CAIRO - Egypt's finance minister said on Sunday the government would not sell any more state firms but also reassured investors that the state had no intention of nationalising companies, the state news agency MENA reported.

TEL AVIV - An aide to Israel’s prime minister on Wednesday denied a claim that Israel offered asylum to Egypt’s deposed President Hosni Mubarak several months ago.

CAIRO: Head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Field Marshal Hussein Tantawy should appear in court to testify in the case against former president Hosni Mubarak, legal experts said Wednesday. Both the defense team and civil society lawyers called on the court to summon Tantawy along with Chief of Staff Sami Anan and former ex-vice president Omar Suleiman to testify on who gave orders to shoot peaceful protesters during the January 25 Revolution.

CAIRO/SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - Egyptians and their fellow Arabs were enthralled on Wednesday by the unprecedented sight of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, a leader of the region for three decades and the Arab Spring’s biggest scalp, being wheeled into court to face trial. Outside the courtroom in Cairo, they watched on a big screen as the octogenarian, who ruled Egypt for 30 years, lay on a hospital bed connected to a drip and denied involvement in the killing of protesters who ousted him.

CAIRO (Updated 6) - A lawyer acting for families of those killed in Egypt's uprising said on Wednesday the former interior minister was ordered by Hosni Mubarak to kill demonstrators and demanded execution for the ex-minister.

CAIRO: Human rights organizations condemned Tuesday the army's raid on the open sit-in in Tahrir Square on Monday, which left dozens injured and 111 detained. "The continuation of oppression and violence after a revolution toppling a dictatorship is very sad, in addition to remarks by the ruling military council members accusing the protesters of being thugs, saboteurs and agitators causing rifts between the army and the people," said the Arab Network of Human Rights Information (ANHRI) in a statement released Tuesday.

CAIRO (Updated 8) - The lawyer representing former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak called on Wednesday for the military ruler of Egypt to be summoned as a witness in the trial. Mubarak's lawyer Farid al-Deeb asked to "hear the testimony of Field Marshal (Mohamed Hussein) Tantawi" among a list of more than 1600 people he requested as witnesses, including former and current governors in the region of South Sinai.

CAIRO: Members of the armed forces and central security police raided Tahrir Square on Monday afternoon, bringing down the tents, forcing protesters to end their open sit-in, and allowing the flow of traffic in the square. Protesters said that members of the armed forces accompanied by riot police attacked them with batons. The army fired gun shots in the air to intimidate protesters, according to eyewitnesses.

CAIRO - For the second day in a row, Egypt's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 0.74 per cent to 5,073.07 points on Monday, traders said.

CAIRO - Egyptian squash stars have achieved another success, after capturing the World U-19 Championship for Individuals that ended recently in Belgium. Egypt's Marwan el-Shorbagy defeated his compatriot Mohamed Abul Ghar 3-0 in the final (11-6, 11-6, 11-8). Marwan, from Alexandria, grabbed the world junior title for the first time in his life, something he’d only dreamed of before.

CAIRO: Ousted president Hosni Mubarak's trial hearings will be held at the Police Academy on consecutive days, not abiding by the regular court schedule, until a final verdict is issued, said Chancellor Ahmed Refaat, head of the Cairo Criminal Court and the judge presiding over the case. At a press conference Sunday, Refaat said that the trial of Mubarak, his two sons Gamal and Alaa, ex-interior minister Habib El-Adly and six of his aides on charges of killing protesters during the 18-day uprising that toppled the regime will be held at lecture hall 1 at the Police Academy — formerly called Mubarak Police Academy.

CAIRO: The April 6 Youth Movement said in a press conference Sunday that the movement, alongside 25 political powers, decided to suspend its sit-in in Tahrir Square until the end of Ramadan. "We want to facilitate the traffic flow during Ramadan and put into consideration the special circumstances related to this holy month," Amr Aly, member of the group's political bureau said.

CAIRO - A human rights team, who Saturday visited a prison where former president Hosni Mubarak's two sons are jailed, reported that members of the former regime are not receiving special treatment.

CAIRO - The trial of former president Hosni Mubarak, his interior minister and his two sons, as well as a fugitive businessman, is due to start on Wednesday in Cairo's Police Academy in New Cairo, which was once named after the ousted leader who ruled Egypt for 30 years, the head of Cairo's Court of Appeals has said.

CAIRO - Presidential hopeful, Amr Moussa, demands on his Twitter account Saturday that the ruling military force in Egypt, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), set a timeline for the elections.

CAIRO - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to return to Cairo 19 artefacts dating back to the time of ancient Egypt's teenage king Tutankhamen, the state news agency MENA said on Saturday. Egypt has been pushing for the repatriation of major pharaonic treasures it says were plundered by foreign powers, including the Rosetta Stone now in the British Museum and Queen Nefertiti's bust from Berlin's Neues Museum.

CAIRO: Egypt’s Administrative Court decided Monday to reactivate the Treachery Act,

SUEZ - Police in the Canal Governorate of Suez have arrested a businessman and his son, accused of killing protesters during the popular revolt that toppled the Mubarak regime in February. Businessman Ibrahim Farag, dubbed the ‘Martyrs’ Killer’ by the people, and his son, who had been hiding for months, were caught yesterday. They face charges of killing 18 of the 31 protesters who died in Suez in the January-February revolt.

CAIRO - Fifteen Egyptian groups called on Wednesday for women's rights to be guaranteed in the new constitution, after a popular uprising that toppled the regime paved the way for a new charter. "We are not proposing a new constitution, but we want women's rights to be included," Amina ElBendary, a professor of Arab and Islamic Civilisation at the American University in Cairo, and one of the signatories, told a news conference.

CAIRO – Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak, due to go on trial next week for murder, is refusing food in his hospital detention and has become extremely weak, state media reported on Wednesday. Mubarak, 83, has been detained since April on charges of ordering the killings of anti-regime protesters and corruption. He is under arrest in a Red Sea resort hospital, where he receives treatment for a heart condition.

CAIRO – "A maximum salary for Egyptian workers will be determined within a month,” newly appointed Minister of Finance Hazem el-Beblawi, who is also a deputy prime minister, has said. El-Beblawi, who has recently taken office, added that all State employees in every sector - companies, ministries, bodies and banks - will be subjected to the amended Law 105/1985, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Tuesday.