Egypt's Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki resigned on Sunday, ahead of a cabinet reshuffle in which he was expected to be replaced, the cabinet said.

"Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki resigned this morning and will remain in his post until a new minister is appointed as part of the reshuffle," cabinet spokesman Alaa al-Hadidi said.

Hot air balloon flights resumed in the city of Luxor on Sunday, nearly two months after a deadly accident killed 19 tourists, Egyptian officials told Agence France Presse

Four flights took off from the ancient temple city, with around 70 tourists on board, said Ahmed Abboud who heads the Balloon Flights union.

Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi will "soon" announce a cabinet reshuffle, he said in an interview to air on Saturday, but it is unlikely to meet opposition demands for an overhaul of the government.

Morsi, under strong pressure from his opposition to sack Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, said: "There will be ministerial changes soon and they will affect several ministries," the official MENA news agency reported.

An Egyptian court cancelled on Saturday a detention order against ousted president Hosni Mubarak pending a corruption trial but he will remain in custody on other charges, his lawyer said.

Mubarak, held in a south Cairo prison, has been charged in three cases, one for overseeing the killings of protesters during the early 2011 uprising against his regime, and two corruption cases.

Egyptian police made 39 arrests after clashes between Islamists and opponents that saw both sides use firearms in central Cairo, leaving more than 100 people injured, officials said on Saturday.

A judicial source said prosecutors have begun questioning the suspects, as the health ministry said Friday's violence had injured 105 people.

Global hopes that democracy could replace dictatorships in Arab Spring nations risk being crushed by repressive regimes, the United States warned Friday in its annual human rights report.

"The hope of the early days of the Arab Awakening has run up against the harsh realities of incomplete and contested transitions," the State Department said in its assessment of the global situation of human rights in 2012.

Russia and Egypt called for a ceasefire in Syria "as quickly as possible", President Vladimir Putin said Friday, after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Morsi.

"Russia and Egypt support a ceasefire in Syria as soon as possible and the launch of negotiations," between the regime and rebels, the Russian president said following the meeting in the black city resort of Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympic Games will be held.

At least 82 people were hurt on Friday in clashes after opposition activists marched on thousands of Islamists rallying outside a central Cairo court demanding judicial reform, an official said.

The fighting erupted near the iconic Tahrir Square, roughly 0.5 kilometers from where the Islamists had staged their rally, with each side throwing stones at the other.

The leader of Egypt's tiny Jewish community was buried in Cairo on Thursday in a dilapidated cemetery that has come to symbolize the dying community.

More than a hundred mourners, including Christians and Muslims as well as Jews from both Egypt and abroad, attended the funeral of Carmen Weinstein under tight security in central Cairo's Shaar Hashamayim synagogue.

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was transferred Thursday from a military hospital back to prison to await a retrial in May over his role in the deaths of protesters in 2011, a security source said.

Mubarak was taken by ambulance to Tora prison under heavy security escort, the source told Agence France Presse.