Egypt should refuse a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund rather than submit to terms that would further impoverish the poor and could spark a revolution of the hungry, leftist leader Hamdeen Sabbahi said on Monday.

The Judges Club board and members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) are meeting at the High Court in Cairo to discuss whether they will take part in the judicial reform conference called for by President Mohamed Morsi.

Over 100 students from Egypt's top Islamic university were hit by food poisoning on Monday evening, less than a month after a mass poisoning incident at the same university left more than 500 students hospitalized.

Egypt's parliament halted its reading of a new income tax law on Monday, saying the government had not shown who would be affected by the measures and how much it would generate in revenues.

The 5 percent interest rate that Qatar has requested for a potential $3 billion worth of Egyptian treasury bonds is not particularly low, but the cash-strapped Egyptian government is likely to accept it nonetheless.

Egypt has signed a financial and technical cooperation agreement with Germany worth 172.6 million euros, state-owned news agency MENA reported on Monday.

Cairo University students who live in the university’s dormitories banned staff from entering the dormitory's administrative buildings on Monday morning for the second day, according to Al-Ahram’s Arabic language website.

A Cairo criminal court on Monday acquitted former Housing Minister Ahmed Al-Maghrabi of charges of squandering public money and illegally seizing state-owned lands worth L.E. 25 million.

Libya will soon start shipping oil to neighbouring Egypt on soft credit terms, two senior Libyan officials said, as Cairo struggles to pay for energy imports and avoid fuel shortages.

Egypt's state news agency says a court has turned down deposed president Hosni Mubarak's request to be released from prison pending an investigation into corruption charges.

Hurghada saw the opening of a no-alcohol resort on Saturday – dubbed by state media as the first of its kind in the Red Sea – allocating an entire floor for women only.

Senior Egyptian officials visited Iran on Saturday to further a proposal by Cairo for an Islamic quartet that would help to resolve the Syrian conflict, the presidency said.

Egypt's state news agency says police in a Nile Delta province are blocking off entrance to their station, the latest labor unrest hitting the country's police force

Egypt has called on Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to place all their nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. According to state-owned news agency MENA, the statement was made by Ambassador Sayed Abul Enein, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Disarmament and Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy, during the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations NPT Review Conference in Geneva.

Egyptian Prosecutor-General Talaat Abdullah on Thursday appealed a court verdict, issued early March, to dismiss him from his position and allow the return of his predecessor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud.

Military prosecutors are questioning 11 men arrested last week after attempting to bomb a military installation in Egypt's North Sinai city of Rafah.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel underscored Washington's military commitment to Egypt on Wednesday and pledged American support as Egyptian forces evolve to address new and shifting security threats, US defence officials said.

The Strong Egypt Party has criticised President Morsi's intention to restrict an impending cabinet reshuffle to particular ministries, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reports.

This piece was written for Egypt Independent's final weekly print edition, which was banned from going to press. We offer you our 50th and final edition here.

Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority ordered on Wednesday that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak be detained for 15 more days pending further investigations.

Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Bahaa Eddin has called for the prohibition of rice cultivation in desert lands, which is already forbidden by law, so as to reduce overdraft of water from aquifers.