33 dead and thousands more injured as 'heavy handed' military regime cracks down on protests in Cairo

* Thousands converge on Tahrir Square after overnight clashes
* Cabinet submits its resignation to the ruling military council
* Doctors seeing '80 casualties and hour' in makeshift hospital stations
* Soldiers and police burn tents and hit crowd with truncheons
* Social networks again linking protesters to outside world


The death toll in the battle for Cairo’s Tahrir Square rose to 33 yesterday as fighting between protesters and the police escalated sharply.

Police fired tear-gas and plastic bullets as demonstrators calling for Egypt’s army rulers to quit hurled stones and rocks from behind makeshift barricades.

Many of those who died succumbed to bullet wounds, but although protesters have brandished bullet casings, police deny using live ammunition. It was the third consecutive day of street battles which have left more than 1,700 people injured and threaten to spiral out of control.

Extensive damage: Smashed windows, burning buildings and streets strewn with debris are a common sight in the streets surrounding Tahrir Square as violence continues

Flashpoint: A riot policeman, armed with a rubber-bullet-firing shotgun, confronts rock-throwing demonstrators on the streets of Cairo yesterday

Before the dawn: Tahrir Square, centre of the Egyptian revolution and now the focus of renewed demonstrations. At least 22 protesters have been killed and more than 1,700 injured

Daylight: Riot police have largely secured the square today, but confrontation between protesters and police is continuing in surrounding streets

Egyptians Protest Despite Military Concessions

Egyptians Protest Despite Military Concessions VOA News Egyptian security forces and protesters have clashed for a fifth day in Cairo, despite concessions from the ruling military that were designed to ease the unrest.

At least 24 killed and 200 injured as Christians clash with Egyptian military in Cairo

At least 24 have died after fierce clashes erupted between Christians and the Egyptian military in Cairo yesterday.

A further 200 were injured in the rioting, sparked by a protest over a recent attack on a church in the South of the country.

Thousands gathered as the protest spread from outside the state television building along the Nile to nearby Tahrir Square.





Anger: Coptic Christians throw stones at a military vehicle.Victim: A protester is injured during the clashes with the military.Huge numbers: Thousands of Coptic Christians took part in the march.Before the clashes: The demonstrations began peacefully outside the state television station in central Cairo

The Christian protesters said their demonstration began as a peaceful sit-in at the television building.

But then, protester Essam Khalili said: ‘Thugs attacked us and a military vehicle jumped over a sidewalk and ran over at least ten people. I saw them.’

He said protesters set fire to army vehicles when they saw soldiers hitting Christians. But television footage of the riots also showed some of the Christian demonstrators attacking a soldier, while a priest tried to protect him.

Gunshots were heard as riot police tried to hold back the protesters as they chanted: ‘This is our country.’

After hours of intense clashes, chants of ‘Muslims, Christians one hand, one hand’ rang out, after which the protest calmed.

The clashes left streets littered with glass, stones, soot and ash.

Christians blame Egypt’s ruling military council for being too lenient on those behind a spate of anti-Christian attacks since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in February.

Riots have broken out in recent weeks at two churches in southern Egypt, prompted by Muslim crowds angry over church construction.

One riot broke out near the city of Aswan, even after church officials agreed to a demand by local ultraconservative Muslims, called Salafis, that a cross and bells be removed from the building.

Aswan’s governor, General Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, further raised tensions by telling the media that the church was being built on the site of a guesthouse, suggesting it was illegal.

Protesters said the Copts are demanding the ouster of the governor, reconstruction of the church, compensation for people whose houses were set on fire and prosecution of those behind the riots and attacks on the church.

Last week, security forces used force to disperse a similar protest in front of the state television building. Christians were angered by the treatment of the protesters and vowed to renew their demonstrations until their demands are met.

Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority makes up about 10 percent of the country’s 80million people

Coptic Christian protesters clashed with security forces in Cairo yesterday 24 deaths

Coptic Christian protesters clashed with security forces in Cairo yesterday

Egypt's Mubarak Detained for Investigation - Egypt's Mubarak and two sons detained - Mubarak in intensive care with heart problems

Egypt’s Mubarak detained over graft, protest probe

Hosni Mubarak was ordered detained for 15 days today, a move that may help quell protests and quash suspicions that Egypt’s ruling army generals had been shielding their former commander from investigation.

Mubarak, toppled on February 11 after mass demonstrations against his 30-year rule, was admitted to hospital yesterday suffering what state media called a “heart crisis”. There were conflicting reports about the seriousness of his illness.

The public prosecutor had summoned Mubarak for questioning on Sunday over the killing of protesters and embezzling of public funds. His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also summoned for questioning over graft and ordered detained, state TV said.

“Former President Hosni Mubarak was detained for 15 days for investigation,” state television reported in a brief headline.



In his first public comment since stepping down, broadcast on Al Arabiya on Sunday, Mubarak denied wrongdoing.

A security source said that Mubarak was likely to remain for security reasons in detention in Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort where he has been in internal exile since leaving office.

