Good afternoon, everyone. If you’re like some of us here and have had your fill of covid-related news, we give you a bit of a reprieve today, starting with the House of Representatives.

HAPPENING NOW- The House Economic Committee is discussing the Sovereign Sukuk Act today, after putting a few final touches on the bill earlier this month, Youm7 reported. The proposed law sets the framework for how the securities are sold and traded and defines the different types and uses of sukuk, among other things. Its passage in a final House vote would bring Egypt closer to its first issuance, which the government plans to roll out in both in EGP and foreign currency as soon as the bill is ratified. The size of the country’s inaugural sale is so far unknown.

COMING UP- Amendments to the Competition Act that would give our monopoly watchdog sharper teeth will be the only thing on the committee’s agenda tomorrow and on Tuesday. They passed the cabinet late last year, and earned a preliminary approval from the House committee earlier this month. They seek to give the Egyptian Competition Authority the right to block mergers and acquisitions before they happen as the authority has been for years only able to raise red flags after a transaction is completed.

Meanwhile, a bill to establish an online portal for Egyptians seeking to go on the Umrah pilgrimage passed a general assembly vote earlier today, the newspaper separately reported.

FOR TOMORROW-

The Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum is launching, with the foreign ministers of Greece, and Cyprus expected to attend the opening of the forum’s regional office which will be based in Cairo. The meeting is expected to see the organization’s charter, signed in September, activated next month and officially establish it as a regional organization.

A virtual session titled “How to Stay Safe in Cyberspace” is set to take place at 1pm CLT as part of the AUC SpeakUp Dialog series. Speakers include: Facebook’s MEA Safety Policy Manager Sylvia Musalagani; TikTok’s North Africa Content Operation Director Hani Mohamed Kamel; the National Council for Women’s Cooperation member Dina El Serafy; and AUC’s Computer Science and Engineering Association President Ahmed Khater. The event will be held in Arabic with simultaneous translation into English.

The Aswan Forum for Peace and Development also begins tomorrow and will run until Friday, 5 March under the title “Shaping Africa’s new normal: Recovering stronger, rebuilding better.”

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The IDC Future of Work conference is kicking off next Monday, 8 March, under the theme “The Path to Business Resiliency”. The event will take place virtually and will discuss how organizations can accelerate their digital transformation strategies to address challenges around technology, policy, and operations. Experts and business leaders from Egypt and Jordan will run the sessions.

It’s Rugrats meets American Gladiator at the Tough Mudder event this weekend: The event features a mud and obstacle course. There will be two types of events, the Tough Mudder Classic (a 10-12km loop of mud-soaked mayhem loaded 30 obstacles) and the less-tough Tough Mudder 5k (a 5k collaborative teamwork challenge with 13 obstacles). You can learn more about Tough Mudder Egypt and register for the event on their website.

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Aladdin actor Mena Massoud dropped the teaser poster of his next film In Broad Daylight (Fe Ezz El Dohr) — which will be filmed in Egypt. Massoud will be joined by Egyptian actress Myrna Noureldin in the film, while Kareem Sorour is the screenwriter and Morcous Adel will direct the film, according to Esquire Middle East. This will be the Egyptian-Canadian actor’s first major role since the Disney live action remake.

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Egypt’s hip hop scene is aflame with diss tracks: We thankfully have lived long enough to see Egyptian hip-hop grow its own (benign we hope) rap beefs. The latest war of words began publicly in November when Egyptian rapper Abyusif released a diss track titled Okay that targeted rapper Marwan Moussa. After some back-and-forth on social media, Moussa released his track Msh Okay earlier this month, slamming Abyusif. Things accelerated from there, with Abyusif’s release of Megatron and Moussa’s quick response with Megatroll. The videos quickly rose on the charts and have garnered mns of views.

This isn’t the first time rappers have made fame with diss tracks, with Wegz last year becoming one of Egypt’s top artists from songs such as Dorak Gai which made fun of singer Mohamed Ramadan. Ramadan also went head-to-head with actor Ahmed El Fishawy who had made fun of the singer’s track Number One and created a parody of it. Nile FM made sure to outline the beef.

