Pejabat Al Jazeera di Kaherah dibakar

05/02/2011 2:57am DUBAI 5 Feb. - Stesen televisyen Al Jazeera yang berpangkalan di Qatar mendakwa pejabatnya di Kaherah telah dibakar dan dimusnahkan oleh 'kumpulan samseng'. Saluran berita itu yang diarah menghentikan operasinya awal minggu ini di Mesir, menuduh pihak berkuasa Mesir atau kumpulan penyokongnya cuba menghalang rangkaian itu daripada membuat liputan mengenai pergolakan politik di negara tersebut. "Rangkaian Al Jazeera telah melaporkan bahawa pejabat mereka di Kaherah telah diserang oleh kumpulan samseng. Pejabat itu dibakar bersama-sama dengan kelengkapan di dalamnya," katanya dalam satu kenyataan. - REUTERS

Mubarak akan berundur September akan datang

KAHERAH 2 Feb. – Presiden Hosni Mubarak dalam ucapannya semalam berkata, dia akan berundur pada pilihan raya yang dijadualkan pada September akan datang. Bagaimanapun beliau akan terus berada di pejabatnya untuk bertemu para penunjuk perasaan bagi memenuhi tuntutan mereka sepanjang tempoh itu, lapor televisyen Arab. Laporan berita itu bagaimanapun tidak menyebutkan sumbernya. - Reuters Reuters - President Hosni Mubarak declared on Tuesday he would surrender power in September, offering a mixture of concessions and defiance to Egyptians who marched a million strong to demand his 30-year-rule end immediately. Exhilarated by having wrought once unimaginable change on the most populous Arab state in just a week of protests, many on the streets renewed their calls for the 82-year-old leader to quit now and make way for a transitional unity government. "We will not leave! He will leave!" some chanted in Cairo. A leading reformist figure, retired diplomat Mohammed ElBaradei, was quoted by CNN calling Mubarak's move a "trick." Mubarak appealed over the heads of the young, urban demonstrators to the wider nation of 80 million fearful of political uncertainty. The "noble youths" who had begun protests, he said, had been exploited by men of violence. Much may depend on the army, once Mubarak's power base, which appears to be trying to ensure a transition of power that would maintain the influence of the armed forces. President Barack Obama, who spent half an hour on the phone to Mubarak on Tuesday, is also working for stability in a country that is a linchpin of his global strategy and where the biggest opposition movement is the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. "What is clear and what I indicated tonight to President Mubarak is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now." Under evident pressure from Obama and the army as much as from the crowds on the streets, Mubarak delivered a composed 10-minute televised statement. To those demanding he flee the country in the manner of his ousted Tunisian counterpart last month, Mubarak said: "This is my country ... and I will die on its soil." But he would not give up power just yet: "I say in all honesty and regardless of the current situation that I did not intend to nominate myself for a new presidential term," he said. "I will work in the remaining months of my term to take the steps to ensure a peaceful transfer of power." PROTESTERS DEFIANT Many of those on the streets in defiance of a curfew doubted his commitment to making the kind of sweeping democratic constitutional changes which he has resisted since inheriting the mantle of the ruling military establishment in 1981. At Cairo's Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, focus of protests for a week and of unprecedented crowds of hundreds of thousands on Tuesday, young professionals in their 20s were unimpressed.

Giant protest to kick off in Egypt

Protesters in the Egyptian capital have begun gathering for a planned "march of a million", calling for Hosni Mubarak, the embattled Egyptian president, to step down. Thousands of demonstrators began gathering from early on Tuesday morning in Cairo's Tahrir Square, which has been the focal point of protests in the capital and served as the meeting area for the march to begin on the eighth day of an uprising that has so far claimed more than 125 lives. Another million-strong march is planned in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, as national train services were cancelled in an apparent bid to stymie protests. Protest organisers have also called for the march to coincide with the beginning of an indefinite strike. Reporting from Cairo, an Al Jazeera correspondent reported that the number of people gathered in Tahrir Square on Tuesday morning, was larger than had been seen before. "The numbers are certainly larger than we've seen over the last couple of days. A lot of people I've spoken to have said they will be attending, despite reports that there is the possibility that it could turn violent," she said. "You certainly get the feeling that the organisers will get the numbers that they want. The word is out there, despite the fact that the internet is still down ... that people need to attend this march of a million. "Possibly the only people who won't be attending today, obviously presidential supporters, ... Egyptians living in Cairo who have left to places like Sharm al-Shaikh where they're looking for some sort of safety, and those who will be remaining in their homes to protect them from looters. "But all groups, young, old, rich, poor, Christians, Muslims they are all heading [to Tahrir Square]." Gigi Ibrahim, a political activist who is planning on attending the rally, told Al Jazeera the protesters will not be satisfied until Mubarak steps down. "I think today there will be great numbers on the street ... every day there are more numbers on the street than the day before. I think the protests are gaining momentum. The people ... will literally not leave until Mubarak steps down," she said. Readore at al-jazeerah