Better auditory experiences from your left ear

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

THIS EVENING: Parliament signs off on income tax + development fee hikes

Good afternoon, friends. It’s shaping up to be a legislation-heavy news week here at home, as the House of Representatives charges through a raft of bills and tax hikes ahead of its summer recess.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Tax legislation moves through parliament: The House of Representatives gave its final approval to a package of tax and duty hikes, Al Masry Al Youm reports. The House general assembly also signed off on amendments to the Income Tax Act, according to Masrawy. The amendments will raise the threshold for income tax exemption to EGP 36k from EGP 24k, and introduce a 27.5% tax rate for people earning more than EGP 1.2 mn per year. The amendments were initially set to impose the 27.5% tax rate on individuals earning more than EGP 1 mn annually.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Erdogan’s triumph at the ballots is still dominating the conversation in the international press this afternoon: The president succeeded in adding another five years to his 20-year tenure in office with a 52.2% victory over Kemal Kilicdaroglui. Reuters| BBC | CNBC | Bloomberg | Financial Times

ALSO- Kyiv was pummeled last night by Russian forces amid preparations for Kyiv Day.The Ukrainian capital received an unprecedented 59 drones attacking the city overnight, but the attack claimed only one life and injured two as a result of the debris landing from a building that was attacked.

The story is also making the rounds: BBC|CNBC| Financial Times | WSJ | Bloomberg

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

Tax hikes clear first hurdle in the House: MPs yesterday gave preliminary approval to a raft of tax, duty and development fee hikes, 18 months after rejecting the government’s initial plans to raise tax revenues.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) could lend USD 260 mn to state-owned Banque Misr for on-lending to local MSMEs and women-owned SMEs.
What the Joint Economic Commission means for Egypt-US ties — and US investment here: The Egypt-US Joint Economic Commission (JEC) held its launch meeting in Cairo earlier this month, with a broad delegation of US government representatives and businesses discussing the expansion of economic and business ties between the two countries.

ENTERPRISE IS LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE of all backgrounds to help us build some very cool new things. Enterprise — the essential morning read on all the important news shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region — is looking for writers, reporters and editors to help us build out new publications. Today, we run four daily Egypt and MENA-focused publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a weekend lifestyle edition designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >250k daily readers by telling stories that matter.

Journalists looking to explore business, finance and economic stories are welcome. So are recent journalism school graduates.

That said, we're looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

NEVER WORKED IN A NEWSROOM BEFORE? We have the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program. Whether you are a recent graduate, an industry vet, or looking to switch careers, the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program will give you the tools you need to tell the most important stories to our audience of C-suite officials, government ministers, diplomats, financiers, investors and entrepreneurs.

During the program you will learn:

The key news stories and trends shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region, across various sectors;
Business and finance for non-finance people: Whether it's industry jargon or key concepts or simply how to read a balance sheet;
How to construct an Enterprise story: From idea formulation down to the structure, style and tone of writing;
How to develop sources that will give you the key insights needed to tell a complete story;
How to communicate these stories with the confidence and language of an insider.

Not an internship program — a career: The three-month program will see full-time, paid participants take part in workshops and lectures from veteran business journalists, while also working on and filing stories that will run on any of our publications. Those who have successfully completed the program, will then be given long-term job offers.

Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention “writing development program” in your subject line.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Patches of sun and clouds will be gracing our sky tomorrow with the mercury reading a high of 34°C and a low of 23°C at night.

Your left ear makes for a more positive auditory experience + There could be a supernova in the making — but none of us will be alive to see it

It’s not just what we hear, but how we hear it: The brain responds more intensely to positive sounds it hears from the left side, researchers have found in a new study (pdf)published in Frontiers in Neuroscience by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Brain scans of thirteen participants — with no history of neurological issues or hearing loss — revealed that “spatial cues appear to render emotional vocalizations more salient.”

What does that mean? Positive human vocalizations like laughter create greater stimuli in the auditory cortex (a network of areas in the brain responsible for processing auditory inputs) than both neutral or negative sounds, and sounds heard from the front, back, or right side. While the reason for this difference is yet to be determined, speculations like brain bias for left-handed people were denied by the simple fact that nine out of the 13 participants are right-handed.

This builds on previous research: The new study adds to previous findings which indicate that the source of sound affects the type of emotion we attribute to it. For instance, sounds we hear coming from behind tend to be perceived as threatening or alarming — which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, an article by Science Alert points out.

Nvidia is doubling down on AI: US-based chipmaker Nvidia unveiled a lineup of AI-supported systems, softwares, and products yesterday, according to a company release. Speaking at a conference, founder and CEO Jensen Huang announced his company will offer an AI supercomputer platform, DGX GH200, which can allow “developers [to] build large language models for generative AI chatbots, complex algorithms for recommender systems, and graph neural networks used for fraud detection and data analytics.”

