Egyptian political parties started announcing on Thursday the number of total parliamentary seats won after unofficial results started coming out from party representatives and media outlets present during the vote count.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Thursday that “individual” incidents of detainee torture by police should not be generalized as an Interior Ministry policy, in an apparent defense of the police service against a recent surge of accusations of deadly torture of citizens.

For the third time this week, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) held steady Thursday the value of Egyptian pound against the U.S. dollar, Youm7 reported, citing officials from the CBE.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) set new regulations for banks to obtain dollars during the CBE’s FX Auctions held three times a week, according to banking sources.

The Rafah border crossing which connects Egypt and the Gaza Strip will be opened on Thursday and Friday in both directions, Egypt's state news agency MENA said on Wednesday.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail traveled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to head the Egyptian delegation to the Egyptian-Saudi coordination council, state-owned MENA reported.

Irrigation Minister Hossam Moghazi said he is communicating with the Sudanese minister of water resources and electricity to agree on the timing of a proposed meeting to resolve differences over the technical studies of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

An Egyptian court ordered a second retrial on Wednesday in a longrunning graft case against Ahmed Nazif, prime minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, judicial sources said.

State Security prosecutors detained Tuesday Egyptian researcher and journalist Ismail Alexandrani for 15 days on charges of joining an illegal group, spreading rumors and disturbing the public peace, all of which he denied.

French President Francois Hollande will visit Egypt in April, Egyptian Minister of Commerce and Industry Tarek Kabil announced on Tuesday.

Deaths inside Egyptian prisons, due to torture and medical negligence, stood at 13 in November alone, a NGO said Wednesday, after compiling media reports. The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, faces increasing criticism and public anger over the alleged extra-judicial arrest and fatal torture of detainees over the past two weeks.

On Tuesday, 426 independents will be competing for 213 seats in 99 constituencies in the run-offs in Cairo and 12 other governorates.

Representatives of international organizations monitoring the runoffs in the second phase of the parliamentary elections visited several polling stations in Cairo and other governorates on Tuesday to monitor the electoral process and record their observations.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met Monday with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in France on the sidelines of Paris-held U.N. Climate Change Conference, affirming that the opening of Rafah border crossing with Gaza Strip depends on the return of Palestinian Authority’s control over the strip.

Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel Ghaffar met a group of journalists in his office on Monday to discuss police abuse and plans to confront terrorism.

Internationally acclaimed Egyptian researcher and journalist Ismail Alexandrani, an expert on Sinai affairs, is currently being interrogated by State Security prosecutors following his arrest Sunday night.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said African countries are, compared to developed nations, less responsible for emissions of greenhouses gases that cause climate change.

The Socialist Popular Alliance Party has called for the dismissal of the interior minister and announced its solidarity with the Luxor and Ismailia residents against the torture of detainees at police stations.

Egypt’s M2 money supply was up 19.6 percent at the end of October from a year earlier, the central bank said on Monday.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi held talks on Monday with his French counterpart Francois Hollande on the sidelines of the United Nations climate summit in Paris, known as COP21.

Egypt's ambassadors in several countries noted Monday morning the low turnout in run-offs of the second and final phase of Egypt's parliamentary elections abroad, which ends tomorrow.