CAIRO - An Egyptian court has set October 24 for the first session in the trial of the former chief of staff of ousted President Hosni Mubarak on charges of corruption and illegal profiteering, Egypt's news agency MENA reported on Sunday.

CAIRO - Egypt's presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei said in remarks published Thursday that the country's forthcoming parliamentary elections may not be 'democratically competitive.'

CAIRO: Thousands of Egyptians prayed in celebration of Eid Al-Fitr in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protest that toppled long-time president Hosni Mubarak in February. Thousands gathered bearing Egyptian flags to celebrate the first Eid, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, since Mubarak was overthrown.

CAIRO - The head of Egypt’s ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, pardoned 230 prisoners on the occasion of Eid el-Fitr (Lesser Bairam). None of those included in the pardon had been previously convicted prior to their current conviction, according to Al- Ahram online.

CAIRO: Egypt will sign a deal to resume gas exports to Jordan next month despite attacks by armed groups on the gas pipeline in Egypt's Sinai region, Egyptian state news agency MENA cited Jordan Energy Minister Khaled Toukan as saying on Monday. Since a popular uprising ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in February, armed militants have used a security vacuum in North Sinai to stage attacks on the gas pipeline supplying Jordan and Israel, disrupting flows to both countries.

CAIRO: Egypt’s unemployment rate reached 11.8 percent in the second quarter of 2011, down from 11.9 percent in the first quarter, but higher than last year’s 8.96 percent. Despite the slight decrease in the actual statistic, Alaa Ezz, secretary general of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers, pointed out that the country will continue to see high unemployment figures.

CAIRO: A military tribunal referred Monday an unconfirmed number of suspects to civilian courts, while 230 who were tried in military courts had their sentences suspended. Egyptian state television said Monday afternoon that the head of the ruling military council Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi suspended the prison sentences of 230 civilians tried in military courts.

CAIRO: The political parties committee approved Monday the establishment of the nationalist Al-Karama party and the Salafi Al-Asala party after fulfilling legal and organizational requirements to secure official recognition. The two parties, both members of the Democratic Alliance, said they are now preparing for the elections and opening new headquarters in governorates.

RAFAH: Egypt decided to close the Rafah border during the Eid El-Fitr holiday starting this Tuesday, a security official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the crossing will be reopened on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 9 am.

CAIRO: Egyptian real estate and hotels firm Orascom Development has lodged an appeal after a court made an initial ruling to jail its chairman over accusations of stock price manipulation and providing incorrect financial data. Samih Sawiris was served the two-year prison sentence on Aug. 27 because he is the company's legal representative, said Orascom.

CAIRO — The brother of the Islamist assassin of former president Anwar Sadat returned to Egypt from exile in Iran on Sunday and surrendered to the authorities, an AFP correspondent reported. Mohammed Shawki al-Islamboulli, who was sentenced to death in absentia for leading the terrorist network Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya in the mid-1990s, was whisked away by officials from the military

CAIRO: Syria on Sunday rejected an Arab League statement demanding an end to the bloodshed in the country as the organization's chief waited for a green light to travel to Damascus. In a diplomatic note to the organization's secretariat seen by AFP, Syria said the statement amounted to "a clear violation … of the principles of the Arab League charter and of the foundations of joint Arab action."

CAIRO - The police pushed on with their crackdown on crime rings in Cairo arresting fugitives, suspects, hawkers and sellers of fireworks ahead of Eid el-Fitr which begins after the end of Ramadan. The latest arrests is part of a major sweep launched following orders by the Capital Security Chief, Major General Mohssen Murad, who wanted the police to continue with their raids against outlaws, drug pushers and the sellers of fireworks, and seize their illegal and harmful goods.

CAIRO: Over a thousand protesters gathered in front of the Israeli embassy following Friday prayers in what was dubbed the “Friday of Expelling the Ambassador”, reiterating their demands to cut diplomatic ties with Israel, after the shooting of five Egyptian soldiers on the borders on Aug. 19.

CAIRO - A Cairo court is due to start on September 11 a case in which a lawyer is asking the Egyptian Government to expel the Israeli envoy in Cairo over the killing of Egyptian policemen on the Egyptian-Israeli border, as a judicial authority plans to file a lawsuit requesting Israel pay $5 billion in compensation from the same incident.

CAIRO – A renewed diesel fuel shortage, which has hit Egypt's gov- ernorates over the past few days, has left many truck drivers fuming Friday. A similar shortage has also been reported from the coastal city of Alexandria, a major oil consumer that lies 220km north of Cairo, to Delta Governorates of Qalubia, Menufia, Kafr el- Sheikh and Damietta.

CAIRO - Egypt's Prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud ordered an investigation into a report accusing former president

CAIRO: Thirty-six rights groups condemned on Wednesday the government's "smear campaign," in which they are accused of "high treason" for receiving foreign funding and serving foreign agendas. "We denounce the continuation of the organized smear campaigns designed to impugn these groups patriotism," the groups said in a joint statement during a press conference Wednesday morning.

CAIRO - Qasr el-Aini, the largest State-run hospital in Egypt, which offers free medical services to thousands each month, is facing a security crisis that has compelled its administration to intermittently close its doors.

CAIRO - Egypt is not preparing to withdraw its ambassador to Israel, an Egyptian diplomat said late on Tuesday, playing down an earlier threat to bring home the envoy in protest at the killing of five Egyptian security personnel near the Israeli border.

CAIRO – Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr flew on Tuesday to Qatar on a two-day visit, the official Middle East News Agency reported. Amr is scheduled to take part in the meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative Committee to put the final touches ahead of going to the United Nations to call for complete membership of Palestine. The committee will call on the UN to recognise Palestine as an independent state and it will discuss the exerted efforts to halt Israeli assaults on Palestinians in Gaza Strip.