Hundreds of Egyptian Islamists have demonstrated in Cairo to denounce the ruling military and demand that a former ally of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak be barred from running in next month's presidential election.

Egypt's Islamists are to comprise about 60 per cent of a 100-member panel assigned with drafting a new constitution, which will decide the role of Islam in the state and minority rights.

Jordanian Islamists have called on the world's Muslims and Arabs to boycott Russian and Chinese products after the two countries vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria.

Amr Moussa, a leading candidate for Egypt's presidency, said today that a strong Islamist showing in the first election since army generals replaced Hosni Mubarak in February must be accepted as democracy in action.

A court in Bosnia has jailed three radical Islamists for up to 4 1/2 years for planning attacks in the Balkan country in 2007-2008.

Tunisia's main Islamist party, Ennahda, claims to have received more than 30 percent of the vote in the country's first free polls.