Egypt vs Guinea-Bissau tonight

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

Annual inflation drops to its lowest level in over a year. PLUS: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in town to talk ceasefire

Good afternoon, folks and happy Monday. Like you, we are staring down our calendars wishing the days could pass sooner so that we can get to that long week off.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

Annual inflation falls to lowest level in over a year: Annual urban inflation cooled to 28.1% in May, down from 32.5% in April on the back of considerably slower food price increases, as traders continued to price in a lower exchange rate following the float of the EGP, according to figures from state statistics agency Capmas. This is the lowest inflation figure recorded since January 2023.

Monthly inflation falls for the first time in nearly two years: On a monthly basis, inflation fell on all items for the first time since June 2022, with prices falling 0.7% m-o-m. This is the biggest drop inflation has seen m-o-m since June 2019.

Blinken landed in Cairo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in town as part of a wider regional trip to hold discussions on the latest ceasefire proposal laid out by US President Joe Biden. During his time in Egypt, Blinken is set to meet with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

What’s next? Blinken will be heading to Israel next to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Alameda Healthcare earmarks USD 245 mn for local, regional expansion: Local healthcare services provider Alameda Healthcare will invest some USD 245 mn to expand its footprint in Egypt and across the region, through setting up new hospitals or acquiring existing ones, CEO Neeraj Mishra told Al Arabiya on the sidelines of the African Health ExCon in Cairo.

Locally: Alameda will spend some USD 125 mn to expand locally, adding some 600 beds to its portfolio in Egypt — namely Greater Cairo and Assiut.

Regionally: The healthcare provider plans to invest USD 120 mn over the coming two years to acquire hospitals and “healthcare assets” in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and Saudi Arabia, Mishra said.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

The results of the European Parliamentary election have dominated the international headlines as the press broke down the far-right’s gains and their implications for the bloc’s stance on climate issues and immigration. (Reuters | AP | FT)

The far-right ascendant: French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renew party was dealt the election’s most severe blow, with projections pointing out it would receive 15% of the vote, around half of the 31-32% secured by its far-right rival Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. The results prompted Macron to dissolve the parliament and call a snap election.

The same trend followed throughout the bloc: Germany’s far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) saw its share of the vote rise significantly to over 16%, up from 11% in 2019, according to exit polls. Meanwhile, in Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s conservative Brothers of Italy is projected to win the highest share of votes in the elections — with over 28% — cementing the far-right wing prime minister’s mandate.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

How does UBS see Egypt’s FX inflows playing out over the next four quarters? Swiss investment bank UBS’ Global Research and Evidence Lab laid out three possible scenarios for where they see the supply and demand for FX going over the four quarter period ending 2Q 2025.
Qalaa completes the first phase of debt buyback program: Qalaa Holdings’ USD 21.6 mn debt buyback program raised EGP 875.4 mn (USD 17.5 mn) from shareholders in the first phase that ran between 2-5 June.
Act Financial to IPO next month: Investment management firm Act Financial will begin trading the company’s shares on the EGX by the last week of July.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Mercury is rising to a high of 38°C in Cairo and dipping to a low of 24°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.

Don’t let the deepfakes fool you

Deepfakes are getting out of hand and have become crucial to detect it. As AI continues to evolve, the emergence of deepfakes — a.k.a manipulated media content that appears real — is causing many challenges. To aid in differentiating between genuine and AI-generated content, Siwei Lyu, a computer science professor at the University of Buffalo, has created a tool to easily detect it, the DeepFake-o-meter, The Guardian reports.

The meter is accessible to all with no charge— but still needs some work: DeepFake-o-meter is an open-source tool that integrates over a dozen algorithms from various research labs. Users can upload suspected content for the tool to assess what percentage — range from 0 to 100% — whether or not it’s fake. But we can’t rely on it completely, the online tool still needs us, humans, involved in the process. The algorithms can only predict what it has been fed so far — it can get better the more we use it.

