Egypt is to shorten a night-time curfew imposed on Cairo and 13 other provinces by one hour starting Thursday, the cabinet announced.

Egypt is to shorten a night-time curfew imposed on Cairo and 13 other provinces by one hour starting Thursday, the cabinet announced.

The curfew will be from 1:00 am (2300 GMT) to 5:00 am, except on Fridays when it will begin at 7:00 pm (1700 GMT), a cabinet statement said.

The curfew was imposed in August as authorities launched a massive crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammad Mursi.

On September 12, Egypt's interim authorities extended a state of emergency in force since mid-August by another two months because of the country's continued security problems.