Egypt’s new record FX reserves are the top story on Egypt in the international press thismorning along with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail’s accompanying reassurance that this is “good news” that means “the Egyptian economy has recovered.”
Al Azhar’s Cairo Metro fatwa kiosks are taking on new life in the international news cycle this morning. The Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson writes: “The idea is proving popular with travellers …Yet few seemed convinced that the project would attract those with pre-existing extremist tendencies to seek guidance.” The Associated Press’ coverage of the ‘news’ also sees the piece getting wide pickup in member news outlets.

Other international reports worth a skim:

• Cairo-based personal concierge app Elves is already generating revenues of USD 80,000 per month,Elizabeth MacBride writes for Forbes’ contributor network. The company is now raising a seed round of USD 1.25 mn.
• The Financial Times is taking note of how Egypt has been helping China deport Uighur students studying in Egypt.
• The New Yorker reviews Omar Robert Hamilton’s The City Always Wins in a piece titled “What A Novel Can Say About the Egyptian Revolution.”
• Economic reforms are starting to drive major multinationals to expand production in Egypt, according to a report in Oxford Business Group recapping projects announced previously.
• Ibrahim Halawa’s defense team presented his case yesterday, and of course, only the Irish are taking note.
• The acquittal of former President Hosni Mubarak shows that “political trials that take place throughout a transition phase generate rhetoric that plays a crucial role in the denouement of political struggles,” Yoram Meital writes in the Oxford University Press’ blog.