CAIRO - Egypt bought 2.6 million tonnes of wheat from local producers in 2011 compared to 2.1 million tonnes a year earlier, Social Solidarity Minister Gouda Abdel Khaleq said on Tuesday. "We procured 25 per cent more wheat this year due to better price incentives," he said during a conference in Cairo. He did not give details on the incentives. Egypt is the world's biggest wheat importer.

CAIRO: Striking teachers called for a million-man march to the Cabinet of Ministers on Saturday to protest government’s inaction to their demands, the Independent Teachers Union said on Tuesday School teachers said more schools have joined the strike, which continued for the fourth day Tuesday.

CAIRO: Egyptian rights groups have accused Egyptian authorities of carrying out random arrests after this month's attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo, citing it as another example of a return to the ways of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

CAIRO – It took 18 days of democracy protests to end Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's 30 years in power. It may yet take at least 18 months after his overthrow to see off the generals who succeeded him. The military, in charge since Mubarak was toppled in February, has said it will not hand over power until presidential elections are held. According to a timeline announced this week, that may not happen until August 2012.

CAIRO: The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) agreed to put an end to military trials for civilians, except for “those who attack army soldiers,” at a meeting with representatives of 47 political parties on Sunday.

CAIRO – Egypt's Minister of Education Ahmed Gamal el-Din emphasised on Sunday that the teachers' strike is unusual, something that rarely happens in other countries, the official Middle East News Agency reports. Teachers nationwide are striking today (Monday) for the third day in a row, calling on the Government to raise their salaries; they also have other demands.

CAIRO - Islamists and other political groups sought changes to election rules at a meeting late on Sunday with the ruling military to ensure those linked to Hosni Mubarak's now defunct party are blocked from Egypt's first free parliamentary vote in decades. The head of the election committee, Abdelmuezz Ibrahim, said the poll for the lower house would start on Nov. 21 and the vote for the upper house would begin on Jan. 22, with each vote being held in three stages, state newspapers reported on Sunday.

CAIRO: Egyptian teachers embarked Sunday on the second day of a nationwide general strike, demanding the dismissal of Education Minister Ahmed Gamal El-Din Moussa, a minimum wage of LE 3,000 and the promised 200 percent reward incentive without cuts. Simultaneously, doctors and workers in Egypt’s public transportation sector as well as a number of factories were also on strike demanding better working conditions, wages and voicing criticism of management.

CAIRO: Egypt will start parliamentary elections on Nov. 21, Al Arabiya Television and the Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Saturday, the country's first vote since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February after 30 years of autocratic rule.

CAIRO - Egypt will start parliamentary elections on Nov. 21, Al Arabiya Television and the Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Saturday, the country's first vote since a popular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February after 30 years of autocratic rule.

CAIRO: Minister of Interior Mansour El-Essawy ordered an investigation into the case of an Alexandria citizen who alleged he was tortured and sodomized at a police station earlier this month, the official news agency MENA reported.

CAIRO - ASIDE from the political and financial charges facing the toppled president and members of his corrupted regime, some people are calling for questioning Mubarak over the health disaster that has hit Egyptians, putting them at the top of the world's list of people suffering from liver cancer and diabetes. “Mubarak's regime should be questioned for the crime they committed against Egyptians' health,” said Dr Alaa Eddin Ibrahim, professor of liver diseases at Benha University's School of Medicine.

CAIRO – Egypt’s activists and political powers on Thursday called for a one million man march on Friday afternoon, lasting until 6pm, but not for a sit-in, the official Middle East News Agency reports. The march, to be held in Tahrir Square and other main squares nationwide, will be launched under the slogan, ‘No to the Emergency Law’.

CAIRO: Egypt and Turkey will increase bilateral investments to $10 billion over the next four years, officials said in Cairo on Wednesday. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart Essam Sharaf signed an agreement to increase and enhance the "strategic economic relationship" and boost investments at the Turkish-Egyptian Economic Forum on Wednesday.

CAIRO – Egypt's Al-Ahly are on a tough mission on Friday when they host Esperance of Tunisia in the African Champions League quarters in Cairo Stadium. It is a crucial game as Al-Ahly must beat Group B leaders Esperance by two goals in the Cairo match to guarantee a place in the last four.

CAIRO (Updated 1) - Egypt's ex-intelligence chief Omar Suleiman testified on Tuesday in the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak who faces charges of involvement in the killings of protesters, state television said. There were no further details about the testimony which was held behind closed doors.

CAIRO: About 1,500 doctors started Tuesday a full, open strike at 20 public hospitals nationwide until their demands are met, following a three-day partial strike. "Since Saturday, no health ministry officials attempted to talk to us which made us resort to escalation measures," Ahmed Atef, a plastic surgeon at El-Nil hospital in Qalyoubiya's Shoubra El-Kheima district, told Daily News Egypt.

CAIRO – A recent poll conducted by the Cabinet has revealed that about 67 per cent of Egyptians want ousted president Hosni Mubarak to be tried, while 13 per cent are against the idea, the official Middle East News Agency reported on Tuesday. Twenty per cent of the 1,000 citizens polled abstained from giving an opinion.

CAIRO: The new amendments to the emergency law announced by the ruling army council are illegal, experts argued Monday. The council said the state of emergency would continue until mid next year. "Legally, an emergency state can only be applied in cases of natural disasters, war and epidemics. An amendment should only be related to these three factors," director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession Nasser Amin said.

CAIRO: Holding the Shoura Council and People’s Assembly elections separately "makes the voting process less complicated and reduces the number of potential invalid votes," said experts. According to a statement issued by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) on Monday, the PA elections will be held first followed by the Shoura Council elections under full judicial supervision, in a bid to secure and guarantee a free and fair process.

CAIRO: Egypt’s overall annual inflation in August reached 8.5 percent, easing from 10.4 percent in July, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. The figure is at the lowest it has been in months since the popular uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.