Thousands of supporters of Egypt’s embattled Islamist president are rallying in the nation’s capital in a show of support ahead of what are expected to be massive opposition-led protests to demand Mohammed Morsi’s removal.

Egyptians in nine provinces have started voting in the second round of the first parliamentary elections since a popular uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.

At least 30 people died in two crashes on Egypt’s notoriously dangerous roads today.

AT LEAST 18 factory workers were killed when their bus collided with a truck in Egypt’s Nile Delta yesterday, a police official said.