Deepfakes can come in three forms: Audio, photo, and videos. Audio is one of the hardest due to reliance on sound alone. Remember the viral Biden call where US President Joe Biden’s voice was used in the call to urge voters not to participate in the primary election. The tell-tale sign that it was AI-generated audio was that it lacked natural emotion and a conversational tone. Another giveaway was the inconsistent background noise.

Photos are much easier to examine. By focusing on fingers, extra lines, odd shadows, or that the image looks airbrushed. An example would be a deepfake Trump’s photo with black voters as used in a strategy to pull in more voters. Videos, however, are harder to fake. Clues are the stiff movements, unnatural blinking and recurrence of facial expressions — which can be seen in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s ‘ surrender video ’ of his armed forces to russia.

Sharkmania continues in Under Paris

? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

Change your travel plans, there’s a shark in France, specifically Under Paris. From director Xavier Gens, this feature has been acclaimed by some as one of the best shark movies (sorry, Jaws) and already sparked plenty of controversy over an ongoing copyright dispute that might have it pulled off of Netflix.

The storyline is predictable but the timing is impeccable. The plotline opens with an accident at an ocean exploration project studying the magnificent creatures of the sea that results in researchers Sophia (Bérénice Bejo) and her husband getting attacked by a shark named Lilith (go figure) that they have been studying. The sea creature kills Sophia’s husband while Sophia manages to survive and live with terrible PTSD…

…fast forward to this year’s Summer Olympics in France. Sophia, now in Paris and working at an aquarium, befriends two young women, Mika (Lea Leviant) and Caro (Sandra Parfait), who have a high-tech underground lair dedicated to tracking and protecting sharks. They discover that Lilith, the same shark from Sophia’s past, is, surprisingly, inhabiting the Seine River, triggering Sophia’s old fears — is the shark targeting Sophia for unfinished business?

Sophia seeks help from river cop Adil (Nassim Lyes), who initially dismisses her claims. However, after some gruesome encounters, he becomes a believer. The pair then confront the mayor (Anne Marivin), who is more concerned with an upcoming Olympic triathlon than the potential shark threat. The stakes rise as hundreds of swimmers prepare to dive into the Seine (eyes-widening), setting up a thrilling climax — followed with a mix of chaos, suspense, and shark-induced carnage.

WHERE TO WATCH- You can watch the film on Netflix or catch the trailer (watch trailer, runtime 1:52).

⚽ Another step towards the World Cup dream: The Egyptian national team will be hosting Guinea-Bissau tonight at 7pm as part of Africa’s Group A’s qualifiers. The Pharaohs are in the lead after clinching nine points from three matches, with the Djurtus team on their tails in second place with five points.

How are our other groupmates faring? Tonight at 10pm, Burkina Faso in third place with four points is going head to head against Sierra Leone, who is in fourth place, but is closing in fast with four points as well.

Here are the matches to keep an eye on during tonight’s round of the African qualifiers:

Benin vs Nigeria (Group C, 7pm)
Uganda vs Algeria (Group G, 7pm)
Ghana vs Central Africa (Group I, 10pm)

And friendly matches worth tuning into:

Netherlands vs Iceland (9:45pm)
Poland vs Turkey (9:45pm)

Yes, their butter chicken was a solid choice. Maharaja did this staple full justice. The tender chicken swimming in creamy red sauce will be the highlight of your meal. Don’t forget to order some biryani rice to go with it. We recommend going for the plain option to avoid a flood of flavor in your mouth.

Plenty of vegetarian choices. We ordered their daal makhani with a side of naan (which we will come to in a moment). The lentil in the buttery sauce was aromatic and a joy to the palate, it easily joined the clean plate club. We also tried the baingan bartha, a roasted aubergine dish that went well with naan and the plain biryani.

Don’t skip the naan. We think nan might just be one of the greatest side items in Indian cuisine. We tried them all, butter, garlic and plain and couldn’t decide which one was our favorite.

