Egypt airport authorities have barred a leftist activist from travelling to Qatar, with security officials saying he is on a travel ban list.

To enhance security measures on its borders with restive neighboring countries, Egypt has requested to buy U.S. “Border Security Mobile Surveillance Sensor Security System,” at the cost of $100 million, said U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) in a statement Wednesday.

There were at least 1,552 violations at Egyptian universities in the 2014/2015 academic year, according to a recent analytical report released by the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).

The journalists syndicate has called for changes to a draft anti-terrorism law which imposes two-year jail sentences on journalists who "report false information on terrorist attacks which contradict official statements."

A total of 11 million tourists are expected to have visited Egypt by the end of 2015; a 30 percent increase compared to last year, member of the Federation of Chambers of Tourism Hossam al-Shaer was quoted by Youm7 Tuesday.

The foreign ministry has named a new spokesperson to replace Badr Abdel-Atti, who was appointed Egypt's ambassador to Germany last month.

The government has completed the executive regulations of the new investment law, which includes 120 articles," said Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb.

The Health Ministry has begun preparing amendments to the Pharmacy Law, which includes severe punishments for anyone who practices pharmacy without a license or tampers with medicines, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, pesticides, household insecticides and disinfectants. Violators may receive life in prison if a consumer dies or suffers permanent disability from using the products.

Tuesday’s decision by Egypt's agriculture ministry to temporarily ban cotton imports, it says to protect domestic cotton production, is stirring fears among experts that the country's own textile industry may end up paying the price.

There is “surplus” in electricity production in Egypt due to periodical maintenance of existing power plants, increasing their efficiency, Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said in a Monday meeting with President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, according to a presidential statement.

Egypt has placed a temporary ban on cotton imports to protect its homegrown product, according to a statement from the agriculture ministry on Tuesday.

Seventeen NGOs have released a joint statement condemning the anti-terrorism law, saying it reimposes the restrictions that journalists have been struggling to remove throughout history.

Egypt has repaid a $670 million six-month premium on the foreign debt owed to the Paris Club last Wednesday, Reuters quoted central bank governor, Hisham Ramez Tuesday.

The delegation of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) was received by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi later that day to discuss terrorism as well as the Palestinian cause.

Libyan gunmen kidnapped an Egyptian national and demanded ransom from his wife on Monday, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported.

Egyptian central bank governor Hisham Ramez has sought to calm local market nerves following a surprise 2.5 percent weakening of the Egyptian pound against the U.S. dollar over recent days.

A new anti-terrorism law in Egypt will make publishing news that contradicts the official version of events in terrorism-related cases a crime punishable by prison sentences, a setback for the freedom of the press, according to the local journalists union.

Mohamed Abul Azm finished irrigating his rice field with a pump placed on the bank of a four-meter canal in Abis village, Alexandria. But there was a bad smell coming out of the water. “Because this is sewage,” he said “The sewage station has been dumping in the canal for 15 years.”

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met Monday a delegation of the American-Jewish Committee, headed by Stanley Bergman, to discuss Egyptian-US relations.

A huge bust of Queen Nefertiti has been removed from the entrance to a city in Upper Egypt after locals compared it to Frankenstein.

The press syndicate has said a new anti-terror law Egypt is set to pass will trample on press freedoms and enable authorities to censor media.