Saudi Arabia’s king deposes crown prince
In what many are calling a surprise power-shift, Mohammed bin Salman has been made first in line to succeed the king, stripping the now former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef of his title and his roles as deputy prime minister and interior minister. “This is a much more rapid consolidation of power than was expected,” CNN Middle East Correspondent John Defterios said. “It gives allies and the Kingdom’s counterparts a clear indication of who is in charge today and who will lead the Kingdom, potentially for decades.”Defterios added that many key reform policies currently in place — such as the Vision 2030 plan and a planned IPO by Saudi oil giant Aramco — were already being driven by Mohammed bin Salman. Barak Seener, a Middle East associate fellow at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute, said as successor, bin Salman “will have greater influence to implement social and economic modernization efforts.”He predicted this will “spill over into Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy,” with the new crown prince favoring a more confrontational stance with Iran in particular. “As the Trump administration has strategically realigned the US away from Iran and towards Sunni states, bin Salman is the ideal leader for the US to coordinate defense and security efforts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Gulf,” Seener said.
Source:Egypt Independent
June 21, 2017 09:00 UTC
Egypt’s first ladies team takes part in automotive championship finals - Daily News Egypt
After the match, a surprise match took place between the media team and Egypt’s ladies team. The final was played between BMW and Ssang Yong team. Aboul Fotouh and Zaghloul received the Egypt Automotive medals in honor of their active participation and support of the championship. After honoring the companies that took part in the championship, Egypt Automotive and Shell Oil then honored the players that participated. Tamer El Anani, the general manager of Ssang Yong, together with his team, received the championship cup and celebrated winning first place.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 21, 2017 09:00 UTC
CIT focuses on innovation in its future strategy - Daily News Egypt
The Chamber of Information Technology and Communication (CIT) is adopting a number of key axes in its future strategy, mainly encouraging creativity and innovation among all companies, said Walid Gad, chairperson of the CIT. He added that the chamber will focus on maximising the financial capabilities of member companies, cooperating with various civil society organisations working in the local market, and supporting the executive body of the chamber. In addition, the chamber will allocate up to 10% of its budget to working groups, provide detailed studies of the target markets, and support the increase of various financial resources. The CIT also aims at organising commercial visits to foreign markets within the “Bridges” programme, as well as receiving similar visits from foreign companies. The chamber also seeks to study targeted markets for expansion and implement an electronic portal to promote the services and products of the member companies.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 21, 2017 07:30 UTC
3mamin app seeks to attract EGP 1.2m in 2018 - Daily News Egypt
3mamin application plans to have 40,000 customers by the end of this year and attract investments worth EGP 1.2m by next year. Mohamed Al Sawaf, CEO of the e-book directory 3mamin, said they recently added a book delivery service to customers, in cooperation with Aramex. He added that the shipping prices reach around EGP 22.5 inside Cairo and Giza, while prices reach EGP 28 in Alexandria, as prices vary according to each province. Sawaf revealed that about EGP 290,000 of investments have been injected in the application since its establishment. The Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC) also presented legal and financial consultations worth EGP 120,000.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 21, 2017 06:56 UTC
elmenus plans to expand in Africa, Middle East in 2018 - Daily News Egypt
The site elmenus seeks to expand in Africa and the Middle East in the next year, after attracting $1.5m in investments from Algebra Ventures, Egypt’s largest venture capital fund. Amer Allam, CEO of elmenus, said that the website currently receives about 1 million visitors per month. Allam, CEO of elmenus, added that Algebra Ventures still has the governing stake in the website. Allam pointed out that the website faces a challenge in recruiting specialised workers, where it takes a long time. He concluded that elmenus injected investments of $50,000, in addition to the Algebra Ventures’ investment.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 21, 2017 06:22 UTC
Testing the waters of cultural identity - Daily News Egypt
Khalid Alabaih was one of six very different panelists from entirely different cultural backgrounds reflecting on “Culture. Görgen finds the millions of euros spent on cultural activity in Germany misplaced, targeting only the top 10 percent of wage earners. A search for cultural diversity in Germany, said Görgen, must lead to its factory halls. Finally, cultural identity is embodied by a historical figure like Ludwig van Beethoven, who has long since transcended any initial identification with German or Austrian culture. Although fostered by two institutional identities, this too undercuts traditional cultural thoroughfares of communication – and generates new forms of expression.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 21:22 UTC
Douglas Costa pays the price for inconsistency as Juventus prepare to swoop - Daily News Egypt
Douglas Costa appears to be on the verge of swapping Bayern Munich for Juventus. However, the decision to drop him was not undeserving given how Costa’s form has tailed off over the past year. Consistency is the very least expected at Bayern and Costa has failed to produce on a regular basis under Ancelotti. “We received permission from Bayern Munich to meet with the player and his advisors. While the deal demonstrates good business by Bayern, Juventus are acquiring a player whose inconsistency overshadows his undeniable ability.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 19:30 UTC
FIFA's Infantino 'extremely happy' with maligned VAR - Daily News Egypt
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has called video assistant refereeing “the future of modern football,” lauding its role in the Confederations Cup to date. Infantino was in fact praising the landmark of the video assistant referee (VAR) being used at all Confederations Cup games as a prelude to the technology’s World Cup debut next summer. “I am extremely happy with VAR so far. “This is what VAR is all about … What fans have been waiting for over so many years is finally happening. “The VAR tests during this Confederations Cup are also helping us to improve the processes and fine-tune communication,” he said.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 18:45 UTC
