Hundreds of protesters spent the night in Cairo's Tahrir Square, an Agence France Presse reporter said on Saturday, after mass nationwide rallies to press the new military rulers to make good on promises of reform.

Dozens of tents were pitched in the square -- the focus of protests that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February -- and traffic was blocked around the usually busy plaza where music blasted from loudspeakers.

Thousands of people took to the streets across Egypt on Friday to defend the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, directing their anger at the new military rulers over the slow pace of reform.

Flag-waving protesters converged on Cairo's Tahrir square to push for democratic change and demand that former regime officials accused of abuse be brought to justice.

Egypt's electoral commission has granted a license to a new liberal party founded by telecom magnate Naguib Sawiris ahead of key polls in September, state media reported on Thursday.

The Free Egyptians Party, which was legalized on Wednesday, said it would work for a civil state and promote freedom of faith.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said it will take part in a mass rally planned for Friday to pressure the country's military rulers on reforms, after first announcing it was staying away.

"The Brotherhood has decided to participate in the demonstration on July 8 (aimed at) raising the flag of justice so that all rights can be regained, and all criminals punished and all the demands of the revolution met," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people torched police cars and tried to storm government buildings in the Egyptian city of Suez on Wednesday, after a court confirmed the bail of police accused of murdering protesters.

Witnesses said angry people took to the streets of the canal city, burning police cars, pelting government buildings with stones and some trying to storm security headquarters.

Egypt's interior ministry said Wednesday that a sonic boom from an overflying aircraft was the cause of a loud "explosion" that sent Cairo's residents in a panic.

"The sound of the explosion in the (southern neighborhood) of Maadi and in central Cairo was the sound of a plane that broke the sound barrier," deputy interior minister Murad Mohsen said in a statement.

The European Food Safety Agency on Tuesday identified a batch of fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt as the likely suspect in the outbreaks of E. coli disease in both Germany and France.

An EFSA task force set up to track the possible source of the disease said it recommended in consequence that "all efforts be made to prevent any consumer exposure to the suspect seeds".

The United Arab Emirates has pledged $3 billion in financial assistance to Egypt during a visit to the oil-rich Gulf state by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, state media said.

UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan "has issued directives to allocate an aid package of $3 billion for Egypt," the official WAM news agency reported late on Monday.

The Saudi and Egyptian foreign ministers have agreed that justice should be served in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination to achieve stability in Lebanon, informed sources said.

Al-Liwaa daily quoted the sources as saying that Egyptian FM Mohammed al-Orabi and his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal stressed during talks they held on Sunday that the questioning of the suspects is the only way to deter the offenders and end the series of assassinations that shook Lebanon in the past years.

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 kilometers from the north Sinai town of el-Arish, shortly before the explosion.