Egyptian authorities have detained four people, including an Australian journalist and an Egyptian labour activist, on suspicion that they had distributed cash to workers and incited them to take part in a strike demanding an end to army rule, the government-run Al-Ahram has said.

One of Egypt's most prominent revolutionaries has been released from jail after almost two months during which he missed the birth of his first child. An Egyptian investigative judge ordered that Alaa Abd El Fattah, who has been at the forefront of anti-regime struggles for a decade and was a political prisoner during the Mubarak era, be freed pending investigation into charges that he incited violence against the military.

One of Egypt's most prominent revolutionaries has been taken into custody by the country's military rulers, provoking the biggest crisis yet in relations between pro-change activists and the increasingly repressive army junta.