The Supreme Council for Media Regulation announced a package of decisions aimed at consolidating the media’s commitment to “professional and ethical rules,” preserving “the sanctity of private life” and “public morals,” and controlling “media practice” in a way that achieves a balance between “freedom of opinion and expression” and the responsibility resulting from it.
The Council said, in a statement issued on Wednesday, that in light of its previous decision to oblige institutions, media and journalistic outlets, and digital platforms subject to the provisions of Law No. 180 of 2018, not to circulate, make available, or discuss any content related to crises, family disputes, or secrets of the personal lives of all citizens without exception, and to adhere to the media codes and standards issued by it that regulate the controls of media consumption, it was decided to prevent the appearance of Captain Hossam Hassan, the technical director of the national football team, on all subject media outlets. The provisions of the Press and Media Regulation Law, and summoning the legal representatives of a number of websites for hearings, for violating the controls of “preserving and respecting the private life” of citizens.
The Council confirmed that strict legal measures will be taken in the event of violating the decision or repeatedly broadcasting or circulating any news related to the facts in question, pointing out the continued implementation of its previous decision to prevent Mrs. Dan Adam, the former wife of Captain Hossam Hassan, from appearing on all media outlets subject to the provisions of the same law.
The Council stressed the need for the media to adhere to implementing its decision to prevent the circulation, availability or discussion of any content related to family crises or the personal lives of all citizens without exception, stressing that the prescribed legal measures will be taken against any media outlet that violates the decision.
The Council explained that the media should be a space for spreading awareness and knowledge, not an arena for settling personal differences or exchanging accusations and quarrels.
In a related context, Professor of Media at Cairo University, Dr. Mahmoud Khalil, rejected the policy of preventing appearances, explaining to Asharq Al-Awsat that “providing freedom and giving the source the appropriate space, while controlling the broadcaster’s dialogue and preventing it from escaping or touching on matters and crises far from professional ethics, is the logic that should be followed.”
Khalil stressed that “the work of the Egyptian national team coach requires his appearance in the media to obtain information related to his work in the sports field. It is unreasonable to ask a guest about personal details and discuss them through a sports platform,” pointing out that neutrality and professionalism are the basis for controlling the media scene.
The Council indicated, in its statement, that protecting the stability of the sports system and upholding the national interest requires providing the appropriate climate for the technical staff of the national team to carry out its responsibilities, and focusing on preparing for sporting benefits, away from any disputes that do not serve Egyptian sports.
During the past few hours, the name of Hossam Hassan and his ex-wife, Dan Adam, has returned to the forefront again, after announcing that legal measures had been taken against her and submitting an official report containing accusations of forgery and cohabitation, which led to escalating demands for his resignation against the backdrop of his personal crises.
For her part, Dr. Sarah Fawzi, professor of radio, television and digital media at Cairo Media, supported the decision to ban appearances, stressing to Asharq Al-Awsat that “protecting public figures is necessary to avoid getting into quarrels and delving into family details,” refusing to turn the channels into “paparazzi” hunting for news, scandals, and personal crises to be shown on television.
Sarah considered that the ban on appearances “aims to preserve the image of the team and its coach, and to protect them from any negative influences or other repercussions.”
Weeks before the decision to ban Hossam Hassan from appearing, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation announced banning the appearance of his ex-wife, Dan Adam, for the same reasons, while their differences began to surface in the middle of last year, against the backdrop of the latter speaking to local media about a problem concerning them, for the first time after 10 years of their marriage.
Researchers from the George Institute for Global Health in Australia evaluated the health benefits of replacing table salt with potassium-fortified salt in 193 countries. The results of the study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Health, concluded that this shift may contribute to preventing about 3 million deaths and 10 million new cases of cardiovascular and kidney diseases annually worldwide.
Bruce Neal, a senior researcher at the George Institute, noted that the health gains would be widespread and could contribute to avoiding one in every 10 deaths from cardiovascular disease in most countries.
“Excessive sodium intake and potassium deficiency are proven causes of high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for life-threatening conditions, such as strokes, heart attacks, and kidney disease,” Neil said in a statement issued Wednesday. Therefore, switching to potassium-fortified salt addresses these two nutritional problems at the same time, and achieves significant health benefits.”
He added: “The global shift from regular salt to potassium-fortified alternatives represents a starting point that pushes countries to consider this opportunity, which has much greater potential, and at a much lower cost compared to many pharmaceutical treatments.”
Potassium-fortified salt is made by replacing part of sodium chloride, the main component of regular table salt, with potassium chloride. This salt is similar to its regular counterpart in terms of appearance, taste, and method of use in cooking. In 2025, the World Health Organization recommended the use of potassium-fortified salt to help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Globally, one in three adults between the ages of 30 and 79 suffer from high blood pressure, equivalent to about 1.4 billion people. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death and disability in the world. It caused 19.2 million deaths during the year 2023, an increase of nearly 50 percent compared to what was the case 30 years ago.
Health gains
The study examined a range of hypothetical scenarios, ranging from a complete global switch to the use of fortified salt, to limiting its use to people diagnosed with high blood pressure and receiving treatment for it. The results showed that even in the most limited scenarios, significant health gains can still be achieved.
Risk management in kidney patients
Despite the significant potential benefits, there are still concerns about the risk of high blood potassium levels (hyperkalemia) in people with advanced kidney disease. However, the study concluded that the benefits outweigh the risks, even in patients with advanced stages of kidney disease.
