Egypt

Owners of the Egypt nightclub on Delaware Avenue hope this weekend brings the smell of success. That would be a nice change from the stink-bomb stench that has soured the place every weekend since it opened Nov. 17. Hope for change comes from allegations filed with the district attorney's office yesterday charging an ex-worker at a rival nightclub with harassment, a misdemeanor. Peter Holtan, 25, of Green Street near 18th, is accused in a private criminal complaint. Egypt co-owner Joseph Grasso said security guards caught Holtan red-handed Saturday night as he poured vile-smelling liquid from a Coors Light beer bottle onto the carpeting.

CAIRO - Islamists claimed a decisive victory Wednesday as early election results put them on track to win a dominant majority in Egypt's first parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the most significant step yet in the religious movement's rise since the start of the Arab Spring. The party formed by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's mainstream Islamist group, appeared to have taken about 40 percent of the vote, as expected. But a big surprise was the strong showing of ultraconservative Islamists, called Salafis, many of whom see most popular entertainment as sinful and reject women's participation in voting or public life.

I FIND IT difficult to believe the riots in Egypt happened overnight. They were the result of careful planning by our CIA and various groups in Egypt wanting to seize power. When Mubarak took over after Sadat was assassinated, he honored the treaty with Israel. Who is bankrolling this uprising, why did President Obama keep insisting on a transition of power? There are scores of questions left unanswered. Remember the warning President Eisenhower gave about the military-industrial complex.

CAIRO - More than 10,000 Egyptians marched from mosques and protested in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday in a show of strength by Islamists, demanding the country's ruling generals bar Hosni Mubarak's former spy chief and other ousted regime officials from running in next month's presidential elections. The rally was the first major demonstration in Egypt in months and was a turnaround for the Islamists, who had abandoned street protests, particularly after they gained domination of parliament in elections late last year, and pursued a strategy of coexistence with the military even during violent army crackdowns on pro-democracy activists.

SECURITY FORCES clashed yesterday with stone-throwing protesters enraged by the failure of police to prevent a soccer riot that killed 74 people, as sports violence spiraled into a new political crisis for Egypt. The deaths Wednesday night in a postmatch stadium riot in the Mediterranean city of Port Said fueled anger at Egypt's ruling military and the already widely distrusted police forces. Many in the public and in the newly elected parliament blamed the leadership for letting it happen - whether from a lack of control or, as some alleged, on purpose.

Never mind the look-good ritual this Saturday if you're going to Egypt. Forgo the mousse, gel, curling iron or pick. (Just don't forget to glide on some antiperspirant and brush your dentals.) Most people will be paying too much attention to the tresses on stage for "Hairball" to notice yours. The seventh year of the hair design competition, which benefits City of Hope cancer and disease research, will have a "Viva Las Vegas" theme. The benefit will include Q102's Richie Rich and DJs Eric Marsh and George triggering the Beyonc?-bounce as more than 100 salons snip, slick, poof and blow.

England's soccer team and its rowdy supporters are off to mainland Italy for a World Cup second-round game against Belgium. Mark Wright's goal in the 58th minute yesterday gave England a 1-0 victory over Egypt and the Group F title. It was only England's second goal of the tournament, but it was enough to lift the team over Ireland and the Netherlands and to eliminate Egypt from the championship. "Qualifying for the second round was the most important objective," said England manager Bobby Robson.

CAIRO - Thousands of demonstrators barricaded themselves in Cairo's central square with burned-out troop carriers and barbed wire Saturday and demanded the removal of the military council ruling Egypt, infuriated after soldiers stormed their protest camp overnight, killing at least one person and injuring 71 others. In a sign the confrontation could escalate, the military warned Saturday evening that it would clear Tahrir Square of protesters "with all force and decisiveness" for life to get back to normal.

Manute Bol and his family are stranded in Egypt because United States visas and refugee documents have been hard to come by since Sept. 11. "I've been detained like a terrorist," the 7-7 Bol said from his Cairo apartment in an interview with the Associated Press. "I don't want to stay. It's not safe for me to be here in Egypt. I don't go out. I just sit here. " Bol, 39, who played for the 76ers and three other NBA teams, has been in Cairo since July, when he and his family slipped out of his native Sudan after waiting eight months to get out of that war-torn country.

ILOVED the op-ed "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Brotherhood?" by Sarah Salwen, who manages an entire article on the Muslim Brotherhood and its role in Egypt's future, yet somehow manages to avoid the subject of sharia law, the very root of the Brotherhood's ideology. Salwen also believes they want free and fair elections, an end to violence and a democratic process. Actually, they want none of this. The Brotherhood is the Taliban. The Brotherhood is al Qaeda. The Brotherhood is the cornerstone of a worldwide agenda to bring sharia to every part of the globe.

