The latest report by the Engineering Export Council of Egypt (EEC) revealed that Egyptian engineering exports were up by 10 percent during the first 7 months of 2023, reaching $2.492 billion between January and July compared to the $2.271 billion recorded during the same period last year. In July 2023, engineering exports hit $331 million, up by 14 percent compared to $290 million recorded in July 2022. The council revealed that the European countries that increased imports of Egyptian engineering exports were Turkey, France, Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Asian and ME countries that upped imports were Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, and Oman, while exports to Brazil also grew. African countries that raised imports of Egyptian engineering exports were Algeria, Libya, Sudan Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, and Mauritius.

CAIRO – 27 August 2023: Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shokry received Sunday a phone call from his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani to learn about Egypt's assessment of events in Niger and ways to resolve the issue in diplomatic ways that would preserve security and stability in the country and the region. Similarly, Minister Shokry presented Egypt's vision on political and security developments in Libya, and on options to push forward Libyan solutions that would ensure holding parliamentary and presidential elections in the nearest future. In that context, the two minister agreed on continuing consultations in the coming period, and on holding a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) taking place in New York next September. Shokry and Tajani also discussed bolstering economic cooperation, and Italian investments in Egypt leveraging the large capabilities of both countries. They equally conferred over common challenges in the Mediterranean, mainly illegal migration.

Libya intends to activate strategic and economic cooperation with China, in the light of the North African country’s possible accession to the New Silk Road or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), said Deputy Chairman of Libya’s Presidential Council Moussa Koni, on Sunday. Koni made his remarks during a meeting with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the special session on Afro-Chinese cooperation in the framework of the BRICS summit held in South Africa. According to Koni, the return of Chinese companies to Libya would send “a strong and reassuring message to all international businesses on achieving stability in Libya”. The deputy chairman then stressed to the Chinese president that reconstruction projects in Libya “need Chinese expertise” and that the Chinese model of economic progress “should be emulated”.

QNANew York: Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations HE Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani met with Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Libya HE Abdoulaye Bathily. During the meeting, they discussed ways to enhance efforts to implement the tasks of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), which aim to maintain security and achieve peace and stability in the country.

SEBHA, Libya – Brigadier General Saddam Khafila, commander of the Libyan National Army’s (LNA) joint operations room, inspected military operations in southern Libya on Saturday as part of a major security sweep aimed at stabilizing the restive region. Khafila, along with Major General Al-Mabrouk Sehban, commander of LNA’s southern military zone, and other senior officers toured residential buildings in the Um Al-Aranib district of Sebha. Their visit was to review progress of ongoing security activities, according to a statement by the LNA’s media office. The inspection comes a day after the LNA announced the launch of military operations to purge southern areas of foreign armed groups and human trafficking networks. The LNA maintains aerial surveillance over the entire area of ongoing military operations in the south, added Al-Mismari.

The men, who dreamt of getting jobs in Italy on work permits, were duped by Indian ‘agents’. In February, Mr. Kumar packed his bags. Selling dreamsBack in Pehowa, at his sister’s house, Mr. Kumar sits on a sofa, looking at his children, all below 10. Over 30 people were crammed into tiny rooms Mr. Kumar says. Life in traumaParamjit Singh, 44, a cloth shop owner in Kurukshetra before he left for Libya, has panic attacks that appear every other hour.

Interconnect Malta welcomed the Environment and Resources Authority’s approval of the environmental impact assessment of the development of Interconnector 2. This will be the second submarine electricity cable between Malta and Italy. The environmental impact assessment, which was completed earlier this year, included a thorough analysis of the project’s potential impacts on surrounding environments, including ecology, archaeology, water bodies and geology. “Through this environmental impact assessment, we wanted to make sure that the project will safeguard our environment even during its construction,” the CEO further stated. Interconnector 2 will be a 118-kilometre, 225 MW HVAC electrical cable interconnection including a 99-kilometre submarine cable operating at 220 kV between Malta (Maghtab) and Italy (Ragusa, Sicily).