Vivek Jha, a nephrologist and senior fellow at the George Institute, said: “People with serious kidney disease, as well as those taking medications that significantly raise potassium levels in the blood, need to take preventive measures. The risks facing these groups can be effectively managed through patient education, product labeling, and clinical supervision.”
For his part, Neil stressed the need to develop country-specific strategies, designed according to the main source of sodium in the diet, whether it is salt used in homes or processed foods.
He added: “To make the most of the switch to potassium-fortified salt, we need the participation of the food industry in Europe and North America, where more than 70 percent of salt consumption comes from processed foods and meals served in restaurants. This also requires searching for ways to increase potassium chloride production to meet the growing demand.”
Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski said that his film “Sister Brother Manhole Cover” started from his desire to tell a story about people living on the margins of society, searching for connections that give them a sense of family, explaining that his characters confront social inequality with ridicule and challenge.
Manchevsky added, in his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat via the Zoom application, that he does not start working from a message he wants to deliver, but rather from a story and characters that he allows to lead him to discover the themes of the film, indicating that he deals with creativity in the spirit of children’s play, and with the same pleasure that an artist might find in composing music or drawing a painting.
The film won the "Tokyo Grand Prize", which bears the name of the Tokyo Governor's Award, at the thirty-ninth session of the Tokyo International Film Festival, which was held in Japan and concluded its activities recently, while the jury praised the award's merits for the film director's ability to combine humor, tragedy, and drama, and for the humanity and empathy in presenting his characters.
The film follows two brothers, Malina and Victor, who live on the margins of society in Skopje, North Macedonia. They make ends meet by stealing bronze busts of national heroes and selling them for scrap. However, one of the thefts ends with Victor being seriously injured, and his sister finds herself forced to enter into a deal with a corrupt doctor, and a series of situations opens up before them that test their bonds and their ability to survive.
Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski explained that all the main characters in the film live, in one way or another, outside the usual frameworks, and that one of the topics that emerged during the writing was the search for an unexpected and unconventional family, whose members share a genuine concern for each other, while the other topic was the gap between the haves and the have-nots, and how the issue of justice affects people’s lives and the details of their choices.
He pointed out that the relationship of the two brothers with society is evident through the contradiction between celebrating the heroes of the past and the inability to provide real opportunities for the living, explaining that they live in a society that glorifies its history through statues, and makes many promises, but achieves only a few of them, so the promised future remains out of their reach.
He added that stealing statues carries an aspect of rebellion against this reality, but it also remains a practical act imposed by the need for survival. The two brothers sell bronze by weight to get money, pointing out that stealing drain covers represents the opposite side of stealing hero statues. While society celebrates statues, the covers hide what is happening under its streets, believing that removing them reveals what society is trying to hide and exposes its hypocrisy.
Regarding the selection of actors, Manchevsky explained that this stage is of great importance in his work, and that cooperation with them often represents the most enjoyable stage of filmmaking for him, noting that he goes through a long process with the casting director, during which he watches dozens of candidates, and then holds successive rounds of tests.
Manchevsky points out that in the first round he asks the actors to read classic texts, including works by Shakespeare, before moving on in the following rounds to scenes from the scenario, explaining that the tests themselves gradually turn into the beginning of rehearsals and exploration of the characters and the relationships between them.
Manchevsky indicated that, after settling on the acting team, he allocates three weeks to rehearsals, during which he sits with the actors around a table to read the script and practice every scene and every sentence, discussing details and exchanging notes, while conducting some training on the filming sites when necessary.
Speaking about financing, the Macedonian director said that it is one of the biggest challenges facing the film industry, because it requires large sums and the participation of parties capable of providing them, pointing out that he is jealous of poets and painters who can practice their art without the need for huge budgets or the intervention of financiers.
Manchevsky added that despite his many years of living in New York, he mostly makes European films, because he prefers the space that the European system gives to the director, and the respect he sees in it for the author’s cinema, but he pointed out that this does not exempt filmmakers from dealing with bureaucracy and government funding bodies.
Ideological character
He criticized what he described as the increase in the ideological character of film and festival funding funds in recent years, likening this trend to a kind of socialist realism in a new form, and explaining that securing funding is a long process that may take about two years, and then it takes another year to complete the film.
Regarding the practical challenges during filming, Manchevsky said that the team worked in difficult locations during the summer, and on some days temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius, while the actors were required to run and perform scenes that required effort under the sun.
Manchevski confirms that the nature of joint production also imposed coordination between participants who came from seven or eight countries, pointing to the cooperation between North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, Britain, and Albania, and the arrangements this required to organize the presence of team members and work together.
On the other hand, he explained that the creative aspects went largely smoothly, thanks to a team of collaborators who knew what they wanted to achieve, and the preparation that preceded filming.
Manchevsky pointed out that the team's tendency toward comedy was clear, explaining that he wanted to present a comedy that carries a degree of absurdity and uses sarcasm to approach serious issues, allowing for the presence of pain and humor in the story itself.
Regarding his relationship with the “Tokyo” festival, Manchevsky said that this is the fourth time that his films have participated in the festival, describing the relationship between them as a “love story,” and pointing out that the festival provides the film with a worthy presentation to the world, distributors, and the press, and to an audience that possesses a critical sense and the ability to taste.
