Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi speaks alongside Coptic Pope Tawadros II (left) during a Christmas Eve mass at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Cairo on January 6, 2018. Christians in Egypt have long complained of discrimination and have increasingly come under attack in recent years. Khaled Desouki / AFP
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi speaks alongside Coptic Pope Tawadros II (left) during a Christmas Eve mass at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Cairo on January 6, 2018. Christians in EgyptShow more

Egypt gives 15 people suspended jail sentences over church attack



An Egyptian court has given 15 people one-year suspended jail sentences over an attack on an unlicensed Coptic Church in a village south of Cairo.

The perpetrators were each fined 500 Egyptian pounds (Dh104) on charges of inciting sectarian strife, harming national unity and vandalising private property. They can appeal.

The Giza misdemeanour court also fined the owner of the building, a Christian man, 360,000 Egyptian pounds for turning his residency into a church without a licence.

Dozens of Muslims from the village of Kafr Al Waslin attacked the church after Friday prayers on December 22 last year, smashing windows and breaking everything inside.

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The Archdiocese of Atfih had applied to legalise the church, which housed worshippers for 15 years after a church building law was passed in 2016.

Christians in Egypt have long complained of discrimination and have increasingly come under attack in recent years.

Egyptian authorities are also battling a stubborn Islamist insurgency, mostly concentrated in the remote Sinai Peninsula, which has claimed several attacks on the country's large Christian minority.

Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away

It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.

The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.

But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.

At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.

The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.

After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.

Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.

And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.

At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.

And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.

* Agence France Presse

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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The six points:

1. Ministers should be in the field, instead of always at conferences

2. Foreign diplomacy must be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation

3. Emiratisation is a top priority that will have a renewed push behind it

4. The UAE's economy must continue to thrive and grow

5. Complaints from the public must be addressed, not avoided

6. Have hope for the future, what is yet to come is bigger and better than before

Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
  1. Join parent networks
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