Egypt ranks fifth worldwide and first in the Middle East and North Africa in underreporting Covid-19 deaths, a new report by the World Bank has shown.

An Egyptian court dealing with threats to national security has tasked the government with addressing the International Criminal Police Organization — Interpol — to arrest three Egyptians, including a construction contractor in self-exile, for inciting the public against the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

An Egyptian court yesterday requested that Interpol issue an arrest notice for prominent contractor Mohamed Ali and two others for “inciting violence and spreading fake news, and joining a terrorist group.”

Egypt has been listed by the International Trade Union Confederation as one of the world’s worst ten countries for workers in the world.

The Arab Council, a human rights body, yesterday called on the international community and rights groups to help stop the implementation of death penalties against 12 Muslim Brotherhood members upheld by the Egyptian judiciary early this week.

The Turkish government lifted a veto against Egypt’s partnership activities with Nato last year as part of attempts to repair ties with Cairo, two people familiar with the matter told Middle East Eye.

In March 2015, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told an international investment conference that Egypt needed $200-300bn to “develop”. At the time, it seemed to be extreme hyperbole, considering that the size of the Egyptian economy in 2015 was $332bn.

The Egyptian government called on INTERPOL and the Italian authorities to hand over Italian diplomats on charges of smuggling thousands of Egyptian artifacts to Italy, in a case dating back to the years between 2016 and 2018. In addition,Italy has demanded the extradition of the killers of researcher Giulio Regeni.

The World Bank was urged by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday to support medical workers who have been arrested for criticising Egypt’s Covid-19 response, as the bank prepares to give Cairo millions of dollars to combat the pandemic.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should demand the Egyptian government disclose financial information about military-owned businesses as part of required reporting on state-owned enterprises, before releasing the next tranche of funding under an ongoing loan program, Human Rights Watch, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and the Freedom Initiative said …