UNESCO executives voted Monday to make an Egyptian ex-antiquities minister the UN culture body's next leader, as it grapples with accusations of pro-Israel bias that prompted the United States to say it would quit the organisation.
The board voted to appoint Khaled el-Enany, Egypt's former antiquities and tourism minister, to replace French director-general Audrey Azoulay after her two four-year terms in office.
By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) -The United Nations' cultural agency selected former Egyptian tourism and antiquities minister Khaled El-Enany as its new chief on Monday, handing him the keys to revive UNESCO's fortunes after the U.S. withdrew from it for a second time.
El-Enany, 54, was up against Édouard Firmin Matoko, 69, of Republic of Congo, but had been the favourite to win the secret ballot for a four-year term, having launched his campaign early in April 2023.
He had since built strong regional backing and international alliances.
PARIS (Reuters) -The United Nations' cultural agency is set to select Egypt's Khaled El-Enany as its new director general, two diplomatic sources said on Monday.
UNESCO's executive board voted 55 to 2 in favour of El-Enany, a former tourism and antiquities minister, against Édouard Firmin Matoko, 69, of Republic of Congo. The United States did not vote.
It will now be put forward for approval to UNESCO's 194 members in November.
(Reporting by John Irish, Editing by Dominique Vidalon)
By Dina Sakr and Mohamed Ezz
CAIRO (Reuters) -Rising Nile waters inundated homes and fields in northern Egypt over the weekend, forcing residents to move by boat and intensifying a war of words between Cairo and Addis Ababa over whether Ethiopia's giant Nile dam has worsened seasonal floods.
In the Nile Delta village of Dalhamo, in Menoufia Governorate, some 50 km (31 miles) northwest of Cairo, men paddled wooden boats through narrow lanes where water lapped at the walls of their homes.
MILAN (Reuters) -Authorities in the northern Italian city of Bologna have banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration planned for Tuesday, citing the risk of unrest, following days of protests and clashes with police across Italy, a local representative of the Interior Minister said.
The Giovani Palestinesi (Palestinian Youth) Italia group had scheduled demonstrations in the cities of Bologna and Turin to mark the second anniversary of a Hamas militant attack in Israel that killed 1,200 people.
By Jonathan Saul
LONDON (Reuters) -With the Jewish holiday of Sukkot approaching on Monday night, Rabbi Ben Kurzer wishes he did not need high security for his congregants to say their prayers after last week's attack at a synagogue in Manchester left two Jewish worshippers dead.
"Sadly, for a long time now, we have been slowly upping our security more and more," Kurzer said, as the light streamed in from the stained glass windows in his London synagogue.
"We would love to live in a country where we didn't have to do that quite as much."
TEL AVIV (Reuters) -German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to halt the war in Gaza must be achieved by the start of next week at the latest but added that all the other issues would need time.
The first phase aims at a ceasefire, release of hostages and prisoners, restraint in the military conflict and bringing in supplies to Gaza - all of which are feasible, said Wadephul.
DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syria on Monday published preliminary results of an indirect vote for a new parliament, a key step in the shift away from ousted leader Bashar al-Assad but one that has sparked concerns about inclusivity and fairness under the country's new leaders.
Sunday's vote saw around 6,000 members of regional electoral colleges choose candidates from pre-approved lists, part of a process to produce nearly two-thirds of the new 210-seat body. President Ahmed al-Sharaa will later select the remaining third.
By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -The Vatican's top diplomat sharply criticised Israel's "ongoing massacre" in Gaza in comments published on Monday - one of the Catholic Church's strongest condemnations of Israel's war against the militant group Hamas.
In an interview tied to the second anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, Cardinal Pietro Parolin also called those attacks "inhuman and indefensible" and urged Hamas to free remaining hostages.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
(Reuters) -Khalil Al-Hayya, the senior Hamas official who survived an Israeli raid on Qatar last month, was heading back to indirect talks with Israeli counterparts on Monday over President Donald Trump's plan to end the Gaza War.
Hayya, who lost a son in the current Gaza war and two sons in previous conflicts, has been based with other Hamas leaders in Doha.
