Haaretz Egypt: ISIS offshoot leader killed in shootout Egyptian armed forces killed a leading member of the country's Islamic State affiliate in a shootout outside his North Sinai home, the army spokesman said in a statement on Saturday. Selim Suleiman al-Haram, identified in the statement as a leader of the militant group known as Sinai Province, was asked to turn himself in by a group of soldiers that surrounded his house in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, the army said. He refused, opening fire on the troops and attempting to blow himself up before being shot dead, the army said. Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.669040 Reuters Egypt says over half of summit promises turned into projects - planning minister Egypt has turned more than half of initial agreements signed at a March investor conference into investment projects, the planning minister said, as Cairo tries to regenerate an economy battered by years of turmoil. The government said it had signed deals worth $36 billion (£23.04 billion) at an international investment conference in Sharm El Sheikh, and that the total worth of deals and memorandums of understanding (MoU) signed was $60 billion, in addition to $12.5 billion pledged by Gulf Arab allies. "Over 50 percent of the MoUs we signed in the Sharm El Sheikh summit have turned into deals and work has started on them," Planning Minister Ashraf al-Arabi said in a Reuters interview on Saturday. Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/08/01/uk-egypt-economy-idUKKCN0Q63DK20150801 Al Arabiya Kerry in Cairo for Egypt security talks Secretary of State John Kerry is in Cairo for security talks with Egyptian officials before heading to Qatar to try to ease Arab concerns about the Iran nuclear deal. Kerry arrived in the Egyptian capital on Saturday and on Sunday will resume a U.S.-Egypt strategic dialogue that was suspended in 2009 due to political unrest. Despite continuing human rights concerns, the Obama administration is increasing military assistance to Egypt as it confronts growing threats from extremists, particularly on the Sinai peninsula. On Friday, the U.S. delivered eight F-16 warplanes to Egypt, part of a military support package. Read more: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/01/Kerry-in-Cairo-for-Egypt-security-talks.html Defense News Egypt Prolongs Role In Saudi-led Yemen Coalition Egypt extended Saturday its participation in the Saudi-led Arab coalition carrying out air strikes on Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen for another six months, the presidency said. "The National Defence Council agreed to prolong the participation of (Egyptian) troops engaged in a combat mission" in the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a statement said. At the beginning of May, the authorities renewed the mandate by three months, and Saturday's statement said the current one will "last for six months, or until the end of the combat mission" if that happens first. Read more: http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/08/01/egypt-prolongs-role-saudi-led-yemen-coalition/30998873/ Press TV UK boosts 2015 arms sales to Egypt after sinking 2013 deals Britain has reportedly re-boosted weapon sales to the Egyptian government in 2015 following a reduction in sales put in place after the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi. The US-based Newsweek magazine reported Friday that official figures released by the UK government indicated that London approved military sales licenses to Egypt for "components of military combat vehicles" worth $76.3 million in the first quarter of 2015. According to the report, the figures point to a 3,000-percent annual increase in the value of military sales to Egypt by British weapon exporters. It added that in the first quarter of 2014 military deals between the two states stood at $2.4 million in value. Read more: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/01/422879/Africa-Egypt-British-arms-sales-2015-deals-Mohamed-Morsi
