WASHINGTON - The United States on Monday accused Egypt of muzzling freedom of speech after prosecutors questioned the most popular Egyptian television satirist over allegations he insulted President Mohamed Morsy and Islam.

The Interior Ministry is unable to end a months-long a sit-in at Cairo’s Tahrir Square, fearing a negative media reaction, Assistant Minister for Cairo Security Ismail Ezz Eddin said.

The price of subsidised cooking gas canisters will increase substantially starting Monday, according to a spokesperson for the supply ministry. Nasser El-Farrash told Ahram Online that the 12.5 kg butane cylinder would now be sold at LE8 (roughly $1.17), rising 60 percent from the previous price of LE5 ($0.73).

Vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Essam El-Erian has said that the Shura Council will begin discussing an amended law on the exercise of political rights and electoral rules which was passed by the council's committees "in principle" last week.

The Supreme Administrative Court upheld an earlier ruling that rejected a petition calling for toppled President Hosni Mubarak to be reinstated.

Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority on Monday referred former interior minister Habib El-Adly to a criminal court on fresh charges of illegal profiteering.

Egypt wants to maintain close ties with France following the uprising which brought Islamists to power, Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr told AFP on Sunday on the eve of a visit to Paris.

The Borg Al-Arab International Airport, the second largest airport in Egypt, sustained significant damage on Sunday at the hands of roughly 250 low-ranking policemen demanding salary increases, state-run news agency MENA reported.

Prosecutors released Bassem Youssef on LE15,000 ($2,142) bail on Sunday afternoon. Youssef said the decision to release him was based on investigations into three of the lawsuits filed against him.

Samir Morcos, President Mohamed Morsi's former assistant who resigned last November, criticised the way officers treated him in Cairo's international airport and the way his diplomatic passport was confiscated, saying the experience was "very humiliating."

The Iranian government agreed Sunday that Egyptian tourists would no longer need visas to visit Iran, according to Iranian Mehr News.

Revenue from the Suez Canal fell to US$375.3 million in February, down 7.4 percent on the previous month and down 1.6 percent compared to a year earlier, the state information portal said late on Thursday.

A Hamas delegation currently visiting Egypt has held several talks with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau, the group’s highest authority.

Protesters and riot police clashed after demonstrators attempted to set ablaze the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in Zagazig city in the governorate of Al-Sharqeya.

Opposition parties called on Saturday for staging protests at Egypt's High Court to demand the release of detained political activists and lawyers who were captured in Alexandria's clashes on Friday.

Egypt's first direct flight to Iran took off on Saturday from the Cairo International Airport to Tehran. It is the first flight to connect the two countries in 34 years.

Bassem Youssef confirmed receiving an arrest warrant on his official Twitter account, mockingly saying he will head to the prosecution office Sunday "unless they [prosecution] send me a police car today and save me transportation trouble."

CAIRO, March 30 (Reuters) - Egypt will receive payment facilities from American and European suppliers of wheat, an Egyptian newspaper on Saturday quoted minister of supplies Bassem Ouda as saying, as the world's biggest wheat importer struggles to pay for imports.

The political tensions that have impeded crucial decisions in a number of vital human-security areas (food security, water security, the economy, personal safety, etc.) and the consistently poor performance levels of the political authorities since the revolution, which has aggravated all these concerns to alarming degrees, have led a range of political, security, economic and social figures and experts to come together to assess the current situation.

The Public Prosecution lifted a travel ban Thursday on former Industry and Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid after he repaid LE15 million to the state.

The Egyptian Journalist Syndicate board decided to boycott dealing with the prosecutor-general's office, according to the Syndicate statement on Thursday.