An airport source in Sharm el-Sheikh said Mubarak’s sons had left the town for a prison in Cairo. They join a list of ex-ministers and officials under investigation and held in jail.

Gamal, 47, Mubarak’s younger son, held a top post in the ruling party. Many Egyptians believed he was being groomed for top office, although both father and son denied any such plan.

“This is a serious step forward in holding the president accountable and ends any suspicion that the state and the military were in cahoots with Mubarak,” said Hassan Nafaa, a political scientist and activist for reform.

“Most of the people had been suspicious of the army,” he said.

The army council, which has ruled since Mubarak quit, had faced increasingly loud calls for Mubarak to be held to account. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians criticised the army in a protest on Friday over the failure to prosecute him swiftly.

Soldiers yesterday broke up a five-day sit-in at Tahrir Square, which became the epicentre of Egypt’s uprising in January. Protesters had vowed to keep up the pressure.

‘We want our money’

There were conflicting reports about Mubarak’s condition. A state television report said he was in intensive care after a “heart crisis” during questioning. Al Arabiya said he was fit enough to be questioned in hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The timing of his health setback had prompted scepticism among some hard-core protesters who have complained about the failure of the military to pursue Mubarak and his allies more swiftly and argue that they are protecting one of their own.

The army had praised and thanked Mubarak when he left office, but protesters criticised his rule by emergency law and say he encouraged a rich and poor divide.

“We want our money. We want the thief to be tried,” chanted dozens of people gathered near the hospital in the glitzy resort where Mubarak spent more and more time before leaving office.

Mubarak has suffered from health problems in recent years and went to Germany for gall bladder surgery in March 2010. There were frequent rumours about his health as he aged, particularly after his last bout of surgery.

Mubarak had vowed to die in Egypt when he addressed the country’s 80 million people shortly before he stepped down.

After Friday’s demonstration, soldiers and police used tasers and batons to try to drive out the protesters after nightfall. In clashes, medical sources said 13 men were wounded by gunfire and two died. The army denied using live ammunition.

Angry protesters demanded the army hand power to civilians, but soldiers moved in on Tuesday to end the sit-in.

A Reuters photographer saw hundreds of troops in the middle of Tahrir and in military vehicles at every entrance to the normally busy thoroughfare.

Troops with machineguns rounded up several young men and pushed them into vans. Others hauled coils of barbed wire used by demonstrators and makeshift barriers erected during the protest onto military trucks.

By early evening traffic was flowing through Tahrir, a major junction of roads that was the focus of the protests. Many ordinary Egyptians are tired of the protests that have hammered the economy and disrupted their lives.

A youth coalition that helped organise the uprising said it had persuaded the remaining protesters to reopen Tahrir because they were doing the country no good by staying.

“We met with the (ruling) military council yesterday and discussed opening Tahrir. We agreed to end the protest and give the army a chance to proceed,” said Mohamed Sukri, a member of the Revolutionary Youth Coalition.

Mohamed Zaidan, who said he belonged to no group and was in the square when the army arrived, gave a different account.

“We didn’t agree with anyone to clear Tahrir,” said the 25-year-old. “We were attacked by rock-throwing people who wanted to force us out and then the army came, didn’t speak to us and suddenly moved in to force us out of the square.”

Thirteen killed in Cairo after clashes between Christians and Muslims

Clashes that broke out when a Muslim mob attacked thousands of Christians protesting the burning of a Cairo church killed at least 13 people and wounded about 140, officials said yesterday.

The Muslims torched the church amid an escalation of tensions over a love affair between a Muslim and a Christian that set off a violent feud between the couple's families.

The officials said all 13 fatalities died of gunshot wounds.

In a separate incident, at least two people were wounded when rival crowds threw rocks at Cairo's central Tahrir Square.

Egyptians gather near armored vehicles after yesterday's incidents

Tanks emit smoke to disperse demonstrators in Tahrir Square

A medic treats a wounded man after yesterday's clashes in Cairo

The clashes late Tuesday night added to a sense of ongoing chaos in Egypt after the momentous 18-day democracy uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. The uprising left a security vacuum after police pulled out of Cairo and several other cities three days into the uprising.

The police have yet to fully take back the streets, leaving space for a wave of violent crime and lawlessness in some parts of the nation.

In Tahrir Square, violence pitted youths camping out at the square to press their demand for a complete break with the ousted regime and another group opposed to their continued presence.

Later, army soldiers forcefully removed the protesters and their tents, scuffling with some and making several arrests.

The Christian protesters on Tuesday blocked a vital highway, burning tyres and pelting cars with rocks. An angry crowd of Muslims set upon the Christians and the two sides fought pitched battles for about four hours.

Mubarak handed power to the military when he stepped down, but the military does not have enough troops to patrol every street in Cairo, a sprawling city of some 18million people.

Even before the uprising unleashed a torrent of discontent, tensions had been growing between Christians and Muslims in this country of 80 million. Christians account for about 10 per cent of the population.

On New Year's Day, a suicide bombing outside a Coptic church in the port city of Alexandria killed 21 people, setting off days of protests. Barely a week later, an off-duty policeman boarded a train and shot dead a 71-year-old Christian man and wounding his wife and four others.

