[Arab News] Egypt named a new government on Monday, appointing new finance and interior ministers as part of a revamped Cabinet designed to defuse the most serious challenge to geriatric President Hosni Mubarak's rule in three decades.State television said Mohamed Hussein Tantawi was promoted to deputy prime minister alongside his role as defense minister.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit remains foreign minister.
Samir Mohamed Radwan was named finance minister.
Samiha Fawzi Ibrahim was named trade minister.
Gen. Mahmoud Wagdy, previously head of Cairo criminal investigations department and also a former head of prisons, was named the new interior minister.
The new line-up of Cabinet ministers announced on state television included stalwarts of Mubarak's regime but purged several of the prominent businessmen who held economic posts and have engineered the country's economic liberalization policies the past decades.
The longest-serving Cabinet minister, Culture Minister Farouq Hosni, was replaced by Gaber Asfour, a widely respected literary figure.
Egypt's most famous archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, was named state minister for antiquities, a new post.