News

Egypt Secures $345 Million For Electric Railway Project

The ambitious new project will link Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea to Marsa Matrouh and Alexandria on the Mediterranean.

Published

3 years ago

April 3, 2023

Nour Nasir

egypt secures $345 million for electric railway project

Siemens

Over the past few years, Egypt has been investing in multiple road, river, and rail projects in a bid to reduce its environmental impact. The Islamic Development Bank recently approved $344.5 million of funding to finance Phase I of the Electric Express Train Project. The massive civil engineering construction will benefit 25 million people annually and decrease CO2 emissions by approximately 250,000 tons per year.

According to a press release, Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea, Marsa Matrouh and Alexandria on the Mediterranean will be linked by a 660 km track.

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“The transformative projects approved in this board meeting will have a significant impact on improving transportation, education, and energy, as well as promoting regional economic integration and addressing emergencies,” says Muhammad Al-Jasser, president and board chairman of IsDB.

The electric train will connect all of Egypt’s governorates and comprise three lines, each with 60 stations and a total of 2,000 km of track. The first line will stop at 22 locations from Ain Sukhna to Hadayek October, Alexandria, El Alamein, and Marsa Matrouh.

News

YouTube Rolls Out Supervised Children’s Accounts Across MENA

An industry-first feed timer lets parents cap Shorts scrolling. Access can also be switched off entirely ahead of exam season.

Published

12 hours ago

July 10, 2026

Dana Saadeh

YouTube

YouTube has launched supervised kid accounts across the Middle East and North Africa, giving parents a way to hand their children the main YouTube app without handing over all of it. Announced in Dubai on July 2, the accounts are built directly into the platform rather than the standalone YouTube Kids app, and are aimed at families who feel a child has outgrown the curated library but isn’t ready for the open feed.

Parents can choose from three content settings, each broadly aligned with international content ratings. Explore covers educational videos, tutorials, arts and crafts, and dance. Explore More adds gaming and live streams. Most of YouTube opens up almost everything except videos rated 18+ or deemed inappropriate for supervised accounts.

The standout tool is an industry-first Shorts feed timer, which lets parents set daily limits on short-form scrolling. Set it to zero and Shorts disappears altogether – a lever YouTube suggests parents might pull ahead of exam season. Other protections are on by default for all users under 18: “Take a Break” and “Bedtime” reminders, no personalized ad targeting, autoplay switched off, and no ability to upload videos or write comments. The accounts are optional, and parents can end supervision at any time.

The kid accounts join supervised teen accounts already available across the region, which notify parents by email when a teenager uploads a video or starts a live stream.

“YouTube has been a huge part of families’ lives across this region for over 20 years,” said Javid Aslanov, head of YouTube Middle East and North Africa, citing Kantar research showing 95% of viewers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE agree YouTube has top content in education and learning.

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“It’s essential that we protect young people in – not from – the digital world,” added Garth Graham, YouTube’s head of health.

The new settings are rolling out gradually across the MENA, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Iraq. The latest features can be set up through Family Center in the YouTube app or via Google Family Link.