Germany vs. Australia: Five things we learned - Daily News Egypt
Germany beat Australia in a five-goal game giving the coach plenty to digest. Against Australia, he attempted the most tackles (winning 69 percent when Germany, as a team, won fewer) and took a game-high seven shots, scoring what proved to be the winner just after the break. Winning waysGermany, albeit a much-changed Germany, were good in just enough passages of play to beat Australia. Yet despite Sandro Wagner missing two good chances in the first half, both central defenders too often looking passive rather than applying pressure, and Leno’s errors, Germany won. At 28 and an attacking midfielder, Stindl was always going to struggle to be a part of the Germany team, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, here he is.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 18:45 UTC
Investigation reveals new information in “Fayoum special committee” case affiliated to MB - Daily News Egypt
The state security prosecution concluded its investigation regarding special committees in Fayoum affiliated with outlawed Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group. The investigation affirmed that members of the committee belonged to the outlawed group and handled 29 terror attacks that included bombings and assassinations. The investigations also proved that a number of the defendants participated in the Rabaa and Al-Nahda protests in 2013. The Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in was violently dispersed by the state security forces in August 2013, and hundreds were arrested, most of whom are currently being tried. The Muslim Brotherhood was labeled as a terrorist organisation in 2013, following a court decision that banned the group and held them accountable under Article 86 of the Egyptian penal code.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 15:11 UTC
Administrative Court annuls Urgent Matters Court decision on maritime demarcation agreement - Daily News Egypt
The Administrative Court nullified on Tuesday the Court of Urgent Matters’ decision to annul the former’s annulment of the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation agreement, reported local media. In April, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters nullified a previous court ruling by the Administrative Court annulling the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation agreement that aims to transfer sovereignty of the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the parliament approved the agreement on June 14. The Supreme Constitutional Court is scheduled to review the conflict towards the agreement on July 30. The maritime demarcation agreement was signed between Egypt and Saudi Arabia during King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s visit to Egypt last April.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 15:11 UTC
Growth in broad money, credit to decelerate rapidly in coming months: IIF report - Daily News Egypt
A recent report issued by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) expected the growth in broad money and credit in Egypt to decelerate rapidly in the coming months, largely due to the base effect and helped by the tight monetary stance. The report said that a 1% increase in interest rates would slow the growth in broad money by 0.5%. Growth in credit to the economy is projected to decelerate to 14%, and broad money will also subside to 13% year on-year (y-o-y) by December 2017. Following the sharp depreciation of the pound, the share of foreign currency deposits in total deposits grew from 18% in October 2016 to 30% in March 2017. Similarly, the foreign currency’s total credit grew from 24% in October 2016 to 36% in March 2017.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 15:11 UTC
Banque du Caire, Inmaa signs joint venture agreement to finance SMEs - Daily News Egypt
Banque du Caire and Inmaa Financial Leasing signed a cooperation agreement to finance small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Chairperson of Banque du Caire Mounir El Zahid said that this agreement comes within the bank’s keenness to support these projects and provide distinguished financing mechanisms that meet all finance requirements of all sectors, whether through traditional credit facilities or through the initiative launched by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to finance SMEs. Tarek El-Fayoumi, managing director of Inmaa Financial Leasing, said that the cooperation with Banque du Caire is the first cooperation between a bank and a financial leasing company in Egypt. Banque du Caire deputy chairperson Soha Soliman said that the cooperation with Inmaa facilitates access to funding for SMEs and small investors in order to enable them to expand and spread, noting that it also capitalizes on the benefit of the CBE’s SME funding initiative. She pointed out that Banque du Caire is very keen on funding SMEs, considering their ability to fund the national economy across all sectors, achieve financial inclusion, and expand the client base in order to merge the informal economy with the formal economy.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 15:11 UTC
GMF 2017: Global in-focus perspectives on diversity between populism and turmoil - Daily News Egypt
As the 10th Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum kicked off in Bonn on Monday—and will take place between 19 and 21 June—discussions brought a variety of topics of global concern and perspectives from experts around the world under this year’s theme “Identity and Diversity”. Deutsche Welle’s general director Peter Limbourg addressed common international challenges facing the media in his opening speech. International broadcasters should never take sides, with only one exception: when it comes to human rights,” Limbourg said. To Laura Wagenknecht, a freelance journalist at Nuba Reports, the right-wing narrative is based more on easy straight solutions that don’t explore the deepest part of the problem. “Nobody has the answer on how to manage diversity, especially given security concerns challenging pluralism,” argued Matthews.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 14:48 UTC
Banks, EGX, government departments leave for 3 days starting Sunday for Eid al-Fitr - Daily News Egypt
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will suspend all of their bank operations operating in the local market for a period of three days starting from Sunday 25 June 2017 until Tuesday 27 June for the Eid al-Fitr holiday period. According to CBE’s, banks are set to return to work on Wednesday 28 June. The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) also has decided to stop trading on the market during that holiday. Banks have already started preparing early for the leave, where they have maintained their ATMs. Banks are also prepared to feed them with sufficient liquidity to meet their customers’ liquidity requirements during the holiday period.
Source:Daily News Egypt
June 20, 2017 14:48 UTC