Thousands of Egyptians activists marched onto Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on Friday to demand former regime officials be purged and put on trial, including ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Draped in Egyptian flags, Muslims were joined by Christians as they gathered for weekly prayers in a protest dubbed the "Day of Trial and Cleansing" to press the ruling military council on promised reforms and justice.

Zakariah Azmi, the chief of staff of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, was detained on Thursday for 15 days on suspicion of illegally acquiring his wealth, state television reported.

Azmi, one of the former president's closest aides, is under investigation by an anti-corruption panel that has also summoned Mubarak's younger son Gamal for questioning. Gamal is expected to appear before the panel next week.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Thursday noted that his party has achieved “great, significant accomplishments” through the “army-people-Resistance equation.”

These accomplishments are “the humiliating Israeli pullout (from South Lebanon) in 2000, the grand victory in July 2006 in the face of the Israeli war on Lebanon … and the participation in a national unity cabinet that aims to prevent civil strife,” said Qassem.

Egypt is to elect a new president by November to replace veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak who was ousted last month after 18 days of mass protests, the transitional military government said Wednesday.

The polls will be organized "within a month or two" of a parliamentary poll already timetabled for September, spokesman General Mamdouh Shahine told reporters.

Ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his family are under house arrest, Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said on its website Monday, denying that the former leader had fled to Saudi Arabia.

"There is no truth to reports that former president Hosni Mubarak has left Egypt for Tabuk in Saudi Arabia," the country's military rulers said in a statement on Facebook.

Egypt's first parliamentary election since the fall of president Hosni Mubarak will be held in September, but no date has yet been decided for a presidential vote, a top military officer said on Monday.

"The legislative elections will be held in September," said General Mamduh Shahin of the supreme military council that has been ruling Egypt since Mubarak quit on February 11 under pressure from street protests.

For the nearly 40,000 followers of his Twitter feed, Andy Carvin is providing a unique window into the turmoil in the Middle East.

For a media industry facing its own ferment, Carvin, who works online for National Public Radio (NPR), is offering a glimpse into journalism's future, using the Web to report the historic events in a fresh and innovative way.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated on Thursday that the March 14 camp does not deny what was reported in the recently published WikiLeaks cables.

He said during a press conference: “All that was said in the cables, I repeat every day. All that we stated is true and we are free to perceive them as we wish.”

Arab League chief Amr Moussa hailed a huge turnout for a landmark referendum in Egypt on Saturday as voters seized their first taste of democracy after the ouster of veteran president Hosni Mubarak.

Queues had formed outside voting centers even before polls opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT), something unheard of in the Mubarak-era when turnout for elections was always tiny as voters assumed their ballots would make no difference.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will make a speech during a ceremony scheduled to be held on Saturday in support for uprisings in Arab countries, the party’s media office announced.

The statement said late Thursday that Nasrallah will address supporters during the ceremony aimed at sending a message of support for the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.