The leader of Egypt‘s Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, told a protest rally on Friday that he was ready to reach an understanding with the armed forces – but only after the movement‘s Mohamed Mursi was reinstated as president.

#itstheinternetstupid

A systematic, brutal witch-hunt has already started against senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party.

In Friday‘s phone call, armed forces commander General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi informed the king of the latest developments and „reassured him of the stability of the situation“, SPA said.

Accordingly, and as mandated by the relevant AU instruments, Council
decides to suspend the participation of Egypt in the AU’s activities until the restoration of
constitutional order;

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Speaking to the New York Times, the prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei gave some caveats and guarantees, but broadly deferred to the military: „They are taking some precautionary measures to avoid violence; well, this is something that I guess they have to do as a security measure,“ he said.

The spokesman said soldiers were using only blank rounds and teargas.

Al Jazeera‘s Matthew Cassel, reporting from near the military barracks, said several dozen people were also injured by shotgun pellets fired by the army.

„One protester broke away from the rally to stick a pro-Morsi poster on the barbed-wire around the barracks. He was shot in the head with birdshot,“ he said.

It added that he appointed Mohammed Ahmed Farid as the new head of intelligence, replacing Mohammed Raafat Shehata al-Tohami – appointed by Mursi.

Egypt’s lower house was dissolved by military-led authorities shortly before Mursi was elected a year ago leaving only the upper house, called the Shura Council, active.

Constanze Kurz, Informatikerin, Sprecherin des CCC und Freundin des Hauses, rantet in ihrer lesenswerten Kolumne in der FAZ über “die Dreistigkeit der Nachrichtendienste und die Unfähigkeit der Politik, diese zu kontrollieren”

The talks, due to begin in Washington on Monday, will now be restricted to issues of data privacy and the NSA‘s Prism programme following a tense 24 hours of negotiations in Brussels between national EU ambassadors. Britain, supported only by Sweden, vetoed plans to launch two „working groups“ on the espionage debacle with the Americans.

Aref further condemned the brutal police state which has resumed repressive practices, arresting leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, shutting down Islamist TV channels, and storming the offices of TV satellite channel ‚Al-Jazeera Live Egypt‘ – practices which drag Egypt back to the era of tyranny, dictatorship and corruption, which Egyptians suffered for decades in the era of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

At least three demonstrators were shot dead by Egyptian security forces on Friday outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo where deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi is being held, security sources said.

Mahmoud, who served under Mubarak’s regime, was removed from office following a constitutional declaration made by former president Morsi in Novemeber.

A Mubarak-appointed prosecutor general, Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, returned to his office after a court ruling pushed out the man appointed by Mr. Morsi to replace him.

Egyptian troops were „on alert“ in the Sinai Peninsula, a military spokesman said on Friday, but he denied a report by the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper that a state of emergency had been declared in Suez and South Sinai provinces.

Egypt‘s army announced a state of emergency in the provinces of South Sinai and Suez on Friday after Islamist gunmen attacked an airport in the Sinai town of El Arish, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported.

The National Salvation Front, which endorsed the army‘s removal of Mursi and a plan it issued for holding new elections, said people must protect what it called the „June 30 Revolution“ – referring Sunday‘s mass rallies that prompted the army move.

The Egyptian army have set up roadblocks around a series of sensitive sites in Cairo, and other cities, as pro-Morsi demonstrators gather for a ‚day of rejection‘

„As mandated by the relevant AU instruments, the African Union Peace and Security Council decides to suspend the participation of Egypt in AU activities until the restoration of constitutional order,“ said Admore Kambudzi, secretary of the council.

“Who does that prime minister, Rajoy, think he is? He thinks South Americans are still his slaves?” asked Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who said he would reconsider his country’s relations with the “vile” Popular Party government, but “not with the people of Spain.”

Spanish foreign minister declines to say where information came from that NSA whistleblower was on Bolivian leader‘s flight