The nation’s talking heads continued to fret over the negotiations surrounding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which once again yielded no results over the weekend.

GERD or Libya: Which is the bigger crisis? Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary spoke with journalist Emad Adib, who argued that the threat to Egypt’s water security posed by the dam presents a threat to the country than the instability in Libya. The only way out of the quandary is via diplomatic means, he said, adding Egypt has two options: negotiations or international intervention. Ethiopia would prefer the international intervention option to buy time to fill the dam’s reservoir and present Egypt with a fait accompli, he suggested (watch, runtime: 19:29).

Ex-irrigation minister dismisses talks: Al Kahera Alaan’s Lamees El Hadidi spoke with former irrigation minister Nasr El-Din Allam, who described the GERD talks as “chats and conflicts, not negotiations.” He said that it’s hard to tell whether Ethiopia has started filling the dam’s reservoir, but Addis Ababa can't be trusted because they’ve broken promises before. He said he feared the African Union would pass on the dispute to another mediator, and called on the Egyptian government to raise the issue with the UN Security Council again (watch, runtime: 7:07).

Praise for law safeguarding victims: Al Kahera Alaan’s Lamees El Hadidi spoke with Nihad Abu El Qumsan, the head of the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, who praised the recent amendments to laws safeguarding the identity of crime victims, including in harassment cases. Abu El Qumsan said that they encouraged many women to come forward with their complaints against alleged serial [redacted] offender Ahmed Bassam Zaki and others (watch, runtime: 6:28).

11 drown in tragic incident off Alexandria beach: Al Kahera Alaan’s Lamees El Hadidi talked to Alexandria Governor Mohamed El Sherif about the drowning on Friday of 11 people at the Palm (El Nakheel) beach near Alexandria. Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa also covered the story (watch, runtime: 13:19).

Face masks now included on ration cards: Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa highlighted that the Supply Ministry has added face masks to the list of commodities distributed under the ration card system. Each cardholder is entitled to two masks (watch, runtime: 9:11).