CAIRO – 24 August 2021: Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Global Solutions signed a cooperation agreement to establish a Shared Services center in Egypt. The Group undertakes to establish its operations in Egypt with the main objective of providing shared services operations including accounting, HR, procurement, and IT Services operating in but not limited to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia from its center in Egypt. Talaat added that Egypt remains one of the most favorable destinations for multinationals willing to establish service centers for global operations. According to the agreement, MAF undertakes will employ a minimum of 600 additional new Egyptian employees over the course of the agreement, directed primarily to export activities. ITIDA is working to develop and boost Egyptian IT and IT-enabled services exports to various global markets, which contributes to creating more job opportunities for the Egyptian youth.

CAIRO – 24 August 2021: Egypt is preparing to issue the first sovereign sukuk offering during the second half of the current fiscal year 2021/2022, according to Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait. “This contributes to providing the necessary funding for investment projects included in the economic and social development plan in the state’s general budget, to achieve development goals in a manner consistent with the state’s efforts to enhance aspects of spending on improving the standard of living of citizens,” Maait clarified Tuesday. He pointed out that the timing, size and type of offering will be determined later. The minister indicated that the tax treatment prescribed for treasury bonds will also apply to the returns of sovereign sukuks and the return on trading on them, so that the sukuks issued in the local market are listed on the stock exchange, and they are kept in the Central Depository and Custody Company. He pointed out that sukuk issued in international markets issued in foreign currencies are listed on international exchanges in accordance with the rules followed for intergovernmental issuances; This contributes to providing additional cash to the Egyptian economy and reducing the cost of financing investments, especially that these sukuk are issued according to formulas that are compatible with Islamic Sharia principles.

In the attraction phase, when the spark is at its peak, it can be hard to tell if it’s real or just a fling, and we all know summer is the official season of flings. Since summer is coming to an end, maybe you need to know if your new relationship will fly with it too. Here are surefire signs that tell it is just a summer fling. They keep forgetting important things you tell them, you find them having a hard time recalling a name or two of your close friends. To them, they are just not interested to know all these details and would rather keep it light and detached.

CAIRO – 24 August 2021: A military aircraft has brought home members of the Egyptian community back from Afghanistan on Monday. The Egyptian community there mainly consisted of a delegation from Al-Azhar and the diplomatic mission. Sheikh Shawki Abu Zaid, head of the Azhar delegation, thanked President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for the efforts to bring the community home and for the well secured reception, as well as the medical preparations. He also thanked the Egyptian intelligence for the great efforts exerted during the rapid deterioration of security in Afghanistan and its ability to keep the delegation safe in the now Taliban-controlled country. He added that the Armed Forces had been constantly communicating with the Egyptian diplomats in Afghanistan to ensure their safe return.

CAIRO – 24 August 2021: Egypt recorded Monday 189 Covid-19 infections, five deaths as well as 211 recoveries at isolation hospitals. A total of 286,541 infections have been recorded since the outbreak, 16,676 of them have died. Health Minster Hala Zayed said Monday that one case of the delta-plus variant was detected in Egypt in July. She also noted that delta-plus variant for COVID-19 was not proven to be the most severe; however, it is the fastest spreading. Zayed also noted that all vaccines were proven to be affective against the delta-plus variant.

Aug 23 (Reuters) - Liverpool have refused to allow Mohamed Salah to travel to Africa for World Cup qualifiers with Egypt next month because he would be forced to quarantine on his return to England, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said on Monday. It opens up the possibility of similar refusals from other European clubs ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifiers in Africa, Asia, the CONCACAF region, Europe and South America, and puts them on a potential collision course with FIFA. “The Egyptian Football Association had received a letter from Liverpool apologising for the inability of its player, Mohamed Salah, to join the national team for next month’s African qualifiers for the World Cup. It could also affect Liverpool’s Brazilian trio of Roberto Firmino, Alisson Becker and Fabinho, who have been called up for next month’s qualifiers against Chile, Argentina and Peru. "The regulations have reflected this process, as best as is possible at the global level.

LONDON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Michail Antonio became West Ham United's all-time Premier League top scorer after netting twice to help secure a resounding 4-1 home win on Monday over Leicester City, who had Ayoze Perez sent off late in the first half. Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma had opened the scoring for the Hammers, who made it two wins out of two and went top of the table on goals scored after a superb performance in a cracking atmosphere at the London stadium. West Ham continued to dominate and Benrahma doubled their advantage in the 56th with a simple finish into an unguarded net after Antonio intercepted Caglar Soyuncu'a back pass and squared the ball to the Algerian forward. Youri Tielemans pulled a goal back for Leicester in the 69th minute when he pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area and stabbed it past goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski from 10 metres. But Antonio made it 3-1 in the 80th when he took a Declan Rice cross in his stride and buried a low shot after turning Soyuncu before putting the icing on the cake four minutes later with his 49th Premier League strike for the Hammers.

MADRID, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Erik Lamela continued his flying start to life with Sevilla as the Argentine struck a last-minute winner for the Andalusians to give them a 1-0 victory over Getafe in LaLiga on Monday. The win means they join Atletico Madrid as the only two sides with a 100% LaLiga record after two weeks of the season. Defender Jules Kounde headed over before partner Diego Carlos was denied by a flying save from David Soria as Sevilla turned the screw. But there would be a twist in the fourth minute of stoppage time as En-Nesyri played in debutant Rafa Mir. Sevilla visit Elche next Saturday as they look to make it three from three, while Getafe will seek their first points of the campaign when they travel to Barcelona on Sunday.

