Egypt

23 Nov 2020; MEMO: The number of passenger ships and yachts crossing the Suez Canal decreased 44.4 per cent over the last ten months compared to the same period in 2019, Al-Mal newspaper reported yesterday.

According to the newspaper, this was as a result of coronavirus lockdowns and the subsequent drop in global oil sales and tourism.

The newspaper reported that 164 passenger ships and yachts crossed the vital waterway between January and October, compared to 295 in the same period last year.

20 Nov 2020; MEMO: A prominent Egyptian rights group said security agents arrested its executive director on Thursday, days after two other senior members were detained under charges including joining a terrorist group, Reuters reports.

"e was detained by security forces from his home in Maadi and taken to an unknown location," the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) tweeted late on Thursday.

16 Nov 2020; MEMO: The unemployment rate in Egypt has fallen to 7.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2020, compared to 7.8 per cent in the same period last year, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said yesterday.

CAPMAS said the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 per cent in the second quarter from April to June of 2020 due to the economic repercussions of the coronavirus.

13 Nov 2020; MEMO: A man set himself on fire in Tahrir Square in central Cairo on Thursday and was being treated for burns at a hospital in the capital, security sources said, Reuters reports.

There was no immediate official comment on the incident.

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show the man filming himself as he walked along the street and then in the square, complaining about alleged corruption.

13 Nov 2020; MEMO: Egypt's central bank yesterday announced that the sale of 21 billion Egyptians pounds ($1.3 billion) worth of treasury bills has been launched to cover the country's budget deficit.

In an official statement, the bank said that the value of the first offering amounted to nine billion Egyptian pounds ($575.3 million) for 182 days, and the second is 12 billion Egyptian pounds ($767.1 million) for 357 days.

13 Nov 2020; MEMO: The Egyptian government has hired a lobbying firm following the success of Joe Biden in the US elections, reports Foreign Lobby.

The $65,000 monthly contract was signed between the Egypt's Ambassador to the US, Motaz Zahran, and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Under their agreement the firm will "provide government relations services and strategic consul on matters before the US government."

CAIRO (AP) — France’s top diplomat visited Egypt on Sunday in an effort to calm tensions with the Muslim world following anti-French protests over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and three Islamic extremist attacks on France.

Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke at a press conference amid meetings with Egyptian political and religious leaders, saying that France is fighting against terror and extremism, not Islam.

CAIRO, Nov 8 (NNN-MENA) – The Egyptian Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s demolition of a Palestinian village, in the occupied West Bank, describing the move as “violation of international legitimacy.”

Such Israeli practices pose “obstacles to the two-state solution and the chances of reaching a comprehensive and just peace and achieving stability in the region,” said Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ahmed Hafez in a statement.

CAIRO, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Egypt began on Saturday the second stage of the parliamentary elections in 13 out of the country's 27 provinces, including the capital Cairo, Suez, Port Said, Ismailia, North Sinai and South Sinai.

Out of the total 63 million eligible voters in Egypt, more than 31 million are entitled to cast their ballots in the two-day second and last stage to elect their representatives in the country's legislative body, or the House of Representatives.

CAIRO, Nov 5 (NNN-MENA) – The water ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, yesterday, failed to agree on a methodology for completing their negotiations over Ethiopia’s giant Nile River dam in the coming stage, said the Egyptian water ministry in a statement.

The three ministers held a virtual meeting earlier in the day to discuss the optimal framework for managing the ongoing negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which are held under the auspices of the African Union (AU).