Belgium on Saturday sent Egypt two ancient Egyptian artifacts that had been smuggled out of the country. A statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that this is part of Egypt’s tireless efforts to restore all antiquities smuggled abroad to preserve the nation’s heritage. The Foreign Ministry cooperated with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Office of the Public Prosecutor to help bring the artifacts bring. The statement also credited the continued efforts of the Egyptian embassy in Brussels with the competent Belgian authorities to retrieve the smuggled artifacts. Baqly stressed that this event represents the distinguished relations between Egypt and Belgium, and paves the way for more coordination especially in recovering smuggled Egyptian antiquities.

CAIRO-2 October 2021: The countdown for the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup started with the preliminary squads of the participating teams starting to be unveiled ahead of the first edition of the competition. Qatari capital, Doha, hosts the tournament between 30 November and 18 December as a prelude for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Egypt national team head coach, Carlos Queiroz, named a 35-man provisional squad for the competition, which included 34 players from the Egyptian Premier in addition to Ahmed Hegzai, who plays for Al Ittihad Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Egypt’s provisional squad for the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup:Goalkeepers:Mohamed El Shenawy – Mohamed Abo Gabal – Mohamed Sobhy – Mohamed BassamDefenders:Ahmed Hegzai – Mahmoud Hamdy El Wensh – Ahmed Fathy - Akram Tawfik – Baher El Mohamady – Yasser Ibrahim – Ayman Ashraf – Ahmed Fattouh – Mohamed Hamdy – Hussein El Sayed – Mahmoud Alaa – Ali Gabr – Ahmed Tawfik – Mohamed HanyMidfielders:Amr El Soulia - Tarek Hamed – Hamdy Fathy – Ibrahim Adel – Ramadan Sobhy – Ahmed Sayed Zizo – Abdullah El Said – Mohamed Magdy Afsha – Mohanad Lashin – Nabil Emad Donga – Salah Mohsen – Ahmed Refaat – Hussein El Shahat – Mostafa Fathy – Ahmed SamirStrikers:Mohamed Sherif – Hossam HassanEgypt plays in Group D of the competition alongside Algeria, Lebanon and Sudan.

Participants are seen in silhouette as they look at a screen showing a world map with climate anomalies during World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, France, December 8, 2015. REUTERSCAIRO - 2 October 2021: Environment Minister Yasmine Foad chaired a session on financing climate change which was held in preparation for the 2021 United Nations climate change conference (COP26). In a statement on Saturday, her ministry said the talks tackled bones of contention with regard to financing climate change efforts, while taking into consideration the standpoints presented by countries and parties taking part in the event. After the session, the recommendations on mobilizing climate finance were referred to the conference's head in preparation for writing a final report to the conference. “Climate change has become a terrifying reality that calls for am immediate action to confront it,” he said.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatari citizens voted for the first time in elections for an advisory council on Saturday — a long-delayed step that aims to give people in the autocratic sheikhdom slightly more say over how they’re ruled. Qatar first introduced plans for the legislative elections in its 2003 constitution, but authorities repeatedly postponed the vote. The country’s electoral law, which distinguishes between born and naturalized Qatari citizens, and bars the latter from electoral participation, has drawn criticism from rights groups. Foreign workers outnumber Qatari citizens in the tiny country of 2.8 million nearly nine to one. The move brings Qatar more in line with the United Arab Emirates, where citizens vote for a limited number of seats in a consultative parliament that advises the government.

CAIRO - 2 October 2021: As part of celebrations of the Armed Forces marking the glorious 6th of October victory, Defense and Military Production Minister Mohamed Zaki attended on Saturday the concluding phase of "Raad 32" with live ammunition. The drills were carried out by units of the Western Military Zone over the past days. For his part, Zaki expressed Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Abdel Fattah El Sisi's appreciation of efforts exerted by the military personnel in the Western Military Zone to preserve Egypt's national security. Meanwhile, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Mohamed Farid attended one of the main stages of "Raad 32" maneuver. Farid hailed the training and spirit of army men as well as their teamwork while carrying out their duty in protecting Egypt’s national security.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees is facing an “existential” budget crisis and appealing for urgent funding of $120 million to keep essential education, healthcare and other services running, the agency’s chief said Friday. He said UNRWA’s uncertain funding has generated anxiety among Palestinian refugees that the “lifeline” provided by the agency could be weakened, and a feeling of being abandoned by the international community. UNRWA also has a separate emergency budget which provides humanitarian aid to Gaza and Syria, he said. This year that budget was around $500 million, and he said it will probably be similar in 2022. There are now 5.7 million Palestinian refugees, including their children and grandchildren, but Lazzarini said UNRWA only helps the 550,000 in school and 2.8 million who have health benefits.

There are different counting methods.”But Western health experts say the antibody tests so popular in Russia are unreliable either for diagnosing COVID-19 or assessing immunity to it. In Moscow and the surrounding region, millions of antibody tests have been done at state-run clinics that offered them for free. Across the country, dozens of chains of private labs and clinics also offer a wide variety of antibody tests for COVID-19, as well as tests for other medical conditions. Antibody tests for COVID-19 were first widely publicized in Moscow in May 2020, shortly after Russia lifted its only nationwide lockdown, although many restrictions remained in place. Dr. Simon Clarke, an associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading in England, said antibody tests shouldn’t influence any health-related decisions.

