6:21 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

More On VP's Promise To Talk With Opposition

The Times has more on the new vice president's promise to talk with opposition parties, including the leaders of the protests.

6:17 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

U.S. Sends Former Ambassador To Meet With Egyptian Officials

The U.S. has dispatched former ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner to Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials, the State Department said today.

6:14 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Rep. Ackerman Calls For Mubarak To Step Down, For U.S. To Suspend Aid

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), likely the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East, today called for President Mubarak to step down and for the United States to suspend aid to Egypt until he does.

The statement is notable because Ackerman is a vocal supporter of Israel and AIPAC. Mubarak has kept up a 30-year peace treaty with Israel, and experts say his downfall could bring about a leader who's much less favorable regime to Israel.

President Mubarak has been a valuable partner for the United States, but he has, by his own decisions and successive phony elections, shorn his rule of any mandate or legitimacy beyond that provided by force and arms. His last act of service to Egypt should be to facilitate a fast transfer of power to a transitional government that can prepare for free and fair elections.

Accordingly, I believe the United States must suspend its assistance to Egypt until this transition is underway.

The Egyptian people have made their wishes very clear: it is time for President Mubarak to step down and allow Egypt to move forward into a new era of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

6:04 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Google Creates Speak-To-Tweet Program To Help Egyptians

From the Google blog:

Like many people we've been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground. Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service--the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.

We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, a company we acquired last week, to make this idea a reality. It's already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet.

We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone there.

5:35 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

CNN: Egypt Shutting Down Cell Networks

CNN reports that Egypt is shutting down all cell phone networks over the next several hours in an attempt to disrupt the major protests planned for tomorrow.

4:39 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Reports: Last ISP Down In Egypt

The last working Internet service provider in Egypt, Noor Net, has apparently been taken down, according to people tweeting from Egypt.

3:20 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Egyptian VP: Constitutional Concerns About Elections Should Be Addressed

The Egyptian vice president, Omar Suleiman, came on TV just now to say that concerns about November's parliamentary elections will be investigated by the government. Any rulings made by the Constitutional Court, which validates elections, will be respected, he said.

Human Rights Watch said in November that the elections were preceded by "mass arbitrary arrests, wholesale restrictions on public campaigning, and widespread intimidation of opposition candidates and activists."

Suleiman also said that Mubarak asked him to immediately open talks with all political parties on constitutional changes.

3:07 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Report: New Egyptian VP To Make Announcement Shortly

Al-Arabiya and others are reporting that the new Egyptian vice presient, Omar Suleiman, will make a public statement shortly.

2:35 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Mubarak Closes Down Rail

President Mubarak has ordered railways closed on Egypt. The railway says it's closed to conform to the 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew; protesters suspect Mubarak is trying to thwart tomorrow's major protests and general strike.

2:14 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Gibbs: 'This Is Not About Appointments. This Is About Actions.'

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says Mubarak has not done enough to address the grievances of the Egyptian people.

"This is not about appointments. This is about actions," he said.

2:13 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

China Blocks Egypt Searches On Twitter-Type Web Sites

Via Reuters, China is blocking searches containing the word "Egypt" on microblogging sites such as Sina.com and Sohu.com.

2:11 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

More From The Egyptian Army Statement

Reuters has more from the Egyptian army:

"The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use of force against our great people," the army statement said.

"Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody."

It urged people not resort to acts of sabotage that violate security and destroy public and private property. It warned that it would not allow outlaws and to loot, attack and "terrorise citizens".

2:07 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Coca-Cola And Nestle Suspend Egypt Operations

Coca-Cola and Nestle both announced today that they are closing up shop in Egypt for the time being. Coca-Cola has eight bottling plants there; Nestle has three factories. Nestle said it is flying 20 expats and their families out of Egypt.

2:05 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Gibbs: WH Now Holds 'Standing Morning Meeting' On Egypt

The White House is now holding daily morning meetings on the situation in Egypt, says White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

2:02 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

BBC: Army's Announcement Signals Near-End Of Mubarak's Reign

From the BBC's Jon Leyne:

The announcement by the Egyptian army that it will not use force against their own people, and that it considers the demands of the protesters "legitimate", could be a devastating blow to President Mubarak. To regain control of the streets, he would need the use - or at least the threat - of force from the army. It comes after a call by the opposition for a million-strong demonstration on Tuesday in central Cairo. It now seems increasingly likely that the 30-year rule of Mr Mubarak is drawing to a close.

The army today called the protesters concerns "legitimate" and said it will not use force against protesters. It also, however, warned against any actions that would destabilize the country.

