Turkey's Message for Egypt: "Democracy Shall Win"

On Tuesday, as hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to "listen to people's outcries and extremely humanistic demands" and continued his advice:

Meet the freedom demands of people without a doubt. In today’s world, freedoms cannot be postponed or overlooked.

We are mortal. We will all die and be judged by those who remain. As Muslims, our final address is a two-cubic-meter hole. What matters is to be remembered with respect. We should listen to the voice of our conscience and the voice of our people and be ready either for their good prayers or curses. We are for the people; we are in the service of the people.

Turkey will continue to stand side-by-side with both the Tunisian and Egyptian people and continue to share their hope and happiness.

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Tunisia Photo Essay: 5000 Rally on Saturday for Equality Between Men and Women

Thomas v. der Osten-Sacken and Bernd Baier, who debuted on EA on Saturday with a photo essay on Friday's protests and police raid in Tunis, follow up with a report and pictures from yesterday's march for gender equality:

In the first massive rally for equality of sexes since the toppling of President Ben Ali,  marchers called for a change of the Constitution.

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Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Restoring Order?

0615 GMT: Here's the sign that we have moved from Sunday into Monday --- a Cairo observer reports, "Good morning. I could still hear chanting at 4AM. I could still hear chanting at 8AM. People are roaming Tahrir square now."

A BBC correspondent reports "small numbers" of police on the streets of Cairo.

0600 GMT: Laura Rozen of Politico gives some insight into how the US Administration is now doing crisis management on Egypt:

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Tunisia Photo Essay: Demonstrations and a Police Raid

On Friday, amidst the events in Egypt, we noted another significant development in Tunis, quoting two journalists:

We witnessed this afternoon how police and plainclothes stormed the demonstrators' camp at Place de Kasbah with tear gas and dogs. Very ugly scenes.

Place de Kasbah since 1700 (1600 GMT) controlled by military, all tents and installations vandalised. Also clashes between demontsrators and police in Av. Bourguiba and centre of city. Lot of tear gas. Plainclothes with sticks all around as well as groups of enraged young demonstrators armed with stones and sticks. Atmosphere tense and unclear what is going to happen next.

The German journalists who helped us were Thomas v. der Osten-Sacken and Bernd Baier, who work for the Weekly Jungle World. Osten-Sacken subsequently sent us a series of shots which put the day in context....

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Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Mubarak Still in Power?

2247 GMT: A German news agency is claiming 19 private planes have departed Cairo Airport carrying Egyptian and Arab businessmen and families.

2245 GMT: Tens of thousands of protesters are still in central Cairo, with food being organised for them.

2240 GMT: A senior police officer has been kidnapped in Damietta, 200kilometres/120miles north of Cairo. Tarek Hammad is Head of Damietta Security.

2230 GMT: Escalating story tonight of at least one sniper in the Ministry of Interior picking off protesters outside the building. Witnesses are saying 10 to 15 people have been shot dead and dozens have been wounded. Dr Muhammad Hassan tells Al Jazeera that dead protestors from the area are flooding the makeshift field hospital.

2225 GMT: Al Jazeera reports the death of Major General Mohammed El-Batran, head of the Investigative Unit at Fayoum Central Jail in middle Egypt, 130 kilometres (80 miles) southwest of Cairo. About 700 prisoners have fled.

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Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Black Hole or Another Day of Revolution

So there is a 13-hour curfew imposed in Egypt, right? What that means is that people should remain at home, there shouldn't be any gatherings and police should be in-charge of the street. Instead, the police are missing and people are swarming through the capital Cairo. The situation is made worse by opportunistic looters. Several people in Egypt are reporting that shopkeepers are gathering relatives and friends to protect their businesses from looters in isolated areas of the city.

Does that make sense?

0307 GMT: And now the mother of all disclosures?

The Daily Telegraph quotes a Wikileaks diplomatic dispatch with the following story:

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.

Read the full story on the Daily Telegraph here.

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Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Day to Breathe?

0547 GMT: Scott Lucas will now be starting our LiveBlog updates for Friday. I will be back in 10 hours or so. 

0513 GMT: A small ray of hope emerges in the form of a twitter user from inside Egypt after the massive internet blackout. Amr El Beleidy, co-founder of touringa.com, tweets from Cairo: 

Until now mobinil & vodafone mobile networks working, and data connection on mobinil and noor dsl working #jan25

I have access to twitter and facebook with no problems / no proxies#Jan25

Sorry my mobinil data connection is not working, phone had shifted to wifi! Sorry about that! #Jan25 #BeginnersMistake

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Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Day After The "Day of Revolution"

0005 GMT: The situation in Suez has become further tense. Reports coming in from Egypt suggest that the city has effectively been cut-off from the rest of the country. Landlines, cell phones and internet are down. People continue to protest in the city and there have been sporadic reports of clashes, injuries and at least 2 deaths which cannot be confirmed yet.

0002 GMT: RNN reports that 5,000 protesters are holding a sit-in in El-Geish Street in Suez. 

0000 GMT: Egyptian blogger and activist Rowand Helmii, who has been arrested by police on her way home, has her cell phone and is tweeting from inside a police car in Cairo. 

I was arrested around ( 15 mayo ) if it helps I was heading home;#jan25

@Noor1Noor2 I have no idea what my exact location is but here is my full name rowand sameh hassan mohammed helmii

Thank you guys so much for all the support don't worry I'll get out in a bit won't be late and gonna be at the protest tomorrow ;) :) #jan25

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Video & Transcript: President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Tonight I want to begin by congratulating the men and women of the 112th Congress, as well as your new Speaker, John Boehner. And as we mark this occasion, we are also mindful of the empty chair in this Chamber, and pray for the health of our colleague --- and our friend –-- Gabby Giffords.

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Tunisia Video: General Ammar's Full Speech to the Protesters

General Rachid Ammar, the head of Tunisia's Army, speaks on Monday to protesters in Tunis (see updates and analysis for details):

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