In statements on Saturday, he added that the African market is promising as its volume of consumption spending stands at $4.5 billion and is expected to reach $6 billion by 2025. He added that Egypt’s exports to Africa are estimated at only $4 million while the African market’s total imports reach $600 billion. He added that Egypt’s plan to expand its work in Africa includes organizing a periodic fair for COMESA states as well as benefiting from agriculture lands in African countries to plant important crops. He also said that Egypt aims to establish logistic zones in a number of important African countries as well as raising the rates of trade and investment exchange.

Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali al-Moselhy announced Saturday that the government is contemplating the gradual lifting of bread subsidies, while identifying the groups most in need for compensation. The Minister of Supply added that bread is still an in-kind subsidy, and conditional cash support is more efficient than in-kind support. Moselhy said that the goal is not to reduce subsidies, but to raise its efficiency. “We do not want to negatively affect the needy groups, and the gradual lifting of subsidies on bread is being studied with the identification of the groups most in need to compensate them,” Moselhy said. He stressed that no decision has been taken so far regarding bread, but studies exist and a decision will be taken.

ISTANBUL, Jan 1 (Reuters) – Turkey sharply raised electricity prices by 50-100 percent for households and companies on Saturday, and again increased monthly natural gas bills, adding to strains in an economy facing soaring overall inflation. The Energy Market Regulatory Authority said electricity prices were raised around 50 percent for lower-demand households for 2022, while they were increased by more than 100 percent for high-demand commercial users. Natural gas prices jumped 25 percent for residential use and 50 percent for industrial use in January, national distributor BOTAS said separately. The price rise was 15 percent for electricity-generating industrial use. Reporting by Azra Ceylan; Editing by Neil Fullick

program, on Al-Hadath Al-Youm satellite channel, She affirmed that Egypt is still in the fourth wave of the pandemic. By the end of 2021, Egypt has administered a total of 55,662,624 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines, according to Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar on Wednesday. “We welcome the arrival of an additional 1.5 million doses of Pfizer vaccine to Cairo today! With today’s delivery, the United States has now provided over 16 million doses of Coronavirus vaccines to Egypt” US Chargé d’Affaires, Nicole Shampaine said. In comments to Youm7 newspaper, the Ministry’s Spokesperson Houssam Abdel-Ghaffar said that Egypt would receive 6 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine on January 5.

VATICAN CITY, Jan 1 (Reuters) – Pope Francis used his New Year’s message on Saturday to issue a clarion call for an end to violence against women, saying it was insulting to God. Francis, 85, celebrated a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the day the Roman Catholic Church marks both the solemnity of Holy Mary Mother of God as well as its annual World Day of Peace. “And since mothers bestow life, and women keep the world (together), let us all make greater efforts to promote mothers and to protect women,” Francis said. “How much violence is directed against women! During an Italian television programme last month, Francis told a woman who had been beaten by her ex-husband that men who commit violence against women engage in something that is “almost satanic”.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday ordered the establishment of an integrated system for prosthetic devices and artificial limbs. This came during Sisi’s meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, some government ministers and Defense Ministry officials. This will help alleviate their suffering, empower them and employ their abilities to optimal use, and help them integrate within society. Sisi also ordered the preparation of a comprehensive database the inventory of the number of people with mobility disabilities across Egypt. This will thereby create a technological incubator for the benefit of the industrial complex to be established for the production of artificial limbs.

A man was killed in the early hours of the New Year on Saturday after a an old two-storey property collapsed in the Gheit al-Enab area in the western Alexandria district due to bad weather. The operations room of the West Alexandria District received a report stating the collapse of property No. The inspection revealed that the property is an old building consisting of a ground floor and an upper floor, devoid of residents. The facade of the property fell due to the rain, which resulted in the death of a 20-year old man walking nearby. The bad weather wave in Alexandria caused the partial collapse of two properties on Friday in the al-Gomrok district, without any casualties.

