It’s a thoroughly ‘meh’ morning for Egypt in the international press. Consider:

• A debate over free speech debate in which prosecutors are siding with the press and the Press Syndicate with the censors;
• A Lebanese tourist sentenced to eight years in jail for being mean to us all in a Facebook video;
• An appeals court siding with so-called “bearded police officers” (read: Islamists) appealing their dismissal from service;
• The French saying a cockpit fire was likely behind a 2016 Egypt Air crash.

Also this morning:

The Minya Textile City project maybe the industry’s saving grace, Patrick Werr writes in a piece for Reuters, where he revisits a 2016 argument he had made claiming that textile exports stand to benefit from the EGP’s flotation.

Egypt’s emergence as a global energy hub is receiving foreign press attention once again. The country will continue to make strides towards that goal as it uncovers more oil and gas reserves, Indrajit Sen writes for MEED, noting that there are “prolific basins” in the area around Zohr waiting to be tapped. Meanwhile, MIDOR’s USD 1.7 bn agreement with Italy’s Technip is another step in Egypt’s drive to become a regional energy hub, according to Arab Weekly.

US soybean exports to Egypt almost quadrupled in two months between April and June 2018, according to the WSJ.