In Egypt, prospect of Trump win raises fears over school funding

In Egypt, prospect of Trump win raises fears over school funding
A picture taken on June 28, 2024 in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, shows Egyptian high school students studying in the Alexandria Library (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 31 October 2024
Follow

In Egypt, prospect of Trump win raises fears over school funding

In Egypt, prospect of Trump win raises fears over school funding
  • USAID in Egypt allocated approximately $200 million in grants to various sectors, including agriculture, coastal communities, renewable energy, and education

CAIRO: In Egypt, education officials are watching the US election with concern, worried that if Republican Donald Trump wins he could reduce US financial support for schools catering to students who hope to help lead the energy transition.
The former president has pledged to roll back key climate policies implemented by his predecessor, Joe Biden, and 10 international applied technology schools in Egypt could be affected if funds are cut, some experts say.
The 10 secondary schools were created through a partnership between the US Agency for International Development, the Egyptian government and the private sector. Around 20,000 students apply annually for 8,000 places.
“The funding of these schools is likely to be affected (if Trump wins the election) due to his position on environmental policies, which are in contrast with those of the current administration,” Karim Ebeid, president of Al Adl Center for Economic and Strategic Studies, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“This may affect the non-renewal or expansion of such schools, which affects Egypt’s development plans,” he said, adding that if US funding dried up, Egypt could turn to other international partners, such as China, Russia or Japan.
“China, especially, for the past two decades, has been working to strengthen its investments in African countries through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation,” he said.
The schools offer free tuition to all students but require certain conditions for enrollment, such as achieving high grades in English, science, and maths. Applicants are also interviewed.
An Egyptian government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said if US funding for the schools were to stop under a second Trump administration, Egypt would have to develop alternative plans for financing, management, and partnerships.
The schools provide critical skills to thousands of young Egyptians like Zeyad Maged, a third-year student at Elsewedy International School for Applied Technology and Software in New October City in the Giza Governorate.
“Last year, I led a capstone (final year) project with my team focused on environmental sustainability, developing a website to promote recycling and foster a healthier community,” said the 17-year-old, who specializes in software development.
“The school provides full scholarships, covering the costs of laptops, uniforms, and books, he added.
“All of this comes at a very high quality.”
Teaching ‘critical topics’
Trump, who is running against Vice President Kamala Harris, has put Biden’s climate and energy agenda in the crosshairs on the campaign trail, meaning that billions in clean energy funding could hinge on who wins the Nov. 5 election.
Biden’s policies include tax breaks and incentives for electric vehicles and stricter environmental regulations for power plants and automobiles. Trump has also threatened to once again pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Mohamed Azzazy, head of surveys at the Natural Resources Department at the University of Sadat City, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the curricula in the 10 applied technology schools prepare young people for environmental sustainability challenges.
“Students today must engage with critical topics like global warming, renewable energy, carbon footprints, and biodiversity to ensure a sustainable future,” Azzazy said.
“These subjects are often missing from conventional Egyptian education, particularly in practical application, but the schools are bridging that gap,” he said, adding that the schools offered hands-on activities like clean-up operations and recycling workshops.
Egypt wants to accelerate the provision of renewable energy that could ease electricity shortages and supply green power to Europe, but faces challenges in funding updates to its grid and unlocking investments for new wind and solar plants.
Between 2021 and 2022, USAID in Egypt allocated approximately $200 million in grants to various sectors, including agriculture, coastal communities, renewable energy, and education.
According to the USAID website, the schools and other education initiatives account for $70 million of funding from 2021 to 2026, with plans to expand the number of schools to cover 15 governorates, up from the current eight.
USAID did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
Amr Basila, the director of the operation and management unit for the International Applied Technology Schools, said the institutions provided internationally certified credentials, hands-on experience, and access to job markets in competitive fields including artificial intelligence, digital arts, software engineering and logistics.
“Though still emerging in Egypt, these sectors offer significant opportunities for workforce development and economic growth,” he said.
Some Egyptian observers fear that if Trump wins again, funding for such projects could be cut.
Mohamed Rabie El-Dehy, deputy head of the independent Dialogue Center for Political and Media Studies in Cairo, noted that in 2017, then-president Trump said he intended to reduce US aid to the Middle East, particularly for climate change and renewable energy programs, by around 30 percent.
“Environmental schools of this kind were not established until the Biden administration. Under Trump, no environmental schools were built; the focus was limited to teacher training programs in other schools,” El-Dehy said.
“Similarly, should Trump return to office, we are unlikely to see an expansion in the number of international applied technology schools,” El-Dehy said.
This article is published in collaboration with Egab.


Lebanon security official says Israel strikes house east of Beirut

Lebanon security official says Israel strikes house east of Beirut
Updated 29 min 27 sec ago
Follow

Lebanon security official says Israel strikes house east of Beirut

Lebanon security official says Israel strikes house east of Beirut
  • Israeli warplanes hit a house between Baalshamieh and Dhour Al-Abadiyah

BEIRUT: A Lebanese security official said an Israeli strike hit a villa east of Beirut on Tuesday, with state media confirming the rare attack outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.

The security official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the “Israeli strike caused an unspecified number of casualties.” The National News Agency later said Israeli warplanes hit a house between Baalshamieh and Dhour Al-Abadiyah

At least five people were killed and two were injured in the strike, health ministry said.


