Drone attack in Tel Aviv kills 1; Houthis claim responsibility
CAIRO – 19 July 2024: A drone strike on Tel Aviv, early Friday, killed at least one person and injured several others as the attack occurred without any air raid warning sirens being activated. This assault, which ranks among the most serious on Tel Aviv since the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza on 7 October, is part of the Houthis' escalation against targets associated with Israel in recent months. According to Yahya Sare'e, spokesperson for Yemen's Houthi armed forces, the attack was executed using a new drone named Jaffa. The Houthis have warned that they will continue targeting Tel Aviv in the coming period. “The Yemeni (Houthi) armed forces designate the occupied Jaffa area (Tel Aviv) as an unsafe zone and it shall remain a primary target within the range of our weaponry,” stated Sare'e.
Source:Egypt Today
July 19, 2024 19:49 UTC
Creating Prosperity and Enhancing Security for All: The Case of Egypt and Migrants
The Freedom and Prosperity Index by the Atlantic Council emphasises that freedom and inclusive policies are critical for achieving prosperity. The successful integration of these migrants into Egypt’s economy highlights the potential for economic freedom to create opportunities and foster prosperity. The Freedom and Prosperity Index outlines that countries with higher levels of freedom tend to experience better overall prosperity. The experiences of migrants in Egypt reflect the broader trend identified by the Freedom and Prosperity Index: economic freedom is a crucial driver of prosperity. In Egypt, security forces have periodically arrested individuals among the migrant population suspected of having ties to terrorist groups.
Source:Daily News Egypt
July 19, 2024 19:48 UTC
Global IT outage: flights grounded, businesses stalled, Egypt unaffected
A major IT outage affecting the Windows operating system has caused widespread disruption to businesses and services around the world. Numerous airlines, including Vueling, KLM, Ryanair, American Airlines, Delta, United, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Qantas, and Virgin Australia, experienced disruptions. Healthcare and Retail DisruptedThe outage impacted healthcare services, with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and hospitals in Germany facing disruptions. Train Services AffectedTrain services in the UK were disrupted by widespread IT problems, affecting operators such as Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express, and Great Northern. Egypt UnaffectedWhile the outage caused chaos globally, Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Minister of Communication confirmed that the country’s services were unaffected by the global IT outage.
Source:Daily News Egypt
July 19, 2024 19:41 UTC
Polio detected in Gaza sewage water, threatening new health disaster
The highly infectious polio virus has been found in sewage samples in Gaza, putting thousands of Palestinians at risk of contracting a disease that can cause paralysis. Gaza’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) both said they had carried out tests and found samples of the virus in sewage water. “Poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) had been identified at six locations in sewage samples collected on 23 June from Khan Younis and Deir al Balah,” WHO said Friday. It said no one has yet been treated in Gaza for paralysis or other symptoms of polio, but that residents must now “contend with the threat” posed by the disease. Various United Nations agencies – including UNICEF, the children’s fund, and UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees – are working with local health authorities to determine how far the virus has spread.
Source:Egypt Independent
July 19, 2024 19:01 UTC
Egypt discovers underwater royal tombs
A joint Egyptian-French archaeological mission, composed of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Paul Valéry University Montpellier, has uncovered a group of paintings, inscriptions, and miniature images of ancient kings, including Amenhotep III, Thutmose IV, Psamtik II, and Apries, during the implementation of the photographic archaeological survey project for the first time under the waters of the Nile in Aswan. The project aimed to study the rock inscriptions located between the Aswan Reservoir and the High Dam, which were discovered in the 1960s during the campaign to save the Nubian antiquities to build the High Dam and had not been studied before. Islam Salim, Director General of the Department of Underwater Antiquities at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the mission is currently working on producing 3D models of the discovered inscriptions and studying them; in preparation for their scientific publication to protect and preserve them. He added that the archaeological survey work indicates the possibility of discovering new inscriptions and historical information about the history of ancient Egypt in the 18th dynasty, especially the reign of King Thutmose IV and King Amenhotep III, as well as kings from the late period in the reign of King Psamtik II and King Apries. Hisham Al-Lithy, Head of the Sector for Conservation and Registration of Egyptian Antiquities at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, stated that the mission used all modern diving, archaeological survey, underwater photography and video, and photogrammetry techniques, as well as archaeological drawing, in order to identify and document the remaining rock inscriptions on the surface of the rocks, whether underwater or partially submerged in the Nile waters.
Source:Egypt Independent
July 19, 2024 04:29 UTC
Nile Air plane evacuated in Saudi Arabia after catching fire, no injuries
A Nile Air plane caught on fire during its takeoff from the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia early on Thursday morning. There were 177 people on board the plane, with 169 passengers and eight crew members. No injuries were reported from the incident. Specialized teams from the National Center for Transportation Safety began investigating the incident. The fire caused the cancellation of the takeoff and the evacuation of the plane’s passengers via emergency slides, while firefighting teams successfully extinguished the fire.
Source:Egypt Independent
July 18, 2024 23:56 UTC
PM says inflation rate down for fourth month in a row
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Wednesday the inflation rate decreased for the fourth month in a row and and this is very important indicator for the state. He said the drug shortage crisis will be resolved within three months. About external debt, Madbouly said Egyptians are concerned about the issue of external debt, but the numbers have decreased significantly according to data provided by the Central Bank. He promised the Egyptian citizen that the government would work in full swing to completely resolve the load-shedding plan before the end of this year. He said the volume of electricity consumption in the past period increased in unprecedented amounts, saying, “During the past few days, we exceeded the consumption of 37.5 gigabytes per day, an increase of 12 percent compared to last year.”.
