There have been tensions between religious groups in Egypt in recent months. Today, religious leaders have stressed their unity. We told at 12.41pm how at Friday prayers in Tahrir square, the Catholic cardinal in Egypt reportedly linked hands with a Muslim cleric. Al-Jazeera English now reports that Christians in Alexandria formed a security cordon around the Muslims while they knelt for Friday prayers.

Massive waves of euphoria are sweeping through the region now, my friends in Baghdad, Sanaa, Beirut and Damascus tell me as they sit glued to their TV screens. Tunisia was the start but Tunisia was far away, people said; it's small and relatively educated compared to the rest of the Arab world – but Egypt is something else. For almost two centuries Egypt was the heart of the Arab world, influencing it with cinema, music, journalism and ideology. A Yemeni official I talked to yesterday was so enthusiastic he called what is happening "the great Arab revolution" that will sweep away corrupted regimes – including his own, he said. "Those regimes that have been running their states like fiefdoms, looted by army generals, tribes and the sons and cousins of the president will go. After decades of stagnation the people are awake now and the days of these decayed presidents are numbered." The Iraqis I have talked to all expressed a sense of shame. A friend told me on the phone from Baghdad: "We Iraqis looted and gutted our museum in 2003 while the Egyptians protected theirs. They protected houses and public buildings while Baghdad was reduced to rubble within days of the fall of the regime. Egyptians love their country; they are patriotic; we weren't." One Egyptian embassy official put his hands on his knees and said with a shy smile: "You know the president thinks he is like a big father. He treats the people like they are his children: 'go to sleep', and they all sleep, 'wake up', and they all wake up. Things have changed: the people are no more children, and you can't boss them around. If you don't talk to them in the language of democracy you will be swept away." Arab kings and presidents are scrambling to appease their people: Jordan's king dismissed his government, Algeria's president said he will end emergency laws, the Yemeni president pledged not to run again. But for us Arabs, the biggest change has already happened. The holy image of his deity the ruler, surrounded by fearless, mustachioed mukhabarat officers, has been shattered.

Nuune, adeer whats with the name calling? Dont insult the sister. Come on people lets stock to the topic. This is big news..

Gues who got an interview with the laughing Cow himself.. "'If I resign today there will be chaos," Hosni Mubarak tells ABC News's Christiane Amanpour in an interview today: I told Obama: 'you don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now'."

A parody of the tweet goes like, "Chase down Anderson Cooper in style with our new lightweight canvas loafers!"

Some light humour that I came across from the Guardian blogg. Here's the tweet from fashion house Kenneth Cole that is currently making the rounds of the internet. It's real: "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online"

