In a comic twist, away from the frenzied debates between the boycotting and voting camps, Egypt's virtual activists started an #instead_of_voting hashtag, where users made hilarious suggestions on what to do instead of going to the polls to mark the first of two days of voting for Egypt's next parliament.

As the second day of the parliamentary elections was beginning, the Interior Ministry reported a minor exchange of fire Sunday night near polling stations in Giza and Sohag, stating that the violence is not related to the elections.

A total of 46 polling stations in Minya are being merged into nearby stations due to judges’ tardiness, the High Elections Committee (HEC) branch in the Upper Egyptian governorate decided Sunday.

The Administrative Court will consider Sunday a lawsuit filed to block the social networking website Facebook in Egypt, Youm7 reported.

Egypt's market closed in the red zone on Sunday, as the benchmark EGX30 index went down 0.74 percent, to 7,538.22 points with a turnover of LE279 million, the Egyptian Exchange data showed.

Egyptians turned out in low numbers on Sunday to vote in the first phase of an election hailed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a milestone on the road to democracy but shunned by critics who say the new chamber will rubber stamp his decisions.

When Egyptians head to the polls today and tomorrow to choose their representatives in the 2015 legislature, they will probably find very few women's names on the ballots, even though women account for almost half of the electorate.

Egyptian renowned novelist Gamal al-Ghitany, best-known for his esteemed Zeeni Barakat, died Sunday at the age of 70, Youm7 reported.

Egypt will launch the planned new administrative capital project and the new north coast city project during an international conference at the end of October, state-owned news agency MENA quoted Housing Minister Moustafa Madbouly as saying.

Egypt's central bank allowed the Egyptian pound to weaken to LE7.83 per dollar from LE7.73, the first official depreciation since July and which economists say is needed to ease a foreign currency crisis and support dwindling FX reserves.

Gamal Mubarak arrived at Cairo International Airport late Wednesday, coming from London with his wife, Khadiga al-Gammal, and his newborn baby, Mahmoud.

Over 70,000 people have visited “Osiris, Egypt’s Sunken Mysteries” exhibit since it was inaugurated early September at the Arab World Institute in Paris, according to Youm7.

Thursday is the last day set by the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) for electoral campaigns. Observatory missions, the media and the SEC have reported numerous violations committed as parliamentary candidates advertised for themselves, including prospects that crossed the legal expenditure limits.

Egypt will receive a $3 billion loan from the World Bank in instalments over the next three years to support the state's budget, the finance minister said on the sidelines of an economic conference on Wednesday.

The Justice Ministry’s Illicit Gain Authority has already received 10 requests for financial settlement since it opened the door to returning illegally obtained assets in exchange for dropping legal procedures.

The High Elections Commission has said that approximately 25 million voters were registered for the first stage of elections for the House of Representatives which kick off next Saturday for expatriates and on Sunday for home-based voters.

Russia’ state-owned Rosatom has reached final stages of negotiating the construction of Egypt’s Dabaa nuclear power plant contract, Reuters reported Rosatom vice-president Anton Moskvin Wednesday.

Sixty-two patients who have been suffering from fever and nausea have not received a medical explanation for their cases at Assiut Fevers Hospital. Tests run by the Ministry of Health and Population showed that drinking water in the Dirout area in Assiut meets the safety standards.

Egyptian Justice Minister Ahmed El-Zend has called on defendants in illicit gains cases to seek reconciliation with the government in exchange for paying back illegally acquired funds, according to a statement issued Monday.

The attempt of 20 persons to illegally travel to Libya was foiled in Matrouh, and 31 Egyptians were deported by Italy Monday for illegal immigration, Youm7 reported.

The Socialist Popular Alliance Party has launched the "If you elect them" campaign to warn against voting for the Muslim Brotherhood and the former National Democratic Party members in the upcoming parliamentary elections.