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January 7, 2010
Posted: 1739 GMT
Hello everyone, A few weeks ago, I traveled to Alexandria in Egypt to film the January edition of Inside the Middle East. This is not just another place, it is the city founded by Alexander the Great, which later became a vibrant, cosmopolitan urban center with Arabs, Greeks, Italians, Christians, Muslim and Jews. I stayed at the famous Cecil Hotel on Alexandria's corniche, where Agatha Christie, Henry Moore and the VIP's of this world once gathered to dine, vacation and raise a glass to the good life. Today, Alexandria, though still beautiful, has an air of faded glory. The buildings are neglected, the streets are quiet, the cafes have lost their sparkle. Despite significant projects like the new Alexandria library, designed to being back the great repository of world knowledge that the original institution was a couple of millennia ago, something about Alexandria has changed. It appears closed on itself. The foreigners have left. The energy and color multiculturalism brought to the city has evaporated. Something about Egypt has also changed. And in a country that used to be the poster child for the best of what ethnic and religious diversity has to offer, a drive-by shooting in a Southern Egyptian town is once again highlighting sectarian tensions that are tearing communities apart. At least six Coptic Christians were killed after attending Christmas mass, and clashes are keeping the town on edge today. We will bring you the latest on this story and what it means for the country. We will also go live to Yemen where there is new information on the connection between the suspect in a Christmas day bomb plot and a Yemeni cleric. Our Paula Newton will join us live from Sanaa. And our Chief White House correspondent Ed Henry will preview President Obama's address on intelligence failures leading up to the attempted airliner attack. Plus, if you're having a miserable time with the winter weather paralyzing large parts of the Northern Hemisphere, you're not alone. Guillermo will bring you the latest forecast. And if you haven't made a resolution yet for 2010, you may want to consider this one – advice featured in one of the most respected medical journals in the world: have more sex. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will join us to explain. See you at the IDesk! Hala Posted by: CNN Anchor, Hala Gorani |
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