The occupancy rates in Luxor hotels rose to 64 percent, Luxor tourism police announced Thursday. The increase comes in conjunction with the mid-school year vacation, which will extend until mid-February. The total number of guests in Luxor hotels stands at 2,505, including 523 foreigners and 1,982 Egyptians. The occupancy rate by foreigners stands at 13 percent, compared to 51 percent by Egyptians, according to the statistics of the Luxor Tourism and Antiquities Police Department.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ordered on Saturday that EGP 1 billion from the Long Live Egypt Fund be assigned to build 100,000 affordable housing units.

The body of an Italian graduate student who disappeared last month has been found with multiple stab wounds, cigarette burns and other signs of torture and a "slow death" on a roadside on the outskirts of Cairo, an Egyptian prosecutor said Thursday. Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD candidate who had been researching labor rights in Egypt, went missing on Jan. 25, the fifth anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. His body was found Wednesday.

Plans to build churches in Kuwait have been rejected by MPs because they "contradict Islamic Sharia law". Sheikh Sabah al Khalid al Sabah is Kuwait's Emir and official leader The Gulf country's government, which is unelected and seperate from the elected MPs in parliament, initially accepted the church building proposals and allocated a number of sites for construction.

An exhibition, featuring ancient Egyptian artifacts from gallery collections around the UK, has kicked off Saturday at the Two Temple Place in central London.

Sixteen rights groups and 45 public figures have called for the immediate release of writer and researcher Hisham Gaafar, chairman of Mada Foundation NGO, decrying his arrest which has exceeded 100 days.

Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the 25 January Revolution, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi called on Egyptians to “help achieve reform, and protect the nation against terrorism;” the same message was directed to Tunisians who took to the streets against unemployment and marginalizing.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on Egyptians to take care of the security, stability and the prosperity of their country, in a Saturday speech marking Egypt's upcoming National Police Day.

North Sinai will be closed to all but registered residents, workers and students until January 29, a security source told Al-Masry Al-Youm, noting that the measure comes as part of broader security preparations for the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising on January 25.

Parliamentary sessions are to remain off-air for 15 days until the representatives review the laws and presidential decrees made in the parliament’s absence. After this,live broadcasting will presume normally, parliamentary president Ali Abdel Aal said.

Egypt will see a sandstorm for 72 hours starting from Sunday, a part of an unstable weather wave that will extend to Tuesday, Youm7 reported.

A Portuguese court has decided to extradite an ex-CIA agent to Italy, where she has been convicted of involvement in the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric under the U.S. "extraordinary rendition" programme, legal papers showed on Friday.

Pope Twadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of Saint Mark See, visited the monastery of St. George at Armant Wabour village in Luxor.

Police have taken extra security measures to secure Pope Tawadros’ visit to Luxor. Pope is going to honor 300 theological school graduates and will meet with the congregation. Pope is going to visit several tourist places in Luxor.

Extra security measures have been taken at Luxor to secure Pope's visit to the governorate on Monday. Pope is going to visit Luxor for two days then he will visit Qena on Wednesday.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended Saturday the celebration of National Youth Day at the Cairo Opera House, where he promised great financial and educational opportunities for Egypt's youth.

Turkey intends to invite Egypt to the to the 13th Summit of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul next April, Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

A Cairo court sentenced Saturday three individuals deemed responsible for the July collision of a ferryboat and a heavy-cargo ship in the Nile River, leading to the death of 40 people.

Egypt Prime Minister Sherif Ismail will preside over the council of governors meeting for the first time Saturday after the recent governors reshuffle in December that witnessed 11 new faces, Youm7 reported.

The Cairo Court of Cassation rejected on Saturday the appeal made by former president Honsi Mubarak and his two sons against their three-year imprisonment in what is popularly known as the “presidential palaces” case.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry says it has arrested three people who are running 23 Facebook pages, accusing them of using the website to incite against state institutions.