Presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh has declined to take part in the first ever TV debate between Egyptian presidential candidates because of the violent clashes in Abbasseya that killed at least 11. The debate was scheduled for Thursday between Abouel Fotouh and his rival Amr Moussa.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, met on Wednesday with United States with Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to discuss ways of boosting cooperation and bilateral relations between Egypt and the United States.

A delegation of MPs from Egypt's upper and lower houses of parliament will head to Saudi Arabia Thursday for talks on the case of Ahmed El-Gizawi, the Egyptian lawyer reportedly sentenced to 20 lashes for "defaming the Saudi king," and the resulting protests that led to the temporary closure of the Saudi embassy in Cairo and the recall of the Kingdom's ambassador last week.

At least eleven people died and dozens were injured when plain clothed men, thought to be local residents, attacked protesters camping outside the Defence Ministry in Abbasiya, Cairo, early Wednesday morning, according to an official Health Ministry source speaking on Egyptian state TV.

In 2009, Nobel Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei returned to Egypt with the aim of organizing the scattered political forces that wanted change under his leadership. Three years and one revolution later, ElBaradei’s newly formed political party, the Constitution Party, adopts the same vision.

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi has agreed to send a military aircraft to Mali to bring back a stranded delegation of Ahly football players. The team are trapped in Mali following a military coup in the capital Bamako on Monday night.

Ashraf Thabet, parliamentary undersecretary and member of the Salafi Nour Party’s supreme body, has said that aside from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, which has rejected the cabinet’s briefing, other parliamentary blocs have not called for the dismissal of the government.

Secretary General of the Presidential Elections Commission Hatem Bagato has said that the commission asked organizations from 40 countries to monitor the presidential poll in Egypt, as the Egyptian elections commission has nothing to hide, as he put it.

The United Nations has offered to help broker the return of Egyptian fugitives as well as assets that were spirited out of the country after last year's uprising. The global body is aware of the internal pressures the Egyptian government is under to recover assets, a UN official told Ahram Online.

Presidential hopeful Amr Moussa concluded a campaign rally in Mallawy city, south of Minya, less than half an hour after its beginning on Tuesday, as the April 6 Youth Movement fiercely attacked him. “While the movement’s members were chanting against Moussa and citizens were joining us outside the rally, we distributed flyers among passers-by to explain why we reject Amr Moussa as president,” Alaa Kabawi, the movement’s coordinator said.

The Ghad al-Thawra Party agreed to support Amr Moussa in the upcoming presidential race following his agreement with Ayman Nour to form a presidential team, said Ghad al-Thawra Party sources. Nour is scheduled to announce which presidential candidate the party is endorsing on Tuesday evening following a meeting of the party’s leadership.

Ahmed El-Gizawi, the Egyptian lawyer at the centre of a diplomatic spat between Egypt and Saudi Arabia has had charges against him of possessing illegal pharmaceutical drugs referred to a religious court, according to the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper Tuesday.

Billboards bearing the image of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq will be revealed Tuesday, following months of speculation over who was behind the mysterious blue billboards around Cairo reading “The President” in Arabic and English.

The defence team of Egypt’s ex-oil minister Sameh Fahmy has told a Cairo court that Hosni Mubarak was the sole architect of the deal providing cut-price gas exports to Israel, reports the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper.

Presidential candidate Amr Moussa is consolidating his position as the favorite for more than 40 percent of Egyptians voters in the historical vote slated for 23 May, a new poll shows. Al-Ahram Centerfor Political and Strategic Studies surveyed Egyptians' favorite candidates for the election and published the results Monday.

Fayza Abul Naga, Egyptian minister of international cooperation, confirmed at a Monday press conference that there were no plans for a cabinet reshuffle, despite recent reports to the contrary. "I ask those who propagate rumours to fear God," the minister said.

Saudi Arabian newspapers on Monday shed light on the diplomatic crisis that has erupted between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Gulf kingdom withdrew its ambassador in Cairo following protests outside the embassy over the arrest of an Egyptian lawyer in Jeddah.

Secular MPs severely criticized People’s Assembly Speaker Saad al-Katatny for his decision Sunday to suspend parliamentary sessions for a week over the Cabinet’s refusal to resign.

Deputy Health Minister Hisham Shiha stated Sunday that clashes near the Defence Ministry late Saturday left 91 injured and no fatalities. The injured were treated at Demerdash, Hussein, Dar El-Shefa and El-Nozha hospitals, Shiha added. Of the injured, 77 had light wounds.

Egyptian presidential hopeful Amr Moussa began a tour of Upper Egyptian cities on Sunday with the aim of promoting his electoral campaign. On Sunday afternoon, Moussa visited the Church of Mar Girgis in the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag, where he told church officials that he was an "independent candidate – not the candidate of any religious, government or military entity."

Hundreds of Saudi and Egyptian bloggers on Sunday expressed solidarity with one another on social-networking platform Twitter, amid an ongoing diplomatic row between their two countries. Only hours after the Saudi ambassador to Cairo departed Egypt on Sunday, Saudi activists created an Arabic-language hashtag on Twitter loosely translated as "an Egyptian influenced my life."