Egypt's ruling generals have pledged last week to rebuild the torched church and the country's new prime minister, Essam Sharaf, has met the protesters outside the TV building in downtown Cairo to reassure them that his interim government would not discriminate against them.

But the Christians were not appeased. At least 2,000 of them protested on the highway on Tuesday night and a separate crowd of several hundred has been camping out outside the TV building for days to voice their anger at what they perceive to be official discrimination against them.

Men chant slogans against the continued presence of protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo

Stripped, punched and whipped with flag poles: Full horror of Lara Logan's attack emerges

More details have emerged of Lara Logan's terrifying ordeal at the hands of a frenzied mob.

The 39-year-old foreign correspondent for CBS News show 60 Minutes was separated from her film crew in Cairo on February 11 and surrounded by as many as 200 men in Tahrir Square at the height of the anti-Mubarak demonstrations.

According to one source, reported in The Sunday Times newspaper, sensitive parts of her body were covered in red marks that were originally thought to have been bite marks.

 Vow to return: Despite her ordeal, Miss Logan intends to return to work, as well as the Middle East

Moments before attack: Lara Logan is seen surrounded by demonstrators in Tahrir Square on the night of her 'brutal and sustained assault'

After further examination they were revealed to be from aggressive pinching.

It has also been revealed that she was stripped, punched and slapped by the crowd, which was labelling her a spy and chanting 'Israeli' and 'Jew' as they beat her.

After further examination they were revealed to be from aggressive pinching.

It has also been revealed that she was stripped, punched and slapped by the crowd, which was labelling her a spy and chanting 'Israeli' and 'Jew' as they beat her.

CBS News was not revealing any more information about the incident, except to say that she was the victim of a 'brutal and sustained assault' at the hands of around 200 men who had been 'whipped into a frenzy' on the night Hosni Mubarak resigned from power.

Guards who had escorted her into the square were also badly beaten by the mob, with one suffering a broken hand, and it took women in the square and about 20 soldiers to finally rescue her from her attackers.

She was taken to the Four Seasons hotel, where she was treated and sedated by the hotel doctor.

Within hours of the attack she was was flown out of the country and spent five days in a New York hospital.

Witnesses say the mainly peaceful protests to end Mubarak's rule had taken a more violent turn after the Egyptian president announced his resignation.

The military presence controlling the amount of people entering Tahrir Square seemed to evaporate, and an angrier element had flowed in.

Miss Logan was attacked around 1am as she filmed in the square.

Egyptian state media had been publishing negative stories about foreign journalists, with many reports alleging that many Israeli spies were masquerading as news crews.

Days before her attack, Miss Logan had been held in Alexandria on suspicion of being foreign spies.

Egypt banks and pyramids open as some protest in Cairo

A pro-democracy supporter prays alongside Egyptian Army soldiers atop a tank during Friday prayers in Tahrir Square, Cairo, February 18, 2011.Cleric Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi (centre) arrives to lead Friday prayers in Tahrir Square in Cairo,

Banks opened yesterday after a week-long closure as Egypt’s economy struggled to get back on its feet after political turmoil caused by the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and subsequent labour protests.

New military rulers watched closely as many Egyptians resumed their jobs on the first day of the working week, after issuing a stern warning effectively banning labour protests and telling workers to abandon their revolutionary fervour.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the pyramids at Giza were among the tourist sites that were reopened for the first time in some three weeks. Egypt’s lucrative tourist sector was dealt a body blow as foreigners stayed away.

There were some pockets of protest in Cairo.



Attempting to placate pro-democracy reformers who want swift change, the military said at the weekend that constitutional changes paving the way for elections in six months should be ready soon and the hated emergency law would be lifted before the polls.

“A new constitution is a long-term goal. Let’s first get the flaws out of the system to bring the process along,” one expert on a key constitutional change committee said. “The say of the people is the most important factor in this process.”

At pains to distance itself from Mubarak’s old guard, the government plans to reshuffle the cabinet, probably today.

The new military rulers were also facing their first foreign policy test yesterday, with two Iranian naval vessels about to sail through the Suez Canal, causing grave concern in Israel.

In a difficult decision, the military approved the Iranian ships’ passage. Cairo is an ally of Washington, was the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel, and its relations with Iran have been strained for more than three decades.

Egyptians generally respect the 470,000-strong military, which played a key role in the downfall of Mubarak by not intervening, but some mistrust its intentions in reshaping a corrupt and oppressive system that it supported for decades.

“I don’t think the military is the best incubator of democracy anywhere,” one Western diplomat said, adding: “You have to create an open political space now, so parties can be formed with freedom of association, assembly, peaceful activities, freedom of expression without interference from police sources. That should start right away.”



Political earthquake

A court at the weekend approved a new political party that had sought a licence for 15 years, making it the first to be recognised since Mubarak’s overthrow and illustrating the political earthquake shaking the new Egypt.

The Wasat Party (Centre Party), set up by a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, had tried to gain an official licence four times since 1996, but each time its application was rejected by a political parties committee chaired by a leading member of the ruling party, a procedure that stifled opposition.

