Saudi Arabia to build a bridge over Red Sea to Egypt

CAIRO – Saudi Arabia will build a bridge over the Red Sea to Egypt, the Arab nation's king has announced. After meeting Egyptian presdient Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday, King Salman announced that a bridge connecting the two nations was in the pipeline. No more details were given. At the closest point - Nabq in Egypt and Ras Alsheikh Hamid in Saudi - the two nations are 10 miles apart. Saudi Arabia's financial support for strategic ally Egypt will no longer involve "free money" and will increasingly take the form of loans that provide returns to help it grapple with low oil prices, a Saudi businessman familiar with the matter told Reuters. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait showered Egypt with billions of dollars after then-military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. But low oil prices and differences over regional issues have called into question whether such strong support is sustainable. Egypt is struggling to revive an economy hit by years of political upheaval since the 2011 uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, as well as an Islamist insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula. –Reuters