Egyptian opposition protesters clashed with Islamists on Friday near the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters after activists marched to the building guarded by police and Brotherhood members. The two sides threw stones at each other near the building. Police who had been deployed outside the headquarters, have not yet intervened, an AFP correspondent said. As the clashes continued, live television showed hundreds of protesters carrying anti-Brotherhood banners and making their way up to the hilly Mokattam neighbourhood where the Brotherhood headquarters are situated.

Credit ratings agency Moody's said on Thursday it has downgraded Egypt's government bond ratings by one notch to Caa1 from B3, saying political instability had "significantly weakened" the economy. Moody's also said the rating outlook was negative. "More than two years into the Egyptian revolution, the continued unsettled political conditions have significantly weakened Egypt's economy," the agency said in a statement.

Toppled president Hosni Mubarak, awaiting trial over his role in the deaths of protesters, believes Egyptians should rally around his Islamist successor and end violent protests, his lawyer told AFP on Monday. President Mohamed Morsi, twice jailed by Mubarak before he himself was overthrown on February 11, 2011, is the "elected president, people should rally around him," the former strongman told his lawyer Farid a-Deeb. "Mubarak is sad and frustrated" by recurring violent protests around the country targeting the Islamist president, Deeb told AFP.

Egypt's administrative court on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of controversial parliamentary elections scheduled for April 22, throwing the country deeper into political crisis. President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood both issued statements saying they would respect the court's decision, although it was not immediately clear whether the president would appeal. Judge Abdel Meguid al-Moqanen said Morsi had ratified a new electoral law last month without sending it to the Supreme Constitutional Court for its approval, as required by the constitution.