Egypt said on Monday it formally requested that Israel look into a statement attributed to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in which he described Egypt as more "worrying" than Israel's arch-nemesis Iran.

A foreign ministry statement said Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr asked Cairo's ambassador in Tel Aviv to request "clarifications on the accuracy of the statement attributed to the Israeli foreign minister."

Egypt has scrapped a 2005 gas export deal with Israel, which relies on Egyptian natural gas for 40 percent of its supplies to produce electricity, the chairman of a government holding firm said on Sunday.

The accord was "annulled on Thursday with the East Mediterranean Gas Co (EMG) which exports gas to Israel because the company failed to respect conditions stipulated in the contract," Mohamed Shoeib told Agence France Presse.

Egypt's constitutional court refused on Saturday to rule on a parliamentary draft bill barring former regime figures from standing in next month's presidential election, judicial sources said.

The court, asked by the ruling military to decide on the bill's legality, said it could only consider a law after it comes into effect, the sources said.

Israeli authorities warned citizens on Saturday to leave Egypt's Sinai peninsula immediately because of a "critical and immediate threat" of a terrorist attack.

"All Israelis in the Sinai are called upon to leave the region and return to Israel," said a statement from the anti-terrorist bureau.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday denounced the visit by the nation's grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, to Jerusalem, calling it as a "catastrophe" that undermined the Palestinian aspirations.

Gomaa, Egypt's highest religious authority, visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem on Wednesday for the first time, along with Jordan's Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed, King Abdullah II's cousin and adviser on religious issues.

The powerful Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater, barred from Egypt's first post-Arab Spring presidential election, accused the country's military rulers on Wednesday of seeking to stay in power and promised an anti-government protest.

He spoke after the electoral commission confirmed that 10 candidates had been barred from standing, rejecting challenges by him and another Islamist and the old regime's spy chief.

Growth in the Middle East and North Africa took a dive in 2011 because of the Arab Spring protests and resulting political upheaval, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the region, stretching from Iran to Mauritania, grew by 3.5 percent last year, down from a healthy 4.9 percent in 2010, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook.

Egypt's electoral commission confirmed on Tuesday that 10 candidates have been barred from running for president, ruling out a challenge by two Islamists and Hosni Mubarak's ex-spy chief.

"The commission rejected all appeals presented by the 10" candidates among 23 who applied to stand in the election scheduled for next month, said the official MENA news agency.

Egypt's political leaders met on Sunday after next month's presidential election was thrown into turmoil with key candidates disqualified and the fate of a new constitution hanging in limbo.

Military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi met the heads of 17 political parties and groups and MPs to discuss major developments ahead of the first presidential poll since a popular uprising ousted long-time leader Hosni Mubarak last year.

Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, killing two officers and wounding another, a security official told Agence France Presse.

The gunmen opened fire on the checkpoint near the town of al-Arish, instantly killing policemen Mohammed Fawzi and Mohammed Mosleh, both 21.