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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Tunisia (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Day to Watch in Cairo?

2210 GMT: It is now after midnight in Egypt, and we are taking a few hours' break. We leave you for the moment with this image from tonight in Tahrir Square in Cairo,as protesters move away from a tear gas canister:

2200 GMT: Tonight's statement from protesters calling for the fall of the Egyptian Government and for a continued sit-in:

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Tunisia (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Sitting In for Change

1930 GMT: Picture of the Day? Army Chief of Staff Rachid Ammar addressing protesters in Tunis today (see 1720 and 1755 GMT):

1920 GMT: In Egypt, a man tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrists as about 20 people gathered in front of the Supreme Court to commend the police’s work and criticize protests planned for Tuesday.

Civil servants have received a written warning not to participate in the demonstrations for a "day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment". Those who defy the instruction could lose their jobs.

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Tunisia (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Scorecard for the Protests

Saturday's Protest in Algiers1655 GMT: Egypt's Minister of Industry and Commerce Rachid Mohammed Rachid has raised worries over investment because of the effects of the situation in Tunisia, which "worries lots of people" and "raises questions about political stability". Rachid told reporters he was instructing assistants to issue daily statements about new foreign investment to give a reassuring message.

Egypt's stock market dropped 8% last week.

1650 GMT: In Tunisia, Larbi Nasra, the owner of Hannibal TV, and his son have been arrested and charge with high treason and conspiracy against state security.

The broadcasts of Hannibal TV have been suspended.

Nasra was close to the family of Leila Trabelsi, the wife of former President Ben Ali.

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WikiLeaks Admission: US Officials Say Damage from Cables is Limited

Since the emergence of the WikiLeaks in late November, I have argued that their damage would be overstated. American diplomats have had to deal for many decades with "leaks", sometimes from officials in the Administration. While WikiLeaks was potentially on a bigger scale --- less than 1% of the 250,000 documents have been released --- redactions in the cables (although there have been a few notable errors in letting names through) have limited any repercussions.

This, of course, would not stop the US Government from proclaiming loudly that there have been grave consequences. "Embarrassment" is not the same as "damage", and there is plenty of that in the released cables, which show --- unsurprisingly --- that the private pursuit of US foreign policy differs from its public presentation. The priority for the Government would be to ensure that a document release on this scale does not happen again.

Now I have gotten support from an unexpected source.

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Yemen: Get Ready for the New American "Drone War"? (Miller/Jaffe/DeYoung)

In the aftermath of the recent "cargo bombs" incident, chatter has escalated over American intervention in the Arabian Peninsula country of Yemen. This week, three Washington Post writers put forth the latest spin of the Obama Administration: the US is preparing for a campaign of airstrikes by unmanned aircraft. The missiles and bombs only await the gathering of sufficient intelligence on the location of the bad guys.

But note another possible complication: "Yemeni officials...indicated that they had deep reservations about weapons they said could prove counterproductive."

So is this article the sign of a war to come or just a bit of Administration puffery --- in the wake of the latest terrorist scare --- to fend off the demands of US critics to Do Something?

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