CAIRO - Egypt's central bank said the country's banks would remain shut for the rest of the week after closing since Monday because of strikes that disrupted business and a public holiday, state television said on Tuesday. Banks had been due to close on Tuesday, which is an official holiday marking the Prophet Mohamed's birthday. The central bank said banks would re-open on Sunday, the first day of the week in Egypt. Egypt has

CAIRO -Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday it will form a political party in the wake of the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's regime, which banned but broadly tolerated the Islamist opposition group. "The Muslim Brotherhood believes in the freedom to form parties and is therefore determined to have its own political party," Mohammed Mursi, a member of the group's political bureau, said in a statement.

CAIRO: Egypt’s opposition groups said they have faith in the army to see the country through this transitional period, however they expect more in terms of answering popular demands. “The Muslim Brotherhood confirms that it and the people respect and trust the army, which throughout the revolution continued to demonstrate [restraint], caring for the good of one and all,” read a statement issued by the Brotherhood on Sunday.

CAIRO: Journalists called Monday for the expulsion of chief editors of state-owned newspapers and magazines, as well as the head of the Journalists’ Syndicate, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, for their stances during the revolution.

CAIRO (Updated) - Egypt's new military rulers on Sunday suspended the constitution and dissolved a parliament dominated by the ruling party of former president Hosni Mubarak, after he was overthrown in a popular revolt.

CAIRO - Hosni Mubarak is still in Egypt in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said on Sunday, amid rumours that the ousted strongman had fled the country. "Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq announced that former president Hosni Mubarak is still in Sharm el-Sheikh," the state news agency reported, after Shafiq gave his first news conference since the former strongman left Cairo.

LONDON - Britain’s fraud investigation agency has launched a hunt to identify the millions of pounds in money and assets secretly stashed in the country by deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak and his family, a media report said Sunday.

Egypt's army is trying to clear Cairo's Tahrir Square of protesters who have camped there for 20 days, vowing not to move until reforms are implemented. But several thousand have made their way to the square - the focal point of the uprising that led to President Hosni Mubarak's departure on Friday.

CAIRO--Egypt's State and pro-government media have abruptly changed their tune. Faithful mouthpieces of Hosni Mubarak's regime until the end, they now celebrate the ouster of the longtime Egyptian president — and pledge to be more attentive to ordinary Egyptians. State TV even promised to be more truthful in its reporting.

TEL AVIV---Hosni Mubarak had harsh words for the United States and what he described as its misguided quest for democracy in the Middle East in a telephone call with an Israeli lawmaker a day before he quit as Egypt's president.

CAIRO (Updated) - Egypt's new military leadership on Saturday vowed to pave the way for democracy and abide by international treaties as the hopeful country celebrated victory on the day after Hosni Mubarak's overthrow.

CAIRO - Pro-democracy activists in Al Tahrir Square vowed on Saturday to stay there until the Higher Military Council now running Egypt accepts their agenda for reform.

CAIRO - Egypt's chief prosecutor banned sacked prime minister Ahmed Nazif from leaving the country, a day after the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

CAIRO: Hundreds of thousands of citizens resumed protesting Tuesday in Cairo, Mahalla, Suez and Alexandria demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

CAIRO: In its latest effort to defuse public anger amid mass protests, embattled President Hosni Mubarak's regime set up a committee Tuesday to recommend constitutional changes that would relax presidential eligibility rules and impose term limits.

CAIRO: Egypt’s stock exchange will close an hour early when it reopens on Sunday after a two-week closure, the stock exchange announced in a statement. The market’s regulatory authority — along with the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry, related companies and the Central Bank of Egypt — announced a set of new stringent measures that will be in effect for a week starting Sunday to be reevaluated at the end of the week.

CAIRO: Hundreds of journalists and protestors organized a symbolic funeral Monday in Tahrir Square for Ahmed Mahmoud, a journalist at Al-Ahram Foundation, who died last Friday as a result of a gunshot head injury in his office. The protestors called for the prosecution of President Hosni Mubarak who they said was responsible of Mahmoud's death. They attacked Makram Mohamed Ahmed, head of the Journalists' Syndicate, for his "weak reaction".

CAIRO: The first time Essam El-Erian went to jail, he was 27. Last Sunday, he left prison for the eighth time at the age of 57. The medical doctor's crime for each incarceration was belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most influential and best-organized Islamist opposition movement and long feared by President Hosni Mubarak, Israel and the United States.

CAIRO: Finance Minister Samir Radwan said in a statement that Egypt will allocate LE 1.5 billion of additional spending for the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) to finance the purchase of wheat from abroad.

CAIRO - Egypt's newly appointed Cabinet held its maiden plenary meeting Monday amid pledges to release protesters held since the start of the popular uprising on January 25. Egypt Monday shortened by an hour a curfew imposed in three cities amid anti-regime protests to run from 8:00pm (18:00GMT) to 6:00am, cutting the restrictions by three hours, State television said. The curfew has been in effect since January 28 in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.

CAIRO - Egypt's regime announced Monday a 15 per cent increase in salaries and pensions in the latest attempt to defuse popular anger amid protests demanding President Hosni Mubarak's ouster. The cabinet decision follows earlier promises to investigate election fraud and official corruption, which have done little to persuade the tens of thousands occupying downtown's Al Tahrir Square to end their two-