Egypt Government

CAIRO -- Young men and boys clashed with security forces as tens of thousands of Egyptians protested Friday against the Islamist-led government's failure to fix the economy and heal the politically divided nation two years after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. The anniversary of the revolution that led to Mubarak's downfall was marked more by rancor than joy as familiar and troubling scenes played out across the country: Rock-throwing youths lunging at police through clouds of tear gas while peaceful demonstrators waved banners and shouted epithets against those in power.

CAIRO -- Young men and boys clashed with security forces as tens of thousands of Egyptians protested Friday against the Islamist-led government's failure to fix the economy and heal the politically divided nation two years after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. The anniversary of the revolution that led to Mubarak's downfall was marked more by rancor than joy as familiar and troubling scenes played out across the country: Rock-throwing youths lunging at police through clouds of tear gas while peaceful demonstrators waved banners and shouted epithets against those in power.

Even as Egyptian experts arrived to help unravel the mystery of the EgyptAir Flight 990 crash, a top Justice Department official made clear Thursday that the United States will not be bound by Cairo's wishes in determining how best to move ahead with the investigation. "We are certainly going to be working with the Egyptians . . . , but I would not say anything is contingent upon the approval of the Egyptian government," said Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr.

The aftermath of the "Arab Spring" is forcing Israel to gamble with what had long been one of the foundations of its security: a demilitarized Sinai peninsula. The agreement to bar Egyptian soldiers from the Sinai border was a linchpin of the landmark 1979 Egyptian-Israel peace treaty, which returned the desert region to Egyptian control. But an increase in violence since January, culminating in a cross-border attack this month that left eight Israelis dead, has led Israel this year to reluctantly allow the temporary deployment of several thousand Egyptian soldiers to the peninsula.

Intrepid tourists with fanny packs, water bottles and sun hats were back Tuesday at the Temple of Hatshepsut, their tour leaders guiding them past flecks of congealed blood on the hieroglyphics and around other grisly reminders of the terror that reigned here 24 hours earlier.

The group that claims it massacred 58 foreign tourists this week mocked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday, saying his shake-up of security services will not prevent further attacks. But Gamaa al Islamiya, or Islamic Group, said in a statement faxed to a news agency that it will agree to a truce "for a while" if Mubarak's secular government accepts its demands--including stopping the campaign against Islamic Group members and breaking off relations with Israel.

In a narrow-street slum of Egypt's capital, a man went campaigning. He drew a crowd, as a worthy campaigner might. Unfortunately it is illegal for a candidate to draw a crowd here, and the man was arrested. In a tony neighborhood of Alexandria, nine men filled a car with 50,000 campaign leaflets. Security police, however, deemed those materials anti-government, and the men were arrested.

The Egyptian government has agreed to pay $10.6 million of the $17 million in investigation costs borne by U.S. agencies after last year's crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 off the New England coast. Egypt's action comes as the National Transportation Safety Board is finishing its inquiry into the disaster, which killed all 217 people aboard on Oct. 31. The Boeing 767 had taken off from Los Angeles and stopped in New York before departing on its ill-fated transatlantic voyage.

President Hosni Mubarak unexpectedly changed prime ministers for the first time in nine years after parliamentary elections that opposition leaders denounced as fraudulent. Mubarak named economist Kamal Ganzoury to form a new government, replacing Atef Sedki, who had served longer than any prime minister in Egypt's history. The change appeared designed to quiet opposition demands for Mubarak to scrap the Nov.

This week's failed assassination attempt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak raises again the issue of who might succeed the 67-year-old leader, who presides over Egypt with a degree of power approaching monarchy. Mubarak was vice president in 1981 when the murder of then-President Anwar Sadat elevated him. In the 14 years since, Mubarak has left the vice presidency vacant, saying he has not yet found the right man for the job.

Caught off guard by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's efforts to cling to power, President Obama on Thursday condemned Mubarak's latest concessions to protesters as inadequate and again warned against a violent crackdown. In his strongest criticism of the Egyptian government to date, Obama aligned himself more firmly with the protesters in a lengthy written statement that did not mention Mubarak by name but indicated a deepening divide between the White House and the Egyptian leader.

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood joined talks Sunday with Egyptian officials in efforts to calm days of street protests and negotiate the possibility of a transitional government to run the country until September elections. The Brotherhood's participation in resolving the crisis around President Hosni Mubarak is another dramatic sign in recent days that Egypt is on new political terrain. The government for years has labeled the popular Brotherhood a terrorist organization, closing its offices and arresting thousands of its members.

The Egyptian army began to reassert control around Tahrir Square on Saturday, with the government emphasizing a return to normality while preparing for negotiations with a divided opposition struggling to devise a common strategy. According to the authoritative government owned newspaper Al Ahram, President Hosni Mubarak has resigned as leader of the ruling National Democratic Party. However, state television reported that Mubarak had accepted the resignations of the leaders of the party, leaving the president's future role uncertain.

Loyalists of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak attacked foreign journalists Thursday, drawing Washington's censure and international rights groups' accusations that the beatings and detentions were desperate moves by a teetering regime trying to cling to power. Although the abuse of reporters and camera crews risked discrediting Mubarak in the eyes of already wary democratic allies, it also served to mobilize his supporters against a 10-day-old campaign for his ouster and block some of the damaging imagery from reaching readers and viewers around the world.

The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government. The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said. But by even setting conditions for the involvement of such nonsecular groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis that has enveloped Egypt for the last week.

An Egyptian blogger whose case epitomized the struggle for freedom of expression in cyberspace has been freed after serving four years in prison on charges of insulting Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak. Human rights organizations announced Wednesday that Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, the blogger known as Kareem Amer, had been released from prison. His ordeal highlighted the Egyptian government's concern over dissident voices arising on websites and online social networks that are trickier to control than traditional opposition media outlets.

For 18 years, he has presided over the Arab world's most populous and maddening country. A plain, hulking man, he lacks the charisma of a Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nor is he renowned as a great peacemaker, like his slain predecessor, Anwar Sadat. Yet for most Egyptians at the end of the 20th century, President Hosni Mubarak has done just fine. Living standards are rising. The country is at peace and respected by its neighbors and in the West.

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, winding up the first visit to Cairo by a Saudi monarch in 15 years, Friday pledged his influential support for Egypt's reinstatement in the Arab League and endorsed the recent political concessions made by the PLO as a "rare opportunity" to negotiate peace in the Middle East.

Cars were burned, police shot tear gas at crowds and protesters threw rocks in antiwar rallies around the world Friday. But it was a peaceful, well-organized demonstration in Egypt that illustrated just how roiled this region has become since the American-led invasion of Iraq.

As the United States was celebrating its liberty Tuesday, a prominent Egyptian American scholar was under lock and key in Cairo while police investigated charges related to a documentary he was making about free elections. The unexpected arrest last week of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a sociologist and one of this country's leading exponents of tolerance toward the Coptic Christian minority, sent a shiver through the ranks of independent civic organizations here.