The airwaves offered us up a bag of somewhat mixed nuts for a change last night, with the biggest news being the Egyptian National Railway (ENR)’s USD 575 mn purchase of 100 locomotives from General Electric.

Lamees Al Hadidi spoke to Transport Minister Hisham Arafat during her weekly spot on CBC Extra. Arafat said that he hopes the new locomotives, the first shipment of which will arrive in April 2018, will see ENR make better use of its capacity and generate revenues to help cover the cost of upgrades over the coming seven or eight years.

Fifty of the 100 locomotives will be built in Egypt in partnership with the military’s Arab Organization for Industry, GE’s President and CEO for North East Africa Ayman Khattab told Lamees (more on that in the Speed Round). The agreement is the largest commercial transaction between Egypt and a US company since President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s visit to DC earlier this year, he added, explaining that the 15-year maintenance package is possibly the first of its kind in Egypt (watch, runtime 8:42).

Lamees then moved on to a quick review of major philanthropic activities this Ramadan (well-timed since we are in the last week of the holy month), starting with the 500500 Cancer Hospital, which reportedly receives around 1,000 patients a day. The hospital is establishing a new facility in the Cairo suburb of Sheikh Zayed (watch, runtime 4:35). Meanwhile, Misr Al Kheir charity group is planning to expand its presence to 17 new areas in Upper Egypt, in partnership with the National Bank of Egypt (watch, runtime: 5:40).

Over on Kol Youm, Amr Adib played clips from El Sisi’s Ramadan iftar with 28 citizens on Sunday while defending the president against critical comments on social and mainstream media. “He’ll get attacked whether he does the iftar or not,” Adib said (watch, runtime: 6:03).

Adib also took some time to cover the fire in West London, describing 2017 as a “dark year” {for the UK, just as 2016 was for France (watch, runtime: 4:22).