Egypt Steps up Efforts to Move to Administrative Capital

This picture taken on March 13, 2020 shows an aerial view of ongoing construction development at Egypt's New Administrative Capital megaproject. AFP file photo
This picture taken on March 13, 2020 shows an aerial view of ongoing construction development at Egypt's New Administrative Capital megaproject. AFP file photo
TT

Egypt Steps up Efforts to Move to Administrative Capital

This picture taken on March 13, 2020 shows an aerial view of ongoing construction development at Egypt's New Administrative Capital megaproject. AFP file photo
This picture taken on March 13, 2020 shows an aerial view of ongoing construction development at Egypt's New Administrative Capital megaproject. AFP file photo

The Egyptian government has stepped up efforts to move its headquarters to the New Administrative Capital and start operating from there starting early next year.

While the Central Agency for Organization and Administration announced that it has trained more than 4,000 candidates to work at the new headquarters, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for “speeding up operational steps for the opening of the new diplomatic quarter in the new capital in an integrated manner with other neighborhoods.”

The New Administrative Capital, located 75 kilometers east of Cairo, is among the president's most ambitious projects, with a cost of about $300 billion.

Sisi held a meeting on Monday with a number of generals responsible for the project, including Major General Amir Sayed Ahmed, Adviser to the President for Urban Planning, and Major General Ehab El-Far, Chairman of the Engineering Authority of the Armed Forces.

Presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady said that Sisi followed up on the ongoing construction work in the New Administrative Capital and the city of Galala, as well as the Ramses Square development plan.

According to Rady, Sisi and the attendees reviewed the construction of some projects in the New Administrative Capital, especially the diplomatic quarter, which will include foreign missions and the headquarters of international and regional organizations located in Egypt.

The President called for accelerating the establishment of the diplomatic neighborhood in an integrated manner with other neighborhoods in the new capital.

The conferees also reviewed the development of a number of roads and bridges in Cairo governorate.



Netanyahu: Israel Retains Right to Resume Gaza Fighting

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
TT

Netanyahu: Israel Retains Right to Resume Gaza Fighting

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Israel retains the right to resume war in Gaza with US backing should the second stage of the ceasefire prove pointless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

"If we must return to fighting we will do that in new, forceful ways," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

"President (Donald) Trump and President (Joe) Biden have given full backing to Israel's right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile," he said.

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT), mediator Qatar announced Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.
The prime minister had warned earlier that a ceasefire wouldn’t go forward unless Israel received the names of hostages to be released, as had been agreed.

The pause in 15 months of war is a step toward ending the deadliest, most destructive fighting ever between Israel and the Hamas militant group — and comes more than a year after the only other ceasefire achieved. The deal was achieved under joint pressure from Trump and the outgoing administration of President Biden ahead of Monday's inauguration.
The first phase of the ceasefire will last 42 days, and negotiations on the far more difficult second phase are meant to begin just over two weeks in. After those six weeks, Israel’s security Cabinet will decide how to proceed.
Israeli airstrikes continued Saturday, and Gaza's Health Ministry said 23 bodies had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.