Egypt decided on Monday to cut off its diplomatic relations with the Arab Gulf State of Qatar and accused the Qatari government of following a hostile policy against Egypt, in addition to sponsoring terrorist organization such as the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group, the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

Al-Masry Al-Youm learned that the Parliament’s Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee will discuss next week the Red Sea islands maritime demarcation deal, under which Saudi Arabia was recently given sovereign right over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

Egyptian expatriates in Qatar woke up on Monday to the news that Egypt had decided to sever diplomatic ties with their host country, on charges of sponsoring terrorism. According to statements from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Libya, Yemen and Egypt, Qatar stabilizes its national security by supporting terrorists groups such as the Islamic State and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt is looking to ramp up petroleum production over the next two years, aiming to reduce fuel imports to about 10 percent of total consumption from 30 percent currently, media quoted Oil Minister Tarek El Molla as saying. Once an energy exporter, Egypt has turned into a net importer in recent years, squeezed by declining production and increasing consumption.

The Education Ministry has arrested the student responsible for leaking this morning’s Arabic language exam one hour after it began, ministry official Reda Hegazy announced.

Abanoub Guirguis Naeem, a Christian dental student was recently granted admission to complete his final year of experiential training at Al-Azhar’s Faculty of Dentistry in Assiut, an unprecedented rarity in the prestigious Islamic University. Naeem is the first recognized case of a Christian student enrolling at Al-Azhar University, which is considered a beacon of centrist, moderate Islam in Egypt. The 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islamic learning has been training clerics and scholars from around the world, and is known to only accept Muslim students into its colleges for educational purposes.

The US dollar exchange rate has been stable during Sunday tradings. The purchasing rate at the National Bank of Egypt, Banque du Caire and Banque Misr was LE17.95, while the selling rate was LE18.05.

Military spokesperson Tamer al-Refaei said on Saturday that the air force succeeded in destroying the targets planned in Libya.

Jordanian King Abdullah II offered his condolences in a phone call to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi following the recent attack in Minya which left 28 dead and 25 injured.

The US Embassy in Cairo warned its nationals on Wednesday of a possible terrorist attack in Egypt without mentioning any further details. “The Embassy is aware of a potential threat posted on a website by the Hasm Group, a known terrorist organization, suggesting some kind of unspecified action this evening,” a statement published on the Embassy’s official website read.

The Court of Cassation accepted on Thursday the challenge filed by activist Ahmed Douma against his three-year prison sentence on charges of insulting an Egyptian judge during a court session. The court ordered Douma’s retrial. The Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Judge Nagy Shehata, presided over Douma’s trial along with 268 other defendants, over violent charges in connection with clashes outside the Egyptian Cabinet in December 2013.

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed on Wednesday that his country "does not conspire against anyone," in response to claims by Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir that Cairo has supported rebel groups in Sudan fighting against government forces.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi invited recently elected French president Emmanuel Macron in a first phone call after congratulating him on taking office, according to a presidency statement. Al-Sisi wished Macron success in carrying out his new tasks and stated his willingness to work with him during the coming period in order to continue to promote Egyptian-French relations at various levels and to consolidate the partnership between the two countries and the close cooperation existing between them in all fields.

Egypt’s population officially reached 93 million on Monday evening, according to a statement from the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Tuesday. The new official population count brings the total number of Egyptians worldwide to 101 million, including 8 million living abroad. In its statement, CAPMAS said that the population meter shows the number of Egyptians in Egypt at 93,044,937.

Education Minister Tarek Shawki announced on Monday that international school fees will be increased by 14 percent for the next school year 2017-2018; and another 7 percent yearly, starting from the year after that. He also announced that fees for private Arabic and languages schools will increase by 7-11 percent for each stage segment.

Egypt is set to continue going after violations of nature reserve territory in line with a state campaign to reclaim public lands, environment minister Khaled Fahmy announced on Monday.

The Dokki prosecution affiliated to the Giza governorate decided on Sunday to summon former presidential candidate and prominent lawyer Khalid Ali to undergo investigations over charges of establishing a political party without getting the authorities’ approval. According to a local media outlet, the prosecution’s summon order was released in response to a notification introduced by lawyer Samir Sabry against Ali, who is currently in Italy and will return on Tuesday.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told the Arab Islamic American Conference in Riyadh on Sunday that eradicating terrorism means putting an end to sources of financial and ideological support for terrorists.

The new bill to amend the Nationality Law, recently approved by the parliamentary National Defense and Security Committee, which would give investors the right to apply for citizenship after living and investing in Egypt for five years, has triggered sharp divisions between the MPs and the public — with speculation over whether Egypt is completely out of solutions for its economic crisis.

A court accepted the appeal of journalist and novelist Ahmed Nagi and repealed the verdict he had received of a two-year prison sentence, reported local media.