The Constituent Assembly began voting on the draft constitution on Thursday afternoon, with 85 members present.

Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin said there have been attempts to communicate with political forces calling for mass demonstrations on Friday and Saturday, in an effort to prevent more violence after a week of protests.

The poverty rate has considerably increased, as it has reached an average of 25.5 per cent for the year 2010/2011 compared to 21.6 per cent in 2008/2009, the state-run statistics agency CAPMAS reported.

For almost two years, civil and secular groups were constantly blamed for being disunited and unorganized, paving the way for Islamists to rise to power after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster.

Egyptian stocks ended the day down by less than half a percentage point Thursday after plunging 3 per cent in morning trading.

Political and revolutionary forces have called for mass demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and squares in other governorates on Friday under the title “Revoke or Leave,” demanding that President Mohamed Morsy rescind his 22 November constitutional declaration.

The student membership of the Constitution Party, Socialist Popular Alliance and the Egyptian Popular Current issued a statement Wednesday denouncing the National Front for Salvation of the Revolution coalition between their parties and figures from the Mubarak regime.

The head of the assembly drafting Egypt’s new constitution said the final draft should be finished on Wednesday, as the Islamist-dominated body races to finish a process that has helped to trigger a political crisis.

During his visit to Assiut early this month, President Mohamed Morsy announced the opening of Egypt’s renaissance bank account, number 333/333, and called upon “repentant” businessmen to donate some of the money they acquired through illegal means into this account.

The head of Egypt's Constituent Assembly, Hossam El-Gheriani, said the final discussion of the draft constitution will be held tomorrow, calling on members who withdrew from the assembly to rejoin it.

Thousands of protesters are converging on Tahrir Square from various points around Cairo to protest President Mohamed Morsy’s constitutional declaration, as one protester was reported to have died after fainting from teargas exposure.

Dozens of judges arrived at the Judges Club headquarters in downtown Cairo Tuesday evening to start a sit-in against the constitutional declaration issued by President Mohamed Morsy on 22 November.

The number of people arrested since the beginning of clashes on Mohamed Mahmoud Street last week has now reached 348, according to a security source in Cairo.

The IMF loan agreement Egypt reached last week with the fund’s delegation has not been directly affected by President Mohamed Morsy’s constitutional declaration increasing his executive and judicial powers, a spokesperson from the IMF told Egypt Independent in a statement on Tuesd

The government would sternly confront any destructive and violent actions that deviate from peaceful protests, Prime Minister Hesham Qandil said in a statement Tuesday as thousands of protesters flocked to Tahrir Square to protest new powers President Mohamed Morsy granted himself through a constitutional declaration last Thursday.

Clashes by the American Embassy in Simon Bolivar Square near the Cairo centre Sunday have seen a lull this Monday morning.

President Mohamed Morsy will meet with the Supreme Judicial Council Monday to discuss the ramifications of the constitutional declaration he issued last week, according to state-run news agency MENA.

The office of the president released a statement to the media Sunday assuring that the constitutional declaration issued by President Mohamed Morsi last week is only a temporary measure, necessary to follow up on corruption crimes and protect elected bodies.

As Egypt's ongoing political battle heats up, Egypt bid farewell on Monday to two new 'martyrs,' aged 15 and 16, in two emotional and painful funerals – one on Mohamed Mahmoud Street near Cairo's Tahrir Square and the other in the Nile Delta city of Damanhour.

The State Council's Administrative Court declared Monday it would begin considering the legal challenges against President Mohamed Morsy's constitutional declaration on 4 December.

Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki held a meeting on Sunday with members of Egypt's Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) in an attempt to mediate between the presidency and judiciary in the ongoing political crisis triggered by Thursday's constitutional declaration, Egyptian state television has reported.