Aug 23 (Reuters) - Rangers have identified supporters who directed racist abuse at Celtic's Japanese striker Kyogo Furuhashi and have indefinitely banned them from all the club's games, the Scottish champions said in a statement on Monday. In a video that appeared on Sunday, a group of fans wearing Rangers shirts and travelling in a bus were seen singing racist songs targeted at Furuhashi and making offensive eye gestures. The individuals involved have been identified and will be banned indefinitely from all Rangers games," read the statement. "Furthermore, the RSC (Rangers Supporters Club) of which they were members and travelled with to the game, have been banned from receiving tickets for future fixtures." "Unfortunately, a number of Celtic players in recent years have suffered similar racist abuse.

A handout photo shows an employee demonstrating vials with "Gam-COVID-Vac" vaccine against the coronavirus disease developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (RDIF)CAIRO - 29 August 2021: The Health and Population Ministry said on Saturday that 251 new coronavirus cases were detected, upping the total number of confirmed cases to 287,644. In a statement, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said eight patients died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 16,714. As many as 432 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 237,817 so far, the spokesman said. The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) has permitted VACSERA-Sinovac vaccine the emergency use license as the first locally-manufactured vaccine against Coronavirus. The authority confirmed in a statement, Monday, that the granting of the emergency use license for the first locally manufactured vaccine in Egypt came after providing all unprecedented technical and procedural support to VACSERA, with the aim of localizing this important industry and to achieve self-sufficiency in local production as soon as possible.

CAIRO – 23 August 2021: The night of August 23, 1791, in Santo Domingo (today's Haiti and the Dominican Republic), saw the outbreak of an uprising that played a decisive role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Therefore, the International Day of the Abolition of the Black Slave Trade is celebrated on August 23 of each year. The objective of commemorating this day is to document the tragedies of slave trade. KD/3494 of July 29, 1998 to Ministers of Culture, the Director-General of UNESCO invited all Member States to organize annual events to celebrate the International Day for the Abolition of the Slave Trade on August 23. At its 29th session, the UNESCO Executive Board adopted Resolution 29 C/40 on the International Day for the Remembrance of the Black Slave Trade and its Abolition.

Dar Al-Iftaa, Egypt’s religious authority concerned with issuing Islamic fatwas (opinions), had censured Mahran in January after suggesting the “experimental marriage” initiative. In a statement, Dar Al-Iftaa said “obviously, the one who gave this description to this marriage wanted to achieve propaganda gains at the expense of the well-established societal values of the family.”At the time, Dar Al-Iftaa said writing down conditions in the marriage contract banning husband from the right of divorcing his wife is invalid. Otherwise, it is a forbidden marriage that does not have the legal consequences of marriage,” Dar Al-Iftaa added. Checking Twitter, the majority of social media responses have been against the initiative. Abdel Fattah said whoever is responsible for these initiatives only seek fame and social media response, whether or good or bad.

PARIS, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Nice and Olympique de Marseille have been summoned to a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday after their Ligue 1 match on Sunday had to be abandoned due to crowd trouble, said the French professional league (LFP). The match at Nice's Allianz Riviera was abandoned in the 75th minute on Sunday after Marseille players clashed with home fans who pelted them with missiles and stormed onto the pitch. Players from both Nice and Marseille retreated to the tunnel and play was held up for 90 minutes before referee Benoit Bastien declared the match abandoned. Nice players had returned to the pitch shortly before the match was called off but Marseille's line-up refused to join them. Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivere had appealed for calm over the stadium's public address system during the delay but angry Marseille players and staff refused to carry on.

Those items, plus others from Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe, are among 229 that will be up for sale next month at an auction organised by Pele for the foundation he created in 2018 to help underprivileged children. “Pele is such a legend, he’s an icon and other sports stars look up to Pele,” Martin Nolan, Executive Director and CFO of Beverly Hills-based Julien’s Auctions, told Reuters. Mario Zagallo, the coach of the revered 1970 Brazil World Cup-winning side, who turned 90 earlier this month, also contributed as did Neymar, Roberto Baggio and Roger Milla. “But because it is a charity auction people always show up, they are always extremely generous and they pay more than in a normal auction because they know it is going to a good cause.”This is not the first auction organised by Pele. This latest auction will take place at the Mall Galleries in London and is also open to online bidders.

CAIRO – 23 August 2021: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday followed up on the performance and activity of the Suez Canal Authority as well as the projects in the canal’s economic zone (SCZone) and the joint efforts to develop the canal’s economic axis. The president was briefed on the navigation movement in the Suez Canal, a statement by Presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said. According to the statement, the canal has achieved a remarkable increase in this regard during this period compared to the same period last year. Sisi ordered the continuation of the SCA’s projects within the framework of its strategy for developing the Suez Canal, its navigation course and all its facilities. Earlier this month, Sisi ordered the renewal of Osama Rabie's term as chairman of the Suez Canal Authority for one year.