Italian energy company Eni plans to increase its energy exploration investments in Egypt to $3.5 billion in 2017, the company’s CEO Claudio Descalzi said on Thursday after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Descalzi briefed the Egyptian president on the latest developments regarding the massive Zohr gas field recently discovered off the Mediterranean coast, saying production is expected to start before the end of the year, a presidency statement read.

During its weekly meeting on Wednesday the cabinet approved the bankruptcy draft law, which aims to reduce litigation and encourage troubled companies to liquidate its business with streamlined procedures. Minister of Justice Hossam Abdul Rahim said that the new draft law stipulates that the economic courts would establish bankruptcy management and form a committee of experts to speed up the restructuring and settlement of troubled companies. The new law will depend on the compatibility between the creditor and the debtor.

The Interior Ministry released on Thursday 149 detainees who have been pardoned by a presidential decree.

Egypt is committed to establishing peace in Libya, whether through trilateral talks with Tunisia and Algeria, or in direct dialogue with Libya, its neighbouring countries, the United Nations, the African Union or the Arab League, Egypt’s foreign affairs ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid told Ahram Online on Wednesday.

The father of former Secretary General of the State Council Wael Shalaby questioned the death of his son in custody, allegedly saying he was likely killed and did not commit suicide. "I do not believe such a thing. [My son] has principles and is pious. I hate talking about that. He even performed Hajj last year," said the father on the privately-owned channel Dream on Tuesday. "My son knows that committing suicide is haram. After he resigned, he went to stay at a hotel belonging to the armed forces," he said.

The parliament has finally approved tightening the Criminal Procedure Law over raping children to a minimum of three years in prison and a fine not less than LE 50,000.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued on Tuesday a law creating an audio-visual media workers syndicate for the first time after Egypt’s parliament approved the 89-article legislation in December. The new syndicate will be tasked with defending its members, improving their working conditions and drafting a code of ethics for all those who work in the audio-visual media field.

Cairo Criminal Court has upheld the public prosecutor decision which ordered freezing assets of each of Gamal al-Labban, a manager at State Council, Medhat Abdel Sabour, Rabab Abdel Khaleq and former Secretary General of State Council Wael Shalaby and their wives and sons over involvement in bribery.

Twelve demonstrators who were protesting against the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation deal on Monday faced investigations on Tuesday, according to lawyer Mohamed Fathi. The protesters were arrested on Monday and taken to El-Gamalia police station. The prosecution accused the protesters of assembling, blocking roads, unlicensed protesting, possessing weapons, bricks, and fireworks, and assaulting a police colonel.

Egypt’s Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek issued on Monday a media gag order on investigations conducted by state prosecution in a bribery case involving council officials.

A statement by the Presidency of the Republic said, on Sunday, that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on the Cabinet to take all necessary steps to provide imported drugs that have no local alternatives.

In a meeting held by parliament's legislative and ‎constitutional affairs committee on Sunday ‎evening, justice ministry spokesman Haitham Al-Baqli told MPs that the draft ‎law aimed at stripping defendants convicted of ‎committing terrorism crimes of their nationality contravenes article ‎‎53 of Egypt's 2014 constitution.

Egypt's President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi said on Sunday during a cabinet meeting that the supply of medicines must be increased to end the country’s ongoing shortage. In a presidential statement reported by state news agency MENA, El-Sisi said that "the government should ensure the availability of various types of medicines at affordable prices as well as provide imported drugs that have no domestic alternatives." Egypt has been facing difficulties in importing medicine and components used in domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing. Manufacturers have said the retail price of medicines needs to be raised so that they don’t incur losses.

The talk show hosted by Egyptian journalist and TV personality Ibrahim Eissa on the privately-owned "Al Qahera Wel Nas" channel has been cancelled, the channel and Eissa announced on Sunday. In a statement, the TV channel said that Eissa resigned from "With Ibrahim Eissa" to "lay off some workload and have time to focus on projects and creative writing in the coming period."

Remittances from Egyptians working abroad rose during the month of November 2016 by $422.8m, registering $1.6bn in total—an increase of 33.2% compared to October, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

An Egyptian appeals court on Wednesday quashed the convictions of a group of students from Al-Azhar University, after they spent three years in custody on violence-related charges, their lawyer said.

The State Council's purchasing manager, Gamal al-Labban, and two other suspects were detained on Thursday for 15 days pending investigation into huge bribery charges, by order of an Al-Salam Misdemeanors Court judge, Youm7 reported.

Egypt's President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi has stressed the importance of fighting corruption in the country, saying that he himself is ready to be held accountable in case of wrongdoing. "We do not want to take a lot of time in fighting these diseases [corruption]. We should do this quickly; we have a lot of work to do," he said during the inauguration of a fish farm in the Egyptian city of Ismailia.

Egypt's President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi has stressed the importance of fighting corruption in the country, saying that he himself is ready to be held accountable in case of wrongdoing.

Governmental sources have revealed a promise by the government not to raise prices of medicines of chronic diseases, indicating instead their intention to raise the prices of other mecidines in accordance with Health Minister Ahmed Emad Eddine's proposal.

Egypt's supreme state security prosecution on Wednesday ordered senior official at State Council and two others detained for four days pending investigations over corruption charges.