Featuring on the airwaves last night: Egypt’s USD 1.65 bn purchase of an unspecified number of K9 howitzers from South Korea captured the attention of Masaa DMC’s Ramy Radwan (watch, runtime: 1:49). The agreement includes tech transfer, allowing Egypt to manufacture the weapon system locally, a military spokesperson said in a statement. The news comes less than a week after the US approved a USD 2.5 bn arms purchase by the Egyptian government.

SMART POLICY- Entire sectors can’t be exempt from the new private sector minimum wage: The National Council for Wages (NCW) is rejecting all requests for exemption from the new private sector minimum wage that were filed by sectors as a whole, NCW board member Magdy Al Badawy told Masaa DMC’s Radwan in a phone-in last night (watch, runtime: 7:03). Al Badawy noted that some 22 sectors had been vying for an exemption for businesses before the council directed companies to file requests on an individual basis for case-by-case review. The new minimum wage of EGP 2.4k per month came into effect at the start of the year, but thousands of companies were handed six-week grace periods until mid-February, when the government will decide on whether to exempt them.

Also getting attention: A gas leak that killed a family of seven in their home in Cairo’s Sharabia neighborhood also got some airtime from Radwan (watch, runtime: 5:05).