25/02/2014 16:51
Egypt minister Mahlab 'asked to form new government'
Egypt's president has asked outgoing housing minister Ibrahim Mahlab to form a new government, state media report, a day after the interim cabinet quit, according to the BBC.
Interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi did not give a clear reason for his government's resignation on Monday.
The surprise announcement came amid a series of public sector strikes and an acute shortage of cooking gas.
Mr Beblawi was appointed in July after the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi following mass protests.
Since then, more than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands of others detained in a crackdown by the security forces on the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement to which Mr Morsi belongs.
Militants based in the Sinai peninsula have meanwhile stepped up attacks on government, police and military personnel, killing hundreds.
Before becoming housing minister, Ibrahim Mahlab was chairman of Arab Contractors, one of the biggest construction companies in the Middle East.
He was a senior official in Hosni Mubarak's former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and was appointed to the now-disbanded upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, in 2010.