Tahrir Square

Bothaina Kamel is a novelty and a provocation in a single breath. The only woman running for Egypt's presidency, she travels without an entourage, wears a bracelet that says "Make poverty history," can outlast the most exasperating heckler in the crowd, and has no chance of winning. "I want to create culture shock. Yes, a woman is running for president," says Kamel, a television presenter and ex-wife of a former cultural minister. "Some people have come up to me and asked, 'Is it even legal for a woman to run?

A bomb exploded under an empty tourist bus Tuesday outside the Egyptian Museum, home to a trove of Pharaonic treasures, including the King Tut gold hoard and royal mummies. Officials said no one was injured by the blast on Tahrir Square, one of Cairo's largest and busiest public spaces, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the incident fit a pattern of attacks by Muslim militants that have devastated the country's vital tourist industry since last July.

PARK CITY, Utah -- The bullets and tear-gas pellets were flying at Jehane Noujaim, but instead of scrambling backward with the rest of the Cairo protesters, the documentary filmmaker walked forward into the smoky haze, where hundreds of gas mask-clad soliders waited. Her camera in hand, Noujaim approached one of the officers and asked for an interview. To her surprise, he granted it. But a few minutes later another soldier in a ski mask spotted her. Yelling to a crowd of policemen that the Egyptian-American director was a U.S. spy, the soldier threw Noujaim into the swarm of cops, who grabbed her camera and corralled her into a paddy wagon.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi received another rejection from judges Tuesday when they reiterated their condemnation of his decree placing his office beyond judicial oversight on matters dealing with state institutions. The judges also urged a nationwide strike. The actions followed a five-hour meeting between Morsi and the Supreme Judiciary Council on Monday that failed to broker a compromise. The current standoff between Morsi and the courts reveals that Egyptians no longer accept an authoritarian leader, whether an Islamist or a secular autocrat like Hosni Mubarak.

An Egyptian soccer match between two longtime rivals descended into a violent echo of the bloodiest days of last year's revolution as hooligans supporting the winning team stormed the field, attacking opposing players and fans in clashes that reportedly killed at least 73 people. The fighting on the pitch quickly took on broader political overtones. The Muslim Brotherhood, which controls nearly half of the new parliament, laid blame for the bloodshed on thugs connected to toppled President Hosni Mubarak who are plotting to destabilize the country.

Of all the astounding things that Rihab Assad has witnessed during these days of tumult, one stood out for her: the sight of a woman with a megaphone leading a crowd of demonstrators in chants. "And all of these men just chanting after her, repeating what she said," said Assad, an office manager in her 40s who lives in Cairo. "To me, this was something entirely new. " For many Egyptian women, the massive street demonstrations that have shaken the authoritarian rule of President Hosni Mubarak have also raised hopes of a more personal brand of liberation.

Thousands of protesters returned to the streets of central Cairo on Saturday morning to demand that President Hosni Mubarak leave power on the fifth consecutive day of civil revolt that has rocked the country to the core and left dozens dead and hundreds injured. Pan-Arab Al Jazeera reported that about 50,000 protesters had gathered in at Tahrir Square, in the heart of Cairo. Protests were not as big as Friday's, but they were growing more vigorous. Angry crowds were chanting, "Down, down with Mubarak!"

Day laborer Mohammed Badr clearly didn't expect trouble when he left home to join the pro-democracy protests in Tahrir Square early on Jan. 29. He took his 5-year-old son, Mahmoud, and promised to return for dinner. "He kissed me goodbye and said, 'Don't be afraid,'" his mother, Sabrine, said Wednesday. "Then he looked me in the eye and said, 'You are not my real mother. Egypt is my real mother. I must go save her.'" Friends brought the boy home safe that afternoon, but the family didn't learn of Badr's fate until nightfall.

CAIRO - It is a day of street clashes outside the U.S. Embassy, and "the boys" are out. The word buzzes throughout Tahrir Square: The Ultras are here. A scrum of young men charges toward police, amped on adrenaline and gasoline bombs. Across the road, men and women on their way home bat their eyes at the acrid puffs of tear gas. Tens of thousands strong, these fans of Cairo's two top soccer teams became the shock troops of the revolution nearly two years ago, willing to barrel into slugfests with the forces supporting President Hosni Mubarak.

A dozen tour guides lounged in the shade of the Egyptian Museum's sculpture garden, coalescing around the few tourists. Scores more waited at home, chatting on Facebook about how long the crisis will last. It's been months since the revolution that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak, yet tour guide Hany Ibrahim still sees only about 20% of the people he normally would. Business has never been this bad in his decade of working as a guide, he said, and that does not bode well for the Egyptian economy.