TL;DR

CBE leaves interest rates unchanged. (Speed Round)

Coordinating Council amends economic reform program. (Speed Round)

World Bank sets Egypt reform targets, but does its loan hinge upon them? (Speed Round)

EgyptAir mechanic, two others reportedly detained in connection with Metrojet bombing. (What We’re Tracking)

MENA Glass officially Misr Glass Manufacturing Company. (Speed Round)

NUCA forms JV with Defense Ministry to develop new capital. (Speed Round)

East Port Said side channel to be completed four months early. (Infrastructure)

Will corporate debt spark a U.S. or global recession? (The Macro Picture)

By the Numbers

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

An EgyptAir mechanic and two others have reportedly been detained on suspicion they planted a bomb on Metrojet Flight 9268, Reuters reported on Friday, citing unnamed senior Egyptian security officials. Egypt’s Interior Ministry has since categorically denied the report. The wire service alleges the mechanic had a family relation in Wilayat Sina who provided the device. The Kremlin has refused to comment on the report, and Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the intelligence services should be asked about the matter, according to Russian state news agency TASS. He added the restoration of flights between Egypt and Russia continues to be a work in progress.

Today is the last day of the 26th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has already met with several heads of state during the summit. We have more coverage in Speed Round below.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING THIS WEEK

27 Jan-10 Feb: Cairo International Book Fair, Cairo International Convention Centre, Nasr City. This year’s fair features a record number of participating countries, with Bahrain as the country of honor. Turkey has not been invited.

The second Egyptian-Russian forum starts up tomorrow, with Trade Minister Tarek Kabil meeting with Russian counterpart Denis Manturov and a delegation of 100 Russian companies. The two are expected to sign an agreement on an Egyptian-Russian-Emirates fund during the forum, according to Al Mal.

Education for Employment will hold a networking and learning meeting 1-3 February at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza. The nonprofit network’s aim is to create economic opportunity for unemployed youth in MENA by providing them with training in vocational and professional skills in high demand by the local labor market — and connecting graduates to jobs.

Russia is also expected to sign an MoU with Egypt for a Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal this week week (31 January-2 February to be exact).

An Italian business delegation headed by Italy’s Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi will arrive this week to discuss investment opportunities and lay the groundwork for an Egyptian-Italian business summit in February, according to Al Masry Al Youm. (More in Diplomacy + Foreign Trade)

Mubarak-era Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif’s retrial in a corruption case is scheduled for Wednesday.

Conferences taking place this week:

• 1-3 February: The Education for Employment regional meeting at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza.
• 2-4 February: The Underground Infrastructure and Deep Foundations Egypt in Cairo.
• 3-5 February: The FRUIT LOGISTICA fresh produce exhibition in Berlin.

ON THE HORIZON

The 2016 Solar Power North Africa Conference takes place in Cairo next week on 8-11 February.

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Lamees El Hadidy dominated the airwaves last night: The host covered the happenings of the African Union Summit, lauding a speech given by Robert Mugabe, the 91-year-old president of Zimbabwe, telling the United Nations to “stop asking African nations to change.” Africa is making progress, he said, “and can only do so much.”

With President Abdel Fattah El Sisi talking about the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam on the sidelines of the summit, El Hadidy interviewed Irrigation Minister Hossam Moghazi, who reported that studies on the dam’s impact on Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are set to begin in February. Their findings should be made public in 8-11 months, he added, and we can look forward to a tripartite meeting in Khartoum before year’s end.

Investments were next on the agenda, with El Hadidy wondering why a country, be it Egypt or otherwise, “ranking high in investment opportunity” would see investors scurrying away. One caller blamed labelling Arabic-language labeling requirements, believe it or not, while Egyptian Businessmen’s Association chief Hussein Sabbour said it comes down to the bureaucracy, saying there are complaints, “especially from Arabs and foreigners, saying that the government does not commit to deals and does not attempt to settle disputes,” Sabbour added.

And while Sabbour points out that the Justice Ministry’s Dispute Settlement Committee is expected to propose “real solutions” to government-business disputes in less than a month (compared to years), the cabinet is anticipated to take another two months to ratify every solution.

