President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s inauguration of several national projects in Sinai and Suez received a lot of attention from the talking heads last night. Tourism and human rights also got their share of airtime.

El Sisi inaugurates new Sharm highway: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi inaugurated yesterday a new EGP 5.5 bn 342 km road to Sharm El Sheikh from El Shahid Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel in Suez that will make long weekend getaways in Ras Sidr, Sharm, or even further up to Dahab and Nuweiba much more appealing. The new highway replaces a connection between Cairo and South Sinai that suffered regular downpours, reports Hona Al Asema Reham Ibrahim (watch, runtime: 3:12). The old two-lane “road of death” was prone to accidents, with cars not infrequently meeting in head-on collisions.

The president also inaugurated several others national projects, including a steel rolling mill in Suez, a granite and marble factory in Sinai’s Gifgafa, and social housing and bridges in Tur Sinai and Abou Zeneima. Ibrahim (watch, runtime: 0: 32) and Masaa DMC’s Ramy Radwan (watch, runtime: 20:26) were among those taking note.

Developing Sinai is a matter of national security, EGP 800 bn-worth of projects underway: El Sisi said following the inauguration that EGP 800 bn-worth of desalination plants, tunnels, roads, factories, and houses are being built in Sinai, and their completion is “a matter of national security” (watch, runtime: 3:32). Sinai development projects have been in the pipeline since before El Sisi took charge, but are now finally being executed, Ibrahim quoted the president as saying.

Tourism Ministry wins its first award in London conference: The Tourism Ministry won yesterday during the World Travel Market in London the International Travel & Tourism Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry, Masaa DMC’s Ramwan reported (watch, runtime: 12:13). Radwan phoned Al Mashat, who said tourism revenues were up 28% y-o-y, reaching their highest recorded level in FY 2018-2019. In a separate phone call with Abu Bakr, she also spoke of Egypt enjoying greater credibility among tour operators and airlines, and partnerships with some of the largest global organizations (watch, runtime: 14:03).

El Sisi phones Boris: El Sisi spoke yesterday to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the phone, Radwan also reported. The president welcomed the recent lifting by the UK government of its four-year ban on flights to Sharm El Sheikh (watch, runtime: 0:54).

Human rights on Hona Al Asema: Hona Al Asema featured a lengthy segment last night on what was described as constant attempts by Ikhwan-led media to feed false information to international organizations about the human rights situation in the country. Ibrahim sat down with Saeed Abdel Hafez, head of the Forum for Development and Human Rights (watch, runtime: 21:37). Egypt is due to take part on 13 and 14 November in two meetings in Geneva for our human rights periodic review with the UN Human Rights Council, Abdel Hafez said. Abdel Hafez also said authorities have stepped up efforts in the past two years to respond to “politicized” and “false” reports by human rights organizations that are often promoted by Qatar and the Ikhwan, among other highlights from the conversation.