Good morning, friends, and welcome to almost-THURSDAY, as we insist Wednesday is best known.

Particularly interesting to us this morning: For the first time we can remember, the World Bank is zeroing in on fintech and financial inclusion as key drivers of economic growth here in Omm El Donia. Part way through a 45-page report that explains the Bank’s forecast last month that we will grow 5.5% in 2021-2022, the report’s authors say that the pandemic has “fast-tracked important fintech reforms and has driven many businesses to utilize digital technologies … and led to a surge in e-commerce activities.” The report is packed full of examples of how smart government policy and private-sector muscle are changing the way we do business, buy financial services, pay for goods, etc. We have coverage (and a link to the full document) in the news well, below.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Old rent law up for debate in the House: The House of Representatives is set to discuss in a plenary session today a draft law that would, if passed, allow landlords to evict institutions that are to this day effectively “unevictable” under the old rent law.

What’s the issue? The old rent law gives landlords no meaningful power to raise rents or evict tenants (commercial, residential or other), leading to situations where flats and villas ostensibly worth mns are effectively valueless to their owners: Renters of properties that would go for tens of thousands of EGP per month on the open market are protected with rents in the double digits.

SMART POLICY- The bill, if passed, would protect private citizens who rent. But it would also give landlords a pathway to eventually evict government agencies, public and private companies, embassies, clubs, associations and other entities leasing properties under the old rent system. As currently drafted, it would allow eviction proceedings to begin within five years of the law being enacted. Tenants could be forced in the meantime to pay 5x their current rent with a 15% annual rise. The House Housing Committee had signed off on the bill last month.

ALSO up in the House today: Amendments to the Real Estate Registry Act, which are up for further discussion after debate yesterday. We have more on that — and the other bills put to the House yesterday — in our Legislation Watch section, below.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has appointed Judge Boulos Fahmy as president of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Hapi Journal reports, citing a presidential decree published in the official gazette yesterday. Fahmy, who is the first Coptic Christian ever to head the court, takes on his new position effective today. He succeeds Said Maree Mohamed Gad, who is retiring.

SIGN OF THE TIMES- The Sisi administration has redrawn Cairo’s borders to include part of the new administrative capital to comply with the constitutional requirement that the seat of government — including the House of Representatives and Senate — be located in Cairo.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

There’s plenty of business, culture — and, yes, Ukraine-related — news greeting us in the pages of the international press this morning:

Let’s get this out of the way first: While to the untrained eye, French President Macron’s shuttle-diplomacy efforts in Ukraine and Russia didn’t yield much in the way of de-escalation, Putin-whisperers tell Reuters they detect a shift in the Russian president’s tone that suggests he’s leaning more toward negotiation than invasion. Over at the New York Times, the suggestion is that Putin’s official spokesman stabbed Macron in the back while the French leader was in the air on the way to Kyiv. “Statements by Russian leaders appeared to undercut French diplomatic authority, and even credibility. … the Kremlin spokesman … suggested that it was the United States, not France, that had standing” to negotiate an agreement.

Ukraine, meanwhile, would like everyone to get out of its backyard after weeks in the crosshairs of the US-Russia showdown, according to the Wall Street Journal.

MEANWHILE- Not forgetting the latest crypto scandal… Federal agents in the United States have seized more than USD 3.6 bn in allegedly stolen BTC from a New York tech entrepreneur and his wife, who are accused of a massive crypto money laundering scheme, the Financial Times and the Washington Post report. The seizure of the funds is the largest in the history of the US Justice department.

SIGN OF THE TIMES- Italy is dropping its outdoor mask mandate (but keeping an indoor masking requirement) and New York will back away from an indoor mask mandate as more and more countries indicate they’re preparing to learn to “live with the virus” in a manner similar to how we coexist with the seasonal flu. Canadian provinces including Québec, Alberta, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan are also slowly phasing out restrictions.

From the geopolitical stage to the big screen: Oscar noms prove the Power of the Dog (+ the streamers). The 2022 Oscar nominations are out, and the full list reads as its own sign of the times, with the nominated films showing the impacts of the pandemic on the film industry — from the shift to streaming platforms (Netflix and Apple did very well) to the bns lost in ticket revenues, even for the award contenders. Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, directed by Jane Campion, leads the nominations with 12 nods, while sci-fi adaptation Dune followed closely with 10 nominations. AppleTV+ nabbed six nods. Three of the “Best Picture” nominations actually failed to “convert critical raves into ticket sales,” Variety notes. The award ceremony takes place on 27 March.

The all-important Best Picture contenders:

• The Power of the Dog
• West Side Story
• Belfast
• Dune
• Licorice Pizza
• King Richard
• CODA
• Don't Look Up
• Drive My Car
• Nightmare Alley.

Some honorary mentions: Denzel Washington broke his own record for most nominated Black actor and Beyonce landed her first Oscar nomination for her song Be Alive, for biopic King Richard. Check out the full list of nominees here.

WATCH THIS SPACE- Attention iSheep business owners: Your phone will soon accept payments, no add-ons required. Apple is rolling out a new feature that will allow retailers to use their iPhones to accept contactless payments through a tap to their phones, the company said in a press release. The “tap to pay” feature will arrive in an upcoming iOS beta so payment apps can integrate it, before launching on iPhone XS and newer models later this year. Payments provider Stripe will be the first to use the feature to allow account holders in the United States to “accept Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets through a simple tap to their iPhone.” There’s no word on when the feature might come to Egypt or other countries.

MARKET WATCH-

Oil slipped for a second day yesterday as traders weighed ongoing geopolitical tensions and a more positive outlook on the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement talks, Bloomberg reports. The possibility of Iranian oil supply returning to markets after years of sanctions, along with increasing doubts that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seriously planning to invade Ukraine, eased the seven-week rally, with international benchmark Brent crude closing 2% down at just under USD 91 per barrel.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: Enterprise’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, urban development, and social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: We’re expecting to see 38 new smart cities pop up across the country under government plans to develop national infrastructure. Spanning over 500k feddans, these “fourth generation” cities are expected to create mns of jobs and house tens of mns of residents. In this week’s Hardhat, we take a closer look at our smart city ambitions — what they will entail, what’s driving them, and how they could transform life in our cities.