The airwaves were awash with coverage of … weather — even as Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi noted that Giza and Cairo are facing what can only be described as typical winter weather. Alexandria is a bit of a different story, because of high waves that displace sand and affect the corniche, Governor Mohamed El Sherif said (watch, runtime: 11:58). Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime: 3:59), Masaa DMC’s Injy Al Qadi (watch, runtime: 6:08), and Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal (watch, runtime: 3:09) also talked about the weather conditions.

The Finance Ministry doesn’t have any further tax increases in store for the current fiscal year, Minister Mohamed Maait told Ahmed Moussa. Maait spent the better part of an hour explaining the latest round of amendments to the VAT Act, which introduced the tax on some services and products, including ads, while reducing or scrapping altogether the value-added tax on others.

Maait was forced to deliver a lesson in basic economics, explaining to Moussa why taxes are a key source of revenue for the state and how taxes are used to finance state expenses and investments, such as wages and new infrastructure projects. Moussa in turn suggested it would be better for the government to borrow more, rather than enact tax hikes, to finance state spending (watch, runtime: 47:27). There are literally no words.