The company has been on a tear: Nvidia was on the verge of a USD 1 tn valuation last week — which would have been a first for the chip industry — after delivering a sales forecast of USD 11 bn in the second quarter of its fiscal years, far above analyst estimates. The higher-than-expected forecast was driven by data center chips designed to handle AI tasks, as the company shifts from being primarily a maker of computer graphics chips to becoming a key player in the AI industry.

Supernova sighting? Betelgeuse, a reddish star alongside Orion, is going to (eventually) explode, causing a celestial extravaganza known as a supernova, an astrophysicist at the Flatiron Institute in New York City said, according to Scientific American. More recently, the star has been shining brighter, a 50% increase, an exceptional difference that has skywatchers and pro astronomers intrigued and excited.

The explosion itself promises to be a spectacle — when it happens. By celestial standards, this historical event will happen “soon” — but by average human standards, it’s a far-off prospect that will materialize in another 10k-100k years. But science helps us imagine the transformation: It would begin with milky particles surrounding the star which would revolve over our planet and get picked up by detectors until the actual “fireworks begin.” The resulting light would be so luminous it would be akin to the brightness of the moon. Nevertheless, what scientists are certain about is that it will create permanent change to our sky.

Cycle of light has been shortened to more than half: Ancient Greeks and Aboriginals have made a record of Betelguese’s cycle by following how many days its brightness increased and waned. Based on more modern times, scientists have noted the sudden drop in the star’s cycle to 130 days from 400 days, sparking interest by astronomers and physicists, thus, bringing its “explosion day” a lot closer than previously theorized. The star’s development is due to it spewing out a massive blob of gas and dust which allowed other surrounding plasma to enter its center and for magnetic fields to do their magic leading to this unusual change.

High Desert: A lawyer takes up a new life in Yucca, California

? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

Starting fresh in the High Desert: In High Desert, Peggy Newman (Patricia Arquette) is a successful lawyer who decides to leave her job behind and start anew in California’s Yucca Valley, where she takes up a new career as a private investigator. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her mother dies, forcing her to confront her estranged sister and unravel the secrets of her past. Peggy’s character is complex and multi-faceted and is forced to confront the consequences of her choices and face the truth about herself. The series explores themes of family, identity and redemption, as well as the challenges of life in the desert. You can catch this series on Apple TV — there are only four episodes out so far, so you can catch up with a quick binge.

⚽ It’s a calm day in the international football world, while Egypt has two matches that were postponed from the 27th Gameweek of the Egyptian League. Al Ahly, which is currently topping the league, hosts Ceramica Cleopatra at 9:30pm as it looks to maintain its streak of victories and widen its berth with Pyramids and Future, which are in second and third place. Ceramica Cleopatra, meanwhile, is hovering near relegation territory and needs all the points it can get to improve its standing.

Al Ittihad also faces off against Pyramids in Alexandria at 7pm. Al Ittihad is hoping to inch closer to the golden square, while second-place Pyramids needs a victory as it continues to chase the top spot and break away from third-place Future.

? Over in Roland Garros, world no. 3 Novak Djokovic is currently on the court with the US’ Aleksandar Kovacevik in the first round of the French Open. Djokovic is leading with one set (6-3) and has managed to break Kovacevik’s serve in the second set, leading 2-0 as we hit dispatch. World no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz Garfia is also set to begin his match against Italy’s Flavio Cobollio at 5pm, while Dominic Thiem faces off against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin at 4:20pm.

In the women’s singles, we’ll be keeping an eye on world no. 10 Petra Kvitova when she meets Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto at 5:35pm, as well as world no. 5 Caroline Garcia’s 4:05pm match against China’s Xiyu Wang.

Egypt’s Mayar El Sherif will play again this Wednesday in the second round, where she will face off against Russia’s Anastasia Potapova, after El Sherif defeated the US’ Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-1 in the first round yesterday.

? Al Ahly are the 2023 BAL champions: Al Ahly won the 2023 Basketball Africa League (BAL) championship after defeating Senegal’s AS Douanes 80-65 in Kigali on Saturday, finishing the championship with an overall score of 7 victories and 1 loss. The championship title secured a spot for Al Ahly in the next edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup set to take place in Singapore 21-24 September, marking the first time Al Ahly will play in the tournament.

A cozy Lebanese spot tucked away in Maadi: We stumbled across Beit Lebnen, which — as its name might suggest — is a new Lebanese restaurant that opened its doors earlier this month at Villa Felt on Street 210 in Maadi. The restaurant has all the usual suspects of a Lebanese menu, from fattoush and tabbouleh to manakish, makanek, batata harra, and warak enab — none of which disappointed. For the main course, we suggest tucking into an eggplant fatteh, which left us perfectly full and satisfied. Finish off your meal with one of their desserts — we opted for Layali Beit Lebnen. The restaurant also has a breakfast menu.