However, all the dissing has been put on the backburner, as everyone celebrated the return of Marwan Pablo who made a comeback after announcing his retirement from the music scene last year with his song Ghaba that was released on Thursday.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

Want to know more about the writer of Citizen Kane? Hint: it’s not Orson Welles: Netflix has released a biopic about the man recruited to write the screenplay Herman J. Mankiewicz. Mank is about why Mankiewicz wrote Citizen Kane — what experiences inspired him to write it and were essential to it, and why he was the only person who could have done so. Mank got thumbs up from The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Vulture. Citizen Kane is largely featured in film studies curriculums as the film that introduced filmic concepts such as deep focus and nonlinear storytelling, and some even consider the film to be the first film noir.

The English Premier League’s double gameweek has been kicking off strong, with Leicester City and Arsenal as well as Crystal Palace and Fulham already on the field. So far the match results stand at 3-1 in favor of Arsenal while Crystal Palace and Fulham are still tied at 0-0. Tottenham and Burley will face off soon at 4pm CLT while Chelsea and Man United will play at 6:30pm CLT and Liverpool will go head-to-head with Sheffield at 9:15pm CLT.

Meanwhile, in our local Premier League, Aswan are already playing against National Bank, with the score still at 0-0 going into half-time, while Al Ahly will face off against El Gaish at 7:30pm CLT.

Serie A has six matches on for you tonight, with Atalanta currently finishing up the match against Sampdoria, with Atalanta winning 1-0 in minute 51. Crotone will go up against Cagliari, Inter Milan against Genoa, and Udinese against Fiorentina, all at 4pm CLT. Meanwhile, Napoli will play versus Benevento at 7pm CLT and Roma versus Milan at 9:45pm CLT.

La Liga’s five matches today started up with Celta Vigo and Valladolid who started playing at 3pm CLT. Cadiz and Real Betis will hit the field at 5:15pm CLT, while Granada and Elche will play at 7:30pm CLT. The last two matches of the day will both start up at 10pm CLT, with Villarreal versus Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid versus Real Sociedad.

???? EAT THIS TONIGHT-

Healthy, vegan, and delicious, Sincerely V was once upon a pre-covid time an office favorite of ours at Enterprise. The online restaurant features innovative and delectable new recipes to make sure both you and your body enjoy what you eat. Their colorful recipes boast a lot of tofu, lentils, and assorted vegetables for noodle bowls, sandwiches, and shawermas. We recommend their teriyaki tofu bowl and their moroccan lentil kofta. Sincerely V was created by Russian native Victoria Diachkova who has lived in Cairo since 2003 after choosing to stick to a plant-based diet. She graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in 2018 and is also a certified health coach. Her goal is to “show how exciting eating vegetables could be.”

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

Picasso East Gallery in New Cairo is holding the opening of its new exhibit titled “Foresight” which will feature more than 30 artists including Ahmed Sheha, George Bahgoury, and Mostafa el Feky. The opening will start at 5pm CLT today with some of the displayed artists to be present.

Egyptian contemporary and abstract artist Tayseer Hamed is giving an art talk today at 5pm CLT at Zamalek’s Nile Art Gallery to discuss contemporary visions derived from heritage, and identity. You can check out Hamed’s work from his page on Ubuntu’s site.

Up and coming young singer Habiba Azab will be performing today at 9pm CLT at Cairo Jazz Club in Agouza. You can check out her music on her Instagram page @habibaazabmusic.

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Stephen King’s new thriller titled Later will be out tomorrow, following a young boy with psychic abilities that he uses to help the police find a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave. You can preorder the book to drop onto your Kindle upon release from Amazon — where the book is currently ranked as a number 1 bestseller.

Get into a better headspace, with Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking by Caroline Leaf. The doctor uses clinical research and compelling case studies, to provide a scientifically proven five-step plan to find and eliminate the root of anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts in your life in a mere 21 days.

???? TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a continuation of this weekend’s sunny skies, with highs of 22℃ and nighttime lows of 9℃.