Egypt Boosts Police Salaries

Egypt's interim president ordered a pay raise for police on Wednesday, after some of their forces joined factory workers, doctors and pharmacists increasingly on strike over the past month. Police will receive a 30 percent salary increase as hazard pay starting in March. More than 22,000 workers have been on strike for over ten days, demanding the removal of the government-operated Textile Holding Company's president Fouad Abdel Aleem and higher wages. Doctors around the country have also been striking for months now, demanding higher salaries. After a partial strike of all hospitals the Ministry of the Health said in a statement that the total rate of participation was 17 percent, while union leaders said that 45 percent of hospitals had taken part.