At least six suspected militant gunmen have been killed by the Egyptian army in the Sinai peninsula, officials say.

Militant Islamists in northern Mali have cut off a man's hand as punishment for theft.

Switzerland has frozen more assets belonging to former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his associates, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Four staff members from the International Criminal Court (ICC) held in Libya for four weeks on suspicion of spying have been released.

Egypt's Islamist President-elect Mohamed Mursi will give a speech to crowds in Tahrir Square on Friday but his party appears to have lost in a power struggle with the ruling military council over where he will take his oath of office.

Islamist Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood was declared Egypt's first democratic president on Sunday by the state election committee, which said he had defeated former general Ahmed Shafik with 51.7 percent of last weekend's run-off vote.

Tunisia has extradited former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's prime minister to Libya, a Libyan security official said on Sunday, making him the first senior official to be sent back for trial under the country's transitional leadership.

Egypt's supreme court ruled on Thursday to dissolve the Islamist-led parliament, plunging a troubled transition to democracy into turmoil just two days before an election to replace ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.

The Australian authorities say they are seeking consular access to an Australian lawyer held in Libya after trying to meet Saif al-Islam, son of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Activists urged Egyptians to turn out for a big protest on Tuesday to reclaim a revolt they say has been hijacked after Hosni Mubarak was jailed for life but top security officials freed in a trial seen as a sign his old guard remain in charge.

Demonstrators furious that Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister made it into the run-off for Egypt's presidential election set ablaze his campaign headquarters on Monday, witnesses said, underscoring the divisive outcome of the country's historic vote.

Al Qaeda is holding hostage an Algerian regional governor who was kidnapped near the Libyan border, security sources said on Tuesday, an incident that will raise new concerns about militants exploiting Libya's security vacuum.

Nigeria's president has said for the first time he thinks sympathisers of the Islamist Boko Haram group are in his government and security agencies.

The murder trial of Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak resumed Wednesday after a three-month hiatus that saw the ousted strongman's fate eclipsed by deadly clashes and an Islamist election victory.

Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was on Wednesday transported by ambulance to court, where his murder trial resumes after a three-month pause.

Libya's economy minister Tahar Sharkass, who also held a post under Moamer Kadhafi, has resigned after protests demanding the exclusion of former regime officials, the prime minister said on Saturday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the US special forces of being involved in the killing of deposed Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Algeria on Wednesday passed a media law that drew scorn from journalists, civil society groups and opposition legislators who charged that it restricts freedom of expression.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in Djibouti on Tuesday for an hours-long visit during which he was to meet with President Ismael Omar Guelleh for talks on counter-terrorism measures.

A top US official said on Sunday that a team of US and Libyan bomb-disposal specialists has secured about 5,000 surface-to-air missiles stockpiled during the regime of Moamer Kadhafi.