Egypt army to use force to clear protesters

CAIRO: Egypt’s ruling military council said on Saturday it would clear protesters from a central Cairo square with “firmness and force” to allow life to return to normal.

Speaking at a news conference, a senior military officer blamed trouble in Tahrir Square on “elements that backed the counter-revolution”, a reference to people loyal to the administration of deposed President Hosni Mubarak. AGENCIES

Gaddafi says protesters are on hallucinogenic drugs

CAIRO: Muammar Gaddafi blamed a revolt against his rule on al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Thursday, and said the protesters were fueled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs, in a rambling appeal for calm.

 

Gaddafi, who just two days ago vowed in a televised address to crush the revolt and fight to the last, showed none of the fist-thumping rage of that speech.

This time, he spoke to state television by telephone without appearing in person, and his tone seemed more conciliatory, with much of his country out of government control.

“Their ages are 17. They give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe,” said Gaddafi.

“They are criminals … is it logical that you let this phenomenon continue in any city? … We do not see what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia happening in Libya, ever!”

“Those (in Egypt and Tunisia) are people needing their governments and they have demands; our power is in the hands of the people,” he said, a typical reference to his idiosyncratic rule, which he says is based on giving power direct to the people.

Gaddafi, battling to preserve his 41-year rule and his “Third Universal Theory,” outlined in his “Green Book,” offered condolences to those killed in the bloodshed and called for calm among people he said were fighting among themselves. Saying bin Laden was “the real criminal,” Gaddafi urged Libyans not be swayed by the al Qaeda leader.

Libyan authorities tend to group anyone who challenges the ruling system under the umbrella of al Qaeda, and anyone accused of association with the group is likely to face extrajudicial punishment.

“Bin Laden … this is the enemy who is manipulating people,” Gaddafi said, adding: “Do not be swayed by bin Laden.”

“From a national, moral, ethical standpoint … they should stop. I have no authority stemming from laws or decisions or anything else, I just have moral authority. I only have moral authority,” he said.

Gaddafi has long sought to present himself as figurehead of a revolution that is led by the people, rather than a traditional executive head of state.

“No sane person” would join the protests against his rule, Gaddafi said, calling on citizens to disarm those who were protesting.

“Remember in the Iraq war: the United States and Britain said they had reason to intervene. Qaeda and the international terrorists work together … Saddam Hussein had a relationship to al Qaeda … look what America did,” he said.

Referring to violent clashes taking place in the town of Zawiyah, about 50 km (30 miles) from the capital Tripoli, Gaddafi said: “What is happening in Zawiyah is a farce … Sane men don’t enter such a farce.”

“You people of Zawiyah, stop your children, take their weapons, bring them away from Bin Laden, the pills will kill them,” he said. “Leave the country calm.”

Mubarak on phone from Sharm: source

CAIRO: Egypt’s deposed President Hosni Mubarak is taking telephone calls in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, said a source who spoke to him Tuesday.

“He’s fine,” the source said. “He is at his residence in Sharm el-Sheikh with his family. He is receiving telephone calls. I spoke to him at 3 o’clock (1300 GMT) this afternoon.”

Speculation about Mubarak’s health has swirled since he was forced to resign Friday.

The Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat reported that Mubarak was ailing and had refused to travel abroad for treatment.

“What is certain is that his state of health is declining drastically. In addition there is information that he is refusing to receive the required medical treatment,” Asharq al-Awsat said in its online edition, quoting a former security official affiliated to the Egyptian military high command.

A military source told Reuters Mubarak was “breathing” but would not give details about his status.

The Higher Military Council took over Egypt when Mubarak resigned Friday following an 18-day revolt against him.

Asharq al-Awsat said Mubarak, 82, had refused advice to travel to Germany for treatment, quoting its source as saying: “He has asked those around him to allow him to die in his country, and I believe this is just a matter of time.”

Mubarak underwent gallbladder surgery in Germany last year. Rumors about his health have been rife since then.

While still clinging to office, Mubarak said in his final speeches to the nation that he would die in Egypt. Agencies

Egypt: President Mubarak refuses to step down

In a television address President Mubarak said that he would transfer power to prove that the demands of protesters will be met by dialogue. He said that his newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman would serve as a transitional leader. Egypt s President Hosni Mubarak looked likely to step aside on Thursday after the military high command took control of the nation in what some called a military coup after two weeks of unprecedented protests. Convinced about the honest intentions of young protesters, Mubarak was also said to be set to repeat that he would not run for another term as president in September elections. Anything less than quitting could provoke a powerful reaction from the street where the core of protesters want his immediate resignation and reject any political maneuvering that allows him to stay on in some capacity, perhaps as a figurehead. News that Mubarak may hand over power, or be unseated, in this key American ally in the Middle East had provoked loud and emotional cheers in Cairo s Tahrir Square, the focal point for pro-democracy demonstrations. But some in the crowd were quick to protest they did not want military rule.

Ahead of the address, hundreds of thousands flocked to the square and the surrounding streets with some organizers saying this had been the biggest turnout yet to celebrate their role in modern Egyptian history. Some danced and others played drums just out of joy and excitement. Mubarak would announce constitutional procedures before handing over powers.

Egypt President Announces New Govt

Breaking News

CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak swore in a new Cabinet on Monday, replacing one dissolved as a concession to unprecedented anti-government protests.

