The country’s ballooning population and its effect on development led the conversation on the airwaves last night after Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly addressed the topic at a cultural symposium. The rate of population growth has far outpaced the rate of urban development over the past 70 years, Madbouly noted. While Egypt’s population has increased 400% between 1950 and 2020 (from 19 mn to 101 mn), the country’s inhabited area has barely doubled over the same period, which has led to soaring density in settled areas, the prime minister said (watch, runtime: 1:28).

The disparity between population growth and urban development rates is a result of a lack of strategy to handle the shifting demographics for years, which has in turn increased the strain on the country’s economic resources to keep up with the current situation, Deputy Health Minister Tarek Tawfik told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal. Tawfik stressed that government investments in infrastructure must be increased to keep up with population growth levels (watch, runtime: 19:49).

Also from the symposium: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi spoke about the government’s efforts to raise citizens’ standard of living, and warned viewers that Egypt has “enemies” who are trying to destabilize the country by sowing dissatisfaction among its people (watch, runtime: 4:49). Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Mousa took note of the president’s speech (watch, runtime: 2:03).

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails were also a major talking point on the airwaves last night after current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this week he would release them to the public just weeks ahead of the presidential election. Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi noted that the move is a political maneuver to boost US President Donald Trump’s ratings (watch, runtime: 6:15). El Hekaya’s Amr Adib (watch, runtime: 14:14), and Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime: 4:23) also took note of the saga.

Elsewhere, authorities decided to demolish an Andalusian lighthouse in Alexandria’s Agami to make way for a five-lane bridge as a means of reducing congestion, Alexandria Governor Mohamed El Sherif told Lamees. Although the decision was met with criticism, the lighthouse is not a heritage site or cultural monument, having been built just two decades ago, El Sherif stressed (watch, runtime: 5:49).