Washington has watched with discomfort as the Brotherhood played an increasingly big role in politics in the new Egypt, which is the Arab world’s most populous nation.

By far the best-organised group that said it could win 30 per cent of the vote in an election, the Brotherhood has a member on the constitution committee, a member on a Council to protect the revolution, and is eager to register as a political party.

Any sign that the army is reneging on its promises of democracy and civilian rule could reignite mass protests on the street, and newly empowered political voices are urging the army to proceed quickly with democracy and to free political prisoners.

In another move to reach out to reformists, Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said 222 political prisoners would soon be freed.

The government said that 365 died in the bloodshed that accompanied the revolution, with about 5,000 people injured.

Dozens of customers queued outside the branches of state-owned banks in downtown Cairo.

There were no signs of the worker protests outside the state banks that erupted last Sunday and prompted the central bank to shut down state and private banks for the rest of the week.

There were a few tourists at the Egyptian Museum, which houses the world’s biggest collection of Pharaonic treasures.

“The tour operators said it was safe for us to go, so we gambled,” Dutch supermarket worker Sandra de Rooij told Reuters. “We didn’t know the museum would be open.”

Not everyone in the Egyptian capital heeded the army’s warning that “the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces will not allow the continuation of these illegal practices”.

About 70 employees were demonstrating in front of the head office of the Omar Effendi department store chain in central Cairo, demanding that the company be renationalised.

Denying media reports that Mubarak, ailing in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, amassed enormous wealth in office, a representative said the 82-year-old had submitted his financial statements to judicial bodies, in accordance with the law.

Britain’s Cameron first leader to visit new Egypt

British Prime Minister David Cameron today became the first foreign leader to visit Egypt since the downfall of Hosni Mubarak which electrified the Middle East and forced the West to rethink its policies in the region.

Cameron’s arrival came hot on the heels of a visit by William J. Burns, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, who started a visit to Egypt in which he will meet with the army-led interim government as well as political groups.






EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is due to arrive in Egypt tomorrow to discuss the post-Mubarak era in which the army is running the country while setting up free elections to deliver civilian rule and democracy.

Uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have spread like wildfire in the Arab world, threatening entrenched dynasties from Libya to Bahrain. The West has watched with alarm as long-time allies and foes came under threat, urging reform and restraint.

The Muslim Brotherhood, once banned and playing a growing role in the new Egypt, rejected a government reshuffle today, calling for a purge of the old guard Cabinet appointed by Mubarak.

“I think this is a great opportunity to talk to those currently running Egypt to make sure this really is a genuine transition from military rule to civilian rule,” the British prime minister (picture) said before arriving in Cairo.

A British official travelling with Cameron said he would meet members of the former opposition to Mubarak but not the Brotherhood, which is Egypt’s most organised political grouping and regarded with suspicion in the West.

In a bid to placate pro-democracy activists, the reshuffle late yesterday named several Mubarak opponents but disappointed those eager for a new line-up as key defence, foreign, justice, interior and finance portfolios were left unchanged.

Egypt’s new military rulers, who took over after an 18-day uprising ended 30 years of Mubarak’s iron rule, have said change in the constitution for elections in six months should be ready soon and hated emergency laws would be lifted before the polls.

But for many democracy advocates, who want a completely new Cabinet with no links to Mubarak’s corrupt and autocratic elite to govern the Arab world’s most populous nation, the military needs to put fresh faces in office.

“No one offered us any post and had they done so, we would have refused because we request what the public demands that this government quit as it is part of the former regime,” said Essam El-Erian, a senior member of the Brotherhood.

“We want a new technocratic government that has no connection with the old era,” he told Reuters.

The Brotherhood, which says it wants a democracy wih Islamic principles, is represented on a constitutional change committee, a council to protect the revolution and will register as soon as new rules allow.

Uncertainty remains over how much influence Egypt’s military will seek to exert in reshaping a ruling system which it has propped up for six decades, with diplomats saying it is vital to “create an open political space”.

Wary of a clampdown, the Brotherhood took a cautious line early in the protests but has slowly assumed a more prominent role. It still treads warily, saying it will not field a presidential candidate or seek a majority in parliament.

Any sign the army is reneging on its promises of democracy and civilian rule in this key US ally which has a peace treaty with Israel could reignite mass protests on the street.

Friday’s celebrations which marked a week since Mubarak’s overthrow served as a reminder to the military of people power.

The military today announced an amnesty for weapons stolen during the revolution and there were pockets of protests in and around Cairo over pay and conditions despite an order aimed at ending strikes and protests damaging the economy.

In moves to appease democracy advocates, authorities said yesterday they released 108 political prisoners and Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq on Monday ordered that streets be renamed to honour some of the 356 “martyrs” who died in the revolt.

But it is increasingly clear that demands for a complete Cabinet overhaul top many political activists’ agendas along with lifting emergency rule and freeing political prisoners.

Mubarak, 82, shuffled his Cabinet shortly after protests over corruption, poverty and repression erupted on January 25 in an attempt to assuage rage over his autocratic rule and to try and distance himself from his own regime.