DUBAI, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Hours after the world expo fair opened in Dubai on Friday, Afghanistan’s exhibition remained closed to visitors in a sign of the challenges facing the country’s new Taliban rulers. But the country’s pavilion, which was organized by the previous Afghan government before it was driven from power by the Taliban last month, remained unfinished and closed to visitors on Friday. A security guard at the building where the pavilion is located said they had not seen any one work there in weeks. The representative referred further comment to the Afghan pavilion “team” but did not say who that was. The Dubai government and the United Arab Emirates foreign ministry did not respond to Reuters queries.

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 700,000 late Friday — a number greater than the population of Boston. The milestone is deeply frustrating to doctors, public health officials and the American public, who watched a pandemic that had been easing earlier in the summer take a dark turn. And of those vaccinated people who died with breakthrough infections, most caught the virus from an unvaccinated person, he said. “I remember when we broke that 100,000-death mark, people just shook their heads and said ‘Oh, my god,’” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “Then we said, ‘Are we going to get to 200,000?’ Then we kept looking at 100,000-death marks,” and finally surpassed the estimated 675,000 American deaths from the 1918-19 flu pandemic.

Oct 1 (Reuters) – Worldwide deaths related to COVID-19 surpassed 5 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, with unvaccinated people particularly exposed to the virulent Delta strain. More than half of all global deaths reported on a seven-day average were in the United States, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and India. While it took just over a year for the COVID-19 death toll to hit 2.5 million, the next 2.5 million deaths were recorded in just under eight months, according to a Reuters analysis. An average of 8,000 deaths were reported daily across the world over the last week, or around five deaths every minute. More than half of the world has yet to receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Our World in Data.

TOKYO, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Japan’s incoming prime minister, Fumio Kishida, is set to keep current Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi and current Education Minister Koichi Hagiuda in his cabinet, the Mainichi newspaper reported. Kishi, 62, and Hagiuda, 58, are both in the Hosoda faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which is closely related to former premier Shinzo Abe. Among other significant appointments, current finance minister Taro Aso’s brother-in-law Shunichi Suzuki is set to replace him in the post, according to the daily Yomiuri. Little-known Suzuki is a former Olympics minister and son of former premier Zenko Suzuki, and belongs to Aso’s LDP faction. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is set to retain his post, while Hirokazu Matsuno, who served as education minister under former prime minister Shinzo Abe, is likely to become chief cabinet secretary, media have reported.

Auckland’s 1.7 million residents are expecting a government decision on Monday about whether it will remain sealed off from the rest of New Zealand. Daily case numbers have fluctuated between 8 and 45 in recent days, with the total from the outbreak in the city standing at 1,295 cases. Around 1,000 people rallied in the city, organised by Destiny Church, a Pentecostal fundamentalist Christian movement, demanded “freedom from lockdown”, New Zealand media reported. Amid mounting pressure, Ardern has said her strategy was never to have zero cases, but to aggressively stamp out the virus. She said strict lockdowns can end if 90% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, contrasting with the current 46%.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has pledged at the Capitol to “get it done” as Democrats strained to rescue a scaled-back version of his $3.5 trillion government-overhaul plan and salvage a related public works bill after days of frantic negotiations. Biden huddled with House Democrats on their home ground in a private meeting Friday that was part instructional, part morale booster for the tattered caucus of lawmakers, telling them he wanted both bills passed regardless of the time it takes. He discussed a compromise topline of $1.9 trillion to more than $2 trillion for his bigger vision, according to lawmakers in the room. But it was clear they are all now in it for the long haul as the White House and its allies in Congress prepared for protracted negotiations. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s six minutes, six days or six weeks — we’re going to get it done,” Biden declared to reporters as he left his late-afternoon meeting at the Capitol.

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan security forces on Friday detained at least 500 African migrants, including women and children, two officials and a refugee group said. Gargaresh, a known hub for migrants and refugees, is about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) west of Tripoli, the Libyan capital. The chief prosecutor office said hundreds of arrested migrants were taken to detention centers. “Torture, sexual violence, and extortion is rampant in Libyan detention centers,” he said. Those returned to shore have been taken to government-run detention centers, where they are often abused and extorted for ransom under the very nose of U.N. officials.

ISTANBUL, Oct 1 (Reuters) – The Turkish Red Crescent is sending aid to Afghanistan to feed internally displaced people in need amid turmoil following the Taliban’s takeover, the organization’s head said on Friday. Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kinik said the shipment of food would be sent from Pakistan towards Kabul on Saturday and provide for 16,000 people for a month. He said the Turkish Red Crescent had provided support to areas under Taliban control before U.S. troops pulled out and there had been no problem in providing aid after the withdrawal. “The Taliban appointed an authority to the head of the Afghan Red Crescent for the transition process,” he said, adding that they were cooperating to bring humanitarian aid to Afghans. The Turkish Red Crescent had provided some $250,000 since 2018 to Afghans who established their own businesses after returning to the country and would increase the amount, he said.