Good afternoon, folks, and happy almost-Thursday. As we move towards the end of the week, the news cycle is staying consistent with its focus on the government’s agreement with ADQ on Ras El Hekma.
THE BIG STORY TODAY
The Central Bank of Egypt has received the first batch of funds from Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, which agreed to pay USD 35 bn for the Ras El Hekma development rights, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said today during a conference, reports Masrawy. A second payment will drop in our coffers on Friday, El Sisi said, without confirming the value of either portion.
The two deposits should total USD 15 bn: ADQ agreed to make the first USD 15 bn payment for the rights within a week of signing the agreement, which took place last Friday. Of the first payment, USD 10 bn will be fresh inflows with an additional USD 5 bn in the form of a previous UAE deposit at the CBE. The remaining USD 20 bn will be paid within two months in the form of fresh funds and existing deposits.
THE BIG STORY ABROAD
The run for POTUS continues to take over headlines in the international press. Both Donald Trump, who’s been dominating the Republican primaries, and incumbent Joe Biden, came out on top in their respective party’s primaries in Michigan last night. But, it won’t necessarily be smooth sailing for the candidates going forward considering Nikki Haley’s still-significant level of support, and the widespread disapproval of Biden’s handling of Israel’s war on Gaza reflected in the more than 100k “uncommitted” votes. Michigan was the last major primary ahead of Super Tuesday on 5 March. (Associated Press | Washington Post | New York Times)
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New investors in the running for United Bank: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) and Kuwait Finance House completed their due diligence for United Bank in December.
Goldman Sachs offers its two cents on the economy: Goldman Sachs wrapped its investor trip to Egypt earlier this week to meet with analysts, market participants, and policymakers with five “key takeaways” on where they think the Egyptian economy is going.
More encouraging talk from the IMF: The IMF has resolved key issues with Egypt in a review of its previous USD 3 bn loan program from the Fund, setting the stage for an augmented financing package “within weeks.”
☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Look for sunny skies with a high of 27ºC during the day and dropping to a low of 14°C during the night, according to our favorite weather app.
OpenAI is accusing The New York Times of manipulating ChatGPT to support its copyright lawsuit against the AI creators. OpenAI argues that the Gray Lady basically took advantage of a bug in ChatGPT that they were fine-tuning and gorged the chatbot with NYT articles to extract word-for-word passages from the very same text they put in it, according to The Verge. But the NYT isn’t having it, maintaining that it was not “a hack,” and that they were merely using OpenAI’s tools to uncover proof that their content had been taken without permission, the Times’ lead counsel Ian Crosby tells The Verge.
When did this all begin? Last December, NYT filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for the unauthorized use of their published work to train ChatGPT. On Monday, OpenAI filed a motion claiming that NYT directly fed the chatbot articles to manipulate it into recreating verbatim passages. If granted by the federal court, OpenAI’s motion would dismiss four of NYT’s seven copyright infringement claims against it.
If guilty, could OpenAI handle the blow? It’s unclear: AI companies are facing a steady slew of lawsuits coming their way by establishments such as the NYT, who are seasoned veterans in copyright claims (fun fact: NYT’s lawsuit marks the first major American media organization to sue OpenAI). However, these mounting cases could be a threat to OpenAI and other companies in the burgeoning AI industry, suggest the Verge’s Nilay Patel and Sarah Jeong.
Other violations OpenAI is battling include an accusation that it willingly contributed to the infringement, that it had failed to remove copyrighted material, and that these practices created unfair competition, among others. This isn’t the first time OpenAI has faced a lawsuit of this kind. In June of 2023, a group of authors filed complaints against the company that included copyright infringement, removing copyright management information, and unjust enrichment. OpenAI denied all accusations… except direct copyright infringement.
Why do we have leap years? For centuries, societies have adopted different systems to account for imperfect manmade calendars in a bid to match their timekeeping methods with natural time cycles. A solar year is about 365.2422 days long — but ignoring the decimals meant that, over time, seasons fell out of sync with specific months, which was problematic for ancient civilizations that relied on seasons to keep track of harvests and religious festivities, according to National Geographic. Fast forward to today, and most of the world has embraced the Gregorian calendar with its leap-year system to keep our days and months in sync with the seasons.