In the most significant change, the interior minister — who heads internal security forces — was replaced. A retired police general, Mahmoud Wagdi, was named to replace Habib el-Adly, who is widely despised by protesters for brutality shown by security forces.

Still, the new Cabinet is unlikely to satisfy the tens of thousands of protests who have taken to the streets in cities across Egypt the past week demanding the ouster of Mubarak and his entire regime.

When Mubarak announced the dissolving of the previous government late Friday and named his intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as his vice president, protesters on the streets rejected the move as an attempt by Mubarak, Egypt’s authoritarian ruler of nearly 30 years, to cling to power.

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.

Many Egyptians resented to influence of millionaire politician-moguls, who were close allies of the president’s son, Gamal Mubarak, long thought to be the heir apparent.

In the new Cabinet, Mubarak retained his long-serving defense minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

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.

Egypt: At least 102 killed in 7 days of anti-government unrest

At least 102 people have been killed in seven days of anti-government unrest in Egypt.

33 people were killed and hundreds were reported injured on Saturday alone. An earlier overall toll said that 92 people had died since protests erupted on Tuesday. On Friday, 62 people were killed, including 35 in Cairo, in the deadliest day of protests calling for regime change in the country.

Seven people were killed between Tuesday and Wednesday in Cairo and the canal city of Suez, amid unprecedented protests demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Several thousands have been reported injured this week.

The world has urged Egyptian President to make democratic reforms. US President Barack Obama has also suggested Hosni Mubarak to make crucial political reforms. Whereas EU, in a combined press release, has urged Egyptian President to stop torturing the protestors.

US Secretly Backed leading figures behind Egyptian uprising

Breaking News

Popular British newspaper The Daily Telegraph has revealed that the American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning regime change for the past three years.

According to the newspaper, the American embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph.The crisis in Egypt follows the toppling of Tunisian president Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, who fled the country after widespread protests forced him from office.The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by the WikiLeaks website, show American officials pressed the Egyptian government to release other dissidents who had been detained by the police.

Egypt chaos: Mubarak refuses to step down

Breaking News Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refused to bow to demands that he resign after ordering troops and tanks into cities in an attempt to quell protests against his 30-year rule. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is due to appoint a new government after firing his previous administration amid a wave of protests against his rule. Demonstrators were still out in the streets in the early hours of the morning, as were looters.

Parts of Cairo resembled a war zone, filled with smoke, rubble and the smell of tear gas. Mubarak dismissed his government and called for national dialogue to avert chaos after a day of battles between police and protestors. Medical sources said at least 24 people had been killed and over a thousand injured in clashes in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria. ‘It is not by setting fire and by attacking private and public property that we achieve the aspirations of Egypt and its sons, but they will be achieved through dialogue, awareness and effort,’ he said in a televised address, his first public appearance since the protests began four days ago.US President Barack Obama said he had spoken with Mubarak and urged ‘concrete steps that advance the rights of the Egyptian people’.The army, deployed for the first time in the crisis, cleared Cairo’s Tahrir square towards midnight. Shortly after Mubarak’s speech, protestors returned in their hundreds, defying a curfew. They said sacking the cabinet was far from enough.’It was never about the government, by God. It is you (Mubarak) who has to go What you have done to the people is enough’ said one protestor.

Shots were heard in the evening near parliament and the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party was in flames, the blaze lighting up the night sky. Cars were set alight and police posts torched. More than half of the dead in yesterday’s clashes were reported in Suez, the eastern city which has been ground zero for the most violent protests over the past four days.Mubarak, 82, has been a close ally of Washington and beneficiary of US aid for decades.The protests were triggered by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Al Ben Ali. Street protests in Tunis focused on similar issues of poverty and political repression. Demonstrations have also flared in Yemen, Algeria, Sudan and Jordan in recent weeks.

Accidents linked to bad weather kill 18 in Egypt

CAIRO: Building collapses and road accidents blamed on a mixture of sandstorms, heavy rain and high winds have killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more across Egypt, state media reported on Monday.

One factory building collapsed in the northern port city of Alexandria killing at least seven people and injuring 10, the state news agency MENA reported. It said the toll could rise as others were believed to be under the rubble.

State-owned Al-Ahram newspaper blamed rain damage to the factory structure for the collapse. It said other buildings also collapsed or were damaged by storms, leading to other deaths.

The newspaper, which put the total death toll at 18, also listed fatalities in road accidents related to the weather, including one incident where a street light fell into a road.

Sandstorms, rain and wind have battered swathes of the

Egypt opposition threatens to boycott runoff

CAIRO: Egypt’s Islamist and secular opposition said on Wednesday they may pull out of a runoff after a crushing defeat by President Hosni Mubarak’s party in weekend polls marred by alleged fraud and violence.

Such a move would leave barely any opposition contesting the second round and deal another blow to the credibility of the elections after Egypt came in for heavy criticism from its ally the United States and human rights groups.

Official figures showed Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP) won 209 of 221 seats in the first round of the parliamentary election on Sunday, seen as a forerunner to a crucial 2011 presidential election.

In the vote, the outlawed but generally tolerated Muslim Brotherhood failed to win a single seat outright, while the legal secular opposition parties Tagammu and Wafd were also hammered.

Most of the seats in next

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