Egypt's Mubarak acquitted in final ruling on 2011 deaths

Egypt's top appeals court issued a final ruling Thursday that effectively acquits former President Hosni Mubarak on charges of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his nearly three-decade reign.

The Court of Cassation rejected an appeal by prosecutors, allowing an acquittal verdict from 2014 to stand. The judge also rejected a civil petition for compensation from families of some of the hundreds of protesters killed during the 18-day Arab Spring uprising.

Amnesty urges Egypt to investigate Sinai killings by police

Egypt must launch an independent and thorough investigation into the recent killing of 10 men by security forces in the Sinai Peninsula, Amnesty International said on Monday.

The government announced earlier this month that the 10 had been killed in a shootout in the northern Sinai city of al-Arish. But in a Monday statement, the London-based advocacy group repeated what the families of the slain men already claim — that at least six of them had already been in police custody for weeks before their deaths.

Militants attack checkpoint in Egypt's Sinai, killing 8

Militants attacked an Egyptian police checkpoint in the northern Sinai Peninsula on Monday using a stolen garbage truck packed with explosives, killing at least eight people and setting off clashes with security forces, officials said.

No one immediately claimed the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group's Sinai affiliate, which has carried out scores of attacks on Egyptian troops and police in recent years.

Aviation officials: EgyptAir plane carrying 66 has crashed

An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board crashed in the Mediterranean Sea early Thursday morning off the Greek island of Crete, Egyptian and Greek officials said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was too early to say whether a technical problem or a terror attack caused the plane to crash. "We cannot rule anything out," he told reporters at Cairo airport.

Last 5 hostages on hijacked Egypt plane recall fear, photo

First the hijacker said the women could leave. All the children, too. Then the man in the suicide vest agreed that all Egyptians and others from Muslim backgrounds would be allowed to escape from the plane.

That left five Western men — at least one of whom thought they were about to die.

"We looked each other in the eyes and we said: Here we are. We're at the end of the line. It's over," recalled the Italian in the group, Andrea Banchetti, the day after an Egyptian man took control of a short EgyptAir flight to Cairo by donning a fake explosives belt and diverting it across the Mediterranean to Cyprus.

Hijack drama ends in Cyprus with arrest of 'unstable' man

A man described as "psychologically unstable" hijacked a flight Tuesday from Egypt to Cyprus and threatened to blow it up. His explosives turned out to be fake, and he surrendered with all passengers released unharmed after a bizarre six-hour standoff.

As more became known about the motive of the 59-year-old Egyptian who was taken into custody, authorities characterized the commandeering of the EgyptAir jetliner not as an act of terrorism but more like a "family feud" with his former wife.

Egypt unveils rare whale fossil museum to boost tourism

Egypt on Thursday unveiled what it said is the Middle East's first museum dedicated to fossils that showcases an early form of whales, now extinct and known as the "walking whale."

The unveiling is part of concentrated government efforts to attract much-needed tourists, driven away by recent militant attacks, and restore confidence in the safety of its attractions.

Egypt to restore King Tut mask after botched epoxy job

The restoration of King Tutankhamun's world-famous golden mask will begin Saturday, over a year after the beard was accidentally broken off and hastily glued back with epoxy, Egypt's state-run news agency said Friday.

Egypt unveils Suez Canal extension with pomp-filled ceremony

In a defining moment of his young presidency, Egypt's Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi presided Thursday over the unveiling of a major extension of the Suez Canal that he hailed as a historic feat needed to revive the country's ailing economy after years of unrest.

Upbeat and clearly relishing the pomp-filled occasion, el-Sissi nevertheless conceded that the $8.5 billion project will not bring a quick economic windfall to a country roiled by violence and unrest since 2011. Its completion, he said, was but the first of a 1,000-step journey Egyptians must take toward economic recovery.