Egypt s agricultural exports rose 12.1 percent during the first half of 2017, reaching 3.5 million tonnes compared to 3.1 million last year, agriculture ministry spokesman Hamid Abdel Dayim said on Wednesday. Egypt s agricultural exporters have seen a surge in demand since the country floated its currency last November, allowing it to roughly halve in value as part of reforms tied to a three-year $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan agreement.

The US Department of State issued a message on Wednesday warning citizens to consider the risks of traveling to Egypt due to the presence of IS and other militant groups in the country’s northern region. The cautionary statement highlighted the heavy security measures undertaken by the Egyptian government at major tourist sites such as Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada. However, it noted that terrorist groups have executed multiple attacks in Egypt, targeting government officials and security forces, public venues, tourist sites, civil aviation and other modes of public transportation and diplomatic facilities. The message also shed light on recent attacks on religious sites, namely, local Coptic churches and people associated with them.

Egypt s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is set to visit Baghdad on Wednesday to congratulate the Iraqi government on its victory over Daesh forces in Mosul, Egypt s foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu-Zeid said on Tuesday. Iraq declared victory in Mosul this week after a nearly nine-month battle that ravaged the city and took a heavy toll on residents and security forces.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that projected time frame for establishing the electric train between Salam City and the New Administrative Capital should be reduced to be completed within two years only. He said that the project will provide a safe and modern means of transportation for commuters between Greater Cairo, and the New Administrative Capital, as well as facilitate the transport of goods and production materials to and from the cities and industrial areas located along the railway line.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has received the final instalment of the first $4 billion tranche of a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), state-run news agency MENA reported on Tuesday. The deposit follows the IMF executive board s approval of the first review of the loan, said MENA. According to an informed source at the CBE, the bank received the instalment on Tuesday. On Friday, the IMF s executive board approved the first review of a $12 billion loan to Egypt and has disbursed $1.25 billion, the final instalment of the first $4 billion tranche of the loan, the IMF said in a statement.

North Giza prosecutors ordered the detention of 10 residents of Warraq island, Giza, for 15 days pending investigation into clashes that broke out between residents and police who were demolishing illegally built houses on the island on Sunday. The clashes led to the death of one resident and injury of 25. Thirty-one police officers were also injured.

Three recent major gas-field discoveries will make Egypt self-sufficient in natural gas by 2020, Egypt s petroleum minister Tarek El-Molla said on Monday. In statements reported by state-run news agency MENA, El-Molla said the discoveries will help raise natural-gas output to 50 percent of the nation s needs in 2018 and 100 percent in 2020.

Egypt expects to receive a third loan instalment worth $2 billion from the International Monetary Fund between December and January following a next review between November and December, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy told Reuters on Monday.

Tourism minister Yehia Rashed said on Saturday that there have been no reports of foreign tourists cancelling trips to Egypt following Friday s deadly knife attack in Hurghada that left two German tourists dead. Rashed made the comments to TV talk-show host Amr Adib on his programme Kol Youm late on Saturday. The minister said that his ministry had been in touch with tour operators abroad, including in Germany, and that no cancellations had been reported. The ministry would continue to monitor the situation, he said.

Egypt s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said on Sunday that it is necessary for the state to reclaim its land, following clashes that erupted between the police and residents of Warraq Island in Cairo when police attempted to remove illegal encroachments on state property. One civilian was killed in the clashes and 19 were injured, while 31 police personnel were also injured. State-news agency reported Ismail as saying that the state s efforts to reclaim state lands started in May, and that the state began this campaign “to restore the people s rights.” Ismail also said that over 700 judicial decrees have been issued ordering illegal properties on Greater Cairo s Warraq Island be removed, and that property owners can still legalise their illegally-build properties. He also said that no agricultural land will be evacuated or destroyed.

The US dollar exchange rate witnessed a relatively high increase against the Egyptian pound, and a slight fluctuation among banks at the beginning of Saturday morning trading, where it exceeded the limit of LE18 in private banks, and remained relatively stable in government banks.

Egypt has reiterated its concerns over Qatar s "backing of terrorism," saying that resolving the row with Doha is dependent on the state s "positive response" to demands issued by the four Arab countries boycotting it. The remarks by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry came during a meeting between US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his counterparts from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, in a bid to end the month-long rift with Qatar, the worst dispute among Gulf Arab states in decades.

Egyptian and French naval forces concluded on Wednesday joint naval military exercises dubbed "Cleopatra," which ran for several days in Egyptian territorial waters in the Mediterranean and Red seas, the Egyptian army announced on Wednesday. The exercise included planning and management of joint offensive and defensive combat operations, inspection of suspicious vessels, transportation exercises, helicopter manoeuvres, air defence and the maritime landing of personnel and equipment on coasts.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ended talks with ministers from Saudi Arabia and three Arab allies on Wednesday over how to end a month-long rift with Qatar but there was no immediate word of a breakthrough. Tillerson, en route to mediating country Kuwait, had inked a U.S.-Qatari accord on terrorism financing on Wednesday that Qatar s opponents said fell short of allaying their concerns.

Egypt, the world s largest wheat buyer, will stop subsidising flour for its sweeping bread subsidy programme next month in a move expected to cut wheat imports by up to 10 percent by curtailing smuggling, the supply ministry said on Wednesday. Egypt is looking to tighten its finances as it pushes ahead with a $12 billion three-year International Monetary Fund loan programme tied to ambitious reforms such as subsidy cuts and tax increases.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain will meet on Wednesday in Jeddah with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to discuss the four countries ongoing diplomatic row with Qatar, the Egyptian foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told Italian lawmakers on Tuesday that Egypt is committed to bringing the killers of Italian student Giulio Regeni to justice, according to a statement by the presidency. El-Sisi stressed to a delegation from the Italian senate s defence committee in Cairo the importance of “continued close cooperation between investigators of both countries,” according presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef.

Fresh data show Egypt s inflation inched higher in June in a trend likely to continue as electricity and fuel prices rise. The VanEck Vectors Egypt Index exchange-traded fund (EGPT) was down 2% Monday in midday trading, paring earlier losses. Reutersquotes sources who say the import-dependent nation s core inflation, which rose to 31.95%, could rise to 35 percent over the next four weeks unless the Egyptian pound strengthens. The currency has lost half its value since the central bank allowed it to float.

Egypt expects to receive a second loan installment worth $1.25 billion from the International Monetary Fund within the next week, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy told private television channel CBC on Monday

Egypt is currently working to end a Saudi ban on imports of Egyptian strawberries implemented by the Gulf country on Saturday, agriculture minister Abdel-Moneim El-Banna said on Sunday. El-Banna said in press statements his ministry is in talks with Saudi officials to resolve several problems related to the export of a number of products, including strawberries, as a prelude to the reintroduction of exports to the Gulf country, which imposed the ban in June but put it in effect this week. The minister stressed that Egyptian experts will be presented with Saudi conditions for resuming Egyptian crop imports.

Egypts Minister of Transportation Hesham Arafat said in an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper on Sunday that ticket prices for Cairos metro system are expected to see a gradual increase reaching up to EGP 4 by the last quarter of 2018. Railway ticket prices will also see an increase, but not before the completion of ongoing development and renovation projects worth EGP 45 billion, according to Arafat.