Construction ban lifted: The government has decided against renewing its six-month construction ban but will not allow companies to resume construction until new requirements are issued in the first week of December, cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad told Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi last night. There will then be a six-month period in which the government will automate the system of issuing building permits to eliminate previous loopholes (watch, runtime: 16:05).

Gold in Egypt: Oil Minister Tarek El Molla dropped into Kelma Akhira to talk gold, reviewing the recent results from the ministry’s gold exploration tender in the Eastern Desert. When asked about whether Naguib Sawiris has pulled out of talks to acquire the state-owned Shalateen Mining Company, El Molla suggested that negotiations might resume after the pandemic is finally over (watch, runtime: 15:20).

The message to Sudan on GERD: Get back to the negotiating table. Former irrigation minister Mohamed Nasr Allam told Ala Mas'ouleety's Ahmed Moussa that Sudan's decision to boycott the GERD talks serves Ethiopian's interests. Sudan last week said it would not participate in upcoming talks unless the African Union takes a bigger role mediating the dispute, calling them “useless” in their current format. Allam struck the opposite tone, calling the African Union an “inefficient” mediator and said that Egypt likely will return to the UN Security Council if it doesn’t start producing results (watch, runtime: 59:01).

House run-off elections: Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal covered the opening day of the first runoff vote in the House elections, which she said saw a decline in voter turnout (watch, run time: 13:05). Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary and Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa had the same coverage (watch, runtime: 6:57), (watch, runtime: 6:31).