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who leads the ruling military council that is running Egypt, has been defence minister for 20 years and, according to diplomats, had the job thrust upon him and wants to get back to running the military.

The latest reshuffle brought into the Cabinet some new faces including three from registered political parties, a staggering change in Egypt where just four weeks ago opposition groups were harried, fragmented and weakened by decades of oppression.

Yehia el-Gamal, a professor of law and a leader in activist Mohamed El Baradei’s coalition called the National Association for Change, was appointed deputy prime minister.

Mounir Abdel Nour, secretary-general of the Wafd party, a decades old liberal, nationalist party, became minister in charge of tourism, which has been badly damaged by the unrest with visitors reluctant to visit the pyramids and the Nile.

In other changes, the post of information minister was scrapped after the former minister, Anas el-Fekky, angered protesters with state media playing down or ignoring protests in Tahrir Square and elsewhere for much of the revolution.

Amr Hamzawy, a member of the so-called council of “Wise Men” which sought to mediate a resolution between Mubarak and the protesters during the uprising, became minister for youth.

On the foreign policy front, the new military rulers, in their first diplomatic test, have approved the passage of two Iranian naval vessels through the Suez Canal, causing concern in Israel. Canal officials said yesterday their passage had been delayed until Wednesday.

Protests continue in Middle East, North Africa

Violent protests continued to cloud several countries in the Middle East and North Africa on Friday, as nearly 30 bodies of protesters were found in Libya, three protesters were killed in Yemen and dozens wounded in Bahrain.

'Freedom Fever' Spreading in Middle East

As protests unfold today in the Middle East, we are seeing a freedom fever spreading across the region that will not easily be broken.

Is Mubarak in a coma? Rumours rife about health of ousted 82-year-old Egyptian president

Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's health has seriously deteriorated and he may even be in a coma, according to reports in the Arab media.

Rumours are rife about the medical condition of the 82-year-old former leader, who is said to have been treated for cancer before.

Egyptian newspaper Masry al-Youm has reported that Mubarak went into a coma on Saturday.

Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's ambassador to the U.S., added some substance to the rumours yesterday in a TV interview but refused to be drawn on the details

He has been holed up in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh since he gave his last speech as Egypt's president on Thursday last week.

Locals claim his guards have told them that he is currently bedbound and unable to walk unaided.

'Mubarak is very sick – they say he has cancer,' a teacher called Ahmed told the Telegraph.

Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's ambassador to the U.S., added some substance to the rumours yesterday but refused to be drawn on the details.

He told NBC's Today show that he 'might have received some communication at a personal level indicating that (Mubarak) is possibly in somewhat of bad health'.

But he was quick to add: 'I really don't have sufficient information so I wouldn't like to speculate (on Mubarak's health).'

The coma reports were denied by pro-government newspaper Al-Gomhuria, but it admitted Mr Mubarak was 'in a severe psychological condition and is declining treatment, despite his illness'.

The former president had his gall bladder removed in March 2010 at a German clinic and since then doubts have increased over his health.

After losing power last week the Swiss government announced that his assets had been frozen. His family is understood to have built up a £25billion fortune during his 30 years in power.

'I can confirm that Switzerland has frozen possible assets of the former Egyptian president with immediate effect,' spokesman Lars Knuchel said.

He added: 'As a result of this measure any assets are frozen for three years.'

Egypt Suez Canal told Iran warship passing scrapped

Queen Mary 2 crossing the Suez Canal in Ismailia, some 120km north of Cairo, in this file photo of March 16, 2007. The Suez Canal administration was told that plans by two Iranian naval ships to cross to the Mediterranean today had been cancelled


Egypt’s Suez Canal was informed that plans by two Iranian naval vessels to cross through the strategic waterway heading north to the Mediterranean had been cancelled, an official said today.

The Suez Canal Authority was “informed today about the cancellation of two scheduled trips of two Iranian warships and no new date was set to cross the Suez as part of the southern convoy coming from the Red Sea,” the canal official, who declined to be named, said.

The official, who identified the ships as the Alvand and Kharg, said the vessels were near the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah.



Shipping experts had earlier said the ships were the Alvand frigate and Kharg supply ship.

Earlier, a canal official said the Iranian warships, which Israel reported would cross the Suez Canal overnight, did not enter the canal with the daily convoy today that heads from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had said two Iranian warships planned to sail through the canal en route to Syria overnight yesterday, describing it as a “provocation”.

The northbound ship convoy starts entering the canal from the Red Sea end at 6am (0400 GMT) daily, the Suez Canal website says. Ships head south from the Mediterranean at other times of the day.

“No Iranian warships ships crossed the Suez Canal today. The Suez Canal does not have any Iranian warship on its waiting list for tomorrow Friday,” said Ahmed El Manakhly, a member of the canal’s board who is responsible for shipping movement.

Another canal source said 26 ships, including one French warship, had entered in the morning northbound convoy but also said the convoy did not include Iranian warships.

