{"id":562597,"date":"2021-05-31T03:50:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T03:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/05\/31\/this-morning-egyptian-digital-vaccine-passports-justice-ministry-app-available-on-ios-netanyahu-is-fighting-for-his-political-life\/"},"modified":"2021-05-31T03:50:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T03:50:59","slug":"this-morning-egyptian-digital-vaccine-passports-justice-ministry-app-available-on-ios-netanyahu-is-fighting-for-his-political-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/05\/31\/this-morning-egyptian-digital-vaccine-passports-justice-ministry-app-available-on-ios-netanyahu-is-fighting-for-his-political-life\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS MORNING: Egyptian digital vaccine passports; Justice Ministry app available on iOS; Netanyahu is fighting for his political life."},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the last day of May. <\/strong>We may not be relaxing today as are our friends in the US and UK (it\u2019s a holiday weekend for both) but it won\u2019t be long before many of us start thinking about WFH from Sahel \u2014 or of leaving the office a bit early on Thursday afternoon (and coming in just a bit late on Sunday morning) so that we can make the drive to the coast.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a moderately busy news morning<\/strong>, with the biggest development coming in the covid file, where the official count of new daily cases continues to trend downward.<\/strong> In parallel, access to vaccines continues to improve. We have more in this morning\u2019s news well, below.<\/p>\n

<\/a> Speaking of covid: <\/strong>We\u2019re going to soon have our very own digital covid passport <\/strong>to store proof of vaccination as well as to schedule a time to go get jabbed, Cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad told Kelma Akhira\u2019s Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 4:23<\/a>) last night. The digital certificates will be authenticated by the foreign and immigration ministries and will meet the requirements of countries that require proof of vaccination status as a condition of entry, Saad said.<\/p>\n

This comes amid a global move to demand digital covid passports. <\/strong>Greece was the first European Union country<\/a> to unveil a covid passport as the country looks to save this summer\u2019s tourist season and Ireland has followed suit<\/a>, saying it will issue covid passports to nationals and accept them from visitors arriving from the UK and United States. Debate over a covid passport remains controversial in some quarters of the US, but Canada looks set to issue some form of covid document, and the UK has said that it will not require them to be used for domestic events<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also going online: The Justice Ministry\u2019s registry (notary) office<\/strong>, where iPhone users can now use an app to locate their nearest office and use their national ID number to book appointments, according to a statement<\/a>. The app has been available to Android<\/a> users for a while and has now rolled out for iPhone<\/a> aficionados.<\/p>\n

<\/a> THE BIG STORY INTERNATIONALLY- <\/strong>Is the end finally nigh for Netanyahu?<\/strong> Efforts to force embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power went up a notch yesterday after far-right settler leader Naftali Bennett threw his weight behind centrist Yair Lapid, who is currently trying to cobble together a governing coalition following a fourth indecisive election. Bennett, a former advisor to Netanyahu, is positioned as the powerbroker who may call the shots over whether the country heads to yet another election or a fragile coalition of liberals and ultranationalists take over from Netanyahu\u2019s long-reigning Likud party.<\/p>\n

The story is dominating the front pages of the international press<\/strong>, with everyone from Reuters<\/a> and the AP<\/a> to the New York Times<\/a> and the Washington Post<\/a><\/p>\n

The timing of is certainly interesting<\/strong> given an intense Egypt-led diplomatic effort yesterday to bring about a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas \u2014 and potentially restart direct peace talks between Tel Aviv and Ramallah. A fall of the Netanyahu government will almost certainly have major implications for Egypt\u2019s ambitions to restart talks between the PA and Israel and rebuild Gaza, particularly if Naftali Bennett is anywhere near the levers of power in Tel Aviv. We have full coverage of yesterday\u2019s diplomatic blitz in the news well, below.<\/p>\n

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***CATCH UP QUICK<\/strong> with the top stories from yesterday\u2019s edition of EnterprisePM:<\/p>\n