BRUSSELS: It is too late for Egypt to invite European observers to monitor the parliamentary elections slated for September, a European Union official said.

CAIRO: An Egyptian court cleared three ministers from former President Hosni Mubarak's administration of graft on Tuesday, the first ruling to exonerate such senior officials since Egypt's popular uprising. Some of the defendants looked surprised when Judge Mohamed Fathi Sadek read the verdicts in the courtroom, which was filled mainly with their relatives and friends. Cheers of "Long live justice" erupted.

MANAMA - Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf arrived in Bahrain on Tuesday, coming from the United Arab Emirates to meet king Hamad Bin Eissa, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. The tour lasted for few hours. Sharaf-Hamad meeting focused on the latest developments in the region and the Arab world. The talks also focussed on ways of boosting relations between Egypt and Manama.

ABU DHABI: Egypt's prime minister signaled his country's parliamentary elections will be held in late September, during a visit to the United Arab Emirates on Monday. Some new political groups want the vote delayed, fearing the September date gives the upper hand to remnants of the disbanded former ruling party and the Muslim Brotherhood, which are better established and have greater resources.

CAIRO - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood expelled five of its members for setting up a political party in defiance of the group's own Freedom and Justice party, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Brotherhood's Guidance Council decided to bar the five members of the movement's youth wing after they established the Egyptian Current party, Shorouk newspaper said.

CAIRO: The Suez Criminal Court released on bail 14 defendants charged with the murder and attempted murder of peaceful protesters, causing outrage on Monday among Suez residents who demanded justice for the martyrs. Bail was set at LE 10,000 for each defendant, including 10 police officers, and the case was adjourned to September 14.

CAIRO - The police pushed on with their crackdown on crime rings in Cairo, arresting more fugitives, suspects, hawkers and sellers of fireworks, security sources said. The latest arrests are part of a major sweep launched following orders by Interior Minister Mansour el-Eissawi, who wanted the police to continue with their raids against the sellers of fireworks, and seize their illegal and harmful goods.

CAIRO - Saboteurs bombed an Egyptian gas pipeline in the Sinai peninsula on Monday, sending flames into the sky and cutting supplies to Israel and Jordan, a security official said. Officials said a car had parked near the pipeline in the Bir al-Abd area, 80 kilometres (about 50 miles) from the north Sinai town of El-Arish, shortly before the explosion. They said the bomb was activated remotely.

CAIRO: The Egyptian government on Sunday confirmed a court order to dissolve local councils for being dominated by officials close to the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak, state media reported. "The government has decided to endorse the court's ruling to dissolve the municipal councils," a caption broadcast on state television said.

CAIRO: Egypt’s National Council officially announced its bill of constitutional principles on Saturday while calling for drafting a new constitution ahead of the legislative elections planned for September. During a press conference at the Journalists Syndicate, the Council called for a national dialogue to discuss the possibility of integrating several bills that have been proposed by various groups.

CAIRO - The new liberal Free Egyptians Party on Saturday warned against “political powers spreading groundless rumours to upset its members”. “The Free Egyptians Party appeals to its members to be wary of certain enemies of the revolution who have managed to creep into the party, as well as other parties or [political] currents, seeking to destroy the party,

CAIRO - Counsellor Serry Seyam, the Chief Justice of the Court of Cassation and head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Saturday retired from these posts, and will be succeeded by Counsellor Mohamed Hossam Eddin el-Gheriani.

CAIRO: Egypt's ministry of agriculture on Friday denied that fenugreek seeds exported to Europe had caused an E.coli outbreak that has killed 50 people, mainly in Germany. The head of Egypt's Central Administration of Agricultural Quarantine, Ali Suleiman, said claims by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that Egyptian fenugreek seeds exported in 2009 and 2010 may have been implicated in the outbreak were "completely untrue."

CAIRO: Calm returned to Cairo’s downtown streets Wednesday following clashes between protesters and central security forces outside the interior ministry, as the army deployed and cordoned the building. About 30 suspects were reportedly questioned by the military prosecution, according to the army’s Morale Affairs Department, since the clashes first erupted Tuesday evening and continued into the following day.

CAIRO - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood welcomes any formal contacts with the United States as a way to clarify its vision but no such contacts have yet been made, a spokesman for the Islamist group said on Thursday.

CAIRO: Egyptians want to write their own constitution, with their own hands if they could. It’s a wish many have, unrealistic as it may seem, but one initiative is setting out to help this dream become a reality. This desire at the grassroots level to create a constitution written by the people — not by a group of technocrats in closed rooms — was the inspiration behind the first meeting of the "Let's write our constitution" initiative.

CAIRO: Clashes between protesters and central security forces continued early Wednesday morning in and around Tahrir Square with dozens of injuries reported. Tahrir Square, the epicenter of protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, was sealed off as police continued to fire tear gas into the early hours of Wednesday and a thick white cloud hung over the square. Numbers of protesters swelled from few hundred to few thousand.

CAIRO - Egyptian police fired tear gas in Cairo's central Tahrir Square on Wednesday at hundreds of mainly young protesters, some of whom threw stones and demanded that trials of former senior officials proceed more swiftly. Clashes broke out late on Tuesday in a nearby area of Cairo where families of some of the more than 840 people killed in the uprising that led to Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in February had gathered to honour those killed.

CAIRO – Al-Ahly-Zamalek derby, which was scheduled to be played on Wednesday, has been adjourned due to Tahrir Square events, the official Middle East News Agency reported on Wednesday. The derby will be rescheduled later, according to a senior official at the Egyptian Football Association. The rest of the Egyptian league matches will be played late on Wednesday.

CAIRO (Updated) - An Egyptian court ruled on Tuesday to dissolve local councils that were elected under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, after protesters called for remnants of the old political order to be dismantled. "The court issued a decision to dissolve local councils across the country," judge Kamal al-Lamaei told a Cairo administrative court.

CAIRO: Egypt's ruling military council remains committed to holding parliamentary elections in September, despite mounting calls for a delay, a military source told AFP on Monday. "The military council insists on what it has already announced regarding (holding) elections at the end of September, in accordance with the result of a referendum" held in March, the source said.