*** Fans of Lamees El Hadidi rejoice: She’ll be back on air soon with ON TV’s “The Last Word” airing Tuesdays-Saturdays at 9pm.

It was a packed night on the airwaves last night: The Libya conference in Hurghada, covid-19 vaccine trials, the upcoming parliamentary elections, and the cabinet’s decision to relax some of the restrictions on construction all got attention.

Libyan security delegation convenes in Hurghada: Al Hayah Al Youm’s Mohamed Sherdy covered the meeting in Hurghada of a delegation of security officials from Libya held under the auspices of the United Nations (watch, runtime: 0:47). The talks brought together representatives from the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and the General Khalifa Haftar-led Libyan National Army to lay the groundwork for upcoming peace talks in Geneva. Ala Mas'ouleety's Ahmed Moussa also covered the meeting, speaking with Khaled Al Mahjoub, the spokesman for the Tripoli operations room of the Libyan National Army. He said that holding the talks in Egypt is a positive step as they will focus on Egypt’s roadmap to peace dubbed the Cairo Declaration (watch, runtime: 11:00).

Health minister joins vaccine trials: Sherdy spoke with Health Minister Hala Zayed after she enrolled herself in a covid-19 vaccine trials. Zayed said that, of the 40k total volunteers, none had shown side effects. Zayed some 6k participants from Egypt have been enrolled in the trial in which she’s participating, wirth 1k of them having so far taken the vaccine (watch, runtime: 2:57). El Hekaya’s Amr Adib spoke by phone with Zayed, congratulating her on her participation in the trials. Zayed said the data on side effects was reassuring, and went on to discuss safety measures at schools ahead of the academic year. She also reminded citizens to get their flu shots ahead of the winter season (watch, runtime: 21:25). Moussa also covered the trials (watch: runtime: 3:07).

Election authority releases initial list of candidates standing in parliamentary elections: Sherdy covered the news that the National Elections Authority published an initial list of candidates ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections. The authority has accepted 4,006 individual candidates and eight lists and will announce the final list on 5 October after giving time for candidates to lodge appeals (watch, runtime: 3:31). Dozens of candidates failed to make the ballot for reasons including incomplete applications and unresolved military statuses (watch, runtime: 4:23). Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary also covered the topic (watch, runtime: 0:56).

How do you buy a bank? Adib discussed the process by which banks are acquired, Naguib Sawiris suggested that Orascom Financial Holding could make a play for United Bank. (watch, runtime: 2:40). He spoke with Prime Holding’s head of research Amr El Alfy, who ran through the relevant articles in the newly issued Banking Act. El Alfy said that any individual could own up to 10% of a bank provided the central bank agrees they’re a fit owner. He added that there are no foreign ownership limits on banks, although any foreign entity taking a significant stake in an Egyptian bank needs to demonstrate experience in the industry (watch, runtime: 3:19).

(Amr used an Enterprise story on the subject to illustrate his segment, which made us smile.)

New railway fees: Moussa spoke with Ashraf Raslan, the head of the Railways Authority, who discussed the 25% increase in fees for transporting goods, which will be calculated according to the weight of goods and distance travelled. He stressed that they would not apply to passengers’ personal luggage (watch, runtime: 13:03). The Egyptian National Railway does not move a significant volume of freight, so the fee hike should not have a significant impact on businesses or prices.

Construction restrictions relaxed: Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad phoned in to Masaa DMC (watch: runtime: 8:03) and Ala Mas'ouleety (watch, runtime: 23:25) to discuss the government’s decision to lift some of the restrictions on construction permits. He said that the decision to stop construction for six months helped the government improve urban planning. Saad pointed out that, starting from today, citizens who have obtained a valid license will be allowed to finish construction provided the building is no more than four storeys high.

NGOs to help paying reconciliation fees: Salet Al-Tahrir’s Azza Moustafa phoned Talaat Abdel Qawi, the head of the General Union of Non-Governmental Associations and Institutions, who said that the associations are keen to help the neediest citizens to pay their reconciliation fees, but said that NGOs have not set a specific amount to contribute (watch, runtime: 8:51).