The People’s Assembly on Tuesday approved in principle the amendment of certain provisions of the Code of Military Justice, abolishing Article 6 that gives the president the right to refer civilians to military tribunals if a state of emergency is declared.

The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee of the People's Assembly agreed Tuesday to amend Article 20 of the law on presidential elections. The amendment cancels the campaign silence period of 48 hours before the voting. MP Sameh Makram said the campaign silence law was not enforced on the ground, so it is illogical to leave a law that is violated by the people.

The Supreme Administrative Court blocked Egypt's constituent assembly Tuesday after ruling in favour of a recent lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the formation of the 100-member constituent assembly. The case was referred to the Commissioner's Office at State Council, which would then have the authority to move the lawsuit to Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC).

Presidential hopeful Omar Suleiman has in the last few days garnered wide support from citizens in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Qena, where he was born. Eyewitnesses told Egypt Independent that banners with the image of Suleiman have begun to be hung in various villages across the tribally dominated governorate.

A military source denied media and internet reports that Egypt's ruling generals denounced a draft amendment that would deny Mubarak regime figures the right to run the upcoming presidential election, state-run news agency MENA reported.

Security agents at Suez Canal University in Ismailia released on Tuesday a student who had given out pamphlets about a seminar attended by activist blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah. Mohamed Mohsen was released after hours in detention after he distributed invitations for the student-run seminar on the future of student movements.

The April 6 Youth Movement has called on presidential candidates Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, Khaled Ali and Hamdeen Sabbahi to form a team to face candidates they called remnants of the former Mubarak regime and “supporters of Israel," according to a Tuesday report in Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The Supreme Administrative Court blocked Egypt's constituent assembly Tuesday after ruling in favour of a recent lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the formation of the 100-member constituent assembly. The case was referred to the Commissioner's Office at State Council, which would then have the authority to move the lawsuit to Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC).

CAIRO ­­— An explosion hit the Egyptian pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan on Monday for 14th time since the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak began last year, security sources said. The blast took place in North Sinai at the entrance of the Mediterranean coastal town Arish. Residents in the city told Reuters they had heard the sound of the explosion.

Presidential hopeful Bothaina Kamel said she does not regret failing to collect the necessary signatures for her presidential candidacy, thereby dropping out of the race. "They were the best months of my life,” she said on her Facebook page, pointing to the period from her candidacy announcement until she pulled out.

The American University in Cairo strongly rejects claims by the head of the National Security Agency that the school practices “suspicious” activities and incited the violence on Mohamed Mahmoud Street and at the cabinet sit-in at the end of last year, the university said in a Sunday statement.

Saturday's court ruling disqualifying Ayman Nour’s presidential bid is invalid and contains unprecedented legal errors, Nour said Sunday. He vowed to appeal the ruling and continue his run for president.

The People's Assembly’s Proposals and Complaints Committee has rejected a draft law proposing the cancellation of khula divorces, state-run news agency MENA said Sunday. The bill, which had been proposed by independent MP Mohamed al-Omda, the deputy head of the committee, would outlaw the Islamic practice of khula, which grants a woman the right to get a divorce in court if she pays her husband back their marriage settlement.

The only way to resolve the crisis of Islamist domination of the Constituent Assembly is to dissolve the body, said the Wasat Party president in a speech Sunday. Abul Ela Mady said the new constitution must be acceptable to all segments of society, and must regard Egypt’s national interest above all else.

Parliament's budget and planning committee, headed up by Freedom and Justice Party MP Saad El-Husseini, has approved a draft law setting Egypt's national maximum monthly wage at LE50,000, some 35 times the official minimum wage, state news agency MENA reported on Sunday.

The Ultras Ahlawy sit-in’s ban on women at its protest site after 10 pm is a violation of citizens’ right to protest, according to a member of the Egyptian Feminist Union. “We cannot criticize Islamists for banning women from participating in protests when revolutionary forces do the same,” union member Omar Ahmed said on Sunday. “They even forbade them from smoking.”

Egypt's administrative court has thrown out a lawsuit protesting the split of Orascom Telecom into two separate companies. The Egyptian telecommunications giant was split earlier in 2012 following its partial sale to Russia's Vimpelcom the previous year. The spun-off assets now form Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH), mainly comprised of overseas interests and owned by Vimpelcom, and Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT).

The Tanta Criminal Court on Sunday adjourned the trial of Gharbiya’s former security director and a number of other security officials and officers, all accused of killing protesters during the 25 January uprising last year, to 9 June to allow the court to hear defense witness testimony and examine material evidence.

Despite the statement Omar Suleiman issued to the media last Wednesday announcing that he will not run for president, his supporters have said that they still endorse the former vice president and will even try to convince him to change his mind and run in the presidential race.

The Journalists Syndicate announced on Thursday that it has formally withdrawn its representative from the Constituent Assembly, Mamdouh al-Waly, on the grounds that the assembly is not “balanced.”

Major-General Mahmoud El-Hefnawy, police chief for South Sinai, denied reports in the Israeli media that rockets which struck the southern Israeli resort of Eilat were fired from the Sinai peninsula.