Getting it right took some math and … a little bit of creativity: Ancient Egyptians, among others, relied on a lunar calendar, in which each year is 354 days and each month is around 29.5 days, but that created an 11-day gap with a full solar year. The Sumerian calendar divided the 365 days of the year over 12 months, which created a smaller (but still significant) five-day gap, so our ancestors would just tack on a few days of celebration at the end of each year to bridge the difference.
Some — including Caesar — were less successful than others: Around 46 BC, Rome’s lunar calendar was falling far behind the seasons, even though Julius Caesar attempted to address the issue by randomly adding additional days or months to a year. Eventually, Caesar co-opted the leap year system, which Egypt had already been using a couple hundred years earlier. But to make up for lost time, he enforced one 445-day-long “Year of Confusion” before shifting to a leap year system that had 365.25 days per year. It worked smoothly for a long spell — but by the sixteenth century, an imperfection in the quarter extra day added up and caused important dates to go off schedule by about 10 days.
Enter Pope Gregory XIII: To keepimportant Christian holidays on schedule he developed the Gregorian calendar where the leap year remained the practice, but any leap years divisible by 100 are skipped unless they are also divisible by 400, like the year 2000. Now, his calendar is widely adopted although, of course, certain non-Gregorian calendars thrived — such as the Islamic Calendar that does not incorporate leap years.
Fun fact: Pope Gregory was still a bit off, technically speaking: His calendar system results in a year of 365.2425 days, which means that it’s half a minute longer than the solar year. But, we won’t feel the difference except for around 3.3k years from now, and that will only be a day or so.
What if we’ve been building houses wrong this entire time? Home (watch trailer,runtime: 1:58) is a docu-series that travels around the world to find the most unique homesteads and the people who built them. Some focus on sustainability, some on efficiency, and some on maximizing small spaces. Each home comes with a story just as fascinating as the structures themselves.
Naturhus is a house within a house. In one episode, we meet Anders Solvarm, who built a log cabin for himself and his family in Sweden before building a greenhouse around it to create a Mediterranean climate. In Bali, we’re introduced to a bamboo palace, in Hong Kong a 30-square-meter apartment optimized for versatility, and in Mexico, a 3D-printed home.
The docuseries is a beautifully shot show that goes beyond exhibition. It focuses on the innovation in the creation of these houses as well as the intentions behind designing them. Each episode is 30-40 minutes long and focuses on a different home. The structure can be a little formulaic, but the uniqueness of each home and each designer offsets what little uniformity there is.
You can marvel at the possibilities of architecture on Apple TV+.
Related
⚽The road to the FA Cup finals is busy tonight, with another four matches in the round of 16:
Chelsea vs Leeds (9:30pm)
Nottingham vs Manchester United (9:45pm)
Wolverhampton vs Brighton (9:45pm)
Liverpool vs Southampton (10pm)
Over in Serie A, there are two postponed matches from matchday 21:
Sassuolo vs Napoli (7pm)
Inter Milan vs Atalanta (9:45pm)
Related
? EAT THIS TONIGHT-
Bahary is a seafood restaurant that is unlike its peers: The restaurant has two branches — a humble and cozy spot in Makram Ebeid, and another vast three-floor space in New Cairo. For the purpose of this review, we visited the New Cairo branch. Aside from the traditional ice case display of the fruits of the sea, there is a pasta station, which gives you a live cooking experience of your chosen seafood.
Their shrimp bisque soup was what the doctor ordered in this weather. The bisque was unique in that heavy cream was replaced by tomato sauce, which allowed the natural flavors of the shellfish to come through. But we suggest asking your server to keep it light on the salt, as we noticed that it was a tad salty. For our mains, we had squid and squid egg casserole with white sauce, open-baked fish with lemon and oil, butterfly shrimp, shrimp kofta, fried calamari, and grilled sea bass. The dishes came hot, juicy, and full of flavor but the fried calamari’s breading was starting to get soggy. They also serve generous portions — if you ordered one of the fish dishes it should last for at least 3-4 servings.
NOTE- It is on the expensive side, and you can’t reserve ahead of time, which translates to a 20-40-minute wait through their waiting list. You will also be ordering while you wait, so we recommend you try out our favorites to make good use of your time. Or you can always get it delivered but it takes around an hour or two.
Related
? OUT AND ABOUT- (all times CLT)
MUSIC-
Get ready to be mesmerized as Aziz Maraka takes the Cairo Jazz Club 610 stage tonight. Get your tickets today to book your seat to hear him sing in an unforgettable performance from CJC 610’s Facebook page.
