El Sisi in DC dominates airwaves
As expected, the airwaves last night were abuzz with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s visit to Washington DC to meet US President Donald Trump, with Hona Al Asema’s Lamees El Hadidi reporting on the visit from DC. She spoke to a number of political analysts and commentators about what to expect of the trip (watch, runtime 1:34:25).
On Masaa DMC, Ramy Radwan hosted Egypt’s ambassador to the US, Yasser Reda, who described the visit as “historic” and underscoring the economic side of things (watch, runtime 5:29).
Meanwhile on Kol Youm, Amr Adib showed footage of Sisi’s arrival in the United States (watch, runtime: 4:06), but quickly moved on to cover the explosion in Tanta, which led to one reported death (more in the Speed Round). Adib said the attack was an Ikhwan plot to embarrass El Sisi during the US trip (watch, runtime 10:30).
Adib also aired a report on the first umrah flight in five months, which took off on Saturday carrying 220 pilgrims (watch, runtime 2:04).
Over on Al Hayah Al Youm, Lobna Asal zeroed in on reports that 62,000 ration card beneficiaries had been placed on the “blacklist,” i.e, they risk losing their mooching benefits. She spoke to Deputy Supply Minister Mohamed Sewed, who explained that the list included citizens with incomplete or mismatched data as well as others who haven’t used their cards in at least three months. Around 19 mn citizens need to update their information on the system, he added (watch, runtime: 11:51).