Iranian capital builds ‘defensive tunnel’ after Israeli strikes

Iranian capital builds ‘defensive tunnel’ after Israeli strikes
Updated 12 November 2024
Follow

Iranian capital builds ‘defensive tunnel’ after Israeli strikes

Iranian capital builds ‘defensive tunnel’ after Israeli strikes

DUBAI: Iran is building a “defensive tunnel” in the capital Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday, following strikes by Israel on targets in the country.
The tunnel, located near the city center, will link a station on the Tehran metro to the Imam Khomeini hospital, thus allowing direct underground access to the medical facility.
“For the first time in the country, a tunnel with defensive applications is being built in Tehran,” the head of transport for Tehran City Council told Tasnim.
Last month, Israel carried out its first officially-recognized strikes in Iran, hitting missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in the country’s west, as a response to Iran’s Oct.1 attack on Israeli territory.


Wave of Israeli strikes hit south Beirut after evacuation warning

Wave of Israeli strikes hit south Beirut after evacuation warning
Updated 12 November 2024
Follow

Wave of Israeli strikes hit south Beirut after evacuation warning

Wave of Israeli strikes hit south Beirut after evacuation warning

BEIRUT: Israel launched at least 10 air strikes on south Beirut Tuesday morning, Lebanese state media said, shortly after Israel’s army urged residents of several neighborhoods to evacuate the Hezbollah bastion.
“Israeli warplanes launched a very violent tenth strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the official National News Agency reported.
AFPTV footage showed grey smoke covering the area, with big plumes rising after each strike.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli army told residents of four south Beirut neighborhoods to leave immediately, warning it would strike Hezbollah targets there.
“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the Israel Defense Forces will act in the near future,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.
The post included a map showing the buildings it would target in the Lebanese capital’s south.
Witnesses told AFP they heard gunfire in the area ahead of the strikes — warning shots by residents for people to leave following the evacuation call.
NNA also reported Israeli strikes across Lebanon’s south that destroyed a building in the main southern city of Nabatiyeh and also targeted the eastern city of Hermel.
Last month, Israeli strikes razed Nabatiyeh’s historic marketplace, with another wave of attacks also hitting its municipality building and killing several including the mayor.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its air campaign, mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon’s east and south and in southern Beirut. A week later, it sent in ground troops.
It came after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire, launched by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
More than 3,240 people have been killed in Lebanon since the clashes began last year, according to the health ministry, the majority of them since late September.


A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions near ship in Red Sea

A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions near ship in Red Sea
Updated 12 November 2024
Follow

A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions near ship in Red Sea

A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sees explosions near ship in Red Sea
  • The attack comes as the rebels continue their monthslong assault targeting shipping
  • The Houthis have insisted that the attacks will continue as long as the wars go on

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels saw multiple explosions strike near a vessel traveling through the Red Sea on Tuesday, though no damage was immediately reported by the ship, authorities said.
The attack comes as the rebels continue their monthslong assault targeting shipping through a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon.
The Houthis have insisted that the attacks will continue as long as the wars go on, and the assaults already have halved shipping through the region. Meanwhile, a UN panel of experts now allege that the Houthis may be shaking down some shippers for about $180 million a month for safe passage through the area.
A vessel in the southern reaches of the Red Sea, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, reported the attack, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
No one was wounded on board in the blasts, and the ship was continuing on its journey, the UKMTO added.
The Houthis didn’t immediately claim the attack. However, it can take the rebels hours or even days before they acknowledge one of their assaults.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign, which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have shot down multiple American MQ-9 Reaper drones as well.
The last Houthi maritime attack came Oct. 28 and targeted the Liberian-flagged bulk tanker Motaro. Before that, an Oct. 10 attack targeted the Liberian-flagged chemical tanker Olympic Spirit.
It’s unclear why the Houthis’ attacks have dropped, though they have launched multiple missiles toward Israel as well. On Oct. 17, the US military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by the rebels. US airstrikes also have been targeting Houthi positions in recent days as well.
Meanwhile, a report by UN experts from October says “the Houthis allegedly collected illegal fees from a few shipping agencies to allow their ships to sail through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden without being attacked.” It put the money generated a month at around $180 million, though it stressed it hadn’t been able to corroborate the information provided by sources to the panel.
The Houthis haven’t directly responded to the allegation. However, the report did include two threatening emails the Houthis sent to shippers, with one of those vessels later coming under attack by the rebels.


No repeat of Jerusalem incident will be accepted, France says

No repeat of Jerusalem incident will be accepted, France says
Updated 12 November 2024
Follow

No repeat of Jerusalem incident will be accepted, France says

No repeat of Jerusalem incident will be accepted, France says

PARIS: A repeat of an incident in Jerusalem that saw armed Israeli security forces entering a property administered by France must never happen again, France’s foreign minister said ahead of summoning Israel’s envoy on Tuesday.
Two French security officials with diplomatic status were briefly detained on Nov. 7 after Jean-Noel Barrot was due to visit the compound of The Church of the Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives.
The site, one of four administered by France in Jerusalem, is under Paris’ responsibility and it not the first time that problems have arisen over France’s historic holdings in the Holy City.
“It is an opportunity for France to reiterate that it will not tolerate Israeli armed forces entering these areas, for which it (France) is responsible, for which it ensures protection,” Barrot told France 24 television when asked what the ambassador would be told.
“And to strongly reaffirm that this incident must never happen again, meaning that Israeli forces enter armed and without authorization.”
Israel’s ambassador is due to meet Barrot’s chief of staff at the foreign ministry on Tuesday.
Israel’s foreign ministry has said that every visiting foreign leader is accompanied by its security personnel, a point that had been “clarified in advance in the preparatory dialogue with the French Embassy in Israel.”
Diplomatic relations between France and Israel have worsened since President Emmanuel Macron called for an end to the supply to Israel of offensive weapons used in Gaza.
The French government also attempted to ban Israeli weapons’ firms from exhibiting at a trade fair in Paris and has become increasingly uneasy over Israel’s conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.