Ali El Haggar is also taking the stage at ElsawyCulturewheel tonight. The performance will begin at 8pm at the Zamalek venue. Keep in mind that photos and video recordings are not allowed, neither are children under six years of age. Tickets are sold out.
ARTS-
Catch a glimpse of Egyptian cinema through Mohamed Bakr’s lens at Photopia in FiftyYears of Cinematic Portraits. This exhibition opened yesterday and continues until Saturday, 9 March (except for Sunday) where you’ll get to see a selection of portraits taken from his extensive collection of over 2000 artistic works captured since 1956. The exhibition showcases around 100 images from 80 films, covering various genres including literature, cinema, performance, comedy, and realism.
Bibliothek Art Gallery is hosting an artist talk featuring Amani Mousa, Eman Hussin, and Yasmine Shash, moderated by Ismail Fayed, to discuss their Lines of Intimacy Exhibition which continues until this Saturday, 2 March. You can find the catalog here.
Like comedy and want to get in on the fun? Presented by Al Mothalas, El Khatba is an interactive comedy experience at Rawabet Art Space this Friday, 1 March at 8pm.
SPORTS-
The Cairo Half Marathon is this weekend.Start stretching now as Cairo Runners is bringing back a fan favorite, offering 5km, 10km, and 21km runs as well as a Family Run. Tickets are still available, register now.
The TriFactory’s Tough Mudder Egypt is also on this Friday, 1 March. The obstacle course challenge will take place at Belle Vie Club in New Zayed. Today is your last chance to register for the event, click here for registration.
FILM-
Gaza Mon Amour will be screened at Qahrawya this Thursday, 29 February from 8pm till 11pm. Find out how to get your tickets here, but before you do, keep in mind that the Qahrawya studio is home to a few friendly cats. Tickets can be purchased at the door, but seating is limited, so don’t take any chances.
EVENTS-.
Bibliothek Egypt is hosting yet another book signing for Reem Basyuni’s two latest works, Mario Abu al-Abbas and In Search of Happiness, this Friday, 1 March at 6:30pm. Along with the book signing will be a seminar titled Architecture and Impact.
Fancy yourself a detective? Murder-mystery fans can pull out their magnifying glasses to crack this case. Cluedupp and Crime Scene Investigator are staging a hard-boiled outdoor event this Saturday, 2 March where you have to solve four murders around the city by solving puzzles, interrogating witnesses, and hunting for clues. Find more details here.
For all the mothers who need a break — or a bit of fun — Rahet Bally is collaborating withEl Malahy to give moms a day of fun with their children this Saturday, 2 March. All you have to do is download the Rahet Bally app, sign up for entry without charge for you and your kids, and buy your playing credit — at a marked-down price — for you to play all day alongside endless competitions and prizes.
Dust off your tote bags: The Cairo Flea Market is back at the Zamalek Fish Garden this Saturday, 2 March. You’ll have a day of second-hand shopping where you can browse the products of over 250 local vendors selling handmade products, antiques, secondhand items, and more. It only happens once a month so be sure not to miss it. The market runs from 11am to 7pm but we’d recommend getting there early to avoid the crowds.
Everything belongs to someone. In the age of the internet, with so many creations at our disposal, the fight for copyright is no easy feat. When something isn’t tangible, that fight becomes even harder, complicating the rules of ownership, all of which are covered in Who Owns This Sentence?: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs.
The concept of intellectual ownership has a long history,going back to eighteenth-century London. At first, it was all about books and their printers, but later it evolved to immaterial goods with the same type of ownership we applied to land extending far beyond property. And as time moved on, these laws evolved even further to and continue to develop to this day.
How we got to this pointis what author David Bellos covers in his book. But along with ownership comes inequality, and Bellos brings that to the table. With many people standing against the concept, how did it get so far? And who exactly is it meant to protect?
Detailed but humorous: Bellos’ style is easy to follow even with a topic as dense as this. It’s not a light read by any means and covers a lot of history, but the narrative it develops is interesting without using too much legalese — something we’re grateful for.
You can buy the book as aKindle or as a hardcover on Amazon.
The EGX30 fell 1.1% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 6.7 bn (56.9% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is up 16.0% YTD.
In the green: Fawry (+4.7%), E-Finance (+2.6%) and Egypt Kuwait Holding (+2.5%).
In the red: Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling (-11.4%), Delta Sugar (-10.6%) and Orascom Development Egypt (-8.0%).
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