Manakhly said warships of any country needed approval to pass from Egypt’s defence and foreign ministries.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel was tracking them and had alerted “friendly nations in the region” accordingly.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper described the two Iranian ships as an MK-5 frigate and a supply vessel, which would not present a significant danger to the Jewish state.

Syria is one of Israel’s neighbouring adversaries. It has an alliance with Iran which has deepened along with Tehran’s isolation from the West over its disputed nuclear programme, which the Jewish state sees as an existential threat.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported on January 26 that Iranian navy cadets were going on a year-long training mission into the Red Sea and through Suez to the Mediterranean.

The Suez Canal is a vital commercial and strategic waterway between Europe and the Middle East and Asia. It is also a major source of revenues for the Egyptian government.

Reporter Lara Logan leaves hospital six days after Cairo mob sex-attack

* Was set upon by mob of more than 200 in Tahrir Square
* 'Thugs yelled Jew, Jew at her' during attack
* Saved by group of women and 20 Egyptian soldiers

Former GMTV reporter Lara Logan will be released from hospital today as she vows to return to work 'within weeks' following an horrific sex assault in Egypt.

The mother-of-one was hospitalised after the 'sustained and brutal' assault on February 11 as she reported from Cairo on the resignation of President Mubarak.

She was surrounded by a mob of 200 men after becoming separated from her TV crew in Tahrir Square and had to be rescued by a group of women and up to 20 Egyptian soldiers.

 Ms Logan seen here in another image from Tahrir Square moments before she was assaulted. The image was only released yesterday. There is no suggestion any of the men pictured were responsible for the attack

Attack: CBS News correspondent Lara Logan pictured shortly before she was assaulted in Tahrir Square while she was reporting on the Egyptian protests. There is no suggestion any of the men pictured were involved in the attack

According to U.S. website TMZ, Miss Logan is vowing to return to work and has told friends what happened to her in Egypt 'will not destroy her.'

A source told the website that the details of her assault are horrible - but that she is determined to go back to work within weeks.

According to the source, Miss Logan is 'unbelievably strong' and has been candidly discussing what happened.

'She is going to be OK,' added a friend.

The 39-year-old spoke of her safety fears just one day before she suffered a sex attack in Egypt, it also emerged today.

CBS issued a statement yesterday, saying: 'On the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a "60 Minutes" story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration.

'It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy. In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew.

'She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers.

'She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.'

Last night, on the 5pm CBS news bulletin, anchor Katie Couric - who herself had been 'manhandled' while reporting from Egypt - said: 'We’re pleased to report she’s recovering well in the hospital.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with her and, of course, we wish her the very best.'

The New York Post reported that a CBS source claims her attackers shouted 'Jew! Jew!' during the assault.

The attack comes just a week after Miss Logan and her crew were detained overnight in Cairo before being interrogated and deported back to New York.

She said she was marched at gunpoint back to her hotel in the Egyptian capital in ‘a very frightening experience and one that was repeated throughout the day for us.

'Everywhere we went we were approached by people,’ she said at the time. ‘We were accused of being more than journalists, very frightening suggestions were being made. Suggestions that really could be very dangerous for us,’ she added.

She and her crew were then deported to New York but were soon planning their return. She then gave an interview with Esquire.com where she spoke of her desire head back to the Middle Eastern country.

The newscaster said it was 'in her blood' to be covering the tumultuous events. The interview was published the day before she was attacked in Tahrir Square where this time Egyptian soldiers rescued her.

'We were not attacked by crazy people in Tahrir Square,' she told the website. 'We were detained by the Egyptian army.

'Arrested, detained, and interrogated. Blindfolded, handcuffed, taken at gunpoint, our driver beaten. It's the regime that arrested us.

'We were accused of being Israeli spies. We were accused of being agents. We were accused of everything.'

Yet despite the traumatic experience Ms Logan said she still felt compelled to return to the country.

She reiterated the sentiments on the Charlie Rose show last Monday saying: 'It's very hard for me to be away from this story,' she said. 'I feel, in one sense, like a failure professionally.

'I feel like I failed because I didn't deliver, and I take that responsibility very seriously.'

The South-African born veteran war correspondent was tipped at one time to be a presenter on GMTV before leaving to work for CBS in 2002.

She found herself at the centre of a row over sexism on the front line after ITV correspondent Julian Manyon wrote in a Spectator article about ‘the considerable physical charms of my travelling companion, the delectable Lara Logan, who exploits her God-given advantages with a skill that Mata Hari might envy'.

Ms Logan angrily hit back at the claim, saying good contacts and a devotion to her job were the reason she enjoyed such good access to Northern Alliance leaders in Afghanistan.

She was also featured in a front-page tabloid report claiming her skimpy tops were upsetting soldiers in the combat zone.

During her two years with GMTV, she covered floods in Mozambique and land invasions in Zimbabwe as well as the war in Afghanistan.

She has regularly filed reports from Afghanistan and Iraq for CBS over the last decade.

Ms Logan was previously married to professional basketball player Jason Siemon, whom she wed in 1998. The pair separated while she was in Iraq.

