Doubts over ElBaradei's appointment as Egypt PM

Egypt's new president says pro-reform leader Mohamed Elbaradei has not yet been appointed as interim prime minister despite earlier reports.

A spokesman for interim President Adly Mansour said consultations were continuing.

Officials had earlier named Mr ElBaradei - a former head of the UN's nuclear watchdog - for the post.

News of his appointment had been criticised by the Salafist Nour Party, which said it would not work with him.

It came three days after the army removed Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi following growing public unrest.

The appointment of Mr ElBaradei caused anger among supporters of Mr Morsi, who want to see him returned to power.

"Interim President Adly Mansour met today with Dr ElBaradei but so far there has been no official appointment," Agence France-Presse news agency quoted presidential advisor Ahmed al-Muslimani as saying.

But he added that Mr ElBaradei was "the logical choice" among a list of names being considered, the news agency said.

Mr ElBaradei and other party leaders attended a meeting called by Mr Mansour on Saturday.

He leads an alliance of liberal and left-wing parties, the National Salvation Front.

In a BBC interview on Thursday, Mr ElBaradei defended the army's intervention, saying: "We were between a rock and a hard place."

"It is a painful measure, nobody wanted that," he said. "But Mr Morsi unfortunately undermined his own legitimacy by declaring himself a few months ago as a pharaoh and then we got into a fist fight, and not a democratic process."