CAIRO (Reuters) – Security vehicles lined up near the Israeli embassy in Egypt on Sunday after violence there forced Israel to evacuate its ambassador and both sides said they wanted a return to normal diplomatic activities.

Egypt’s army rulers, who took over when Hosni Mubarak was ousted, have struggled to quell public fury against Israel since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month when Israel repelled cross-border raiders.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israel flew its ambassador home on Saturday after Egyptians stormed the building housing the Israeli mission in Cairo, plunging Egypt’s ruling army deeper into its toughest diplomatic crisis since taking over from Hosni Mubarak.

The United States, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, voiced concern about the violence after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Israeli flag from windows.

AL-SHURAFA, Egypt (Reuters) – To the crack of AK-47 assault rifles fired by supporters into the night sky, Amr Moussa pledged to build a “new system” of government if elected president to succeed Egypt’s ousted Hosni Mubarak.

But perhaps the biggest challenge for the former Arab League chief who was Mubarak’s foreign minister through the 1990s is to prove to skeptics that he is not part of the old system that Egyptians rose up against.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s generals may have gained a short respite from street protests by putting their former commander in the dock but it will have whetted the appetites of some activists to seek more concessions and may have opened the army to unwelcome scrutiny.

Protesters have become increasingly critical of the generals who took charge of Egypt when Hosni Mubarak was driven out of office. They have been accused of the foot-dragging over the transition and also failing to try Mubarak swiftly.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak will be held to account by the people he ruled for three decades in a trial starting Wednesday that will rattle Arab rulers facing unrest across the Middle East.

Speculation swirled until hours before the start of the trial about whether the 83-year-old, hospitalized in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh since April, would turn up to face charges of conspiring over the killing of demonstrators.

CAIRO (Reuters) – In his last address to the nation as president, Hosni Mubarak vowed he would never leave his homeland and would die on its soil. His decision not to flee Egypt may carry a heavy price.

Wednesday, Mubarak is to be tried for conspiring to kill protesters who drove him from office on February 11 after 30 years at the helm. If convicted, he could face the death penalty, though few expect that outcome even if some protesters wish it.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s fallen leader, Hosni Mubarak, goes on trial Wednesday over his role in killing protesters, in a stark message to Arab rulers elsewhere that they too may one day be held to account.

In domestic politics, putting the former president in the dock may help quell criticism of the generals now running Egypt, suspected by protesters of protecting their former commander.

CAIRO, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Egypt’s finance minister said on
Tuesday that tourism was showing signs of recovery and the
country’s foreign reserves of about $26 billion were adequate
although it could tolerate a lower level if they fall.

Finance Minister Hazem el-Beblawi told Reuters that the
Egyptian government forecast revenues from tourism would total
$10 billion in the financial year that started on July 1,
compared with $11.6 billion in 2009/10.

CAIRO (Reuters) – More than 30 political parties and movements withdrew from a rally on Friday that was organized to send a united message to the ruling army about reform, saying the event was hijacked by Islamist groups.

“Islamic law above the constitution,” read banners in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that was packed with tens of thousands of people. Protesters who fear Islamists will seek to dominate plans to rewrite the constitution demanded they be taken down.

SUEZ, Egypt (Reuters) – An effigy hanging from a lamppost shows the fate some protesters in the Egyptian port city of Suez would like to see meted out to former President Hosni Mubarak. But they don’t believe the army will ever let it happen to their former commander.

“Our impression right now is that Mubarak is still protected by someone, maybe the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, maybe someone from outside. Some countries still protect him,” said Mohamed Mahmoud, 33, a youth movement coordinator in Suez, one of the most violent spots in the uprising that unseated Mubarak.