SPEED ROUND

The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee kept benchmark interest rates unchanged on Thursday, according to a statement (read the pdfs here in Arabic and English). The MPC kept the overnight deposit rate at 9.25% and the overnight lending rate at 10.25%. The CBE raised interest rates 50 bps last month, the first hike since July 2014, due to what it said was inflationary pressure.

The Coordinating Council tasked with harmonizing monetary and fiscal policy is recommending amendments to the government’s year-old economic reform program, Investment Minister Ashraf Salman told Al Mal. The UAE financed an agreement with Lazard and Strategy& to present Egypt with a four-year economic reform program before the EEDC last year. The amendments will take into consideration delayed reforms including the value-added tax (still in the drafting phase) and fuel subsidy reforms (going slower than originally planned despite oil trading at prices last seen more than a decade ago). The latter will be reassessed in the light of low energy prices, Salman noted, without offering further details.

Conditionality by any other name? The World Bank has reportedly set four targets for Egypt’s reform process: raising corporate and sales taxes to 6.7% of GDP by 2018; reducing government payroll expenditures to 7.5% of GDP by 2018; implementing stringent auditing measures on government bodies; and ensuring transparency in its medium-term plan to service its debts, Al Mal reports. Egypt’s financing gap will reach USD 7.5 bn in FY2015-16 and will grow at an average of USD 12 bn per year to hit USD 12.7 bn in 2019, according to the World Bank’s economic program prepared for Egypt as part of the loan agreement process and published in Al Mal. The report estimates that Egypt can cover USD 4 bn of the USD 7.5 financing gap through loans, aid and its USD 1.5 bn bond issuance in FY2015-16. It suggests that letting the EGP float and issuing higher-yield bonds and sukuks could plug the USD 3.5 bn gap and attract investments, particularly from Asian markets. The World Bank believes the leading causes of the FX crunch are payments to foreign investors, unfavorable external circumstances, strict controls on the exchange rate and the tourism crisis prompted by the Metrojet disaster, which could cause a USD 3.3 bn shortfall in this year’s tourism revenues. Al Mal is insisting on calling the report and reform targets conditions for receiving the World Bank loan, despite statements by International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr and the World Bank to the contrary.

Negotiations are underway on the announced USD 1 bn loan from China, CBE Deputy Governor Tarek Fayed said. The CBE has signed-off on the terms of the agreement and is now working through procedural issues, Al Ahram noted.

The Trade Ministry’s registry for import-approved manufacturers does not violate Egypt’s WTO commitments and other trade agreements, according to First Deputy Trade Minister Saeed Abdullah, responding to criticism from importers and trade associations. The EU itself has set stringent quality and safety standards as conditions for importing goods such as chemicals and granite, he says. The ministry has enacted several measures to facilitate registration, he said, including allowing a manufacturer’s sales and marketing reps in Egypt to register on a company’s behalf, allowing registration in multiple branches of the General Authority for Export and Import Control, and requiring at least an ISO-certification or its equivalent.

Importers are unimpressed: The Importers’ Division of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce announced a meeting of “thousands” of importers on Monday at which they will officially denounce the registry and call on President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to intercede on their behalves. The division claims the registry will hurt over 850k importers, 4 mn traders and 20 mn workers, Al Mal reports. The Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce announced it would protest the measures earlier this month, but said it would take no action until after 25 January.

MENA Glass, a subsidiary of Qalaa Holdings, has completed the sale of 100% of its equity holdings in Misr Glass Manufacturing Company (MGM) and United Glass Company (UGC) to Middle East Glass Manufacturing Company for EGP 828 mn. “Qalaa Holdings had maintained an effective ownership of 15.2% in MGM and UGC,” the press release noted. Pharos Holding acted as financial advisers, and Zaki Hashem Law Office acted as legal counsel to the sellers on the transaction.

MOVES- Halla Sakr was appointed managing director of Barclays Bank Egypt, making her the first woman to hold the post. Sakr assumed her responsibilities on 1 January, the bank said.

The New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) will form a JV with the Defense Ministry to act as the primary developer of the new administrative capital, with powers to negotiate and approve private sector investments in the project, Al Borsa reports. NUCA is also plotting out and pricing land that will be tendered as part of the 10,500-feddan first phase of the project.

