Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — The World Bank said Wednesday it approved a $7 billion loan to support Egypt’s push to empower the private sector and enhance its efforts to combat the impacts of climate change.

The loan, approved Tuesday by the World Bank’s board of executive directors, is separate from a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund, which Egypt secured in December.

20 Mar 2023; MEMO: An Egyptian start-up is aiming to turn more than 5 billion plastic bags into tiles tougher than cement as it tackles the twin problems of tonnes of waste entering the Mediterranean Sea and high levels of building sector emissions, Reuters reports.

CAIRO, Mar 19 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian and Turkish leaders have the political will to normalise ties, after years of strained relations, Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, said yesterday.

Shoukry made the remarks, during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, who arrived in Cairo earlier in the day, and is the highest-ranking Turkish official visiting Egypt in over a decade.

Shoukry said, he discussed with Cavusoglu the steps to restore ties, and the return of each other’s ambassadors will take place at an appropriate time.

CAIRO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Egypt hosts on Sunday a quintet meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to calm a surge of violence in the West Bank ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

High-level security and political officials from Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan and the United States took part in the meeting, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The meeting aimed to support dialogue between the Israeli and Palestinian sides to "stop unilateral actions and escalation and break the existing cycle of violence," it added.

CAIRO (AP) — Israeli and Palestinian officials were meeting Sunday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in a bid to ease tensions between the sides and rein in a spiral of violence ahead of a sensitive holiday period beginning this week.

The meeting was the second attempt by the sides, shepherded by regional allies Egypt and Jordan as well as the U.S., to end a year-long spasm of violence that has seen more than 200 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and more than 40 Israelis or foreigners killed in Palestinian attacks.

18 Mar 2023; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is visiting Cairo today by invitation of Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement issued on Friday announced.

15 Mar 2023; MEMO: Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) has called on the UN Human Rights Council to "investigate allegations of serious abuse recently revealed at the notorious Badr Prison" in Egypt.

It noted that three leaked messages from detainees inside Badr Prison Wing 3 were verified by DAWN in an interview with a source who has friends and relatives detained in the detention centre, as well as reports of widespread abuse and suicide attempts in the complex.

Egypt’s authorities refused to issue or renew passports, birth certificates and other documents for more than two dozens journalists, critics and lawyers living abroad, a leading rights group said Monday.

The U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said the refusals are a sign that Egypt is widening its clampdown on dissent. “The government is ramping up efforts to punish and silence those abroad,” said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW.

7 Mar 2023; MEMO: Egypt's security agents have tortured Mohammad Al-Sayyed Al-Morsi to death in the Damietta detention centre. The Arabic language teacher, 52, was detained on 21 February and subjected to systematic torture in the centre run by the National Security Agency, said his family.

CAIRO, Mar 6 (NNN-MENA) – A cargo ship was refloated, after being stranded in Egypt’s Suez Canal for two hours, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced, yesterday.

Four SCA tugboats succeeded to refloat the MSC-ISTANBUL cargo vessel, which went aground while crossing from the south to the north, said George Safwat, spokesperson of the SCA.

Earlier, SCA Chairman, Osama Rabie, said, the navigation movement in the Suez Canal was not affected by this emergency.