A Cairo criminal court has sentenced Egypt's former minister of finance Youssef Boutros Ghali in absentia to 25 years in prison on charges of squandering public funds.

Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki, who submitted his resignation on Sunday, has said he will only continue in his job if he receives official guarantees regarding judicial independence.

A leading member of Egypt’s most prominent opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, has ruled out the possibility that the front may be represented in the next cabinet reshuffle expected within days.

During routine archaeological research as part of the Ancient Egypt Leatherwork Project (AELP) carried out by Salima Ikram, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and Andre Veldmeijer, head of the Egyptology section at the Netherlands Flemish Institute in Cairo, a collection of 300 leather fragments of an Old Kingdom chariot were uncovered at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Dostour Party founder and National Salvation Front leader Mohamed ElBaradei warned that despite previous assurances, the NSF would not necessarily participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections without clear guarantees for their integrity — otherwise, they would be a mere “fake democratic circus,” he said on Monday.

A reshuffle of the Cabinet will be done early next week, Prime Minister Hesham Qandil said in remarks carried on state newspaper Al-Ahram's website on Monday, but he declined to give details on which ministries will be affected.

The spokesperson for the Armed Forces denied reports that the army had agreed to allow the Central Auditing Organization (CAO) and other regulatory bodies to oversee all their commercial activities in a statement posted on his Facebook page Monday evening.

The opposition Kefaya movement has launched a public campaign to collect signatures from citizens to withdraw confidence from President Mohamed Morsy, arguing that he had “turned away from the objectives of the 25 January revolution.”

Egyptian Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki offered his resignation on Sunday, judicial sources inside the Ministry of Justice informed Ahram Online. The news comes one day after President Mohamed Morsi had stated there would be a government reshuffle

The Supreme Administrative Court rejected Sunday challenges submitted by the State Lawsuits Authority to a previous verdict halting House of Representatives elections.

Activists Mohamed Awad, a founding member and coordinator of the Justice and Freedom Youth, and Mina Michael were arrested Saturday in front of a Cairo Court after getting involved in a fight with a police officer.

The International Monetary Fund will remain engaged in loan negotiations with Egypt but wants the international community to provide financing too, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Saturday.

Egypt's Ministry of Finance has withdrawn the 2013/14 draft budget it submitted unofficially to the Shura Council in late March. It will make adjustments to comply with the updated economic plan it recently submitted to the International Monetary Fund.

A Cairo court approved on Saturday the release of the ousted President Hosni Mubarak, accepting his appeal to be released pending trial, the former president is currently arrested for charges of graft and corruption.

Dostour Party head Mohamed ElBaradei said the Muslim Brotherhood’s protest calling for the "purging of the judiciary" is evidence that “demagoguery is the dominant feature of the [Morsy] regime in understanding and addressing problems,” he wrote on his Twitter account Friday afternoon.

Dozens of members of a group dedicated to defending the Prophet Mohamed, his friends and relatives staged a protest on Friday outside the Giza Security Directorate. The protest was in response to a claim filed against Shia activist Amr Ibrahim, accusing him of insulting the Prophet Mohamed's wife Aisha and his close friends on his Facebook page and in a video.

Egypt's police has arrested thirty-nine people, including a US citizen, following violence at the High Court protest in downtown Cairo. Thousands of Islamist protesters, mainly Muslim Brotherhood members, held a rally at the High Court on Friday to demand judiciary reforms when confrontations erupted between them and unknown opponents, leaving at least 87 injured.

An Egyptian government official said a technical report on the impact of the new Ethiopian mega dam, currently under construction, will reveal the need for Addis Ababa to attend to safety and environmental concerns at the construction process.

The Justice Ministry has condemned the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Cleansing the Judiciary” protest planned for Friday in front of the High Court.

The National Salvation Front (NSF) has reasserted its desire to participate in upcoming parliamentary elections – if its demands are met.

Former Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud has appealed a 27 March ruling by the Court of Appeals that ordered his reinstatement, and invalidated the appointment of current top prosecutor Talaat Abdallah.