ACA law amendments, UNESCO elections, and Palestinian unity talks in Cairo
It was a slow night on the airwaves. On Hona Al Asema, Lamees Al Hadidi discussed the passage of amendments that give the Administrative Control Authority more independence. House Legislative Committee member Sami Radwan did talking-head duty. (watch, runtime 11:18).
Lamees then continued her coverage of the UNESCO elections, speaking to Egypt’s candidate, Moushira Khattab, who finished in third place again on the second day with only 12 votes. The ambassador said that Iraq’s candidate withdrew from the race to back Egypt, but that Azerbaijan, which also withdrew, has not made any declarations of support yet. She also said that the ministers of foreign affairs and higher education are running a successful campaign and still immersed in talks with potential backers (watch, runtime 6:49,).
Masaa DMC’s Osama Kamal appeared troubled by human rights lawyer Gamal Eid’s scathing statements to the Washington Post about Khattab (watch, runtime 7:16).
Kamal was the only one of the talking heads concerned with the Palestinian reconciliation talks that kicked-off in Cairo yesterday. The Palestinian National Council’s Mohamed Abo Samra told the host he was confident the Egypt-sponsored negotiations would be fruitful (watch, runtime 7:26).
Over on Kol Youm, Amr Adib still had football on the brain. He spoke to Egyptian Football Association Chairman Hany Abou Reda, who confirmed that the EGP 1.5 mn President Abdel Fattah El Sisi pledged to each of the national team players would not be paid from the state budget. They will instead come from donations from fans and wealthy businessmen, he said, explaining to Adib that the association uses funds from sponsors and ads to fund the team (watch, runtime 3:48).
Also on talk shows last night:
- Lamees talked about female [redacted] mutilation and ways to end the practice (watch, runtime 39:10).
- Amr Adib aired a report about an Egyptian Cement Company initiative (watch, runtime 5:02) to pay tuition fees for 2,450 students in 51 schools in Sohag (watch, runtime 5:01)
- Yahduth fi Misr’s Sherif Amer hosted Mr. Olympia 2017’s first runner-up, Egyptian bodybuilder Mamdouh Elssbiay, a.k.a Big Ramy.