Egypt will increase the price of standard metro-tickets to EGP 2, doubling the cost from EGP 1, transport minister Hisham Arafat announced on Thursday.

The Japanese government granted Egypt 2 billion yen to be used to buy educational and research equipment for the Egyptian-Japanese University of Science and Technology.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday in Cairo, congratulating him on "the role played in reaching consensus between the different factions of the Lebanese society."

Egypt Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour decalred their rejection of "the unacceptable excesses or abuse of either country, or the two brotherly peoples, under any circumstances and for whatever reasons or justifications."

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed strengthening ties with France during a meeting on Tuesday with a delegation from the Egyptian-French friendship committee headed by Catherine Mouran, head of the education and media committee in the French senate.

At least 98 pupils at two Menoufiya schools were hospitalised after eating school meals, the health ministry's Menoufiya office said on Tuesday. In statements to Al-Ahram Arabic website, the ministry's deputy at the governorate, Hanaa Sarour, said the pupils at a school in Bagoor town and at a school in the neighbouring town of Sirs El-Laban were transferred to local hospitals after they ate the school meal, which consisted of biscuits.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi held talks on Monday with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas "Abu Mazen" in Cairo where they discussed the latest developments in peace processes across the region, state news agency MENA reported.

EgyptAir is offering cut-rate flight tickets to a number of regional and international airports until the end of March, according to an announcement on the EgyptAir website.

Dahlia Youssef, a member of the Egyptian parliament's foreign relations committee, disclosed Sunday that a US congressional delegation will visit Egypt next month to review relations between Cairo and Washington. "The visit will come as part of efforts to put Egyptian-American relations back on a sound track," said Youssef.

The US dollar rate surpassed LE18 in banks on Sunday morning after few days of relative stability. At the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr and Banque du Caire, the US dollar reached LE18 for buying and LE18.10 for sale.

High-ranking officials affiliated to the Egyptian presidency asserted on condition of anonymity to the state-run newspaper Akhbar Al Youm that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi will start a four-day official visit to the US at the beginning of April.

UK travel company Thomas Cook has announced it has a number of flights planned to Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2017, raising hopes for the revival of the Red Sea tourism sector which has been hit hard since the UK and Russia suspensded flights there following a Russian airliner crash in 2015.

During a meeting on Wednesday with the delegation of the Egyptian-German Parliamentary Friendship Association, headed by MP Karen Mag, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expressed Egypt’s appreciation of the efforts made by German MPs on the bilateral cooperation agenda, as well as advances made on the implementation of what has been agreed upon during the recent visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to foster partnership between Cairo and Berlin.

Egypt's finance ministry is set to raise the customs dollar exchange rate to EGP 17 from EGP 15.7 for two weeks effective as of Thursday, the ministry's media office confirmed to Ahram Online on Wednesday.

Several people are being held at Imbaba and Abbassiya specialized fever hospitals after contracting a virus that doctors are still unable to diagnose, medical sources said amid a media blackout on the part of the Health Ministry.

Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr met on Tuesday with a high-level mission from the World Bank Group (WB) to discuss improving the business environment in the country, the international cooperation ministry said.

The US dollar exchange rate increased during transactions on Tuesday, reaching a high of LE18.05 at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

Egypt's prosecutor-general ordered on Monday the release of ousted President Hosni Mubarak following his acquittal earlier this month on charges of killing protesters during the 25 January Revolution. In January 2016, the Court of Cassation upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons for using public funds – slated for the maintenance of presidential palaces – to upgrade their private properties.

The crisis in government-subsidized bread resumed across several governorates on Sunday, as hundreds of citizens lined up outside the bakeries.

A group of young members of the liberal Free Egyptians Party have said they are boycotting the party's internal elections, the latest of a series of internal fissures hitting one of the country's most important political parties. A statement shared on Saturday by former spokesman Shehab Wagih said the group is boycotting the forthcoming vote for the higher committee in protest at the party's internal disagreements.

Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has rejected unanimously a draft bill that would grant the president of the state the right to appoint the heads of the country's judiciary committees. The opinion of the seven-member council, which oversees the administrative affairs and appointments of the regular judiciary, is not binding on parliament, an MP involved in the bill told Ahram Online.