This morning in the foreign press: Egypt’s reliance on the central bank to finance government spending is a rare point of similarity with Lebanon — an economy that, in most other respects, it differs from wildly, writes Justin Keay in Global Finance magazine.

Growing water crisis: Reuters is out a piece on Egypt’s dwindling water resources to coincide with Egypt’s talks with Ethiopia and Sudan in Washington yesterday over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Annual water volumes are expected to drop 500 cubic meters per person by 2025 from 570 currently, and this is without accounting for the effects of the dam which could further reduce the Nile’s flow.

Also getting attention in the foreign press:

• Mohamed Ali continues media campaign: After the New York Times, BBC and the Guardian, it’s the Associated Press’ turn to sit down with Mohamed Ali.
• Nour El Sherbini, squash queen: Egypt’s World No.1 talks to Reuters about the recent CIB PSA Women’s World Championship and taking a bigger share of the winnings than men’s champion Karim Abdel Gawad.