Egypt to crack down on 'fake' weather reports

[DJKeefy]

Rain of terror: Egypt to crack down on 'fake' weather reports.

Donald Trump may routinely rail against the “fake news media”, but Egypt is going one better by cracking down on “fake” weather reports.

The head of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority has said it is the only government body authorised to make predictions about the country’s weather, and is preparing a draft law to ban unauthorised forecasts.

Ahmed Abdel-Al, the EMA chairman, said during a television interview that the bill seeks to punish anyone “talking about meteorology, or anyone using a weather forecasting device without our consent, or anyone who raises confusion about the weather”. The EMA is Egypt’s primary, if not sole, source of domestic information on the country’s weather patterns.

Egypt’s media is under increasing pressure, with frequent accusations of fake news levelled at reporters and outlets, even those reporting in favour of the state. But false reports about the weather are rare, except perhaps for the annual repetition of doctored photos showing snow covering the pyramids and sphinx of Giza.

Weather reports have occasionally become political, however, such as when Egypt’s interior ministry claimed in 2015 that flooding in the coastal city of Alexandria was caused not by infrastructural failings, but by members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood blocking drains with cement.

Timothy Kaldas, of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy thinktank, said: “Regardless of whether or not this proposed law affects anything, it reflects the government’s view that it has a right to regulate any and all information, even information that should be a product of apolitical scientific analysis.”

In March, Egypt’s public prosecution office set up a hotline for citizens to report incidents of fake news in the media. The Egyptian parliament also approved an anti-cybercrime law, giving authorities the right to shut down or block any websites that “endanger” the Egyptian economy or national security.

Egypt has blocked at least 497 websites since May 2017, according to the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression.

The country has experienced some unusual and extreme weather in recent weeks, including heavy rainfall and fierce sandstorms. Residents of New Cairo, one of the capital’s wealthier suburbs, were sent into a panic after poor infrastructure coupled with heavy rain turned streets into rivers. Officials from Egypt’s Administrative Control Authority were accused of being unprepared for the conditions, and were reportedly suspended and referred to public prosecutors.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... ssociation

[DJKeefy]

I will predict it will be sunny in Luxor next week and the week after that and so on......

[Major Thom]

Surely they would be better shutting down all media and TV, then there would be NO FAKE NEWS!! I notice there was no mention of where the main FAKE NEWS comes from.....

[Dusak]

I suppose that we didn't have the mother mother of all sandstorms yesterday afternoon. Just hope the estimated ten million smart phone weather forecasts are all in sync.

[DJKeefy]

Just hope the estimated ten million smart phone weather forecasts are all in sync. [emoji38]

Is the estimate for Luxor only [emoji38]



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[crewmeal]

I thought it was only The Daily Express that gave out fake forecasts. According to them the UK is going bake next week.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/ ... Office-sun

I did manage to scrape the ice off the windscreen this morning!

[Major Thom]

Its all the index finger in the air job for the weather, or somewhere at least!!

[A-Four]

i am a little surprised at The Guardian's write up as posted by DJKeefy above. It may not be generally known, but there is written in law which goes back over a hundred years, that if the official temperature rises above a set point, then all work must cease in Egypt.

The are similar laws here in the U.K., though they refer to the opposite end of the scale, under the various Factory Acts, the law states there is a minimum temperature where staff can refuse to work.

With regards Egypt, it is the government's own Met Office, that is responsible for the authorised forecast, which in all my time in Egypt never went over the authorised limit,......I wonder why ? But then again I am sure the government would not want loads of unauthorised figure being set up against it.

All this may sound silly but again, back in the U.K. The B.B.C. no longer use the official forecast which was supplied by the Met Office (the oldest forecasters in the world), instead since March 2018 it has used a company called Meteo Group, however the Government and Lloyd's Insurance still use the Met Office as the authorised version.

[Horus]

The are similar laws here in the U.K., though they refer to the opposite end of the scale, under the various Factory Acts, the law states there is a minimum temperature where staff can refuse to work.

No there is not, the law only states that as a guidance it suggests a minimum of 16ºC or 13ºC if employees are doing physical work.
It only requires that employers stick to health and safety at work law such as keeping the temperature at a comfortable level & providing clean and fresh air

[A-Four]

The are similar laws here in the U.K., though they refer to the opposite end of the scale, under the various Factory Acts, the law states there is a minimum temperature where staff can refuse to work.

No there is not, the law only states that as a guidance it suggests a minimum of 16ºC or 13ºC if employees are doing physical work.
It only requires that employers stick to health and safety at work law such as keeping the temperature at a comfortable level & providing clean and fresh air

Yes, you are correct Horus, I was looking at an old Factory Act 1961, which applied when a situation occurred around 1982 in a warehouse that had once been a rolling mill at British Steel Sheffield. I remember it well as this was the last place I ever worked at in the U.K. When it closed in the same year, but yes you are correct even on the 1961 Act.

Some bright spark workman reported the unhealthy conditions. The first thing I noticed was a tall man wearing a rather clean red safety hat with the words,....H.M. Inspectorate. I do remember the foreman looked as though he had crapped himself, and managers who were running to catch up to the inspector, were perhaps just about to. I also remember the temperature was way below the suggested marker.

After this incident I was told that the factory Inspector made several un-welcomed visits, to check various standard required to the great annoyance of the management,......a little similar to those who fail to give correct information on a Schedule D tax return,......such officials are known to peruse you to the grave,.......and beyond.

[Dusak]

I remember being told when first coming to live here that there was such a temperature working law in operation. It was stated that if temperatures ever went beyond 50/51c then workers could stop working. When the large tower was erected facing the HSBC bank which showed the real time temperature, I saw a higher reading of this on several occasions over the years, but work carried on regardless. The tower is no longer there. As for working in such heat, the working temperature of a glass production tank is around 1,500 degrees. We were paid very good money to work on it, loved it. [the money]

[Major Thom]

Was that Tinsley A4

[A-Four]

Was that Tinsley A4

I would normally send you a PM, but I still, a few years down the line now, have no such facility,......anyhow......


No, this was Tinsley Wire Co, which was almost opposite Dunford Hadfield, that whole area is now a vast shopping centre. I worked at the old Steel Peech and Towzer site, which included the huge melting shop and equally massive bar mill, which as I am sure you are aware, was opposite Brinsworth Strip Mills,........and yes, I should have said Rotherham rather than Sheffield, though other than you and I few know the old town.