Topping coverage of Egypt in the international press this morning are pickups of Thomas Cook’s statements that tourism in Egypt and Turkey is improving, which is music to our ears.

Coming in at a close second: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s upcoming visit to the White House. Outlets including The Hill are attempting to gauge what may be discussed beyond fighting terrorism. While the two will see eye to eye on security and the possibility of a regional alliance, Trump’s 20% cutbacks on foreign aid and to the State Department’s budget may be a source of friction. In the run-up to the visit, The Washington Times is noting the “heated debate” inside the US administration over the status of the Ikhwan after Trump “put on the back burner” an executive order that would have designated them as a terrorist organization.

Following the EGP float in November, UAE-based economist Abdulnasser Alshaali writes in Gulf News suggesting that “Egypt will need to be active in the following: one, ensuring that its newly-established fund to bail out insolvent companies is being effectively managed, bailing out only those worth saving. And, two, initiating huge infrastructure projects, the new capital being a China-like recipe for development and job creation.”

Other international coverage worth noting in brief:

• India’s the Wire is running a very doom and gloom piece on the plight of Egypt’s middle class as a result of recent subsidies cuts.
• Few are paying attention to the mosquito-borne diseases in Egypt and the region generally, according to Nature Middle East.
• The release of former President Hosni Mubarak made for a stinging insult, Mona Eltahawy writes in The New York Times. Meanwhile, the Washington Post’s Mieczyslaw Boduszynski believes that the trial was indicative of how fickle transitional justice in Egypt is.
• Reuters is noting a video posted by Daesh-bags in Sinai beheading two men for sorcery. The run of terrorism pieces continues in Al Arabiya, where former Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Nabil Naeem calls out his old homeboy Ayman Al Zawahiri.