Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla attended separate events in Cairo on Friday, the second day of their visit to the Egyptian capital. While Charles visited a sustainability event to promote climate change co-operation, one of the main agendas of his trip, Camilla visited a nearby animal hospital.
The Prince of Wales met Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad and other prominent officials at an event organised by the Sustainable Markets Initiative at the American University in Greek Campus, Cairo. He also took part in a roundtable discussion on climate change, attended by Ms Fouad and Greek Campus chairman Ahmed El Alfi.
Meanwhile, Camilla visited the Brooke Hospital for Animals in the Sayeda Zeinab district. Photographs of the duchess showed her petting a donkey at the hospital.
The royal visit, part of a Middle East tour that began in Jordan this week, has been touted as a passing of the UN Climate Change Conference baton, which ended its 26th conference in Glasgow last week and is set to come to Egypt for its 27th next year.
“We have to be the custodians of a truth that our ancestors understood so well, that we are, in actual fact, part of the natural world, not separate from it, and above all it is our duty to do all in our power to protect nature rather than testing her to literal destruction,” Prince Charles said at a press event overlooking the Giza pyramids on Thursday night.
A planned visit on Friday to the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, moored off the coast of Alexandria, was cancelled due to "operational reasons" after one of its F35 fighter jets crashed into the Mediterranean on Wednesday.
An extensive multination search is being mounted for the aircraft. The pilot ejected safely and was returned to the aircraft carrier.
The royal couple arrived in Cairo on Thursday on their first visit to Egypt since 2006, and were received at the Al Ittihadiya presidential palace by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and first lady Entissar El Sisi.
In a nod to another of Charles’s agendas, religious inclusivity, the couple visited Al Azhar.
The Prince of Wales helped start a British academic scholarship programme, which allows Al Azhar scholars to pursue degrees in Islamic studies at British universities before returning to Al Azhar to work as faculty members.
The couple then headed to the pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian capital’s most popular tourist attraction.
The Giza site was not cleared of tourists, however.
Camel drivers and vendors were instructed to leave the area by 2pm, one of them told The National., but tourists were allowed to remain to highlight the recovery of the country’s tourism sector.
The royal visit led to more congested than usual on the capital's streets on Thursday, as many main roads were closed to secure the couple's route through the city.
Several markets were also closed for security reasons as the royals visited Al Azhar.
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What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
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Green ambitions
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- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
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Your Guide to the Home
- Level 1 has a valet service if you choose not to park in the basement level. This level houses all the kitchenware, including covetable brand French Bull, along with a wide array of outdoor furnishings, lamps and lighting solutions, textiles like curtains, towels, cushions and bedding, and plenty of other home accessories.
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1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
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5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
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7. Limited time periods for audits
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8. Pillar 2 implementation
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9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
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10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
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