Egypt

[winston]

There you go ...

Violent clashes break out between pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators in Egypt, CNN's Ben Wedeman says.

Source: CNN International

[winston]

Flames caused by petrol bombs burn in doorways in Cairo's Tahrir Square; army firing water cannons, CNN reports.

Egyptian army vehicles enter Tahrir Square, tear gas fired amid clashes between rival factions, CNN journalists
report.

Source: CNN International

[winston]

Egypt

So who sent in the "Pro-Stabilization" supporters ?

And to go through the crowd on horses is really disgusting, not to mention man-handling the international journalists who were covering the story..

Trying to force the people to choose between stability or democracy ? These dinosaurs dont understand the aspiration of the people at all ...

And we still have a few of these dinosaurs around the world, who have already overstayed their welcome. Even in a place like China, there's a limit to the term of the President ...

[winston]

Foreign Journalists in Egypt

And those foreign journalists in Egypt dont seemed to be too street-smart either.

Covering a story at ground-zero when they know that the anti and pro Mubarak protesters, are about to go at each other ?

And without adequate protection ?

As far as I'm concerned, these journalists and their producers dont seemed to be very responsible or smart. If you want to die, choose a better cause..

[winston]

Why am I not surprised ?

BUSTED: Violent Egyptian protesters are actually police officers and government-hired thugs

It should surprise no one that some if not all of the violent pro-Mubarak forces are plain clothes police officers.

The Guardian notes:

Sharif Kouddous, a prolific Egyptian tweeter and blogger in Cairo, describes "a brutal and coordinated campaign of violence" by the Mubarak regime, in an article posted on Democracy Now's website:

"Suddenly, rocks started falling out of the sky," said Ismail Naguib, a witness at the scene. "Rocks were flying everywhere. Everywhere." Many people were hit. Some were badly cut, others had arms and legs broken.

The mob then charged in; some rode on horseback and camels, trampling and beating people. Groups of them gathered on rooftops around Tahrir and continued to pelt people with rocks.

"It's a massacre," said Selma al-Tarzi as the attack was ongoing. "They have knives, they are throwing molotov bombs, they are burning the trees, they are throwing stones at us ... this is not a demonstration anymore, this is war."

Some of the attackers were caught. Their IDs showed them to be policemen dressed in civilians clothes. Others appeared to be state sponsored "baltagiya" (gangs) and government employees.


http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2 ... olice.html

[winston]

Saboteurs attack Egypt-Israel gas pipeline: report

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saboteurs blew up a pipeline that runs through Egypt's North Sinai and supplies gas to Israel, state television and other sources reported on Saturday.

State TV quoted an official as saying that the "situation is very dangerous and explosions were continuing from one spot to another" along the pipeline.

"It is a big terrorist operation," a state TV reporter said.

A security source said the Egyptian army closed the main source of gas supplying the pipeline.

"The armed forces and the authorities managed to close the main source of flow and are trying to control the fires," the source said.

Israel's National Infrastructure Ministry said it was looking into the incident.

Egypt is a modest gas exporter, using pipelines to export gas to Israel and also to Jordan and other regional states. It also exports via liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on its north coast, but those are not in the Sinai region.

State television said the pipeline that was attacked supplied both the Israeli and Jordanian gas lines.

Israel imports 40 percent of its natural gas from Egypt, in a deal built on their 1979 peace accord.

The SITE intelligence group, which monitors al Qaeda and other Islamist websites, said some groups had been urging Islamic militants to attack the pipeline to Israel.

"Saboteurs took advantage of the security situation and blew up the gas pipeline," a state television correspondent reported, saying there was a big explosion.

Residents in the area also reported a huge explosion and said flames were raging in an area near the pipeline in the El-Arish area of north Sinai.

"Jihadists suggested that Muslims in Sinai take advantage of Egyptian unrest and strike the Arish-Ashkelon gas pipeline, arguing that it would have a major impact on Israel," SITE said.

Site quoted one Islamist website author as saying: "To our brothers, the Bedouins of Sinai, the heroes of Islam, strike with an iron fist, because this is a chance to stop the supply to the Israelites."

Sinai Bedouins have long grumbled about being neglected and have often sporadically clashed with Egyptian security forces. Many Bedouin were rounded up after a series of explosions in Sinai tourists resorts between 2004 and 2006.


Source: Reuters US Online Report World News

[iam802]

From BBC.
==
Senior Egyptian officials confirm that President Hosni Mubarak's departure from office is being discussed.

==

[iam802]

just saw on Bloomberg.

The Egypt's President 'fate' will be decided in hours.

--

Be careful if you are short. Market will find all sorts of reasons to rally (or otherwise).

[kennynah]

i think Oil price will tumble further

[kennynah]

people power
egyptians give me the hope that one day, we will have a truly democratic society...