Businessman Mohamed Farag El Rawas and his wife died in a car accident on Cairo’s Corniche El-Nil on Saturday. Initial reports by on-site traffic officers indicate that slight flooding of the road led to a collision with another vehicle, Al Mal reports. TV-host Amr Adib, who went to school with El Rawas, insisted that the accident was “strange and not normal” in comments last night.

The FT makes the worst pun we’ve read in months in the otherwise excellent “Dome sweet dome: how I built my home in an Egyptian oasis,” correspondent Heba Saleh’s account of building her weekend home in the Western Desert oasis of Fayoum,

How was that donkey burger? Egypt is cracking down on food fraud through legislation designed to protect food supply, according to Al Monitor’s Khaled Hassan. “Recently, the slaughter of donkeys has been on the rise … investigators in Fayoum province found a farm that slaughters donkeys and distributes them to butchers who sell them as food fit for human consumption,” he adds. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has already instructed authorities to form a committee to develop and pass food safety regulations.

Other international headlines this morning that either carry implications for Egypt or that are simply worth noting in brief:

• World Health Organization to hold emergency meeting on Zika virus. The WHO will meet tomorrow (Monday) in Geneva to discuss whether the outbreak of the disease rises to the level of a global emergency.
• Donald Trump leads the Republican field and Hillary Clinton has an edge over Bernie Sanders heading into the Iowa caucuses tomorrow. The full list of caucuses and primaries running from now through June is available here, for those of you keeping score at home.
• Say goodbye to the oil price rally? OPEC and Russia aren’t meeting to discuss cutting output, and any bid to do so could be scuppered by Iran, which isn’t on board with cuts.

THE MACRO PICTURE

More doom and gloom on the global front from this weekend. U.S. GDP rose at an anemic 0.7% y-o-y in 4Q2015, missing estimates of 0.8% and down from 2% the previous quarter, according to data by the Commerce Department on Friday, Reuters reports. You can read the FT’s more detailed piece here (paywall). The Federal Reserve probably needs to keep U.S. interest rates lower for longer, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams told reporters on Friday. Williams now sees “slightly slower growth, slightly higher unemployment and about a tenth of a percent lower inflation this year than he had expected in December,” Reuters reports.

Corporate debt could push us all into recession, Bloomberg warns, writing, “There’s been endless speculation in recent weeks about whether the U.S., and the whole world for that matter, are about to sink into recession. Underpinning much of the angst is an unprecedented $29 trillion corporate bond binge that has left many companies more indebted than ever.”

Japan stunned markets on Friday by cutting its benchmark interest rate below zero, Reuters reports. “What’s important is to show people that the BOJ is strongly committed to achieving 2 percent inflation and that it will do whatever it takes to achieve it,” BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said. The FT and Wall Street Journal (both paywalled) have more thorough explainers on the move.

And the award for the most depressing headline of the weekend goes to Bloomberg. “Stocks Post Worst January Since 2009” writes Anna-Louise Jackson, going on to say: “Maybe the best thing you can say about the worst January for stocks in seven years is that an excess of optimism won’t be a problem for equities in 2016.” On the bright side? “It could’ve been worse. After tumbling to a 21-month low, the [S&P 500] ended the month with its biggest one-day rally since September to trim the monthly loss to 5.1 percent.”

EGYPT IN THE NEWS

Major news publications, stuck on autopilot, are still doing their obligatory Arab Spring anniversary coverage. Obviously, Egypt is a big part of that reportage, and we’ll take a brief look at the good and the bad.

Some of the more frustrating and unhelpful mistruths on the January 2011 uprising that have been peddled for the past five years include that the regime fell in the first place (all signs point toward ‘no’); that the youth activists should have stayed in Tahrir until their demands for systemic change were met (they staged a six-month sit-in for all the amnesiacs out there); or that the youth could have somehow dictated the terms of the transition to the military. The military’s uninterrupted involvement in the country’s political system is the focus of Ellis Goldberg’s post last Wednesday in the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog. “The conventional narrative of a civil uprising followed by a shaky democratic transition and ending in a military coup fundamentally misunderstands Egypt’s politics … The military, not street protesters, ultimately removed President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11.”