1:57 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

VIDEO: Volunteers Clean Cairo Streets

Via the Times, this Egypt Daily News video of volunteers, apparently infused with a new sense of civic pride, cleaning up Cairo's streets during the protests:

1:43 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

CNN: U.S. Sends Marines To Secure U.S. Embassy

CNN reports that the Pentagon has sent a group of Marines, called a a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, into Cairo to help protect the American embassy there.

1:40 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Syrians Call For Friday Protest

Syrians are using Facebook to organize protests for this Friday.

01/31/2011, 1:34 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

BBC: While Promising Not To Hurt Protesters, Army Warns Against Destabilization

From the state news channel, via the BBC:

The Egyptian army has also warned against "the carrying out of any act that destabilises the security of the country", according to state television.

01/31/2011, 1:04 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Al-Arabiya: Army Says It Won't Fire On Civilians

The network Al-Arabiya is reporting that the Egyptian army says it will not use violence against protesters -- a huge boost for protesters and a blow to President Mubarak.

01/31/2011, 1:03 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Atmosphere In Tahrir Square 'Festive And Exhilarating'

The Times' Nicholas Kristof reports from Tahrir Square in Cairo, the focal point of the protests:

The atmosphere in Tahrir is festive and exhilarating. The army has tanks and armed soldiers, but they are friendly to the protesters, and many people take photos with them. At night, long after curfew, the mood is especially celebratory: people have campfires and sing songs, and everybody wants to give interviews and denounce Mubarak.

The people I talked to mostly insisted that the army would never open fire on civilians. I hope they're right. To me, the scene here is eerily like that of Tiananmen Square in the first week or so after martial law was declared on May 20, 1989, when soldiers and citizens cooperated closely. But then the Chinese government issued live ammunition and ordered troops to open fire, and on the night of June 3 to 4, they did - and the result was a massacre.

01/31/2011, 12:59 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

In Israel, Shock Over U.S. Distancing From Mubarak

Reuters details the shock of Israeli pundits who see the U.S. government's distancing from Egyptian President Mubarak as a betrayal. "A Bullet in the Back from Uncle Sam," wrote one columnist.

01/31/2011, 12:52 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

White House Not 'There Yet' On Pushing Mubarak To Resign

The White House held a meeting today with a group of experts on Egypt which one attendee told Politico was, as Politico paraphrased it, a "good, serious meeting."

They rolled key ideas around and know there is no quick reform package that really works with Mubarak, he summarized.

While the administration is considering various options -- including the possibility of at some point telling Mubarak privately it's time to leave -- "I don't think they are there yet," he assessed.

Marc Lynch, a foreign policy expert who was at the meeting, later tweeted this about the White House's policy:

US Egypt policy translated: keep army from using violence + get transition to a post-Mubarak real democracy, but not sure how

At the meeting were, according to Politico, Lynch and "the National Security Network's Joel Rubin, a former State Department Egypt desk officer; the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Michele Dunne, a former NSC and State Department Policy Planning and Egypt embassy official who co-chair a bipartisan working group on Egypt); Council on Foreign Relations's Egypt expert Steve Cook; the New America Foundation's Steve Clemons; Center for American Progress Middle East expert Brian Katulis, and former U.S. Amb. to Israel Martin Indyk, now with the Brookings Institution and an advisor to George Mitchell."

Clemons also works for TPM as an editor at large.

01/31/2011, 11:04 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

As Sun Sets, Thousands Gather In Tahrir Square

Live pictures on Al-Jazeera here. Protests today are reportedly peaceful, with military standing by at square but not attempting to enforce curfew, which began hours ago.

01/31/2011, 11:00 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Israel Allows Egyptian Soldiers Into Sinai Peninsula For First Time Since '79

From the Canadian Press:

Israeli officials said Monday that they have agreed to let Egypt move several hundred troops into the Sinai peninsula for the first time since the countries reached peace three decades ago.

With street protests threatening the Egyptian regime, the officials say that Israel allowed the Egyptian army to move two battalions -- about 800 soldiers -- into Sinai on Sunday. The officials said the troops were based in the Sharm el-Sheikh area on Sinai's southern tip, far from Israel.

Under the 1979 peace treaty, Israel returned the captured Sinai to Egypt. In return, Egypt agreed to leave the area, which borders southern Israel, demilitarized. The arid peninsula lies between Egypt's mainland and Israel, and Israel was worried about an Egyptian invasion then.

Now, as the unrest in Egypt has spread, Israeli officials have grown increasingly concerned about the stability of their southern neighbour. They are especially worried that Palestinian militants could take advantage of the unrest to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip through tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border.

01/31/2011, 10:44 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Jewish Leader: Opposition Leader A 'Stooge For Iran'

Ben Smith points out this line from an interview with Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice president of the Council of Presidents of Major Jewish Organization.

