Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has issued a decree, No. 2731 of 2019, regarding amendments to the bylaws of Egypt s investment law. The new amendments include adding to the executive regulation two articles that compel local and private entities to submit all required data and information to tally Egypt s foreign direct investment (FDI) flows as well as indirect investment. According to the decree, local entities include ministries, public bodies and governorates, in addition to public legal persons able to accord licenses for enterprises to be established involving Egypt s Central Bank, the Egyptian Exchange, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), the Industrial Development Authority (IDA), and special economic zones. Private entities include all enterprises established in Egypt, whatever legal umbrella they are working under, in addition to venture projects that are subject to Egypt s investment law and contain a foreign share.

Egyptian participants in the ‘Terrorism and Human Rights’ seminar held in the headquarters of Human Rights Council in Geneva sharply criticised the silence of the international community against the countries that support terrorism in Egypt and the Middle East. The participants pointed out that terrorism puts a lot of pressure on the political and economic conditions in Egypt and on the human rights situation. The seminar was organised by the Egyptian Rights Foundation (Huqoqiyat) in cooperation with the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies (ECSS) and the Women and Development Association in Alexandria. Said Abdel-Hafez, director of the Development and Human Rights Forum, said in his statement during the seminar that the human rights issue in Egypt is witnessing remarkable progress. Abdel-Hafez said that he is one of those who believe in the need to continue discussions with Egyptian institutions to urge them to improve human rights conditions in Egypt. Noha Bakr, a member of the advisory board of the ECSS, said in her statement that the reform process in Egypt is facing many challenges, most importantly terrorism. Bakr warned that thousands of jihadists have moved into Libya, and that there is a threat that they may move into Egypt, and thus it is important to intensify efforts to secure the Egyptian borders. She added that the state is trying to fight terrorism by altering extremist religious discourse through measures like modifying school curricula and establishing an observatory to track deviant fatwas and opinions on the internet in multiple languages. Ahmed Eliba, an expert at the security and defence programme at the ECSS, said that hundreds of tunnels in Sinai that were used to smuggle weapons and terrorists into Sinai have been destroyed. Eliba stressed that Egypt has succeeded in undermining terrorism and that it will continue eliminating what remains of the phenomenon. He also asserted that the strategic plan that has been used to deal with the situation in Sinai focuses on both development and combating terrorism, and that Egypt is respecting the rules of international law and human rights values. Dina El-Sarafi, a researcher at the Egyptian Centre For Economic Studies, said that extremism and terrorism are a threat to social security and safety, and that terrorism cannot be linked to any religion and cannot be justified in any way. She stressed that eliminating terrorism is a social issue and that facing it requires the participation of all the forces and institutions of society.

Heavy rains are expected in several parts of Egypt on Monday, including Halayeb and Shalateen, Marsa Alam, the Red Sea governorate, and South Sinai, according to Mahmoud Shahin, the head of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority s forecast centre. Shahin warned of heavy fog during the daytime in Cairo and the Nile Delta governorates, though he ruled out the possibility of rain in these areas over the coming 48 hours. Shahin advised people to start wearing winter clothes starting next month, as temperatures are expected to drop greatly during this time of the year. Heading into the winter, temperatures start to drop significantly in Egypt by the end of November. The winter season officially starts on 21 December. Temperature forecasts in highs and lows across Egypt on Monday are as follows: Cairo: 30 - 20 Alexandria: 27 - 21 Nile Delta: 29 - 19 North Sinai: 27 - 16 South Sinai: 31 - 24 Upper Egypt: 32 - 19