The International Monetary Fund and Egypt hope to conclude talks for a loan deal "in the coming weeks", they said in a joint statement Sunday. The statement came after IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde met an Egyptian delegation in Washington this weekend that included Central Bank of Egypt Governor Hisham Ramez and Finance Minister Al-Mursi Hegazy.

The International Monetary Fund will remain engaged in loan negotiations with Egypt but wants the international community to provide financing, too, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Saturday. "It's a task and we will not give up, we will not leave the table," Lagarde said at a news conference during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. For several months, the IMF and Egypt have been in talks about a multibillion-dollar IMF loan that is contingent on strong support from domestic political actors and a commitment to key reforms.

Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi said on Saturday he will "soon" announce a cabinet reshuffle, but it is unlikely to meet opposition demands for an overhaul of the government. Morsi, under strong pressure from the opposition to sack Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, told Al-Jazeera news channel: "There will be ministerial changes soon and they will affect several ministries." But the Islamist president denied he was acting under pressure. "The goal is to achieve general welfare on the ground, in light of the changes we see," he told the Qatar-based television station.

CAIRO (Reuters) - A Cairo court postponed the trial on Saturday of 26 alleged Islamist militants accused of planning attacks against the Egyptian state, after the defendants shouted at the judge overseeing the case. They specifically objected to court officials putting one of them in a separate cage, and called Judge Shaaban el-Shamy a corrupt figure from deposed leader Hosni Mubarak's regime.