Months-old internal divisions and ideological disagreements among the 100-member Constituent Assembly – the body tasked with writing Egypt’s new constitution – have reached a crescendo on Sunday as more than 30 non-Islamist members have decided to withdraw from the Assembly’s ranks, accusing representatives of Islamist forces of doing their best to draft a constitution aimed at turning Egypt into a radical Islamist state.

Since the eruption of last year's January 25 Revolution, Egyptians have lived through anxious nights filled with fear and violence. But nothing has been more painful than the four days of clashes in November of last year on Cairo's now-iconic Mohamed Mahmoud Street.

Nearly 26.4 percent of Egyptian children are poor, according to a government report released Monday, which also said that 8.11 percent of those children are food insecure, while 9.4 percent cannot afford education.

Clashes broke out between police and army officers on Monday evening outside a police department in New Cairo’s Fifth Settlement, said eyewitnesses.

Constituent Assembly members who withdrew from the constitution-drafting panel had recently agreed to the controversial articles that they said were the reasons for their withdrawal, the assembly said.

Major secular political figures, announcing their withdrawal from the body writing the new constitution, said that passing the proposed constitution would be equivalent to signing off on Egypt’s downfall.

Egyptian border authorities have allowed 400 political activists to cross into the Gaza Strip to express solidarity with Palestinians, as Israeli airstrikes pounded the coastal enclave for a fifth day, organizers said.

The spokesperson for the Egyptian armed forces, Colonel Ahmed Ali, has issued an official statement regarding the clashes between military police and residents of Quorsaya Island earlier Sunday that resulted in the death of one civilian.

Students and activists protested outside the Cabinet building Sunday to denounce the government’s handling of the train and bus collision in Assiut that claimed the lives of 52 people, 50 of whom were children.

Egypt will pump the full amount of natural gas to Jordan as specified in a previous agreement by mid-December, according to Egypt’s petroleum minister.

Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 Youth Movement and member of the Constituent Assembly, announced that he is joining some other members of the assembly and withdrawing his membership.

Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil will visit the Gaza Strip on Friday as Israel presses a major air campaign against the territory, the ruling Hamas government said on Thursday.

Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi rejected on Thursday what he called Israel's aggression in Gaza and said he had spoken with US President Barack Obama about ways to bring it to a halt.

Acting on orders from the Illicit Gains Authority, officials at Cairo International Airport have banned Khaled Mounir Thabet, nephew of former President Hosni Mubarak’s wife Suzanne, from traveling.



The Central Bank announced Wednesday that an International Monetary Fund delegation is staying in Cairo for several more days to complete negotiations for a loan to the government.

Before the Conrad Hotel overlooking the Nile Corniche, where an exact replica tomb of the ancient Egyptian mysterious king Tutankhamun is located, thousand of journalists, TV cameras and photographers gathered to witness on Tuesday the unveiling of the tomb by European Commission Vice President Catherine Ashton and the Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou.

The European Union has announced its approval for a two year, 5 billion euro support package for the Egyptian economy from EU financial institutions.

A court in Cairo on Wednesday adjourned until 19 November the trial of 73 defendants accused of being responsible for the Port Said massacre.

A Saudi court in Jeddah decided Wednesday to postpone the trial of Egyptian nationals Ahmed al-Gizawy and Islam Bakr and Saudi national Badr bin Nasser to 5 December, in order to give them a chance to respond to the evidence submitted by the prosecutor.

Israeli media reports have said that four missiles landed Wednesday on the Israeli side of the Egyptian-Israeli border.

The Egyptian economy is expected to grow by between 3.5 to 4 per cent in 2012/13, Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said on Tuesday.