Syria's seat at the Arab League will remain vacant until the opposition completes the formation of its institutions, the pan-Arab group's secretary general Nabil al-Arabi said on Sunday.

"The last Arab summit in Doha in March 2012 adopted the principle of granting Syria's seat within the League to the opposition, but it has not yet established its institutions and must take further steps in this regard," Arabi said after a meeting of the Arab Ministerial Council.

The explosion of a suspected homemade bomb targeting a tram station in eastern Cairo wounded at least one person on Saturday, Egyptian security officials said.

Since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, militants have stepped up attacks against the security forces in Egypt, killing many soldiers and policemen.

Interim Egyptian president Adly Mansour promulgated Saturday a law setting the stage for an election later this year to replace ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

The election is seen as a major step in a roadmap outlined by the interim authorities after the military deposed Morsi in July.

Three people were killed and 28 wounded on Friday in Egypt as Islamist protesters clashed with security forces and civilian opponents, the health ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile a security official told Agence France Presse 17 policemen were wounded in the capital Cairo, and that protesters torched three police cars.

Egypt on Friday welcomed Saudi Arabia's decision to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and called on other Arab countries to follow suit.

The Saudi move further isolates the Brotherhood of deposed Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, already designated by Egypt as a terrorist group following a suicide bombing that killed 15 people in a police station in December.

Thousands of Hamas supporters rallied in the Gaza Strip on Friday to protest against a Cairo court decision banning the Palestinian Islamist movement from operating in Egypt.

Waving Egyptian flags and Hamas banners, the demonstrators gathered after Friday prayers and then marched to the former Egyptian embassy which has been closed since 2007.

Egypt deported Friday dozens of women activists, who had flown in to Cairo but been barred from entering the country in their bid to reach the neighboring Gaza Strip, an airport official said.

About 100 women, most of them from Europe and the United States, had hoped to enter the Palestinian enclave through Egypt's Rafah border crossing to celebrate International Women's Day on Saturday.

Egypt's top Islamic body said on Thursday the big budget Hollywood biblical epic "Noah" starring Russell Crowe was irreligious and should not be screened in the country.

Al-Azhar institute, one of the region's main Sunni Muslim authorities, said the movie, slated to open in Egypt on March 26, violated Islam by portraying a prophet.

Egypt has welcomed the decision of three Gulf states to withdraw their envoys to Qatar and said its own ambassador "will not return" to the Gulf emirate.

The unprecedented decision this week by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates was seen as closely linked to Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who was overthrown by the military in July.

In Egypt's newest reality television show, contestants sold fruit juice from push carts in Cairo's busiest market and later organized a desert safari for tourists, hustling to make sales in the capital's crowded streets.

The program, called "The Project" in Arabic, highlights entrepreneurship and small business acumen — something experts say is more crucial than ever as Egypt tries to claw its way out of tough economic times.