At the conclusion of its three-day meeting in Cairo at the headquarters of the Ministry of International Cooperation, the Saudi Arabia Grant Management Committee signed several financing agreements to contribute to financing small, medium and micro enterprises, worth up to LE300 million. The total sum is divided into LE100 million with the Industrial Development Bank, LE100 million with Banque du Caire, and LE100 million with the Enmaa Finance Company. The agreement signed with the Industrial Development Bank aims to finance a program to purchase new easy interest rates directed to Upper Egypt and other regions most in need, especially for micro-enterprises closest to growth to small enterprises. The financing agreement signed with Enmaa Finance aims to finance, support and develop specialized financing programs through financial leasing activity with a focus on the medical sector. She expressed hopes to open new horizons for partnering with Saudi Arabia in supporting the national development agenda.

CAIRO (AP) — The World Food Program has suspended its operations across Sudan’s province of North Darfur following recent attacks on its warehouses, a decision expected to affect about 2 million local people. A statement released by the U.N. food agency Thursday said all three of its warehouses in the area were attacked and looted. Earlier in the week, the WFP said an unidentified armed group had attacked one of its warehouses in North Darfur’s provincial capital of el-Fasher. Sudan is one of the poorest counties in the world, with nearly 11 million people in need of food security and livelihood assistance in 2022, said the WFP. The agency urged Sudanese authorities to recover the looted stocks and guarantee the security and safety of the WFP operations in North Darfur.

CAIRO- 1 January 2022: Egypt expressed its deep sorrow and sincere sympathy to Sudan over killing dozens of people in a gold mine that collapsed in West Kordofan State, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in a statement on Friday. “The government and people of Egypt extend its sincere condolences to the government and people of Sudan and to the families of the victims, wishing a speedy recovery for the injured, and affirming its full solidarity with Sudan in this painful circumstance,” the statement read. The accident lead to the killing of 32 people and injuring others two days ago, CNN reported

The Egyptian Meteorological Authority expected unstable weather to continue on Saturday, in most parts, without rainfall in southern Upper Egypt, which saw light rain on Friday. Meteorologists expect moderate to heavy thunder rain, accompanied by snowflakes at times, in the governorates of northern Upper Egypt and the Suez Canal. Rains that reach the level of torrential rain will continue, Saturday, in the Red Sea Governorate and Sinai. Meteorologists expect rains, moderate thunderstorms at times and rain in Greater Cairo, northern Upper Egypt, and southern Lower Egypt. Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

CAIRO – 31 December 2021: The security forces have intensified measures nationwide ahead of New Year celebrations and Christmas. The security directorates have implemented an intensified security plan to secure the celebrations through intensive security deployment in all road axes, squares, important installations and places of worship. Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfiq reviewed Wednesday during a meeting with some of his assistants and top security officials the ministry's strategy for maintaining nationwide security, as Christmas and New Year's festivities are expected within few days. The minister initiated the meeting by thanking all the members of the Egyptian police forces for their diligent efforts recently. The meeting also tackled the ministry's measures to follow up the strict implementation of anti-coronavirus precautions, in line with a State comprehensive plan to stem the virus spread.

read moreAt the same time the central bank’s net foreign currency holdings – its effective buffer against financial crisis – plunged to nearly a two-decade low. However, Thursday’s data showed that most of last week’s lira appreciation in fact had been driven by central bank intervention, said Per Hammarlund, chief EM strategist at SEB. “(The locals) are not rushing to convert their dollar savings into lira, that is for sure,” Hammarlund added. read moreTHIN BUFFERCentral bank data showed net international reserves hit $8.63 billion last week, their lowest since 2002, from $12.16 billion a week earlier. read moreThe central bank has announced five direct interventions this month to support the lira, which bankers say totaled $6-$10 billion.

REUTERS/Lee SmithCAIRO - Egypt received on Thursday morning a shipment of 347,460 doses of AstraZeneca coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, said the Egyptian Acting Minister of Health Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar in a statement on Thursday. In comments to Youm7 newspaper, the Ministry’s Spokesperson Houssam Abdel-Ghaffar said that Egypt would receive 6 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine on January 5. By the end of 2021, Egypt has administered a total of 55,662,624 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines, according to Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar on Wednesday. He added that the country has imported a total of 119,288,130 vaccine doses with 64,335,246 still available for use. Cairo International Airport received on Saturday more than 1.9 million Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses.

CAIRO – 30 December 2021: In the following lines, ET sheds light on an important world event that took place on December 30. 2006 - Execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was executed on December 30, 2006, but what exactly happened? “In December 2006, I was at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, tasked with awaiting Saddam's execution. Only God knows what happened between Saddam and his captors.