EFSA staff, brokers implicated in scam to defraud investors: Staff at the nation’s financial regulator and employees at an unnamed brokerage house are alleged to have colluded to defraud investors by siphoning mns of EGP from brokerage accounts using forged documents. The allegation has been levelled by Mohamed Erfan, the widely respected chairman of the Administrative Control Authority (ACA), the nation’s corruption watchdog. Two EFSA employees and a staff member at the brokerage firm have been arrested and EFSA has launched an investigation. The Prosecutor General’s Office has yet to hand down orders freezing bank or brokerage accounts connected to the alleged scheme, unidentified sources tell Al Mal. The subtext of the reports so far is that the fraud is not widespread, but was limited to a handful of employees at EFSA and a single brokerage.

Israel “quietly withdrew its ambassador from Egypt several weeks ago,” Israeli officials told The Telegraph. Sources said Ambassador David Govrin, who is currently working from Jerusalem, was pulled out of the country at the end of last year over concerns about his security, but the government hopes that he will be able to return to his post “soon.” Govrin was appointed last summer and it is not clear what the security concerns were. The story is receiving widespread coverage and is featured on Al Arabiya, Haaretz, Times of Israel, and the Jerusalem Post.

It’s a good morning for: Emerging markets. International money is pouring back into emerging markets, the Financial Times tells us, with the result being that “yield premiums demanded by investors to own emerging-market bonds instead of US Treasuries have fallen to a two-year low, while the MSCI index of emerging market stocks is up more than 8 per cent — comfortably outpacing developed-world peers such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and Euro Stoxx 600.” But don’t hold your breath, the paper warns: If US President Donald Trump makes his promised “phenomenal” tax announcement and shift investors’ focus back to US growth, then “demand for emerging markets could soon prove as elusive as Nigeria’s president.”

It’s not a great morning for: The Donald. His national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has been forced to step down after a little over three weeks on the job amid allegations of inappropriate contact with Russia’s ambassador to the US. The US Senate is poised to launch an investigation and could change the complexion of Trump’s foreign policy toward Russia. The New York Times writes that Trump’s first month in office has left Washington “reeling” — to the point that the top US special forces officer has made exceptionally rare comments about stability in the White House. It looks set to get worse: A New York Times investigation alleges that “Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.”

It’s really not a good morning for: Any relative of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whose estranged and exiled half-brother was assassinated with poison in Malaysia, South Korean officials claim.

Meanwhile, here at home: Newly-appointed UN Secretary General António Guterres is arriving in Egypt today and will hold a joint press conference with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Ahram Gate reports.

For all you football fans out there, Lionel Messi will be interviewed by Amr Adib today at 6 pm CLT. This should be interesting.