Zawya Cinema’s Cairo Cinema Days rolls on: The festival, which kicked off last week, showcases the latest films from the Arab region, with this year’s edition including 16 documentaries and feature films from Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco, Iraq, Palestine, Algeria, and Lebanon. The festival runs through 10 June — you can check out the screening schedule and find more details here.

The annual Flower Exhibition — which is typically held at the Orman Gardens — is now open to the public at the Agricultural Museum in Dokki. The exhibition will run for one month until 27 June.

Dive into Egypt’s infinitely rich contemporary art world: The “Traces of Egypt” Exhibition began in late March and will continue until Thursday, 15 June, at the Grand Egyptian Museum. The exhibit is organized by Egyptian-German artist Susan Hefuna and celebrates the country’s Khayamiya tradition through 28 dresses celebrating local artisans and their craftsmanship.

Fancy a chuckle, or more? Watch Absurd & Beyond by ACT at Rawabet Art Space this Friday, 2 June and Saturday, 3 June at Rawabet Art Space starting from 8pm.

Start training for your next half marathon: The TriFactory is hosting another edition of itsMadinaty Half Marathon on Friday, 9 June at Madinaty. You can sign up for the event through the TriFactory website.

Hiba Tawaji is back with her first concert in Cairo after three years: The Lebanese singing sensation will be performing in the Cairo Opera house on Friday, 16 June starting from 8:30pm to celebrate the release of her new album, Ba’d Seneen. The performance will be conducted by Maestro Ahmed Aweida and under the supervision of Oussama El-Rahbani. Click here to reserve your tickets.

I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt is a true mob hitman’s confession and the inspiration behind Martin Scorcese’s The Irishman. Frank Sheeran (aka The Irishman) allegedly made 25 hits for the mob, including Jimmy Hoffa, one of his contractors, according to Brandt’s biography. Hoffa disappeared on 30 July, 1982, and his remains are yet to be found — but Sheeran’s confession recorded by Brandt claims to have solved this mystery. Other insights that come to light include Sheeran’s intimate knowledge of Russel Bufalino, one of the US’ most notorious mafia bosses, who has such a resounding impact that he was even involved in the casting selection of Francis Ford Copolla’s The Godfather. Other interesting observations include which gun to use during a hit in daylight and nighttime, alongside fascinating translations of some mob idioms, such as “going to school” (going to prison), “going to Australia” (being shot and buried “down under”), and the infamous “painting houses” (synonymous with the blood splattering on a wall after a victim is shot). The book’s simple narrative style is appealing as it opens with Sheeran remembering the day he tried to broker a peace with Hoffa and Bufalino that developed into the dreaded hit he needed to make.

What the markets are doing on 29 May, 2023

The EGX30 rose 0.47% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 2.42 bn. Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 17.9% YTD.

In the green: Heliopolis Housing (+11.8%), Orascom Construction (+7.5%) and TMG (+5.1%).

In the red: Ibnsina Pharma (-1.8%), Egypt-Kuwait Holding (-1.7%) and Oriental Weavers (-1.5%).

THE ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

MAY

17 May-10 June (Wednesday-Saturday): Cairo Cinema Days at Zawya Cinema, Downtown Cairo.

24 May (Wednesday): Last day of Omar Abdel Zaher’s Roots exhibition at the Safarkhan Art Gallery.

24-25 (Wednesday-Thursday): Disco Misr at El Sawy Culturewheel.

24-27 May (Wednesday-Saturday): Pyramids Sound and Light Show.

25-27 May (Thursday-Saturday): TriFactory’s Somabay Endurance Festival.

27 May-27 June (Saturday-Tuesday): Annual Flower Exhibition from 10am at the Agricultural Museum.

JUNE

9 June (Friday): TriFactory Madinaty Half Marathon.

10 June (Saturday): Thanaweya Amma examinations begin.

15 June (Thursday): Last day of the Traces of Egypt Exhibition at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

28 June-2 July (Wednesday-Sunday): Eid El Adha (TBC).

30 June (Friday): June 30 Revolution Day.

JULY

18 July (Tuesday): Islamic New Year.

20 July (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Islamic New Year (TBC).

23 July (Sunday): Revolution Day.

27 July (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Revolution Day.

SEPTEMBER

26 September (Tuesday): Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

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

OCTOBER

6 October (Friday): Armed Forces Day.

13 October- 20 October (Friday-Friday): The sixth edition of El Gouna Film Festival (GFF).

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2023: The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

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