Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Fayza Abouelnaga said that the government has approved the 2012/13 fiscal year budget and its investment plan, prior to sending it to military council head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who would in his turn refer it to Parliament, state television reported Wednesday.

Leftist presidential candidate and human rights lawyer Khaled Ali defended his "unconventional" political stances and his background in popular street action in a televised interview with privately-owned Dream TV, Tuesday.

The Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) approved 53 NGO licenses to observe Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential elections, including awarding one to a US civil society group on Monday.

CAIRO — An Egyptian court has acquitted 14 policemen charged with killing protesters during last year’s popular uprising.

Just 10 days before Egypt’s much anticipated presidential election is set to begin, 10 young men and women are running frantically between speeding cars in front of Maspero, the state radio and TV building, distributing flyers for Khaled Ali, the pro-revolution lawyer-turned-presidential candidate.

The US-based Carter Center, led by former president Jimmy Carter, announced in a press release on 14 May that it will observe Egypt's first historical presidential elections after last year's ousting of strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Assem al-Gohary, head of the Illicit Gains Authority, has said that Justice Minister Adel Abdel Hamid on Tuesday approved the most important guarantee required by Spain in order for it to hand over fugitive businessman Hussein Salem, his daughter Magda and his son Khaled to Egypt, namely that the three serve part of their sentences in Spain in case they are convicted by an Egyptian court.

Egypt's central bank said it sold more one-year U.S.-dollar-denominated treasury bills on Tuesday than it had sought and the average yield dipped.

Leaders within the United Kingdom's Egyptian community heavily criticised the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) for its decision to announce the results of Egyptian overseas voting before Egyptians in Egypt start to vote.

Luxor Criminal Court adjourned the trial of four defendants accused of forging signatures in favor of presidential candidate Amr Moussa on Tuesday until 9 June.

Independent MP Amr Hamzawy submitted papers to found a political party called Freedom Egypt to the parties’ affairs committee on Tuesday.

An Egyptian rights group released Tuesday the most comprehensive list to date of the more than 800 civilians killed by security forces in last year's uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak last year.

“Wishful thinking,” said presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, commenting on certain MPs and representatives of political forces saying they would oust him if he wins by holding mass demonstrations against him.

Voter turnout for the presidential election that began on Friday did not exceed 15 percent of all registered voters, announced the Egyptian embassy in London.

Presidential contender, Ahmed Shafiq, refuted Monday accusations by Wasat Party MP, Essam Sultan, that he had exploited his position as head of Young Air Force Officers Association by selling thousands of acres of state land in Ismailiya, earmarked for the Association, at reduced prices to Hosni Mubarak's sons.

Presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi has pledged that if elected, he would not export natural gas to Israel, even if the two countries agreed to raise the price of the gas.

Presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq leads the presidential race, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center, MENA reported.

The liberal Free Egyptians Party has warned against what it described as the “dire consequences” of using mosques to campaign for presidential candidates.

Egypt's liberal Free Egyptians Party (FEP) announced in a Monday press statement that it will not be supporting a presidential candidate in the upcoming elections, as no one contender secured enough votes in the party's internal poll.

"I'll believe it when I see it, but I am not really convinced that they will go completely. They'll have the (presidential) elections on time because they know that otherwise they would face trouble. But they will find a way to keep interfering," said Nabil, a retired civil servant. commenting on the imminent end to the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).

The Supreme Administrative Court has accepted the Presidential Elections Commission's appeal against a lower court's decision to halt the presidential elections.