Egypt at the crossroads NA'EEM JEENAH | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Feb 03 2011 18:20 1 comment | Post your comment ARTICLE TOOLS Responding to demands of "Mubarak out!", Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced earlier this week that he would stay in power until presidential elections in September, and will oversee the formation of a new government and of constitutional amendments which will allow opposition candidates to run for president. The announcement was made on the eighth day of national protests, when two million Egyptians occupied various city centres to protest against Mubarak's three-decade rule. Predictably, the protesters were unimpressed, and continued demanding his removal. Within hours, Mubarak's announcement was followed by a call by the army for people to end the protests and return home, or face the prospect of violence. Not long thereafter, in a coordinated action, supporters of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party descended on protesters in various cities, assaulting them, and rode into the protesting crowds with horses and camels, sparking clashes that lasted many hours. Soldiers on the scene did nothing, allowing the chaos to continue unhindered. From the beginning, the regime's response to the uprising, which started on the January 25, was crafted by the military, in a way that would help maintain the status quo, allowing it to control politics in the most populous Arab country. Mubarak, who is very ill, and, according to most observers, will likely not be alive for the September elections, first responded to the protests by dissolving his Cabinet and reappointing new ministers. General Omar Suleiman, the minister of intelligence who has a background as a master of torture, was appointed vice-president, and most other new appointees were members of the military. The Egyptian military has controlled politics in that country since Gamal Abdel Nasser's presidency, and the president has always been from its ranks. When protests increased in size, the next response was Suleiman's announcement this week that Mubarak had instructed him to begin negotiations with opposition parties. Then came Mubarak's speech, saying he would not stand for the election in September, and would begin a process to amend the Constitution. Meanwhile, opposition parties, including the largest, the Muslim Brotherhood, were coming together to knock together a coalition that would be able to talk to the regime. These developments point to a planned strategy by the military to regain control of Egyptian politics and to ensure the persistence of the status quo -- with some concessions to the people and the opposition. Clearly, the military has decided that Mubarak has become a burden, and is easing him out. But, his being from among their ranks, the army would prefer not to humiliate him and hang him out to dry. Instead, they will keep him as president, while Suleiman begins a negotiation process with opposition parties. The regime hopes that the beginning of the negotiation process will end the protests, that fatigue, the threat of a food crisis, and the attacks on protesters by NDP thugs will force demonstrators off the streets and back to their homes and jobs. Further, if the clashes between protesters and NDP supporters continue, the army will use that as an excuse to crush the protests, claiming it to be in the interests of law and order. And, to finally ensure that the protests end, Suleiman has already announced that no dialogue with the opposition can begin until protests are halted, effectively making the end of protests a precondition of negotiations. Once the negotiations begin, the regime will attempt to drag it out until September, making the call for Mubarak's early resignation irrelevant. Opposition groups, however, clearly believing that they have the upper hand, have made Mubarak's stepping-down a precondition for entering negotiations. If the protests are crushed by the military, as is likely, the superior negotiating position will be in Suleiman's hands, and the opposition will be unable to leverage their precondition. Meanwhile, the regime will effect amendments to the Constitution as a way of appeasing the opposition. It has already announced -- unilaterally -- that amendments will be effected within 75 days of February 2, and without the involvement of opposition parties. One of the objectives of the regime in the intervening period will be to create divisions within the opposition, emphasising differences between the leftist, nationalist and Islamist opposition groups, and between Muslims and Christians. Any divisions in opposition ranks will serve the regime's agenda and allow it to dictate the political changes that will take place. In the period before the September election, any protests that take place could be addressed by co-opting individual members of the opposition into the Cabinet, or even creating a presidential council with Mubarak at its head, and including former IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei. The military chiefs have played their cards very well. When police were pulled back from the demonstrations -- after having caused numerous deaths -- the soldiers moved in, but did nothing to quell the protests. Indeed, the impression from protesters was that the army was there to protect the people. Military chiefs have ensured that the military took no action against protesters, cultivating the image of the army as benevolent protectors -- which could serve it well now and during the negotiations process. It is possible, however, that as the violence against protesters continue, some members of the middle and lower ranks of the army will join the protesters. The end game for the Egyptian military is one in terms of which it can strike a deal with the emerging power-brokers -- ElBaradei, and other opposition figures -- where the political influence and economic interests of the military are protected under a new dispensation, and where it is able to maintain a direct relationship with American and European military structures. This will ensure that, even if democracy emerges in Egypt, the military is able to maintain its domestic power, and continue to fulfil the foreign agenda to which it is committed. To ensure that the military will continue fulfilling such an agenda, Western - especially American -- officials have been in close contact with the new vice-president, new prime minister and other leaders of the military over the past few weeks. The Egyptian regime and the military in particular from the presidency of Anwar Sadat, have fulfilled Western, especially American, objectives in the region. In particular, the Camp David accord between Egypt and Israel, and the subsequent role of Egypt has ensured that Israel has been well served. Indeed, as a result of that accord, Israel has been able to decrease its military spending and to rely on Egypt to, for example, maintain the siege on Gaza, a key recent tactic of Israel against the Palestinians. If ElBaradei becomes the new president after Mubarak, the army will be able to rely on him to support -- even if uncomfortably -- this agenda. If the military loses its political influence, and becomes completely subject to civilian authority -- an option that it will fight against -- the balance of power in the region insofar as the Palestinian-Israel issue is concerned could change dramatically.

AUN

“1.19pm: Hopes that the army would intervene on behalf of the anti-Mubarak protesters have been dashed, according to some people in and around Tahrir…” Egypt protests – live updates

Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy

22 inches in Chicago, thats crazy..

Nouraddin Adbulsamad, Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, is live on Al Jazeera. He has called for Mubarak to step down, accusing him of wanting to "burn down all of Egypt".

