On a busy news weekend for Egypt, the international media have zeroed-in on Egypt’s record-high inflation rate for January, attributing the increases to the Central Bank’s decision to float the EGP in November, says the Associated Press. The ballooning cost of living is burdening the working- and middle-class and raising “concerns about the economic health of the Arab world’s most populous nation,” Nikhil Lohade and Dahlia Kholaif also write for The Wall Street Journal (paywall).

Also getting wide pickup this morning: The world’s heaviest woman, 36 year-old Egyptian national Iman Abdel-Atti, was flown out of Cairo to Mumbai on a cargo plane this weekend for surgeries that should help reduce her weight from a current 500 kilograms, The Associated Press says. Abdel-Atti has reportedly not left her house in 25 years. The Guardian also has the story.

The New York Times picked up the story on authorities shutting down the Al Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence.

A large shipment of North Korean weapons was seized in an Egyptian port in August, according to Japan Times. “The DPRK is flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” a UN expert’s report suggests. “According to the report, the problem was laid bare when in August the largest shipment of ammunition in the sanctions period was discovered. Maritime databases, which track vessels, indicated that the Cambodian-flagged ship reached a port in Egypt… A source informed Kyodo News the Egyptian port was not the general cargo ship’s final destination, despite its strategic location near a number of regional conflict hot spots. However, the report said that seizures like it demonstrate ‘the country’s use of concealment techniques as well as an emerging nexus between DPRK entities trading in arms and minerals.’”

The US listing the Ikhwan as a terrorist organization is a “senseless political [act] that misses the mark,” a Washington Post op-ed picked up by the Portland Press Herald says. Why? The writer says that the Ikhwan are “not a single cohesive unit but rather a sprawling organization” that is more political than violent, especially in countries like Egypt and Tunisia, and even if some of its members have turned to violence.

Egypt to play a role in Trump’s Israel-Palestine peace drive? US President Donald Trump says Israel has a chance to make peace with more than just the Palestinians if it can “be reasonable with respect to peace,” he said in an exclusive interview to Israel Hayoum. “[Trump] appeared to be suggesting that peace talks would involve moderate Arab nations such as Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.” This comes as Israeli observers are trying to get their heads around what they see as warming ties between Egypt and Hamas, Zvi Mazel writes for the Jerusalem Post. Meanwhile Times of Israel suggests that Egypt consulted with Israel on the transfer of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia

Other international coverage over the weekend with noting in brief:

• A Daesh-affiliated group in North Sinai claims to have executed five civilians for reportedly aiding the Egyptian Army.
• BBC’s Business Daily podcast looked into issues of divorce in Egypt to raise the questions of whether a man saying "I divorce you" three times is legitimate and fair to women (runtime 17:42).
• Making mannequins is a “thriving industry” in the village of Al Kharqaniyah north of Cairo, Amr Nabil writes for The Associated Press. “The industry earns its skilled workers a weekly wage between [USD 16] and [USD 45], a decent income by Egyptian standards,” Nabil writes.
• Human Rights Watch wants Egypt to drop charges against workers who were arrested in connection with strikes and is asking parliament to “revise a new trade unions draft law to fully legalize independent unions and amend penal code provisions that criminalize the right to organize and strike.”
• Unrest in Egypt and Turkey has sent around 20% more tourists to Spain, helping the country maintain record arrival levels in the last four years, Reuters says.