In 2007, about two years after her separation, she began a short-lived relationship with CNN correspondent Michael Ware, after she began dating Joseph Burkett.

She met Mr Burkett in Iraq, where he worked as a U.S. defence contractor.

Mr Burkett also has a daughter with his ex-wife Kimberly, to whom he was still legally married when he met Logan , although they had been separated for years.

Ms Logan became tabloid fodder in early 2008 when Kimberly overdosed on tranquilisers after her husband filed for divorce.

She recovered and her lawyer reportedly told a US publication that 'Kimberly believes Lara stole her husband.'

Ms Logan and Mr Burkett married in autumn 2008 and in December 2008 Logan gave birth to son Joseph Washington Burkett V.

Prior to Mubarak stepping down, the Egyptian military had been rounding up members of the press for their own safety after several were stabbed, punched, kicked, marched back to their hotel by gunpoint or hijacked in their cars.

Pro-Mubarak supporters had blamed the press for encouraging the uprising and publishing pro-democracy views.

CNN's star reporter Anderson Cooper was pulled out of Egypt ten days ago after he was physically assaulted.

Cooper described how he was 'roughed up by thugs' and hit in the back of the head in the pro-Mubarak crowd, calling it 'pandemonium' and 'out of control'.

ABC's Katie Couric and Christiane Amanpour were also physically attacked.

Miss Couric was said to have been manhandled in the city while Miss Amanpour's car was surrounded by rioters shouting they hated America, though she escaped unhurt.

A Greek photographer was stabbed in the leg, while the BBC's Jerome Boehm was also targeted by thugs.

Reuters said one of its television crews were beaten up close to Tahrir Square while filming a piece about shops and banks being forced to shut during the clashes.

Mob: CNN's Anderson Cooper was filmed by his crew as they were attacked by pro-Mubarak supporters in Egypt. He left the country shortly afterwards. Last night he sent Miss Logan his best wishes via Twitter

Crowd: The scene in Tahrir Square minutes after the resignation of President Mubarak - and shortly before Miss Logan was attacked. She was saved by a group of women and 20 Egyptian soldiers

Ms Logan at Bagram air base when she was covering the conflict in Afghanistan for GMTV

Ms Logan delivering a report for GMTV on immigrants trying to get into England from France

Brave: Miss Logan reporting from South Africa in 2002 for British morning news programme GMTV. She has reported extensively from Iraq and Afghanistan and is now chief foreign correspondent for CBS News

Ms Logan, pictured when she was pregnant, with her husband Joseph Burkett, whom she met while they were both working in Iraq. Right, the former model, on her wedding day in 1998 to American-born basketball player, Jason Siemon. The pair separated while she was in Iraq covering the war there

Ex-GMTV reporter Lara Logan leaves hospital six days after Cairo mob sex-attack

Pro, anti-government supporters clash in Tehran

People take part in the funeral of Sanee Zhaleh, a student who was shot dead during an opposition rally on Monday, in Tehran on February 16, 2011

Iranian government supporters clashed with their opponents today during a ceremony to mark the death of a student shot during an opposition rally two days ago, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

Sanee Zhaleh was shot dead on Monday during the first opposition rally for more than a year and immediately became a martyr to both the supporters and opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hardline government.

Each side blamed the other for Zhaleh’s death.

Wednesday’s clash occurred during a funeral procession which started from Tehran University’s arts faculty, in the centre of the capital, where Zhaleh was a student, IRIB reported on its website.



“Students and the people attending the funeral ceremony of the martyred student Sanee Zhaleh have clashed with a limited number of people apparently linked to the sedition movement and forced them out by chanting slogans of death to hypocrites,” the report read.

Monday’s rally was the first to be staged by the Green movement since its huge protests in the weeks and months after Ahmadinejad’s disputed 2009 re-election were stamped out by a government which blamed foreign enemies for stirring “sedition.”

Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi hailed the rally as a “glorious” event by a “magnificent movement” while Tehran’s deputy police chief Ahmadreza Radan official said only around 150 people turned up.

Radan said a second person had died of gunshot wounds yesterday and a further eight people had been shot and were being treated in hospital. Authorities blamed “terrorist” elements for the violence at the unauthorised rally.

The semi-official Fars news agency said Zhaleh was a member of the Basij militia, Iran’s vast volunteer movement, connected to the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, which played an important role in suppressing protests in 2009.

Opposition websites did not deny that Zhaleh was a member of the Basij, which has millions of members throughout Iran, but said he was an active opposition supporter.

Student Basijis organised today’s funeral procession, Fars reported.

State TV showed hundreds of people surrounding the coffin, draped in the Iranian flag. Opposition website Kaleme quoted a student as saying large numbers of unknown people posing as students had turned up to the university from early morning.

Parliamentarians and some prominent clerics have called for Mousavi and fellow Green leader Mehdi Karroubi to be arrested and tried.

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Army asserts command as Egypt drifts back to work

Buildings are lit up as late-night traffic snakes its way through the streets close to Tahrir Square in Cairo February 13, 2011

Egypt’s generals are asserting their command over the country following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, preparing today to ban strikes and to warn they will act against “chaos and disorder”.

