CAIRO: A sandstorm, strong winds and lashing rains swept across Egypt on Sunday, closing several ports and disrupting traffic in the Suez Canal while at least three people died in a factory collapse in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, officials said.

CAIRO (Updated) - Egyptian authorities closed ten ports on the Red and the Mediterranean seas Saturday due to sandstorms and high waves as rainy weather, accompanied by low temperatures, lashed the northern areas of the country, maritime and meteorological officials said

SHARM EL-SHEIKH - Looking at the peaceful blue sea, I wondered how such beauty can become a scene of horrific disasters. I saw several National Park boats with divers working diligently, combing an area between Ras Nasrani and Ras Mohamed of the Red Sea to rid it from the danger that’s lurking it its dark depths.

Egypt's minister of electricity says the country plans to build its first nuclear power plant and have it fully operational by 2019.

CAIRO - More than 100 former MPs, who failed to maintain their seats in the Parliament due to alleged rigging of vote, will hold a symbolic protest outside the State Council Court Monday as the 518-strong legislature holds its maiden session.

CAIRO: Egypt's 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak is likely to seek re-election next year and serve for the rest of his life, British daily The Guardian reported citing WikiLeaks.

CAIRO: About 15 opposition groups and parties will join forces Sunday afternoon outside the High Court of Justice in Downtown Cairo to protest the alleged illegitimacy of this year’s elected People’s Assembly (PA).

CAIRO: Swine flu cases have been increasing in Egypt, as 136 cases were reported in October and November — 70 of which were reported just this past week, according to Abdel Rahman Shahin, spokesperson for the Ministry of Heath.

OSLO, Norway: China and 18 other countries have declined to attend this year's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony honoring imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, Nobel officials said Tuesday as China unleashed a new barrage deriding the decision.

CAIRO: The few seats that the opposition have won in this year’s parliamentary elections could cause rifts in political parties and groups, especially those that have either boycotted or called for the boycott of the runoff round on Dec. 5.

CAIRO - Sunday’s parliamentary election runoffs have resulted in a ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)

SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt) - Illegal feeding may have sparked a rampage by a killer shark that has terrorised holidaymakers in Egypt's popular Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a marine expert said on Tuesday.

CAIRO - Egypt plans to bring in simpler procedures to secure mortgages, aiming to lift the number of customers by 15,000 next year, boosting the nascent market for housing loans, an official said on Tuesday.

CAIRO - The Higher Election Commission has accepted applications from three judges asking not to continue to oversee Parliamentary

CAIRO: Opposition groups protested “the rigging and fraud of the People’s Assembly elections” in front of the Journalists’ Syndicate on Saturday, a day before the runoff elections, with protesters calling for discrediting the PA.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Updated) - A shark killed a German tourist in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh Sunday, the fourth attack in days, an official in the Southern Sinai Governorate said.

CAIRO - Egypt went to the polls on Sunday for second-round runoffs in a parliamentary election that President Hosni Mubarak's party is poised to win almost unopposed in the face of an opposition boycott.

CAIRO - Ismail Serageldin, the Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Saturday receives the Millennium Excellence Award for Lifetime Africa Achievement Prize 2010, under the theme “Reshaping Africa: New Values, New Strategies” for scientific research in Africa.

CAIRO: Female opposition candidates said the 64-seat quota allocated for women in the 2010 parliamentary elections proved a “failure” and described it as “a method to guarantee the ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP) additional seats in the People’s Assembly.”

CAIRO: Al-Wafd opposition party will fire the dissident members who decided to compete in the People’s Assembly (PA) runoff elections despite the party’s withdrawal, spokesman Mohamed Sherdy told Daily News Egypt on Friday.

CAIRO - A reshuffle of Egypt's cabinet could soon take place but Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif is likely to stay in place, a state news website quoted sources as saying on Friday.