Shoukry meets US Congress intelligence committee delegation

Worker productivity lost due to heat stress cost Australia some US$6.2 billion (5.6 billion euros) in 2013/14, said a study Monday that warned of worse to come as the planet warms.

Three-quarters of respondents to a productivity questionnaire said they were affected by heat at the workplace over a 12-month period, according to findings published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Seventy percent said heat had made them less productive on at least one day in the previous 12 months, and seven percent said they had been absent from work at least one day.

Based on data obtained from the representative group of 1,726 working Australians aged 18 to 65, a team of international researchers calculated the annual cost of absenteeism and impaired performance due to heat at $655 per person.

"This represents an annual economic burden of around $6.2 billion for the Australian workforce," the team wrote. "This amounts to 0.33 to 0.47 percent of Australia's GDP."

The study was done in a particularly hot period in Australian history -- 2013 was the warmest year on record and 2014 the third warmest.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has met with US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chief Devin Nunes and his accompanying delegation.

The two sides discussed bilateral relations and the need to further beef them up in all political, economic, trade, and security domains.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel Aatti said the meeting also tackled the situation in the Middle East in the light of challenges topped by the terror organizations.

They also discussed the situation in Yemen and efforts of the Arab coalition there and developments in the Syrian crisis.

The two sides also discussed cooperation between Egypt and Mediterranean states such as Cyprus in light of joint projects of natural resources.