Protesters Remain On Tahrir Square

An Egyptian girl sits on the shoulders of her father during ongoing pro-reform demonstrations on Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Fresh protests in Egypt have entered a ninth day, just two days before the first free parliamentary polls.

Activists remained on Tahrir Square in Cairo overnight to push their demands that the country's interim military rulers step down right away.

The fresh unrest has left 41 people dead.

Egypt's military rulers, however, show no sign of stepping down.

Instead, they have promised to push forward a presidential election to mid-2012 and appointed a new prime minister to head a "national salvation government."

Kamal Ganzouri, who held the same post under Hosni Mubarak, described his task as thankless and "extremely difficult" and listed his priorities as securing the streets and reviving the economy.
compiled from agency reports