Humanitarian groups are rushing to Lampedusa after more than 750 people arrived on the island in 25 separate landings between the night of Thursday and Friday. Italian media reported that later on Friday, five more boats arrived carrying 80 people from Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Sudan, Chad, Gambia, Ghana and Guinea. International media also reported that the Italian government will be transferring some people off the island to Porto Empedocle in Sicily. Once leaving Lampedusa, migrants are then transferred to other parts of the country. The number of arrivals has increased compared with the period before the memorandum was signed.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will face a trial in 2025 on charges of corruption and receiving illegal funding from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for his successful 2007 presidential campaign, according to France’s financial prosecutors. An initial hearing is set for March 7, 2024, the prosecutor's office said, with the trial itself scheduled to take place between Jan.6, 2025 and April 10, 2025. The 68-year-old is also fighting various other charges, including "concealment of embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption, and illegal campaign financing, the prosecutor’s office said. Sarkozy could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted in the case, while he has repeatedly denied the accusations. Sarkozy has already been convicted twice for corruption and influence-peddling in separate cases involving attempts to influence a judge and campaign financing.

The French Embassy in Libya on Saturday denied media reports about participation in military operations in Libya. The denial came one day after forces of East Libya-based warlord Khalifa Haftar launched a military offensive near the border with Chad. “The French Embassy in Libya denies the false information circulated by some media outlets and social media networks about France’s involvement in military operations in Libya,” it said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. On Friday, Haftar’s forces launched a military operation against “foreign armed groups” near Libya’s border with Chad. In a statement, Haftar’s spokesman Ahmad Mismari said his forces carried out airstrikes against positions of Chadian rebel groups inside Libyan territory.

From French president Nicolas Sarkozy is set to stand trial in 2025, along with 12 other co-defendants, over allegations of receiving funds from the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to illegally finance his victorious 2007 bid for the presidency. Sarkozy, who has faced a litany of legal problems since his one term in office, denies the Libyan allegations — the most serious he faces. The 68-year-old has already been convicted twice for corruption and influence-peddling in separate cases involving attempts to influence a judge and campaign financing. Among the others facing trial over the alleged Libyan corruption are heavyweights such as Sarkozy’s former right-hand man Claude Gueant, his then head of campaign financing Eric Woerth and former minister Brice Hortefeux. The investigation was sparked by revelations from the investigative website Mediapart which published a document purporting to show that Gaddafi agreed to give Sarkozy up to 50 million euros ($54 million at current rates).

InternationalAn Indian-origin Shanti Krishnasamy, 58, has been sentenced to prison in Singapore. The woman was sentenced on August 25 to 18 weeks in prison for assaulting a government official. An Indian-origin mother, 58, has been sentenced to prison in Singapore. The woman has been sentenced to 18 weeks in prison on 25 August for assaulting a government official. Despite being stopped several times, Shanti continued with her outrageous acts.

There is wide speculation that Prigozhin, who is presumed dead, was targeted for his uprising, although the Kremlin has denied involvement. The Kremlin still could face challenges in keeping the strong presence in Africa that Prigozhin helped establish. The junta reached out to Wagner, but the group’s response was unclear and there’s no visible presence of Russian mercenaries there — other than crowds waving Russian and Wagner flags at protests. Human Rights Watch says Mali’s army, together with suspected Wagner mercenaries, committed summary executions, looting, forced disappearances and other abuses. Also Read Mercenary chief Prigozhin is presumed to have died in a plane crash seen as the Kremlin’s revenge

The French Embassy in Libya denied on Saturday reports alleging that Paris is involved in military operation in Libya. In a brief statement via X (formerly known as Twitter), the embassy described these “false information”. “The French Embassy in Libya denies the false information that has circulated in certain media and on social networks reporting French involvement in military operations in Libya،” it said in a statement. On Friday, the Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a military operation on the country’s southern border attacking Chadian armed groups which have crossed Libyan territory, according to LNA’s media office.

Mental health spending surged during the pandemicUse of mental health care increased substantially during the coronavirus pandemic, as teletherapy lowered barriers to regular visits, according to a large study of insurance claims published Friday in JAMA Health Forum. From March 2020 to August 2022, mental health visits increased by 39%, and spending increased by 54%, the study found. “It is not a comfortable feeling — especially when you’ve done nothing wrong,” he told Fox News’ website afterward. The heat was a reminder, education experts and parents said, of the need to make schools more resilient to climate change. He said 160 people had been arrested nationwide on arson charges, 42 of them accused of intentional arson and the remainder accused of setting fires through neglect.