As the press syndicate embarks on new elections Friday, challenges that will be facing the new board are believed to be playing a critical role in shaping the future of journalism in Egypt.

Egypt is hosting two-day Middle East consultations on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations Wednesday and Thursday, said the Egyptian Foreign Minister spokesperson Badr Abdel Atty announced Thursday.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has sent Cairo Appeal Court President Ayman al-Wardany to retirement. The decision, made on 17 February and issued in the official gazette on Thursday, said the retirement was based on verdict by the supreme disciplinary board on 29 September.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab established a specialized committee to develop a national strategy to examine, reassess and improve educational curricula, Youm7 reported Thursday.

Egyptian security officials say a massive fire broke out at Cairo's main convention center, prompting authorities to dispatch 13 fire trucks to put out the blaze.

Gamal Hegazy, vice-chairman of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), said the government will provide natural gas to around 850,000 houses during the ongoing fiscal year, with a budget estimated at LE1.9 billion, provided by the Finance Ministry.

Russia's defence minster Sergei Shoigu told Egyptian counterpart Sedki Sobhi that the current situation in the Middle East and the world drives Moscow and Cairo toward cooperation, an Egyptian army statement said on Wednesday.

Egypt's cabinet approved on Wednesday a final draft of the investment law, ahead of the country's long awaited investment summit, due to be held later this month.

Cairo Court of Appeals has rejected the complaint presented by the sons of the toppled President Hosni Mubarak, Gamal and Alaa, against the investigating judge of the Illicit Gains Authority (IGA), Ossama abu Safy.

The 96-year-old Wafd Party is poised to withdraw from an electoral list deemed to have the best chances for a parliamentary election success, a member of the party’s supreme board said, two days after the elections were postponed indefinitely over the unconstitutionality of its regulations.

Egypt's Administrative Court issued on Tuesday a ruling halting the parliamentary elections which were due to begin later this month.

Egypt plans to add subsidised cooking oil to a new smart card system implemented last year, Supplies Minister Khaled Hanafi said on Monday, a move aimed at saving money and cutting down queues for poor consumers.

Ministry of Interior spokesperson Hany Abdel Latif said more terrorist attacks are expected after the bomb explosion outside the High Court in downtown Cairo on Monday.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi meet Tuesday for the first time with specialists from the economic development council, to discuss preparations for the economic conference scheduled March 13-15 in Sharm el-Sheikh. A presidential state

Egypt's top prosecutor ordered on Monday the release of 120 preventively-detained students and elderly people.

A Pharaonic royal rest house had been discovered east of the Suez Canal, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty said on Monday.

Egypt's central bank kept the pound steady at 7.53 pounds to the dollar at a foreign exchange auction on Monday.

Around 250 Egyptians arrived in Cairo early Monday after being airlifted from the Algerian-Libyan border for the first time since Egyptians have been returning to their homeland, Major General Tarek Fathy, deputy head of the Cairo International Airport, told Ahram Online.

Around 1,100 Arab and foreign investors have confirmed their participation at the upcoming Egypt Economic Development Conference scheduled to take place in Sharm el-Sheikh March 13-15, Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman said Monday.

The French government loaned Egypt 3.2 billion euros to finance the recent multi billion-euro purchase of French military equipment, Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview on al-Arabiya TV on Saturday.

Egypt has postponed parliamentary elections originally set to start in less than three weeks, after the country's highest court struck down one of the laws regulating the electoral process.