Good morning, wonderful people. You may rejoice: We officially have a four-day work week this week after the cabinet confirmed that the public sector will take the day off on Thursday, 12 August, to mark the Islamic New Year. The central bank and EGX are yet to make announcements.

PSA #1- The weeklong heatwave may(?) be receding, but you’re still going to want to escape the heat in the capital city this coming weekend. The Egyptian Meteorological Authority said in a statement that it expects the mercury to be in the 37-39°C range this week. But our favourite weather app sees daytime highs in the 40-42°C band through the end of next week.

PSA #2- Four of Cairo Metro Line 3 stations will be closed from today through Wednesday due to construction work on the Mostorod axis, the Transport Ministry announced in a statement. Qobaa, Omar Ibn Al Khattab, Hikestep, and Adly Mansour stations will all be closed.

Former housing minister Hasaballah El Kafrawy passed away at the age of 91 on Thursday after a long illness, the cabinet announced in a statement. He was housing minister from 1977 through 1993 during the tenures of former presidents Anwar El Sadat and Hosni Mubarak and served as the governor of Damietta for a year in 1976.

Iconic Egyptian actress Dalal Abdel Aziz passed away of complications from covid-19, her son-in-law, the media personality Ramy Radwan, announced yesterday. Abdel Aziz starred in over 100 shows and dozens of popular films. Her death comes less than three months after that of her husband, famed actor Samir Ghanem, who passed away in late May after fighting covid. They are survived by their daughters, actresses Donia and Amy Samir Ghanem.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

Russian flights return to the Red Sea tomorrow: Hurghada International Airport is due to receive tomorrow its first flight from Moscow in six years as Russia’s flight ban finally comes to an end, Youm7 reports. The flight will bring 500 Russian tourists to the Red Sea resort — and be the first of five weekly flights that will run between Hurghada and the Russian capital. Another five flights will run between Sharm El Sheikh and Moscow as of this week.

Expect more information soon: Russia’s air transport regulator on Friday handed permits to eight Russian airlines allowing them to resume regular flights to Hurghada and Sharm.

EV road tests start this week: Uber will start road-testing DongFeng E70 electric cars in Egypt this week, Masrawy reports. State-owned El Nasr Automotive has imported 13 of the vehicles from China, which will be tested by Uber drivers over the next three months.

El Nasr plans to begin locally assembling the E70 in a partnership with DongFeng next year and hopes to have the first 100 ready by July-August 2022. The government will invest EGP 450 mn to roll out the infrastructure required to make EVs viable on Egyptian roads. Industry leader Infinity, which is working with the state on the project, is aiming to install 3k stations across the country over the next three years.

Vaccinated non-residents of Saudi Arabia can starting tomorrow apply for a Umrah pilgrimage visa as Saudi Arabia gears up for the gradual resumption of the year-round pilgrimage after more than a year and a half-long ban thanks to covid-19, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

***CATCH UP QUICK with the top stories from Thursday’s edition of EnterprisePM:

• The carrot: Companies that register to join Egypt’s Advance Cargo Information (ACI) website Nafeza in August will get 50% off registration fees.
• The stick: Ten more companies will be prosecuted by the Tax Authority for failing to comply with the authority’s e-invoicing system.
• TDA under new management: The Tourism Development Authority (TDA) is being placed under the purview of the Housing Ministry, and the housing minister will be made the chairman of the board, which will now be reshuffled.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD- No single story has captured the imagination of the western business press as we start our workweek, but the Financial Times and CNBC are both leading with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway posting a jump in second-quarter profits as many of the “sprawling conglomerate’s” investments and business units benefitted from an improving economy. Also worth a glance: ARK Innovation’s Cathie “Mama Cathie” Wood gets profiled in the Journal as the first “guru of the meme stock generation.” Please don’t get us started.

MORNING MUST-READ- Yes, Apple is going to scan your iCloud library for kiddie [redacted]. And no, you probably don’t have anything to worry about right now. The Financial Times has reasonable coverage, but where you really want to head is to John Gruber’s Daring Fireball, for the most balanced (and factually accurate) take we’ve read so far.

IT’S THE FINAL DAY OF THE TOKYO OLYMPICS, and you can catch the closing ceremony of the Olympics at 1 pm CLT on beIN Sports.

It was Egypt’s most successful Olympics ever, Ahram Online reports, saying our six-medal finish beat the five pieces of hardware Egyptian athletes brought home in each of 1936, 1948 and 2004.

Feryal Ashraf made history Saturday as the first Egyptian woman ever to win an Olympic gold, defeating Azerbaijan’s Iryna Zaretska in the women’s karate “kumite” >61kg category — and snagging Egypt its only gold of the 2020 games and our first since 2004. Ashraf is also the only Arab woman to win an Olympic gold medal this year, and the first Arab athlete of any gender to win an olympic gold in Karate. This is the first year Karate is being included as an olympic sport, at the request of Japan, and it is unlikely to continue to be a part of the competition going forward. Ashraf’s victory is getting attention from the foreign press: Reuters | BBC | Kuna | Xinhua.

Ahmed Elgendy also staged a historic silver medal win, becoming the first African to win an Olympic medal in the modern pentathlon. Saturday’s wins bring Egypt’s medal count up to six.

Also in Karate, Giana Farouk claimed Egypt’s fourth bronze medal of the games, winning in the women’s kumite 61 kg on Friday after losing to China’s Yin Xiaoyan in the semi-final.

Giana Farouk will be Egypt’s flag bearer at the closing ceremony today, having been selected days ago, before Feryal Ashraf or Ahmed Elgendy’s victories.

Egypt lost out on a bronze medal in the men’s handball event after narrowly losing 33–31 to Spain in the third place play-off. This came after the team suffered a 27-23 loss to France in the semi-final on Thursday. France won gold after defeating Denmark 25-23.

Equestrian: Egypt came 11th in the team jumping qualifier, with an impressive performance that left them just one spot short of earning a place in the finals.

AS IT STANDS-