Having suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament yesterday, moves welcomed by those who saw both institutions as perverted to Mubarak’s personal ends, the armed forces council was planning, a military source said, to issue orders intended to stifle further disruption and get the country back to work.

Disgruntled employees are already pressing for better deals.



Free and fair elections would come, the army said, under a revised constitution — but it gave no timetable beyond saying that the military would be in charge “for a temporary period of six months or until the end of elections to the upper and lower houses of parliament, and presidential elections”.

Nor did it detail what civilian or other participation there would be in amending basic laws during the transition. The cabinet appointed by Mubarak last month will go on governing, submitting legislation to the army chiefs for approval.

Workers protest

Inspired by the success of the 18 days of popular protests that, with the blessing of the army, forced Mubarak to end his 30 years in power on Friday, workers across Egypt have begun to agitate for better deals.

Bank staff forced officials to make today an unscheduled bank holiday — running into a public holiday already set for tomorrow. And employees elsewhere took to the streets.

There have been reports of protests, sit-ins and strikes at, in the main, state-owned institutions. These include the stock exchange, textile companies, media organisations, steel companies, the postal service and railways, the police and the health ministry.

The workers cite an array of grievances. What unites them is a new sense of being able to speak out in the post-Mubarak era.

“Finally we have been encouraged to come out and speak,” said Hala Fawzi, a 34-year-old mother of two protesting yesterday outside the offices of the state-owned insurance company where she works for US$20 (RM61) a month. “We want equality,” she said.

The army, however, is keen to get Egypt working again. It will be aware of the turmoil still going on in Tunisia, where an uprising that unseated another ageing Arab autocrat last month provided the inspiration for Egyptians to take to the streets.

The army source said military authorities would issue an order today that would ban meetings by labour unions or professional syndicates, effectively forbidding strikes, and would tell all Egyptians to get back to work.

There will also be a warning from the military against those who create “chaos and disorder”, the source said, adding the army would, however, acknowledge the right to protest.

After three weeks of economic dislocation that has had tourists fleeing the pyramids and beaches, and trade and factories facing difficulties, millions of Egyptians are anxious to start earning again in order to survive.

Soldiers scuffled with protesters yesterday as the authorities let traffic flow through Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the focal point of the “revolution on the Nile”. Some of the protesters remain camped out, determined to see through their demands for civilian rule and a free, democratic system.

Jihad Laban, an accountant, said much work remained to make sure the revolution did not squander what it had gained.

“The goal was never just to get rid of Mubarak. The system is totally corrupt and we won’t go until we see some real reforms,” he said. “I am going to be buried in Tahrir. I am here for my children.”

Military manoeuvres

After six decades underpinning presidents who have all been drawn from its ranks, the army can still draw on deep reserves of public sympathy. That was enhanced by its refusal to join police in attacking demonstrators during the uprising.

However, leaders of the protest movement have warned that they stand ready to demonstrate in force if their demands are not met for a complete change from the old ways. A major “Victory March” is in the planning for this coming Friday.

“The two big questions now are who is going to be on the constitutional committee to redraft (the constitution), and are there any guarantees that what they come up with is then going to be deemed the way ahead,” said Rosemary Hollis, professor of Middle East Policy Studies at City University London.

Many opposition figures were pleased with the army’s first steps, however. “It is a victory for the revolution,” said Ayman Nour, who challenged Mubarak for the presidency in 2005 and was later jailed. “I think this will satisfy the protesters.”

They have demanded the release of political prisoners, the lifting of a state of emergency, the abolition of military courts, fair elections and a swift handover to civilian rule.

The army has said it would lift emergency law, used to stifle dissent under Mubarak, when “current circumstances end”. But it has not specified a timetable.

“There are still a lot of grey areas, but it is clear that these decisions are opening the door for an entirely new system to come to order,” said Hassan Abu Taleb of Cairo’s Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.

Any transition to democracy will be fraught with difficulty and old ways of doing things may die hard in a country where the ruling party routinely rigged elections and candidates used bribery, hired thugs and dirty tricks to ensure victory.

Existing registered parties are mostly small, weak and fragmented. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which under the now suspended constitution could not form a party, may be the best organised group, but its true popularity has yet to be tested.

Its strength worries some in the United States, a key backer of Mubarak, as well as in Israel, for which Mubarak’s Egypt was an important ally in an otherwise hostile Arab region.

On Saturday, the army said it would uphold Egypt’s international obligations. These include a peace treaty with Israel, whose defence minister has been in touch with his Egyptian counterpart, who heads the military council.

As the momentous events in Egypt continued to ripple across the region, demonstrators in Yemen, inspired by protests in Tunisia and Egypt, clashed with police blocking them from marching on Ali Abdullah Saleh’s presidential palace.

Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said Mubarak was in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and that the cabinet had not made any request to freeze the deposed president’s assets abroad.

A British minister said there should be an international approach to dealing with Mubarak’s overseas assets. Many believe he and his family may have billions of dollars worth of assets abroad, which Egyptians may in time try to retrieve.

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