MIDDLE EAST: MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 106 for 22
December - 28 December 2006
Source: IRIN
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MIDDLE EAST, 8 January (IRIN) - EGYPT: Mubarak pledges to lift emergency lawEGYPT: Bird flu claims tenth fatal victimEGYPT: Minor loses life to bird fluEGYPT-SUDAN: Sudanese refugees
– little hope on the horizonEGYPT: Women bear the brunt of bird fluIRAQ: Hussein al-Taakhi, Iraq "No one can heal the memories of the 48 days I spent in that prison."IRAQ: Stress of
violence leads to more suicidesIRAQ: Insecurity and poverty put pregnant women in dangerIRAQ: Smuggled oil hampering reconstructionLEBANON: Poor data limits aid workocc. Palestinian terr.:
Poverty-struck Palestinians turn to drugsUNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Camel racing continues to be child freeYEMEN: Poverty and illiteracy hamper child rights, report saysEGYPT: Mubarak pledges to
lift emergency lawEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak reiterated on Tuesday his pledge to lift the country's emergency law and to replace it with a new anti-terror law. Critics fear that the promised
new law may be used to crack down on the opposition even further.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56865 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=EGYPTEGYPT: Bird flu claims tenth
fatal victimHealth ministry officials reported the tenth death in Egypt to be caused by the avian influenza virus H5N1, this time a 26-year-old male factory worker. He died on 27 December.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56860 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=EGYPTEGYPT: Minor loses life to bird fluA 15-year-old girl became the ninth fatal victim of the
avian influenza virus and the first minor to lose her life to the disease in Egypt, said health ministry media official Sayyid Al-Abbasi.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56843 and
SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=EGYPTEGYPT-SUDAN: Sudanese refugees – little hope on the horizonSudanese refugee community leaders are claiming that their living conditions in the
Egyptian capital are worse than ever, one year after scores of their members were killed by Egyptian troops.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56845 and
SelectRegion=East_Africa,%20Middle_East and SelectCountry=EGYPT-SUDANEGYPT: Women bear the brunt of bird fluJudging from the gender ratio of infections in Egypt, women are most at risk of avian
influenza contagion than men, said Hamdi Abdel Wahed, media official at the health ministry. All of the eight deaths that have occurred in Egypt as a result of avian flu have been among women.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56839 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=EGYPTIRAQ: Hussein al-Taakhi, Iraq "No one can heal the memories of the 48 days I spent in that
prison."I'm a 39-year-old former prisoner of the al-Jamiyat police station in Basra, and have been severely tortured for crimes that I did not commit. I have also been a witness to some of the
terrible treatment prisoners have had to suffer, and have seen many prisoners killed.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56848 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=IRAQIRAQ:
Stress of violence leads to more suicidesThe number of suicides in war-ravaged Iraq is increasing due to psychological stress caused by relentless violence, medical experts said.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56854 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=IRAQIRAQ: Insecurity and poverty put pregnant women in dangerFor years Salah Hussein, 26, had
dreamed of having a child, but he never imagined that his wish would be marred by the death of his wife in childbirth.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56844 and SelectRegion=Middle_East
and SelectCountry=IRAQIRAQ: Smuggled oil hampering reconstructionHundreds of health, education and infrastructure projects have been delayed because of corruption and the smuggling of oil,
according to officials in the Ministry of Reconstruction.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56836 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=IRAQLEBANON: Poor data limits aid workThe
lack of centralised, detailed development-related data in Lebanon has hampered the efficiency of emergency and rehabilitation efforts, humanitarian experts have said.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56833 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=LEBANONocc. Palestinian terr.: Poverty-struck Palestinians turn to drugsPalestinian refugee Samir
Hassan [not his real name] never imagined he would one day replace his UN food coupons with marijuana and heroin, despite the hunger of his children.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56838
and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=OPTUNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Camel racing continues to be child freeFrom a distance, a small boy-like shape can be seen bobbing up and down frantically
on the back of a camel. On closer inspection, that strange object is, in fact, a robot and not a child.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56834 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and
SelectCountry=UNITED_ARAB_EMIRATESYEMEN: Poverty and illiteracy hamper child rights, report saysPoverty, unemployment, illiteracy and a high population growth rate are the main factors preventing
Yemen from observing children's rights. Those are the findings published in a report by the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood (SCMC), a government body.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56863 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=YEMEN
