CAIRO - 26 December 2021: Egypt expressed, on Saturday, its sincere condolences and sympathies to the friendly People's Republic of Bangladesh over the victims of a ferry fire in the south of the country, which resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries. “Egypt also extends its condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to all the injured. Egypt affirms its solidarity with the government and people of Bangladesh in this painful incident," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. At least 38 people were killed and dozens of others were injured on Friday after a fire swept through a three-decked ferry that was carrying more than 500 people on board near the town of Jhalakathi, BBC reported on Saturday.

CAIRO - 25 December 2021: The Egyptian Meteorological Authority expected that temperature degrees will continue to drop, so that moderate weather will prevail during the day in Greater Cairo and Lower Egypt, moderate on the northern coasts and northern Upper Egypt, warm on southern Sinai and southern Upper Egypt, and very cold at night across the country. A watery mist will be witnessed in the early morning on some roads leading to and from Greater Cairo, Lower Egypt, the northern coasts, the cities of the Canal, central Sinai and northern Upper Egypt, light rain on areas of the northwestern coasts at intermittent periods, and wind activity in areas of Cairo. As for the temperatures, today, Saturday:Cairo sees highs of 19 degrees and lows of 11 degreesAlexandria sees highs of 19 and lows of 12 degreesMatrouh sees highs of 18 degrees and lows of10 degreesSohag sees highs of 21 degrees and lows of 09 degreesQena sees highs of 22 degrees and lows of 09 degreesAswan sees highs of 23 degrees and lows of 09 degrees.

BETHLEHEM, Dec 25 (Reuters) – The bells of Bethlehem rang out under grey skies on Christmas morning across streets whose closed pastel or green shutters were like an Advent calendar that nobody had turned up to open. But Joseph Giacaman, whose family has sold souvenirs around the square for a century, said business was around 2% of pre-pandemic years. ‘OPEN HEARTS TO HOPE’1/5 Worshipers attend Christmas morning mass at Saint Catherine’s Church, in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, December 25, 2021. But the market’s opening could not continue its momentum with no foreign coach parties to sell to. “I haven’t even celebrated this year, I didn’t get much work before so now I am taking the chance,” he said.

Egyptian-Russian relationsDuring the phone call, Sisi stressed Egypt’s aspiration to deepen the bilateral cooperation with Russia at all levels. Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry visited in Moscow in October and met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The Egyptian foreign minister said he hopes trade exchange, that was adversely affected by the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic, would return to previous levels. The Russian top diplomat said the economic government committee for trade cooperation with Egypt discussed the latest developments in Egyptian-Russian relations. The Russian foreign minister praised the UN diplomatic mission in Libya to achieve settlement to the Libyan crisis.

(Reuters) - Canadian Milos Raonic has pulled out of next month's Australian Open as the former world number three continues his recovery from a heel injury, the organisers said on Saturday. Raonic suffered a thigh injury in March and returned to the tour after a three-month gap. But his 2021 season was cut short due to another heel issue following his first-round loss at the Atlanta Open in July. "Milos Raonic has withdrawn from the #AusOpen as he continues his recovery from an Achilles injury," the organisers of the Grand Slam said on Twitter. The Canadian, who has currently slipped to 70th, is the latest to be ruled out of the Australian Open, with Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Jennifer Brady, Karolina Pliskova, Karolina Muchova, Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu also ruled out with injuries.

In a video posed on the EU social networking websites, Berger extended thanks to the Egyptian partners for their cooperation with the EU during this difficult year. He added that this year also witnessed the continuation of implementing huge projects in the fields of education, culture, irrigation and water.

CAIRO - 25 December 2021: The Ministry of Health and Population revealed its efforts to implement presidential initiatives in Upper Egypt, stressing that all services are provided to citizens free of charge and in accordance with the international medical standards. et reviews outcomes of presidential initiatives in governorates of Upper Egypt, and its impact on the health system in the country:- Presidential initiative to treat weakness and hearing loss in newborns:The total number of cases examined was 832,599 children, including 4,313 children, who were referred to 17 hospitals. - Presidential initiative to examine and treat chronic diseases and early detection of kidney disease:The total number of cases examined by the Chronic Diseases Initiative is 7,376,821. - Presidential initiative to take care of the health of the mother and fetus:A total of 450,000 women were examined in Upper Egypt, and 1206 positive cases received treatment. - Presidential initiative to eliminate Hepatitis C and detect non-communicable diseasesThe total number of cases examined in the governorates of Upper Egypt is 11,700,000, of whom 380,000 are positive.

The Central Bank of Egypt has set a maximum daily limit for cash withdrawals or deposits through ATMs, that the customer shall not exceed it. The decision came with the aim of motivating citizens in their daily transactions to use electronic payment through merchant outlets, in addition to paying their bills through the smart wallet. CBE decided earlier that the maximum limit for a customer in depositing or withdrawing cash from ATMs does not exceed LE 20,000 per day. At the same time, the customer was granted the option for payment of purchases in the electronic payment process without a maximum daily limit, and justified this with the aim of achieving financial inclusion in the purchases. The CBE also decided to cancel all commissions and fees for transfers between mobile phone accounts and transfers between any mobile phone account as well as any bank account.