Vox’s Amanda Taub has a surprisingly good piece on the overlooked role of institutions to help explain why no real positive change occurred with the exception of Tunisia. We’d characterize it as ‘surprisingly good,’ given Vox’s irritating and overt mission of dumbing down the news (the piece’s author is listed as Vox’s Senior Sadness Correspondent).

Meanwhile, David Ignatius at the Washington Post seems to be overtly stumping for former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign by highlighting just “how right” the Secretary was in her foreign policy recommendations versus US President Barack Obama in: Hillary Clinton was right on Egypt. “Senior Cabinet officials, including me, counseled caution,” Ignatius quotes Clinton from her book ‘Hard Choices.’ “But other members of the team appealed once again to the president’s idealism and argued that events on the ground were moving too quickly for us to wait. He was swayed.”

… While a more orderly transition that was more respectful to former president Hosni Mubarak could have led to a better outcome, Clinton in her book and Ignatius in his column continue to completely ignore the agency and sentiment of the Egyptian people. An-oft expressed sentiment among many protesters and observers at the time was that any talk of a gradual transition was simply a ploy by the government to wait out the revolutionary moment in order to find a way to ultimately confound the uprising’s demands.

Amr Hamzawy lays out his plan on ‘How to rescue Egypt’ in an op-ed in the Washington Post from his vantage point as a visiting professor at Stanford, as one does. While some of us here at Enterprise will admit our biases upfront and go ahead and say we don’t particularly care for the Perpetually-Scarfed-One, we will also readily admit his character was repeatedly and egregiously slandered in the domestic press for nothing more than his liberal ideology. Caveats aside, this op-ed is ridiculous, at best. After calling for a number of reforms, he admits: “Improbable? Maybe. But it is also the only plausible strategy for regime survival.” The more likely scenario that Egypt will muddle through politically and economically makes for a less interesting op-ed, we suppose.

WORTH WATCHING

Trouble brewing again in Matariya? The Egyptian Medical Syndicate voted at an emergency meeting on Saturday to support a walkout of medical staff at Matariya Teaching Hospital after members of the police service allegedly assaulted Ahmed Abdallah and another physician at the hospital after Abdallah allegedly refused to falsify a medical report following his examination of a lightly-injured police officer. Following the doctor’s complaint, the police station turned around and filed its own complaint against the doctors, alleging they had assaulted the police officer. Watch in Arabic as Ahmed Abdallah describes the incident in his own words, running time: 3:57.

DIPLOMACY + FOREIGN TRADE

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said during the closed session of the African Union Summit on Saturday that enhancing African Union member states’ contributions to cover the operating budget and boost the peacekeeping budget will help African nations ward off “conditional or selective considerations associated with receiving foreign funding,” according to an Ittihadiya statement. El Sisi also stressed the importance of the AU rationalizing spending, transparently accounting for the use of funds, and developing mechanisms to measure project implementation. El Sisi arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday for the African Union Summit where he also met with the President of Kenya to talk enhancing economic cooperation and trade. He also met with the presidents of South Africa, Somalia and Palestine and the vice president of Burundi.

The African Union Peace and Security Council also met in Addis Ababa on Friday to discuss the situation in South Sudan and ways of strengthening counter-terrorism efforts, according to an Ittihadiya statement. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi participated in the event after Egypt was elected to the council on Thursday. It will represent North Africa for the next three years, Egypt Independent reported. The Foreign Affairs Ministry has coverage in Arabic.

