Last night’s talk shows shifted their attention from the weather for the first time all week after state-owned Akhbar El Yom reported that 118 students suffered food poisoning after consuming juice that was part of their school meal in Upper Egypt’s Naga Hamady.

Kids + food poisoning = sensational headlines. Social media and the domestic press alike were wild yesterday with news that a number of the students had been. Qena deputy governor Hazem Amr denied the reports in an interview on Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 3:57), telling show host Lamees El Hadidi that a number of elementary students were sent to hospitals after complaining of stomach aches — but they weren’t cases of food poisoning. Amr said that all the students sent to hospital were released hours later and that the governor has ordered an investigation into the school’s meals. Authorities are currently awaiting the investigation results and until then we can't say whether they suffered food poisoning or not.

Education Minister Sherlock Shawki has been on the case and brought us some more plausible explanations for the hospitalizations: Mass psychosis could have been to blame, the minister told Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa with a straight face (watch, runtime: 31:43). There is a possible chance that a number of the students did not suffer any actual symptoms but just believed they were sick after seeing their friends complain, a condition referred to by medical professionals as mass psychogenic illness, he said last night. Another theory proposed by the minister: This could have been the work of those dastardly teachers, who could have been sending students to hospitals in a bid for higher compensation as part of a work-to-rule campaign. Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 4:58) also had the story.

Also on the airwaves last night:

• Luxor prepares for the glamorous ceremony to inaugurate its Rams Road on Thursday. The inauguration ceremony is expected to be a re-enactment of the ancient Egyptian Opet Festival. (Kelma Akhira | watch, runtime: 1:57)
• PHD got airtime: Chairman Yassin Mansour was on Kelma Akhira to discuss the 3k-feddan Bedaya project, which has been in the works since 2015. (Kelma Akhira | watch, runtime: 2:42:18)