The government’s decision on Friday to raise fuel prices dominated the airwaves last night: The nation’s talk shows aired several interviews last night to reassure consumers that the higher fuel prices would not have a knock-on effect on public transportation. Local Development Ministry spokesperson Khaled Kassem told Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi that fares for public transport and taxi cabs won’t increase given their reliance on diesel fuel, which has remained unchanged. He also claimed that the decision to hold diesel and mazut prices will mean that the hikes will not impact commodity prices (watch, runtime: 4:52 I 3:23).

The decision was also covered by Al Hayah Al Youm, which featured street interviews with microbus owners and passengers who said that the new decision hasn’t raised fares (watch, runtime: 4:13). Ala Mas’ouleety had similar street interviews with members of the public, but they were divided on the impact of the decision on the prices of fruits and vegetables, with some highlighting a significant increase in some crops and others attributing the rise to seasonality of Eid Al Adha. We have more on this story in this morning’s news well, above.

The GERD also returned to the talk shows as Ethiopia announced completing the second phase of filling the GERD: El Hekaya’s Amr Adib claimed that Ethiopia failed to meet its target of collecting 14 bn cubic meters of water and only filled 4 bcm (watch, runtime: 1:59). Adib also interviewed Sudanese journalist Mohamed Kaboucheh who highlighted the threats of floods the dam is posing for the Sudanese residents along the Blue and White Niles (watch, runtime 6:19). We have more on Ethiopia’s announcement in the Diplomacy section, above.

Rumors of an impending cabinet reshuffle got attention from Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa, who referred to the possible appointment of 10 to 12 new ministers including an information minister (watch, runtime 15:11). The change will also affect assistant ministers and their deputies as well as deputy governors, with youth likely to have more representation, Moussa said.