CAIRO-- Three new political parties on Tuesday approached the Parties' Affairs Committee for an official endorsement after meeting all requirements set by a newly endorsed law, an official close to the judicial committee said.

CAIRO: For many who roam Cairo's famously nocturnal streets, the curfew was always irrelevant. And as of Wednesday it is officially ending, five months after it was imposed by then-president Hosni Mubarak in a vain attempt to stem the protests against his rule.

CAIRO: The Administrative Court began on Tuesday hearing the trials of two lawsuits filed by workers and labor activists, one demanding the disbandment of the official Egyptian Trade Unions Federation (ETUF) and the other cancelling Law 34/2011 criminalizing some protests and strikes.

CAIRO: On Monday, the State Security Prosecution began questioning an Israeli national named Ilan Grapel

CAIRO - Railway services on the Upper Egypt line was suspended early in the day as two trains collided with a solid body in Qoussiya and Senobo area, in Assuit Governorate, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Monday.

CAIRO: The Muslims Brotherhood (MB) and Al-Wafd Party called on Egypt’s political parties to present a unified list in the upcoming parliamentary elections to create the opportunity for equal representation in parliament.

CAIRO - Egypt's state security prosecution on Monday began questioning an Israeli man suspected of spying for the Mossad intelligence agency, state TV reported. Ilan Grapel was detained on Sunday from a Cairo hotel and ordered detained for 15 days pending investigation.

CAIRO: Foreign Minister Nabil El-Araby on Sunday announced Egypt's support for French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde's bid to head the International Monetary Fund. "The Egyptian government supports the candidacy of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde for the post of managing director of the IMF," El-Araby told reporters after talks with Lagarde in Cairo.

CAIRO - Egyptian stocks rose on Sunday on local and non-Arab buying, traders said. Locals and non-Arabs made net purchses worth LE10.2 million ($1.7 million) and LE17.6 million respectively. Arabs made net sell-offs worth LE27.8 million, according to Bourse data.

CAIRO - Most Egyptians want a new constitution before the parliamentary and presidential elections due later this year, a recent poll by four rights organisations has revealed. A total of 83.6 per cent of those polled said that they want a new constitution drawn up first, while 14.1 per cent rejected the idea.

CAIRO: The separation between religion and politics was one of the chief concerns political activists and analysts expressed about the recently accredited Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which is yet to put together a comprehensible program and set of goals easily accessible to the public and distinguish it from the Muslim Brotherhood group.

According to official sources, 23,000 prisoners reportedly escaped from prisons and detention centers countrywide. While 16,000 were either re-arrested or returned voluntarily, some 7,000 are still fugitives. Helal said that autopsies were performed on all of them upon orders from the Prosecutor General to identify how they died, but did not mention the cause of death in each case.

CAIRO: The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen held talks with his Egyptian counterpart Tuesday and Wednesday, and reaffirmed his country’s continued support for both the Egyptian Armed Forces and government.

CAIRO - Egyptian authorities on Wednesday denied reports that thugs had attacked tourists in a luxury resort in Luxor in Upper Egypt. "The fact is that around 20 persons gathered inside a garden of Sheraton Hotel (in Luxor), to a part of which they claimed a right," said an official security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

CAIRO: Member of the April 6 Youth Movement Salma Al-Sawy met Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Wednesday and handed him a complaint against security forces for detaining and beating her, following a protest commemorating the death of Khaled Saeid on Monday evening.

The Government will dissolve local councils within two weeks, Cabinet spokesman Ahmed el-Samman said in remarks that contradict what had been said by minister of local development and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

CAIRO: Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to end the military trials of civilians and lift the emergency law to help Egypt’s transition towards democracy, in a statement issued on Tuesday.

CAIRO: Egypt settled one of a string of disputes over state land sales under deposed president Hosni Mubarak, revising the terms of a farmland deal with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Egyptian government said on Tuesday.

CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA: Hundreds protested in Alexandria Monday to commemorate the death of Khaled Saeid

The Committee of Parties' Affairs on Monday gave a final and official nod to the Freedom and Justice Party, which was created by the Muslim Brotherhood, to become the first party declared after the fall of Hosni Mubarak regime.

CAIRO: Egypt's military has decided to end a nightly curfew that was initially imposed at the height of the popular uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February, state media reported on Monday.