Arab stance on GERD, minibuses for people with special needs and more in our News Digest

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Supportive Arab stance on GERD, new 1.9m doses of AstraZenca, and minibuses for people with special needs have made yesterday’s press headlines.

Arab states yesterday called on the United Nations Security Council to discuss the dispute over Ethiopia’s plan to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) without prior binding agreement with Egypt and Sudan.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri told the extraordinary Ministerial Council of the Arab League yesterday that Addis Ababa’s persistence on going ahead with filling the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) without reaching a legally binding agreement with the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan, violates the rules of international law.

Health Minister Hala Zayed announced on Tuesday that the country is due to receive 1.9 million doses of AstraZenca vaccine within days.

The new batch is part of a wider package comprising 40 million doses agreed upon with the global COVAX facility to be delivered in full until the end of the year.

The Egyptian exports of petroleum products hiked to about $609.8 million last March, up from $58.8 million in the same month a year earlier, featuring an increase of $551 million.

Minibuses designed for people with special needs started operating in Sharqia governorate as part of a wider presidential initiative to lessen the suffering of those people with the means of transportations.

Such minibuses also feature seats designed for disabled people and empty spaces for passengers on wheel chairs.

Prosecutor General Hamada el-Sawy handed over on Tuesday to Italian Ambassador to Egypt Giampaolo Cantini two copies of the Public Prosecution’s documents in the Giulio Regeni’s murder case. The copies, written in Arabic and Italian, shed light on all legal actions undertaken by the prosecution to crack the case.

The “Back to Roots” initiative helped some 77,000 expats stranded abroad to return to their homeland in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Former Islamist presidential candidate and opposition figure Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh will remain in custody on charges of joining an outlawed group.