They deliver. You can order Maharaja through their website or Talabat. But if you’d like to live the full experience you could head to one of their many branches scattered around Cairo and Alexandria. You might even get complimentary coconut ice cream in an actual coconut like we did at the Sheikh Zayed branch.

Sound of Movies at National Museum of Egyptian Civilization: Medhat Saleh and Reham Abdelhakim are preparing to perform a musical evening led by Maestro Nayer Nagui at The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat this Wednesday, June 12, to celebrate the museum’s third anniversary. Click here to get your tickets to the performances.

Save some energy for a concert before Eid featuring Muslim, Omar Kamal, 3enba at Cairo Stadium, this Friday, 14 June. Get your tickets here.

If you’re more inclined to fusing Arab and Western tunes make your way to CJC 610. This Friday, 14 June, LA-based DJ/Producer Habibeats and Bubblegum Kollectiv will be playing all the mixed modern tunes. For reservations message their Facebook page.

HAPPENING LATER-

Ahmed Helmy returns to the stage with his play Memo at Grand Nile Tower Hotel in Cairo, after the success of the show in Saudi Arabia. The show will be on Sunday, 16 June at 9pm. Get your tickets here.

In celebration of Eid Al Adha, Tamer Hosny will hold a concert at Zed East in New Cairo, on Monday, June 17th. The show starts at 8:30pm. (tickets)

The violin and piano duo Fouad and Mounib are set to perform at the Roman Theatre in Sharm El Sheikh for the first time — on Tuesday, 18 June at 10pm. Get your tickets here.

Don't miss the comedic musical journey I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change at Rawabet Art Space from Thursday, 27 June to Saturday, 29 June. Explore the ups and downs of love and relationships through humorous scenes and heartwarming songs that will have you laughing and nodding along. Secure your tickets for June 27, June 28, and June 29.

Giselle will be presented by the Cairo Opera Ballet Company and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. This ballet performance is a story of romance and tragedy and will take place at the Grand Theatre of the Cairo Opera House over two days: Thursday, 27 and Friday, 28 June. Get your tickets here for Thursday and Friday.

The writing is what gets everyone hooked. There’s a reason this book is taking over, and it’s the humanity of the text — plus, how often do you get an octopus as the protagonist? Van Pelt’s character-building has readers enchanted by their complexity and absurdity. Also, the mystery of the missing son is a clever tool that keeps the narrative moving forward and quickens the pace.

If you’re looking for twists and turns this one isn’t for you. The charm is all about the mundaneness of the characters experiencing real-life things. Also, while it is heartwarming and a lovely read, it can get sad at times — particularly on Tova’s journey of acceptance.

You can get your copy on Amazon.

What the markets are doing on 10 June 2024

The EGX30 rose 0.9% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 2.7 bn (42.1% below the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is up 4.0% YTD.

In the green: Mopco (+5.3%), AMOC (+5.3%), and Juhayna (+3.9%).

In the red: Palm Hills Development (-2.5%), Telecom Egypt (-1.3%), and Eastern Company (-1.3%).

ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

JUNE

15-19 June (Saturday-Wednesday): Eid El Adha.

16 (Sunday): Memo at Grand Nile Tower Hotel.

17 June (Monday): Tamer Hosny concert at Zed East.

25 June (Tuesday): English Book Club discussion at Bibliothek.

26 June (Wednesday): Ali El Haggar concert at ElSawy Culturewheel.

27 June (Thursday): Cyberx Egypt Summit & Awards 2024 at Grand Nile Tower.

27-29 June (Thursday-Saturday): Fabrica's I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change musical at Rawabet Art Space.

30 June (Sunday): June 30 Revolution Day (TBC).

JULY

7 July (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Islamic New Year (TBC).

16-17 July (Sunday-Monday): Cairo Consultants Forum 2024 at Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski.

23 July (Tuesday): Revolution Day (TBC).

SEPTEMBER

15 September (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

OCTOBER

6 October (Sunday): Armed Forces Day.

29-30 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Intelligent Cities Exhibition & Conference (ICEC) at Waldorf Astoria.

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