Egypt’s parliament approved on Sunday the long-delayed value added tax (VAT) at a rate of 13 percent for the 2016/17 fiscal year, but said it will rise to 14 percent the following year.

A fact-finding parliamentary committee concluded in ‎a 78-page report on Sunday that outgoing supply minister‎ Khaled Hanafi and officials in the ‎ministries of agriculture, industry, and foreign trade ‎should be referred to prosecution for alleged rampant corruption and graft in the ‎wheat supply sector.

Egypt’s cabinet approved on Sunday a draft bill designating the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) a felony, raising prison terms for those convicted of performing the procedure, health minister Ahmed Emad announced.

A gas cylinder exploded on Saturday inside a building in the western Alexandrian neighborhood of El-Max, causing the collapse of three buildings and the injury of one person.

ُEgypt has decided to halt wheat imports if shipments contains any percentage of the ergot fungus, the agriculture ministry said on Sunday.

The UN's head of mission in Libya, Martin Kobler, said that Egypt has full rights to defend its border with Libya against terrorism, in an interview on Egyptian television on Saturday.

At least 17 people were killed and dozens injured in two different traffic accidents that took place Sunday morning, according to Youm7.

The Ministry of Solidarity announced adding a total of 172,000 families from Upper Egypt’s Qena to a governmental health care program, Youm7 reported.

An anonymous judicial source said that monitory bodies were assigned to inquire about the fortune of the resigned Supply Minister Khaled Hanafy, who left his position amid investigations into subsidized wheat corruption case.

Sallum border guards thwarted an attempt by 16 unregistered migrants to illegally cross into Libya territories, Youm7 reported.

Cabinet has approved a draft law to harshen the penalty of committing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM,) considering the act as a felony instead of misdemeanor, Deputy Health Minister Maysa Shawky.

A criminal court has ruled on Sunday for the release of journalist Amr Badr on EGP 5000 bail pending investigation, lawyer Khaled Ali announced on his facebook page.

Sharqiya security services arrested on Saturday a man found to be in possession of a weapon and 10 kilograms of marijuana.

On Saturday, southbound trains resumed a normal service after a five-hour delay due to a train derailing near the village of Al-Ashraaf on the Aswan-Cairo line, injuring several people.

Eighteen Egyptian construction workers were injured in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday when the foundations of a building under construction collapsed, according to a Foreign Ministry statement on Friday. The incident took place in the Azizia neighborhood of Mecca, injuring 18 Egyptians and killing one Ethiopian worker, according to a report in the Al-Riyadh newspaper. The same report quoted Mecca Civil Defense official Major Nayef al-Sharif as saying that rescue units were deployed to free the workers, who were trapped under a large metal structure. Sharif also said that a technical committee would be formed to investigate the cause of the accident, under Civil Defense supervision. Egypt's consul general in Jeddah, Adel al-Alfy, has sent a delegate to visit the injured workers and ensure they receive proper treatment, the Foreign Ministry statement said. According to the ministry, four of the Egyptian workers are being treated in King Faisal and al-Nour hospitals in Mecca, while 14 others have already been discharged. The ministry said that its consular department will follow up on the investigation into the incident and ensure that the injured workers get their rights.

Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák arrived in Cairo on Saturday for a visit that he hopes will shore up support for his bid for UN secretary-general, MENA agency reported.

Egypt's Ministry Of Foreign Affairs has condemned the Friday terrorist attack that killed at least 11 people near a security checkpoint in the city of Cizres, southern Turkey.

Before Egypt's parliament adjourns for summer recess in the first week of September, it aims to tackle a number of key economic issues, at the top of which is a new valued-added tax bill that represents an integral part of a landmark agreement which Egypt and the IMf signed on 11 August.

Egypt's cabinet approved on Saturday the increasing of installation fees for household natural gas connections, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported, citing oil minister Tarek El-Molla.

A Cairo misdemeanour court rejected on Saturday a request by novelist Ahmed Naji that a two-year prison sentence against him for publishing “sexually explicit” material be suspended pending an appeal.

Egypt's High Administrative Court accepted Saturday a recusal request of the panel reviewing a government appeal against a ruling asseting Egyptian sovereignty over two Red Sea islands.