Source:Egypt Independent
July 18, 2024 22:16 UTC
Egypt initiates international tender for petroleum product imports, increases gasoline quantities
CAIRO – 18 July 2024: According to sources interviewed by Asharq Bloomberg, Egypt is initiating an international tender in August for the importation of around 740,000 tons of petroleum products. The imported materials consist of 400,000 tons of diesel, 170,000 tons of gasoline, and 170,000 tons of butane. Egypt has observed a significant increase in the quantity of gasoline imports for August, approximately 90 percent higher than the usual amount during the first five months of the year. Additionally, the budget for the fiscal year 2024/2025 has allocated approximately EGP 154.5 billion to support petroleum products, marking a 29.4% increase compared to the previous year’s budget of EGP 119.2 billion. Each shipment has a capacity of roughly 145,000 tonnes, as confirmed by a government official interviewed by Al Arabiya Business.
Source:Egypt Today
July 18, 2024 17:13 UTC
Egypt condemns Israeli incursion into Al-Aqsa Mosque
Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned an Israeli minister’s incursion into the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in a statement on Thursday. The Palestinian WAFA news agency quoted witnesses as saying that Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed into the Jerusalem hilltop compound of al Aqsa Mosque accompanied by Israeli police. Egypt also condemns the Israeli Knesset’s resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, a move Egypt deems a clear defiance of international legitimacy and peace process frameworks. The Egyptian government called on Israel to respect the existing legal and historical status in Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is regarded as a purely Islamic endowment. Additionally, Egypt urged international parties to fulfil their responsibilities in protecting Palestinian rights, respecting Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic and Christian holy sites, and putting an end to repeated Israeli violations.
Source:Daily News Egypt
July 18, 2024 13:01 UTC
PM, health minister, Sohag governor apologize to young doctor
CAIRO - 18 July 2024: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, and Sohag Governor Abdel Fattah Serag all apologized to doctor Samar Anwar on Wednesday and Thursday after a social media campaign and Medical Syndicate pressure. He also saw a man holding his child, claiming doctor Anwar refused to check him. The doctor said she had asked the father to bring a ticket to admit the child and give him the medications needed. He accused her of having “no feelings or conscience.”Soon after a video of the incident was released, Anwar wrote on Facebook “is it normal to be treated that way and be insulted? Governor Serag received Anwar in his office, and the minister of health will received her on Monday.
Source:Egypt Today
July 18, 2024 11:56 UTC
Power-saving electricity cuts to end in Egypt on July 21 till mid-September
CAIRO – 17 July 2024: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stated in a press conference Wednesday that power-saving electricity cuts would end on Sunday, July 21, until mid-September, revealing that electricity use increased by 12 percent in 2024. The prime minister unveiled that additional 3-4 GW will be needed in 2025, and that was the reason the government would accelerate increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix. In a related context, he highlighted that the inflation rate had been falling for the fourth month in a row. "To put an end to the frequent increase in the prices of goods, the government is working on boosting supply by promoting investment opportunities," the Egyptian prime minister said. Madbouli similarly shed light on the fact that the government succeeded in reducing foreign debt from $168 billion to $160 billion.
Source:Egypt Today
July 17, 2024 21:19 UTC
Investment banks predict CBE to maintain unchanged rates for second consecutive meeting
Many investment banks anticipate that the CBE will maintain interest rates unchanged for the second consecutive time, following the previous decision made on 23 May. The CBE’s main interest rates serve as a crucial indicator for short-term pound interest rate direction. Several investment banks, including EFG Hermes, Beltone, Naeem, Zilla Capital, CI Capital, Al Ahly Pharos, Mubasher Financial Services, Thndr, and Arab African International Securities, expect the CBE to maintain interest rates unchanged for the second consecutive time. However, our interest rate model estimates that investors require a 36.1% interest rate on 12-month T-bills, aligning with the maximum yields requested by banks. A Reuters poll involving 18 analysts also predicts that the CBE will maintain interest rates, with one analyst forecasting a 100 basis points cut.
Source:Daily News Egypt
July 17, 2024 15:06 UTC
Egypt, Congo confer over updates of joint water project
CAIRO – 17 July 2024: Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Hesham al-Moqawad - accompanied by a delegation from the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources - met Monday with Congolese Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development Eve Bazaiba. The meeting tackled the updates of the implementation of the integrated water resources management project (GIRE) by an Egyptian grant. On her side, the Congolese minister expressed interest in increasing the number of joint projects with Egypt. Egypt had built a center for rain and flood forecast in Congo. Five months later, hundreds others also lost their lives because of the same kind of natural disasters.
Source:Egypt Today
July 17, 2024 11:12 UTC
Egypt is making great efforts to reach ceasefire in Gaza, Fatah official
CAIRO – 16 July 2024: Secretary of the Palestinian Fatah movement, Zaid Taim, said that Egypt is making great efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and resolve the Palestinian crisis. He added that It is a continuation of the genocidal war led and for which the Israeli occupation bears responsibility. The source further stressed that Israel's persistent pursuit of policies leading to further escalation carries grave consequences for the entire region. Additionally, Egypt has alerted relevant parties to the dangers of Israeli escalation in Gaza and the targeting of civilians, the source added. These warnings coincide with a deadly Israeli air attack on the Al-Mawasi refugee camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
Source:Egypt Today
July 17, 2024 11:08 UTC
Egypt condemns shooting attack in Oman's Muscat
CAIRO – 16 July 2024: Egypt on Tuesday expressed its condemnation of a shooting attack that took place in Al-Wadi Al-Kabir area in Oman's Muscat, leaving a number of people dead and injured. Posting on his X account, Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ahmed Abu Zeid said Egypt stands by the Sultanate of Oman at this critical time. The spokesman wished a speedy recovery for the wounded.
Source:Egypt Today
July 17, 2024 05:02 UTC