CAIRO - On the first day of the first free presidential election in Egyptian history, 10 young men sat in a circle in a rundown cafe in the working-class quarter of Saida Zainab. They were supposed to be holding a sales meeting for a food products company, but instead they were arguing over which presidential candidate to vote for. Three had picked the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, three were opting for a moderate Islamist independent, and three backed a socialist who patterns himself on Gamal Abdel Nasser.

CAIRO — In Tahrir Square, the only reminders of last year's Arab Spring are a handful of tattered tents and the hawkers who sell leftover trinkets from the revolution. Many secular Egyptians who once demanded democracy now fear that they ousted a secular autocracy only to see it replaced with an Islamic one — ushered in by the ballot. Yet the liberals, leftists, and moderate Muslims who organized the revolt failed to do the one thing that would block an Islamist victory — unite around a single candidate for the presidency in the first round of elections on Wednesday and Thursday.

CAIRO - More than 100 Egyptians held since a mass arrest more than two weeks ago began an open-ended hunger strike Sunday to protest their continued detention and the possibility they will face military prosecution, activists said. Hundreds of activists outside prison including a presidential candidate meanwhile held a symbolic 24-hour strike in support of the group and against the military trials of civilians. The protest comes on the eve of presidential elections that are supposed to lead to Egypt's ruling military council stepping down in favor of a civilian government - but also amid rising fears that the generals will continue to transfer civilians to military tribunals after the transition.

CAIRO - An international rights group on Saturday accused the Egyptian armed forces of beating and torturing protesters arrested during antimilitary demonstrations early this month, and said that by permitting such actions the military "enables further abuse. " The three days of street clashes in Cairo that began May 2 and left nine civilians dead were the latest in a string of deadly confrontations between the military and protesters in Egypt since a council of ruling generals took power 15 months ago. In its violent crackdown on the May demonstrations outside the Defense Ministry, the military arrested more than 300 people and referred them to military tribunals.

JERUSALEM - Egyptian and Palestinian officials said Sunday that they were close to reaching a deal with Israel that would end a mass hunger strike by Palestinians in Israeli jails. About 1,600 Palestinian prisoners are on strike, most for a month, but three have refused food for more than 70 days. They launched the strike to press their demands for better conditions and an end to detention without trial. An Egyptian-drafted proposal calls for Israel to move prisoners currently held in solitary confinement to regular cells, and allow families from Hamas-ruled Gaza to leave the seaside strip to visit imprisoned relatives, an Egyptian official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

Kelsey Dominik of Kingsway and New Egypt's Alison Martino pitched perfect, but abbreviated, games to highlight Monday's South Jersey softball action. Dominik (17-3) struck out nine in notching her first perfecto as the host Dragons needed just five innings to scorch Delsea, 14-0, in a Tri-County Conference clash. Martino (14-2) retired a dozen batters on strikes over six innings, as the host Warriors dismissed Burlington County League rival Maple Shade, 10-0. Olympic.

CAIRO - Egypt's ruling generals repeated their pledge Thursday to transfer power to a civilian government within two months, a day after deadly clashes stoked by political tensions brought fresh accusations that the military was trying to create chaos so it could cling to power. At the same time, the ruling military council warned protesters that deadly force would be used against them if they approached the Ministry of Defense. At least 11 people were killed in clashes that broke out Wednesday when apparent supporters of the military rulers attacked a mostly Islamist crowd staging a sit-in outside the Ministry of Defense in Cairo to call for an end to the generals' rule.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia closed its Cairo embassy Saturday and recalled its ambassador following protests over a detained Egyptian human-rights lawyer in a sharp escalation of tension between two regional powerhouses already on shaky terms due to uprisings in the Arab world. The unexpected Saudi diplomatic break came after days of protests by hundreds of Egyptians outside the Saudi Embassy in Cairo and consulates in other cities to demand the release of Ahmed el-Gezawi. Relatives and human-rights groups say he was detained for allegedly insulting the kingdom's monarch.

CAIRO - Egypt's presidential race is boiling down to a contest between Hosni Mubarak's former foreign minister and two Islamists with strong bases of support after the election commission on Thursday released the final list of 13 candidates. None of the front-runners represents the largely liberal and secular youth who drove the uprising that toppled Mubarak's autocratic regime 14 months ago, dimming their hopes that the winner will bring dramatic democratic change in the country. Instead, what has emerged as the key question in next month's vote to choose the first president after nearly 30 years of rule by Mubarak is whether the country of 85 million takes a turn toward religious rule or remains a mainly secular state.

CAIRO - Egyptian authorities have denied permission to eight U.S.-based nonprofit groups to operate locally, including a center headed by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter that monitors elections, a ministry official said Monday. The Social Affairs Ministry official said the licenses were denied because the groups' activities "breach the country's sovereignty. " He did not elaborate. He spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. The move comes only a month ahead of presidential elections slated for May 23, the first since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak 14 months ago. Sanne van den Bergh, who heads the Carter Center in Egypt, said the group has not yet received formal notification of the decision.