ENERGY

Zohr development unaffected by oil price, EGAS says
The development of Eni’s supergiant gas field Zohr is not affected by the drop in oil prices, EGAS Chairman Khaled Abdel Badie said. Production from the first phase of the project is still expected to come on stream by the end of 2017 or early 2018, he added. Nationally, if energy prices remain at their current levels, Abdel Badie expects USD 250 mn in savings in import costs. (Read in Arabic)

NBE extends USD 30 mn credit line to sustainable energy facility
The Egypt Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (EgyptSEFF) has been granted a USD 30 mn credit line through the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) to help finance companies upgrading to sustainable production lines or lighting systems, said the program’s Head of Marketing Dina Aslaan. The program grants USD 300k in emergency loans, as well as financing between 10% and 15% of the project’s capital, she added. EgyptSEFF was established by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in cooperation with global construction and and consulting company MWH Global and the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. (Read in Arabic)

INFRASTRUCTURE

East Port Said side channel to be completed in February — four months ahead of schedule
Dredging on the East Port Said side channel is 90% complete, with the Suez Canal Authority projecting that it will be open in February, four months ahead of its announced schedule in June, Al Masry Al Youm reports. The Suez Canal Development Project is considering a proposal to expand the length of the East Port Said container terminal to 3.8 km from 2.4 km, a project estimated to cost USD 700 mn. (Read in Arabic)

BASIC MATERIALS + COMMODITIES

Cement licenses expected to net EGP 28 bn for state coffers
The Industrial Development Authority’s plan to issue as many as 14 cement licenses could net the state as much as EGP 28 bn, a source estimated. A number of foreign companies are looking to invest, the source added, and the deadline for bidding is 10 February. The new licences will require investors to provide their own infrastructure facilities as well as to use coal as a primary input with other fuel alternatives. The government aims to increase cement production to plug the annual 60 mn ton-supply deficit domestically and support national megaprojects. (Read in Arabic)

MANUFACTURING

LG Egypt looking to increase output to 1.5 mn TV sets
LG Egypt is looking to increase output from its Tenth of Ramadan plant to 1.5 mn TV sets in 2016 from 1.1 mn sets last year. Increasing output hinges on the availability of USD, the company’s chairman told Al Borsa. He added that no other obstacles are facing operations. Last Wednesday we reported that USD 23 mn worth of imported LG Egypt inputs were held at ports due to the foreign currency shortage and that output was down to 30% of capacity.

HEALTH + EDUCATION

Health Minister inaugurates renovated EGP 48 mn Vacsera vaccine factory
Health Minister Ahmed Emad El Din inaugurated the renovated Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (Vacsera) vaccine factory on Thursday. The renovations were financed using an EGP 86 mn grant from the UAE, of which EGP 48 mn were allocated to the vaccine factory, said Vacsera Chairman Olfat Ghorab. (Read in Arabic)

REAL ESTATE + HOUSING

Gov’t drafting law requiring developers to pay into an insurance fund
The Egyptian Real Estate Council is drafting a law that would require real estate developers to pay into an insurance fund to guard against delayed real estate deliveries, Al Ahram reports. The law, which is being drafted in coordination with the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority and under the supervision of the Housing Ministry, will require developers to place a portion of the price of homes into the fund. The law will also detail a blacklist of developers who do not meet delivery dates, according to the Council’s Secretary General Tarek Shokry. (Read in Arabic)

18 companies request 420k feddans in Minya
18 companies, including the UAE’s Al Canal Company and Saudi-based Savola Group, have requested that the Minya governorate set aside 420k feddans for reclamation and agriculture projects as part of the 1.5 mn feddan project, Al Borsa reports. These requests will be taken to the recently formed company charged with marketing and managing the 1.5 mn feddan project, according to Minya government sources. (Read in Arabic)

TOURISM

EGP 6 bn in losses since Metrojet, says South Sinai Governor
Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada have lost a total of EGP 6 bn since the Metrojet crash in November, said South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda. Hotel occupancy rates are currently at 18%, he said, and they’re expected to rise to 25% during the mid-year break. Sharm El Sheikh is now receiving 10,000 tourists a week, half of whom are Ukrainian, he added. (Read in Arabic)

TELECOMS + ICT

Telecoms willing to take legal action against NTRA over hotlines
A number of companies will hold off on filing an official complaint with the Competition Protection Authority and the Administrative Court against the National Telecommunications Registration Authority (NTRA) and Telecom Egypt for raising the price on short-digit hotlines. The complainants are giving the NTRA time to respond to their demands that it reverse its decision; the CIT ministry is expected to issue a statement on the matter on Monday. Al-Mal says fees spiked to EGP 60k per year from EGP 20k, while Al Borsa says they increased to EGP 120k from EGP 25k. Earlier this month, TE raised the prices on hotlines after the NTRA increased fees to maintain them to EGP 30,000 per year from a one-off fee of EGP 600. (Read in Arabic)

