The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported a decline in the unemployment rate during the first quarter of 2017, to reach 12 percent of the total labor force, compared to 12.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, and 12.7 percent in the first quarter of 2016.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Sunday that the state is "in a race against time" to provide citizens with essential consumer goods at affordable prices, citing difficulties due to increasing rates of consumption.

The Canadian Embassy in Cairo said on Sunday that recent information regarding changes in Canada's asylum policy toward Egypt is false and inaccurate, sparking controversy, as earlier reports from the Canadian government said it will soon include Egypt on the list of countries that qualify for expedited asylum applications without judicial hearings.

Following the State Council’s controversial decision to nominate only the first vice-premier of the State Council, Yehia Dakroury, to head the council, only two scenarios are left for the presidency, according to legal experts. During the State Council general assembly on Saturday, it only listed one candidate to head the council, instead of selecting three, as stipulated in the new amendment for the Judicial Authority Law.

British Ambassador to Egypt John Casson said petroleum giant British Petroleum (BP) is investing $13 billion over five years to make Egypt the new energy superpower, through investments worth more than Cairo's three-year $12 billion loan deal with the IMF. In a press release, the UK Embassy in Cairo said Casson attended the inauguration of BP's first two gas fields in the West Nile Delta Project, which was opened Wednesday by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and the company's chief executive Bob Dudley.

Mubarak-era Interior Minister Habib al-Adly escaped from his home a few hours before security forces went to arrest him to implement a court verdict sentencing him to seven years in prison on corruption charges, sources with Giza Security Directorate said. Giza Security Directorate received the executive form of the court verdict, said the sources. Security authorities are currently hunting Adly like they would any fugitive.

Egypt's President Abel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed with his Kenyan counterpart Uhuro Kenyatta boosting bilateral relations and African development during a meeting on Wednesday in Cairo. The Kenyan president stopped briefly in Cairo for the meeting with El-Sisi before heading to London. The two African leaders met in February in Nairobi to discuss bolstering development projects between Nile Basin countries.

Health Minister Ahmed Emad has apologized for the poor medical services offered at public hospitals in Fayyoum. In a press conference held during his visit to the governorate on Wednesday, the minister said: “I apologize to every patient for the delayed treatment at hospitals or the reluctance of doctors to transfer the patient to another hospital.”

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi concluded his visit to Bahrain on Tuesday, having reaffirmed Cairo's commitment to the security of allied Gulf states and wishes for continued close cooperation, state-run news agency MENA reported on Tuesday.

Defense and National Security Committees, Kamel Amer, introduced on Monday a draft law to add harsher penalties for those who humiliate the President and the state's high-ranking officials, known as committting 'lèse majestéy', a French legal term meaning an offense that violates the dignity of a ruler.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrives in Bahrain on Monday for a series of talks with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa aimed at bolstering bilateral relations and responding to foreign interference in Arab nations, according to state-run news agency MENA.

Exams of grade 6, the final year of primary school, continued in governorates yesterday amid parents' complaints that the mathematics exam had been leaked in Dakahleya governorate. There were strict rules put in place with the teachers observing the pupils to make sure they were not keeping mobile phone with them during the exam; while 26 observers were flagged for administrative investigations for not attending the exams.

Egypt’s House of Representatives approved on Sunday a new investment law that grants investors a number of incentives, including tax breaks. The law was drafted by the Egyptian government in March 2015 with the aim of cutting red tape and attracting foreign investments.

After a week of unstable prices, the US dollar exchange rate was stable during Sunday morning trading. According the latest updates, the purchasing rate at Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) registered LE17.95 and the selling rate LE18.05.

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry received a phone call from his British counterpart Boris Johnson on Saturday, in which they discussed the situation in Libya and Syria, according to ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zaid.

Egypt is set to receive in December the third and final $1 billion tranche of a $3 billion loan from the World Bank, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported on Thursday, citing the bank's vice president for the Middle East and North Africa Hafez Ghanem.

The Parliament’s Legislative Committee approved on Wednesday amendments to Egypt’s Organ Transplant Law which stipulate drafting harsher penalties into the law regulating organ transplantation in Egypt. Among the amendments approved was Article 17, which states that anyone who removes an organ from a human body with the intention of illegally transplanting it -- violating Articles 2,3, and 4 -- shall be punished by strict imprisonment and a fine between LE500,000 and LE1 million.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Tuesday with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni mutual ties and means to boost cooperation among Nile Basin countries ahead of an upcoming presidential summit scheduled in June, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Shoukry delivered a letter from President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to Museveni on ways to boost bilateral cooperation in all fields, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said late on Tuesday.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi ratified on Tuesday the amendment to the Protest Law that was recently approved by parliament. The amendment to the Protest Law only included a modification to Article 10, as recommended by the government.

Egypt saw $1.6 billion in tourism revenues from around 1.7 million tourists who visited the country in the first three months of 2017, compared to around 1.2 million tourists in same period last year, a source at the tourism ministry told Ahram Online on Tuesday.

After a dinner of molokhia at a popular restaurant in Imbaba, Alaa Mubarak, son of deposed president Hosni Mubarak, spent the night playing dice and taking photos with other customers at the café. Social media users posted photos and video of Alaa Mubarak. A user who posted video footage wrote: "[At] the coffee shop next to a restaurant in the area, where Alaa ate dinner on Saturday night."