There were a few interesting talking points on an otherwise bland night on the nation’s airwaves. National projects continued to get attention for the second consecutive day, alongside an analysis of the ongoing Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations in Washington.

GERD negotiations: The Trump administration is “especially keen” on steering the stalled talks toward a constructive outcome, Asharq Al Awsat’s Heba El Koudsy told Masaa DMC’s Ramy Radwan in a video call (watch, runtime: 11:26). Proposals on the table include World Bank-funded development projects to improve water efficiency in the Nile Basin, sources from the US Treasury Department told the Washington bureau chief of the London-based newspaper. El Kousy also said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin laid out a few proposals for a timeline of filling GERD’s reservoirs and Ethiopia’s storage capacity, notable issues of contention between the two countries.

Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer, meanwhile, sought out Moustafa El Feki, a veteran politician and the current director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina (watch, runtime: 4:04). El Feki gave his two cents on the relationship between President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Donald Trump, and said the talks must be kept under wraps and conducted “behind closed doors” with little to no publicity in order to reach an agreement.

The government has enrolled 273k families in social safety programs this year, Abu Bakr quoted Deputy Social Solidarity Minister Nevine El Kabbag as saying (watch, runtime: 20:10). This brought the total number of beneficiaries of the Takaful and Karama cash subsidy programs to 2.4 mn families, up from less than 2.2 mn in 2018. The state had allocated EGP 18.5 bn to both programs in its current fiscal year budget.

Authorities release “the Ayat girl”: A girl who stabbed to death a micro-bus driver for allegedly attempting to “[redacted] assault her at knife point” last July was released from detention yesterday. Amira Rizk, a 15-year-old known in the local media as “the Ayat girl” after her home district, sat down with her lawyer in the studio with Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer (watch, runtime: 5:58 and runtime: 2:18).

Talking point of the night: The Suez Canal Economic Zone (watch, runtime: 1:35) and tunnels in Port Said running under the canal (watch, runtime: 1:38) are on President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s watch list.