"There is a myth being created that [Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed] ElBaradei is a human rights activist," Hoenlein said. "He is a stooge of Iran, and I don't use the term lightly. When he was the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, for which he got a Nobel Peace Prize, he fronted for them, he distorted the reports."

01/31/2011, 10:32 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

State TV Reportedly Showing Cooking Shows

Egypt's state-controlled TV station is showing cooking shows today, a coordinator with the Committee to Protect Journalists tells Al-Jazeera.

01/31/2011, 10:30 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Account Of Security Forces Destroying Records

A post on the Economist's news blog recounts watching security forces destroy records, including papers and cassette tapes, in Cairo this weekend.

I KNEW it was truly over when I came home to find a neighbour in a panic. He had smelled a fire nearby. We traced its source soon enough, after climbing to the roof of my building. Smoke drifted from the garden of the villa next door, where workers had recently been digging a peculiarly deep hole, as if for a swimming pool. In a far corner of the garden stood rows of cardboard boxes spilling over with freshly shredded paper, and next to them a smouldering fire.

More intriguingly, a group of ordinary looking young men sat on the lawn, next to the hole. More boxes surrounded them, and from these the men extracted, one by one, what looked like cassette tapes and compact discs. After carefully smashing each of these with hammers, they tossed them into the pit. Down at its bottom another man shovelled wet cement onto the broken bits of plastic. More boxes kept appearing, and their labours continued all afternoon.

The villa, surrounded by high walls, is always silent. Cars, mostly unobtrusive Fiats and Ladas, slip in and out of its automatic security gates at odd hours, and fluorescent light peeps through shuttered windows late in the night. This happens to be an unmarked branch office of one of the Mubarak regime's top security agencies. It seems that someone had given the order to destroy their records. Whatever secrets were on those tapes and in those papers are now gone forever.

01/31/2011, 10:22 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Reuters Estimates Death Toll At 138

Reuters, using "reports from medical sources, hospitals and witnesses," estimates the death toll in Egypt during the past week's protests at 138 people. The service warns the number is neither official nor confirmed.

01/31/2011, 10:18 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Poll: Egyptian Opinion Of U.S. Has Improved

Via Nate Silver, the Egyptian public's opinion toward the U.S. has improved drastically over the past few years. In 2010, Egyptians had a 45% positive / 29% negative opinion of the U.S. That's a huge change from 2007, when the numbers were 11% positive and 59% negative, and 2008, when they were 16% positive and a whopping 73% negative.

Silver attributes the uptick to the election of President Obama, followed by Obama's much-acclaimed Cairo speech in June 2009.

01/31/2011, 9:44 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Poll: Americans Think Overthrow Bad For U.S., But U.S. Should Stay Out Of It

A new Rasmussen poll shows that Americans surveyed believe that the overthrow of the Egyptian government, and the potential spread of unrest to other Middle Eastern countries, would be bad for America. But they also overwhelmingly believe the U.S. government should stay out of it.

Some numbers:

38% of those surveyed believe the overthrow of the Egyptian government would be bad for the U.S.

75% believe that the unrest will spread to other Middle Eastern countries. 59% think that's a bad thing.

Only 7% believe the U.S. should help the current Egyptian government stay in power.

01/31/2011, 9:36 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

New Cabinet Sworn In Today

President Mubarak swore in his new cabinet today. Most notable, according to most news reports, is the replacement of Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, who as the head of the police is extremely unpopular among the Egyptian protesters. He was replaced by Mahmud Wagdi, a general in the much more popular Egyptian army.

01/31/2011, 9:32 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Al-Jazeera Equipment Seized

Six Al-Jazeera English journalists who were arrested today have been released, Al-Jazeera reports, but their equipment -- including cameras and cell phones -- was confiscated and has not been returned.

01/31/2011, 9:19 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Police Back In The Streets Today

After three days' absence, the police -- hated by the protesters -- were back in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria today.

01/31/2011, 9:15 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Egypt Experts To Meet At White House

Per Playbook, the Obama administration has invited several experts on Egypt to the White House today for a think-tank style discussion. Invitees are: Michele Dunn of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Brookings Institution's Robert Kagan, Elliott Abrams, President's Bush's deputy national security adviser for the Mideast, and George Washington University Middle East expert Marc Lynch. The four belong to a bipartisan working group on Egypt.

From the WH: "We do think-tank sessions on an almost weekly basis. The goal is to bring in some of the top opinion leaders and thinkers on a given subject and have a candid conversion. We've done it with China, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. Today's topic is Egypt."

01/31/2011, 9:10 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Army Arrests 50 Trying To Loot Museum

The army says it has arrested 50 men who were trying to break in to the Egyptian National Museum to loot it.

