Egypt is closing down domestic non-governmental organisations and putting travel bans on their staff in order to obstruct scrutiny of human rights issues, three independent UN human rights investigators said on Monday.

President Abdel Fatah al Sisi is scheduled to meet with heads of parliamentary blocs and media figures Wednesday to “review current public issues and developments in the national and international political arenas,” presidential sources told Youm7.

Dozens of Egyptian public figures, including Nasserist politician Hamdeen Sabahi and leftist lawyer Khaled Ali, issued a statement on Tuesday rejecting the recent Saudi-Egyptian deal which leaves the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir within Saudi regional waters.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will attend this week's Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul, according to local media reports.

Cairo Criminal Court has sentenced former Agriculture Minister Salah Eddine Helal and his deputy Mohie Eddin Qadh to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment after being found guilty of corruption and bribery.

Italy's ambassador to Egypt left Cairo on Sunday, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported, two days after Italy said it would recall its envoy for consultations because Egypt had failed to provide evidence needed to solve the murder of an Italian student in Cairo.

Saudi Arabia is to provide Egypt with 700,000 tonnes of petroleum products a month under a $23 billion deal over five years between Saudi Aramco and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp, an EGPC official said on Monday.

Egypt is coordinating with Jordan to stop random inspections of Egyptian workers in the streets in Amman in the wake of the assault and detention of an Egyptian laborer by Jordanian police; Youm7 reported the Egyptian embassy in Jordan Monday.

The Saudi-Egyptian agreement to build a bridge over the Red Sea joining the two countries by road will deprive Israel of an important strategic advantage: the split between Arab countries to the east and west that Israel considers so critical to its geographical security, said former Assistant Foreign Minister Hussein Haridy.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have signed final loan agreements worth over $24 billion during King’s Salman official visit to Cairo, Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr confirmed to Ahram Online Sunday.

Tension between Egypt and Italy stems from Cairo's refusal to hand over extensive phone records as part of an investigation into the killing of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, a senior Egyptian prosecutor said on Saturday.

Egyptian-Kuwaiti military exercises kicked off Sunday at the Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Egypt is confident of luring back millions of foreign visitors and putting a smile on their faces, according to its new tourism minister, despite heavy first quarter losses and setbacks including the downing of a Russian passenger plane.

Egypt’s Tourism Board will participate in an IMEX tourism event April 19-21 in Frankfurt, Germany, along with four Egyptian tourist companies, the Federation of Tourism Chambers and Egypt Air.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz to arrives in to Egypt Thursday in his first official state visit to Cairo since ascending to the Saudi throne in January 2015.

The Appeals Court has adjourned to November 3 the retrial of former President Hosni Mubarak on charges of ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.

Flights between Cairo and Athens have been cancelled Thursday due to full strike at the Athens International Airport, official at the Cairo International Airport told Youm7.

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan met with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Egyptian parliamentary speaker Ali Abdul Aal, and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry Thursday.

Egypt's central bank will keep the pound stable at LE8.78 pounds to the dollar in Thursday's additional foreign currency auction, five banking sources told Reuters, the same day Saudi Arabia's King Salman arrives in the country to sign an oil deal.

Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, is banning the trading of imported wheat in the domestic market without permission from the supply ministry during the three-month period when the government is procuring grain from local farmers, according to a ministry statement on Wednesday.

Despite years of mutual frustration and disappointment over diverging priorities, Saudi Arabia and Egypt remain fundamental to each other's security, a message King Salman's visit to Cairo this week is intended to reinforce.