Egypt (and Beyond) Live: The Perpetual Hope of the $4.8 Billion Loan

IMF's Lagarde & Egypt's President Morsi1530 GMT: Egypt.

On Friday, throngs of protesters called for the "purging of the judiciary," as most judges were appointed by the Mubarak regime, and recent decisions have acquitted top-ranked members of the Mubarak regime of any wrongdoing.

Today, Ahram Online reports that current Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has met with the Prosecutor-General Talaat Abdullah and the Supreme Judicial Council today, a day after the Justice Minister resigned.

1335 GMT: Egypt

A Cairo criminal court has accepted the prosecution's appeal against a release order for former President Hosni Mubarak in his trial on graft charges.

Mubarak, who was in court for the hearing, will remain detained for at least a 15-day period pending further investigation into the case.

The judge ruled against the release because the order was issued by the misdemeanor court, which has no jurisdiction over the matter.

Release orders are under the jurisdiction of the criminal court, the ruling added.

Mubarak's lawyer Farid El-Dib told the media he would file a new appeal for the release of his client with the criminal court.

0915 GMT: Libya

The editor of the newspaper Ummah, Amara Hassan Al-Khatabi, has been released on bail as he faces charges of defaming and insulting the judiciary.

A new hearing had been set for 23 June. Al-Khatabi faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

The editor was arrested almost four months ago after he published a list of 87 judges whom he declared were corrupt.

There had been a number of protests at his imprisonment awaiting trial, including appeals for his release from Minister of Justice Salah Marghani and Minister Culture Habib Mohammed Al-Amin.

0850 GMT: Libya

Egyptian prosecutor Hamdi Mansour has ordered that Ahmed Qaddaf Al-Dam, first cousin and former aide of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, be tried for attempted murder, resisting arrest, and possession of unlicensed firearms.

The charges stem from a skirmish with police during Qaddaf Al-Dam's arrest last month in Cairo.

Qaddaf Al-Dam was the long-time Libyan liasion with Cairo during the Qaddafi era. He recently challenged a Libyan request for his extradition.

An Egyptian court recently ruled in Qaddaf Al-Dam's favour on grounds that he might not be guaranteed his full legal rights in post-revolution Libya. Qaddaf Al-Dam's lawyers say their client bears Egyptian nationality, so cannot be extradited.

Libya has asked Egypt to hand over about 100 former Qaddafi regime officials.

0830 GMT: Egypt

The International Monetary Fund and Cairo continue to speak of agreement on a $4.8 billion IMF loan "in the coming weeks", following this weekend's talks between IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and an Egyptian delegation in Washington.

A joint statement said of the Egyptian officials, including Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez and Minister of Finance Al-Mursi Hegazy:

[They] are firmly committed to addressing Egypt's economic and financial challenges with the objective of restoring sustained and socially-balanced growth, and they are already taking encouraging actions in this direction.

Work will continue with the objective of reaching agreement on an IMF Stand-By Arrangement to support the authorities' national economic program in the coming weeks.

The IMF and Egypt have been unable to reach agreement in months of talks. Last November, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi briefly introduced a wide set of tax rises, a condition for the loan, but he almost immediately withdrew them.

On Saturday Lagarde said the IMF would remain engaged in loan negotiations with Egypt but also wanted the international community to provide financing, saying the IMF "cannot be the only one" to help prop up Egypt's economy.

"It's a task and we will not give up, we will not leave the table," she declared at a news conference.