HitekNofal inaugurates fiber optics factory in October
Integrated communication network solutions provider HitekNofal aims to inaugurate a new fiber optics factory in Badr City by October, said Managing Director Mohamed Nofal. The factory has a targeted production capacity of 10,000 km in the first year and 20,000 km in the second year, he added. The company has allocated EGP 50 mn to the factory, in addition to funding from banks, said Nofal. (Read in Arabic)

BANKING + FINANCE

NBE establishes EGP 200 mn fund to invest in stock market
NBE has set up an EGP 200 mn fund to invest in the Egyptian stock market, making use of lower prices well below fair value ratings, said NBE Chairman Hesham Okasha. The decision to list some government banks or institutions on the stock market is a welcome one, he added, noting that this will increase stock market activity in the coming period. He also said the fund began to purchase stocks on the market, benefitting from the current low valuations. (Read in Arabic)

OTHER BUSINESS NEWS OF NOTE

Luxor water supply shut down as oil spill raises contamination fears
The Holding Company for Water and Wastewater (HCWW) cut off water supply to Luxor entirely on Thursday, Al Shorouk reported. The decision was made after an oil spill appeared in the Nile near the eastern water treatment plant in Luxor. HCWW’s spokesperson said spills are becoming more common as some ship owners conduct repair works away from the designated areas. He added that government authorities are collaborating in treating the area. (Read in Arabic)

LEGISLATION + POLICY

Justice Ministry preparing cybercrime legislation
The Justice Ministry is finalizing legislation on cybercrime, said Mohamed Abu Moussa, head of the CBE’s anti-money laundering and terrorism financing unit. Abu Moussa made the remarks at the Union of Arab Banks’ conference in Sharm El Sheikh. (Read in Arabic)

SPORTS

Egypt has won the African Nations Cup in handball after a 21-19 win over Tunisia on Saturday, qualifying for the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, reports Ahram Online. Egypt also won the trophy in 1991, 92, 2000, 2004 and 2008.

ON YOUR WAY OUT

Walaa Hussein interviews Khalid Hanafi, a visually impaired member of parliament appointed by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. Hanafi believes the current House of Representatives’ setup is empowering Egyptians with disabilities. On Hanafi’s agenda: increasing the fine on companies that do not meet the minimum quotas for hiring handicapped Egyptians.

Egyptian-German researcher and founder of Mayadin al-Tahrir NGO Atef Botros was detained and prevented from entering Egypt on Friday night, Daily News Egypt reports. Reporter Walid El-Sheikh said Botros is holding a “strike” at his place of confinement at the airport to protest his forced detention and pending deportation. El-Sheikh said Botros was denied entry to Egypt “for life.” Mayadin al-Tahrir seeks to enhance the capacities of marginalized groups in Egypt, particularly the women and youth of Matariya district.

Egypt’s Armed Forces announced it received three new Dassault Rafale jets as part of the second batch of the aircraft’s delivery, Al Shorouk reported.

An Egyptian fishing boat carrying at least 14 passengers (20 according to Sudan Tribune) sank in Sudanese waters on Saturday. Sudanese authorities managed to rescue two fishermen, while Egyptian and Sudanese authorities are coordinating on locating and rescuing the remaining passengers, Al Borsa reports. It is thought that the “Zinat Al Bahr” boat collided with a coral reef.

A Turkish a man was arrested after photographing a police checkpoint in Giza, Al Masry Al Youm reported. The detained Turkish citizen, who is a policeman, is being questioned.

Former child star Feyrouz passed away on Saturday at the age of 73, according to actor and senior member of the Actors’ Syndicate’s board of directors Sameh El-Sereity

A village in northern Egypt is blaming a series of mysterious fires on evil spirits [djinn], writes the BBC. Homes in the village of Mina Safour are being set ablaze and no one knows why. The BBC spoke to one of the victims in a video (run time 2:43).