A project to reclaim land in Egypt’s western desert has been expanded to one and half million feddans of prospective agricultural land, state-owned news agency MENA reported on Monday.

An Irish delegation headed by Chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affair in Houses of the Oireachtas Deputy Pat Breen, arrives in Cairo Tuesday to discuss the release of a dual Egyptian-Irish citizen, according to a statement published Monday on Breen’s official website.

Dostour Party President Hala Shukrallah said in an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm that she resigned on Sunday due to ongoing internal differences, adding that her resignation is final.

Eight people died on Monday as a result of the brutal heat Egypt has been experiencing over the past few weeks, the Health Ministry said.

The Qatari Foreign Affairs issued an apology Tuesday to the Egyptian authorities after Qatari diplomat Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Hajri was arrested for the possession of cannabis, Youm7 reported.

Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza strip earlier Monday for three days in both directions, Reuters' Aswat Masriya reported.

The Journalists Syndicate will convene to discuss restrictions and penalties imposed on reporters as part of the new counterterrorism law adopted by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi late Sunday.

The mother of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi died early Monday at Galaa Military Hospital in Heliopolis, presidential sources told Youm7.

The unemployment rate in Egypt dropped in the second quarter of 2015 to 12.7 percent, moving down from 12.8 percent in the first quarter, the statistics agency revealed on Monday.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved an anti-terrorism law that sets up special courts and protects its enforcers in the face of a two-year-long Islamist insurgency that aims to topple his government.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on political parties on Sunday to choose their candidates carefully for anticipated parliamentary elections.

Egypt’s national weather forecaster has predicted that the current heatwave, which has to date claimed the lives of 95 people, will gradually decline starting Tuesday.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab set controls Sunday, to regulate investments in Lake Nasser (Upper Egypt) and boost development of fisheries through the ministries of agriculture, housing, environment, planning and irrigation.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi gave a speech Sunday addressing a number of local issues, in a meeting with army forces and public figures.

Egypt is looking to add 500,000 new Internet users by the end of 2015 and increase its internet penetration rate to 50 percent from 34 percent by the end of 2016, communication minister Khaled Ali Negm said.

Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said his country could not confirm that a Croatian national abducted by an Islamic State affiliate in Egypt had been murdered, after an image of a decapitated body circulated online Wednesday.

Transport Ministry said it will conduct random drugs test for train and metro drivers “in the interest of the safety of the public,” Youm7 reported Wednesday.

The government has voiced persistence in maintaining a law regulating the work of its public servants, defying massive protests demanding to revoke the law enacted in March.

A counter-terrorism draft law approved by the Cabinet last month will receive final approval from Egypt’s presidency within hours, Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zend told reporters at the Cabinet’s building on Wednesday.

Heads of Cairo districts will be able to arrest citizens committing violations, following a decision by the Justice Ministry to allow local officials the power of judicial police, Cairo Governor Galal Saeed told state-run media Al-Ahram Tuesday.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has ordered the creation of a special economic zone surrounding the Suez Canal, part of a long planned ambitious project to develop the area adjacent to the strategic waterway into an industrial hub.