The Playlist website listed Egyptian star Amir al-Masry on the best acting performance list 2021 for his role in “Limbo” the movie. Famous British critic Peter Bradshaw chose Masry in his list of the best actors this year, in an article he published by The Guardian. Recently, Masry won the Best Actor award at the British Academy Film Awards, Scotland, for his role in “Limbo”. Masry joined the jury for the best Arab film in the 43rd session of the Cairo International Film Festival. Netflix platform currently shows his latest British works “The One” series, in which he plays Benjamin “Ben” who works in a pharmaceutical company.

Abdel Ghaffar said, through the official page of the Ministry of Health on Facebook, that the symptoms of Omicron are similar to a cold, which is the most common among those infected with COVID-19 in London, where the mutated Omicron predominates. He pointed out that the most prominent symptoms of Omicron are a runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat. Half of people with colds may have the Omicron variant:A British study warned that half of those who show symptoms of colds are infected with COVID-19. The Zoe COVID Study team, specialized in studying COVID-19, advised those who show symptoms similar to cold symptoms, to undergo a coronavirus examination. For most people, those infected with the Omicron have very similar symptoms to the common cold, like sore throat, runny nose and headaches, the BBC quoted Professor Tim Spector, chief scientist on the ZOE app as saying.

LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Turkey’s radical new plan to support the lira and discourage dollarisation comes with obvious potential costs, one of Fitch’s top sovereign analysts said on Wednesday, adding time would be needed to see if it worked or not. Fitch put Turkey’s BB- rating on a downgrade warning earlier this month as a slump in the lira threatened to run out of control. read more“Clearly there is a new potential liability for the sovereign balance sheet,” he added. The average for BB- countries is 57%, South Africa’s is 71% and Brazil’s is 81%. “We really need to take stock and understand the effect of this new interest rate tool,” Gamble said.

CAIRO – 24 December 2021: Egypt extended condolences on Thursday to Madagascar as dozens were killed in a cargo boat sinking in northeastern the country. At least 83 people have been killed and several others are still missing in the boat sinking that took place on Wednesday off the coast of northeastern Madagascar. “The Arab Republic of Egypt expresses … its sincere condolences and sympathies to the sisterly Republic of Madagascar over the victims of the sinking of a cargo boat in the northeastern part of the country,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Egypt also extends its sincere condolences to the families of the victims, wishing a speedy recovery to all the injured.”Egypt also affirmed solidarity with the government and people of Madagascar in this painful accident, the statement added.

On Friday, Egypt announced it concluded an agreement with the Italian company Eni to explore for oil in the Gulf of Suez and Nile Delta, with a total investment of not less than one billion dollars. The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources stated, in a press release, that the agreement concluded between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and the Italian company is for “the search, development and exploitation of petroleum in the areas of the Gulf of Suez and the Nile Delta.”Under the agreement, the Italian company is obligated to spend at least one billion dollars in investments in this field, in addition to its commitment to spending no less than an additional US$20 million dollars to drill four wells. The agreement was signed between the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek al-Molla, the CEO of the General Petroleum Corporation Abed Ezz al-Regal, and Chief Operating Officer Natural Resources of Eni Alessandro Politi. The statement pointed out that the new agreement aims to increase production rates and face the natural decline of wells by using the latest technologies in some currently producing areas, and working to confirm the likely reserves shown by seismic studies and the various evaluations carried out by international companies operating in Egypt.

Women’s ownership of agricultural land would increase through clear policies – CC via Pixabay/vuesducielCAIRO - 24 December 2021: The Egyptian government is working on reclamation of one million feddans (one feddan is equal to 1.03 acres) in Upper Egypt, said spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture Mohamed Al-Qarsh on Thursday evening. The new project would be developed and quipped with modernize irrigation systems to increase the agricultural area and land productivity, he told Kalemat Ser (A Secret Word) talk show on Sada El-Balad T.V. The government targets reclamation more than 4 million feddans nationwide, he said. On December 15, 2021, Governor of South Sinai Khaled Fouda stated that the total area of cultivated land in the desert governorate has reached 31,000 feddans. The project aims to develop 2.2 million acres, which represents 30 percent of the old Delta, and is a major leap for the new republic.

CAIRO - 24 December 2021: Egypt’s census increases by 1.7 million people annually, affecting all aspects of development negatively, said Tarek Tawfiq, Deputy Minister of Health and Population for Population Affairs on Friday. “Reasonable population growth is required, otherwise it will be difficult to control the population increase,” he said in comments to Al-Muwajaha talk show on Extra news channel. He said that population increase hinders any development projects in Egypt, where resources are limited. It is noted that the Egypt population became 102 million on June 5. In several events, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi warned of the repercussions of overpopulation noting that people may not feel the impact of economic growth, if the pace of population growth continues like that.