01/31/2011, 9:09 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

American Weapons In Cairo

Danger Room has a good rundown on the American weapons -- tanks, fighter jets, tear gas -- being used against protesters in Egypt.

01/31/2011, 9:05 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

WH Briefing Scheduled For 1 P.M. ET

Today's White House briefing is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

01/31/2011, 9:02 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Protesters Demand Army Choose Sides

Protesters have demanded that the Egyptian army choose sides in the uprising by Thursday.

"We the people and the youth of Egypt demand that our brothers in the national armed forces clearly define their stance by either lining up with the real legitimacy provided by millions of Egyptians on strike on the streets, or standing in the camp of the regime that has killed our people, terrorized them and stole from them," reads the statement, via Al-Masry Al-Youm.

01/31/2011, 9:00 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

U.S. Begins Evacuating Americans From Egypt

Via CNN:

The first of two charter planes carrying U.S. citizens out of chaotic Egypt landed Monday in Cyprus, the beginning of what could be a lengthy evacuation effort amid escalating unrest across the country.

At least two flights, carrying 219 Americans between them, were able to take off before Egypt's 3 p.m. curfew went into effect, according to the U.S. State Department.

The first flight, carrying 42 people, landed in Cyprus, according to the State Department. The second, carrying 177 Americans, took off Monday for Athens, Greece, but had not yet landed, the government said.

With at least 2,400 people seeking evacuation as of Monday morning, getting all Americans out of the country could take some time, said Janice Jacobs, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for consular affairs.

01/31/2011, 8:56 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Al-Jazeera: Journalists Released

Al-Jazeera says its six detained journalists have been released by the Egyptian government.

01/31/2011, 8:55 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Reports: More Than 100 Dead In Protests

NBC News, the Jerusalem Post and other outlets are reporting that more than 100 people have been killed since protests began in Egypt a week ago.

01/31/2011, 8:44 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

State Dept Calls For Release Of Al-Jazeera Journalists

From P.J. Crowley, spokesman for the U.S. State Department:

We are concerned by the shutdown of #Al-Jazeera in #Egypt and arrest of its correspondents. Egypt must be open and the reporters released.

01/31/2011, 8:43 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Al-Jazeera English Journalists Arrested

Six journalists for Al-Jazeera English were arrested today, the network reports, a day after the Egyptian government ordered the network to shut down. The channel has been blocked from Nilesat, preventing Egyptian viewers from watching.

"If anything, our resolve to get the story has increased," Al-Jazeera said through a spokesman.

01/31/2011, 8:40 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Protesters Plan Mass Rally For Tuesday

Protesters are calling for a "march of millions" on Tuesday, in what the New York Times calls "an attempt to retake the initiative in the face of a government campaign to cast the uprising as an incubator of lawlessness after several nights of looting."

01/31/2011, 8:38 AM | Rachel Slajda | #

Protests Continue Despite Curfew, New Cabinet

Protests continued today as Egyptians took to the streets to protest President Hosni Mubarak and his new cabinet.

01/28/2011, 5:27 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Mubarak: I Have Requested The Government To Step Down

Mubarak: "I have requested the government to step down today. I will designate a new government as of tomorrow."

Mubarak himself is not resigning.

01/28/2011, 5:26 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Mubarak Promises 'New Steps Toward Democracy'

Mubarak promises "new steps toward democracy," including guaranteeing more freedoms for the Egyptian people and "new steps" to combat unemployment.

01/28/2011, 5:25 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Mubarak: We Will Continue Reforms

Mubarak: "We will continue our political, economical and social reforms for a free and democratic Egyptian society."

He says that there is a "fine line between freedom and chaos," and he falls on the side of "protecting Egypt's stability," according to Al-Jazeera's translation.

He condemns violence on both sides.

"We should be cautious and aware of the many examples around us that drove people to chaos and mayhem, where they gained no stability or democracy," he said. "The problems facing us and the goals sought by us cannot be achieved through violence nor chaos. They can only be achieved by national dialogue."

01/28/2011, 5:17 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Mubarak Is Speaking Now

Watch live: http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

01/28/2011, 5:13 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Al-Jazeera: Mubarak To Make Statement Soon

Reports are coming in that President Mubarak will make a public statement soon.

01/28/2011, 5:09 PM | Rachel Slajda | #

Pamela Geller Still Loves Mubarak

Salon's Alex Pareene points out that Pamela Geller, a driving force behind anti-mosque protests in New York, still loves President Mubarak.

"Mubarak has been a US ally for decades. We send three billion dollars a year to Egypt. And Egypt made a peace deal with Israel. But knowing Obama, he will throw another ally under the bus," she writes.

Geller's problem is with the Muslim Brotherhood, which has joined in the protests, and fears that Mubarak's fall might lead to an Islamic regime.