What we’re tracking on 16 October 2017
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail is in good health and is maintaining a normal schedule, the Cabinet Information Decision Support Center said yesterday in a statement. Prompted by photos that showed the PM with a shaved head and appearing to have lost weight, rumors had emerged that Ismail was in poor health, an issue that the statement denied unequivocally. The statement added that Ismail is moving forward with his schedule as planned, including a number of field visits nationwide.
AmCham and EFG Hermes will host a special lunch in New York for Finance Minister Amr El Garhy and Investment Minister Sahar Nasr today. The gathering will feature keynotes from both ministers, according to a statement (pdf). In addition to EFG Hermes boss Karim Awad, you can expect to see execs from BNY Mellon, PepsiCo and Citi on stage. Garhy will also attend this week a workshop with funds organized by CI Capital, according to a statement from the ministry. El Garhy had attended a similar gathering on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is heading to Slovenia today for a two-day trip aimed at increasing economic cooperation between the two countries, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. Shoukry is expected to pitch the Slovenian president, prime minister, and foreign minister on investment in Egypt, particularly in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, in addition to talks on other topics.
The Donald is mulling candidates to chair the US Federal Reserve, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tells the Financial Times the process could take at least a month. The next Fed chief will take office in February, and there’s still a chance that incumbent Janet Yellen will be re-appointed. The FT’s backgrounder this morning notes that Trump “must choose between embracing continuity or propelling the world’s most important central bank into a potentially market-jarring change of direction.”
For the oldsters this morning: “Sleep gets more difficult the older you get,” the Wall Street Journal tells us. “Older adults are less able, on average, to obtain as much sleep, or as restorative a sleep, as young adults. … As you enter your 30s and 40s, your deep-sleep brain waves become smaller, less powerful and fewer in number. Reductions in deep-sleep quality increase your risk of heart attacks, obesity and stroke, as well as the buildup of a toxic brain protein—called beta amyloid—that is linkedto Alzheimer’s disease.”
For the middle-aged: Read this Reddit discussion, featuring guys aged 30-60 from r/fitness reassuring twee twenty-somethings that their joints won’t magically explode nor their muscles atrophy overnight on the day they turn 30 / 40 / 50 / 60. A great source of ideas if you’re looking for reassurance, stretches or tweaks for your routines. While you’re there, go read any of the weekly Rant Wednesday threads if you, like us, are driven bonkers by the bad behaviour of your fellow adherents of the Way of Brodin. Re-rack the [redacted] weights and stay on your side of the pool if we agree to let you share a lane with us.
For the youngsters: Fairytales can come true in nightclubs: The literal prince of Ethiopia met his now-wife a dozen years ago at a night spot in DC, according to this weekend’s big feature in the New York Times’ Weddings section.