Egyptian Actor Gamil Ratib Laid to Rest

File photo: Actor Gamil Ratib in Cairo, Egypt. AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
File photo: Actor Gamil Ratib in Cairo, Egypt. AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
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Egyptian Actor Gamil Ratib Laid to Rest

File photo: Actor Gamil Ratib in Cairo, Egypt. AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
File photo: Actor Gamil Ratib in Cairo, Egypt. AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

Egyptian actor Gamil Ratib was laid to rest on Wednesday after he died in a Cairo hospital of an unspecified illness at age 92.

Ratib had been receiving treatment in Paris before returning to Egypt and being admitted to a private hospital until his death at dawn Wednesday.

The roles of the Franco-Egyptian actor as villain or aristocrat have made him a household name across the Arab world.

His career began in the 1940s when he landed a role in an Arabic adaptation of "The Three Musketeers." His scenes were removed because his parents objected to him acting.

Ratib traveled to study law in Paris, but he kept on acting and joined the storied "Comédie Française" before his big break came with a role in the 1956 movie "Trapeze" with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. Another milestone was his part as an Arab in the 1962 classic "Lawrence of Arabia."

A dual French and Egyptian citizen, Ratib returned to Egypt in the 1970s when his leading roles in hit movies and TV dramas earned him celebrity status.



Eel-eating Japan Opposes EU Call for More Protection

People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
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Eel-eating Japan Opposes EU Call for More Protection

People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Japan's agriculture minister said Friday the country would oppose any call by the European Union to add eels to an endangered species list that would limit trade in them.

Eel is eaten worldwide but is particularly popular in Japan, where it is called "unagi" and traditionally served grilled after being covered in a sticky-sweet sauce.

Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters that the country carefully manages stock levels of the Japanese eel in cooperation with neighboring China, Taiwan and South Korea.

"There is a sufficient population, and it faces no extinction risk due to international trade," AFP quoted him as saying.

Japanese media have reported that the EU could soon propose that all eel species be added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which limits trade of protected animals.

There are 19 species and subspecies of eel, many of them now threatened due to a range of factors including pollution and overfishing.

In 2014, the Japanese eel was listed as endangered, but not critically endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which cited factors including habitat loss, overfishing, pollution and migration barriers.

Protecting the animal is complicated by their complex life cycle, which unfolds over a vast area, and the many unknowns about how they reproduce.