feedstocks for producing petrochemicals, the output ethylene capacity of large steam crackers ranged up to as much as 1.0 –1.5 Mt per year. Steam crackers are not to be confused with steam reforming plants used to produce hydrogen, like commodity chemicals, petrochemicals are made on a very large scale. Petrochemical manufacturing units differ from commodity chemical plants in that often produce a number of related products
36.
Arish
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It borders the Gaza Strip and Israel. Arish is distinguished by its blue water, widespread fruitful palmy wood on its coast. It has a marina, and many luxury hotels, the city also has some of the faculties of Suez Canal University. Arish is by a big wadi, the Wadi Al Arish, the Azzaraniq national park is on the eastern side of Arish. The city grew around a Bedouin settlement near the ancient Ptolemaic Dynasty outpost of Rhinocolura, in the Middle Ages, pilgrims misidentified the site as the Sukkot of the Bible. ʻArīsh means palm huts in Literary Arabic, new fortifications were constructed at the original site by the Ottoman Empire in 1560. During the Napoleonic Wars, the French laid siege to the fort, during World War I, the fort was destroyed by British bombers. It was later the location of the 45th Stationary Hospital which treated casualties of the Palestine campaign, the remains of those who died there were later moved to Kantara Cemetery. Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, proposed Arish as a Jewish homeland since neither the Sultan nor the Kaiser supported settlement in Palestine, on December 8,1958, an air battle occurred between Egyptian and Israeli air forces over Arish. Arish was under occupation by Israel briefly in 1956 and again from 1967 to 1979. It was returned to Egypt in 1979 after the signing of the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, in February 2017, ISIS terrorists assassinated seven Coptic Christian men in the town, causing the Christian population to flee the town. Arish is in the northern Sinai Peninsula and is about 50 kilometres from the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, Arish is the closest larger settlement to Lake Bardawil. The city is served by Arish International Airport, the construction of the northern coast highway in Egypt was expected to be finished by 2008 linking El-Qantarah at Suez Canal to Gaza strip border passing by Arish. The railway line from Cairo is also under re-construction and it reached the Ser. This route was part of the Palestine Railway built during World War I. The railway was cut during the formation of Israel, the highest record temperature was 45 °C, recorded on May 29,2003, while the lowest record temperature was −6 °C, recorded on January 8,1994
37.
Ministry of Defence and Military Production
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The Egyptian Ministry of Defence is the ministry responsible for the Egyptian Armed Forces organization and manages its affairs and maintains its facilities. It also handles the affairs of colleges and military recruitment, mobilization and management of veterans, the ministry is based in Cairo. The following is a list of ministers of Defence and Military Production of Egypt, the position was known until the 1970s as the Minister of War and Marine. They direct the Egyptian Armed Forces, article 201 of the Egyptian Constitution of 2014 states that the Minister of Defense is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and shall be appointed from among its officers
38.
Lighthouse
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Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance, before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as a marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, coins from Alexandria, Ostia, and Laodicea in Syria also exist. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a warning against shipping hazards. The Eddystone Rocks were a major hazard for mariners sailing through the English Channel. The first lighthouse built there was a wooden structure, anchored by 12 iron stanchions secured in the rock. His lighthouse was the first tower in the world to have been exposed to the open sea. The civil engineer, John Smeaton, rebuilt the lighthouse from 1756–59, his tower marked a step forward in the design of lighthouses. He modelled the shape of his lighthouse on that of an oak tree and he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime, a form of concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. This profile had the advantage of allowing some of the energy of the waves to dissipate on impact with the walls. His lighthouse was the prototype for the lighthouse and influenced all subsequent engineers. One such influence was Robert Stevenson, himself a figure in the development of lighthouse design. His greatest achievement was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1810 and this structure was based upon Smeatons design, but with several improved features, such as the incorporation of rotating lights, alternating between red and white. Stevenson worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board for nearly fifty years during which time he designed and oversaw the construction and he also invented the movable jib and the balance crane as a necessary part for lighthouse construction. Alexander Mitchell designed the first screw-pile lighthouse – his lighthouse was built on piles that were screwed into the sandy or muddy seabed, construction of his design began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841
