Egyptian troops have opened fire on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi as they marched on a Republican Guard facility.

Egyptians were preparing for the worst today as streets once again filled with protesters eager to oust President Mohammed Morsi and Islamists determined to keep him in power.

EGYPT’S first post-revolution vote will shift the political scene in favour of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, whether or not the Muslim Brotherhood wins, analysts and Hamas officials say.

EGYPT’S military rulers have vowed to crack down on religious violence after 12 people died in clashes in a Cairo suburb sparked by unconfirmed suspicions that Christians had abducted a woman who converted to Islam.

Egyptian authorities say the nail bomber who attacked Cairo’s main tourist bazaar was working alone, amid fears that the blast, which killed three people including French and American tourists, could mark a revival of Islamic militant attacks that devastated the country’s economy in the 1990s.

Intense emotions of both sorrow and defiance continue across the Middle East today, the day Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is honoured by international dignitaries with a military funeral in Egypt.

Egypt’s leading Islamic clerics declared that Ramadan will start tomorrow, beginning four weeks of dawn-to-dusk fasting for millions of Muslims.