10:55pm Latest from Al Jazeera Web Producer in Cairo's Tahrir Square: The pro-Mubarak crowd suddenly retreated, and the pro-democracy protesters advanced a moveable wall of metal shields to a new front line much further up. A side battle erupted down a street behind the pro-Mubarak lines, with rock throwing and molotov cocktails. An armored personnel carrier opened fire into the air, shooting red tracers up over Cairo, in an apparent effort to disperse/frighten the pro-Mubarak crowd, who contracted again. The pro-democracy protesters are now advancing their line of staggered metal shields farther and farther and seem to have gained decisive momentum. 10:45pm Clashes in Tahrir Square being described as medieval. Anti-government supporters are moving makeshift metal barricades slowly forward, one by one. 10:37pm Anti-Mubarak protesters still in Tahrir Square where they are being attacked by groups believed to be supporters of Mubarak. Al Jazeera showing them holding up a sign "World says time to go Mubarak". 10:18pm Breaking news on Al Jazeera now: gunshots being heard in downtown Cairo, near Tahrir Square where tens of thousands of anti-government protesters are camping out. 10:13pm Philip J. Crowley, US Assistant Secretary, denounces the violent attacks on peaceful demonstrators and journalists.

Mubarak has already failed.

I am at the office, up date us will you..

Its madness as North rightly stated. Mubarak is stating it is either me or chaos. How on earth will anyone believe that these people just found horses and camels all lined up for them to demonstrate on.

^^^lol. the Iron Maiden defeats another secessionist.

Another 3 years to be added to the 20 wasted already..

Term Extended for Somali Parliament Amid Sharp International Criticism Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa January 31, 2011 Somalia’s international backers have extended the term of parliament beyond August, when the mandate of the country’s embattled transitional government expires. But it appears Somalia’s president may be replaced. The international community on Monday handed down a harsh verdict on the performance of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, exactly two years after Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was chosen president. A meeting at the AU summit site drew top officials of all the TFG’s main backers. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was there. So was African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi attended in his capacity as head of the East African regional community IGAD, and all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council were represented. The U.S. delegation was led by the State Department’s number two, Deputy Secretary James Steinberg. The meeting was closed, but a transcript of Ping’s remarks provided a stinging rebuke of the TFG’s performance. Ping said he was disappointed that no significant progress has been made in stabilizing the lawless country that has been without an effective government for 20 years. A communiqué issued by IGAD praised the recent appointment of Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, and mentioned the need to extend the mandate of parliament. But on the subject of the presidency, the statement was vague. It said the remaining political dispensation will be handled by the people of Somalia. Diplomats attending the meeting say that means Somalia's parliament must decide whether to elect a new president and speaker of the assembly. They say lawmakers are likely to choose new leaders within a few months. Somalia’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omar told reporters the TFG accepted the international community’s verdict of dissatisfaction. He says the harsh judgment should be seen as a call for renewed action to adopt a constitution and stabilize the country before the government’s mandate expires in August. "The issue of dissatisfaction may be what it is, but the issue is a practical one. And we are looking at what needs to be done in a seven-month period which comes to a conclusion in August and how we move across that," he said. Omar said the international community’s verdict is a call for Somalis to take advantage of indications that foreign-backed extremist groups are losing their grip, and to establish a permanent government. "It is essential that we put behind us the differences that in many respects are parochial in nature, and that we move on and grasp the opportunity that is presented today, and the period of six or seven months to come together to show again that we can build a nation that can take its seat alongside other nations in peace and put aside the weapons of war," he said. Somalia’s last central government collapsed in 1991 when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown. President Sharif’s government is backed by an 8,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force made up mostly of Ugandan and Burundian troops. The U.N. Security Council last month approved an increase in AMISOM’s size to 12,000 troops.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.... Thats Somalia

My dear Somalina, stop the nonsense Sharif Hotel started the war with his Al Shabaab minions and then they turned on him and this later day Idi Amiin is killing and maiming reer Mogadishu. Imagine getting rewarded for incompetence and bad behaviour thats what you did for Mr Hotel.. Anywho more people have died under Sharif Hotel than at any time since the last 10 years, thats a fact get used to it..