This is a Live Blog and will be updated as the news is available. You can follow the latest reports from AL Jazeera English and though Mishima’s live blog, our news editor.
The Guardian has a Live Blog that refreshes automatically every minute.
Al Jazeera has a Live Blog for Feb 2
As you can see we now have the live feed from Al Jazeera English and I am posting this at very early so everyone can watch the events in Egypt as they happen.
This is day eight of the protest in Egypt demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down. Late last night on Egyptian state television, Mubarak said that he would not run for reelection on September but would not step down. His tone and words at times were aggressive and confrontational condemning the demonstrators, echoing the speech given by former Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali the day before he fled by private jet to Saudi Arabia.
President Obama said he spoke to Hosni Mubarak after the Egyptian president’s announcement to serve out his remaining term, and told Mubarak an orderly transition of power in Egypt ‘must begin now’.While the meaning of the last phrase was deliberately vague, it appeared to be a signal that Mr. Mubarak might not be able to delay the shift to a new leadership.
Mubarak’s speech did little to quell the demands for his immediate departure. The opposition leaders have vowed to keep up the protests and said they would get bigger until Mubarak is gone. Angry Chants of “Erhal! Erhal!”, or “Leave! Leave!” could be heard and scenes of protesters waving their shoes and using them to beat pictures of Mubarak were common.
There was some confrontations in the port city of Alexandria between ant-government protesters and pro-Mubarak supporters and shots were fired into the air.
Other news stories from the region:
Yemen’s Leader Pledges Not to Seek Re-election
PARIS – In the latest shock wave emanating from protests across the Arab world, President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen announced on Wednesday that he would not stand for re-election when his term expires in 2013 or try to hand on power to his son, news reports said.
Antiquities Chief Says Sites Are Largely Secure
New Service Lets Voices From Egypt Be Heard
Tony Blair: Mubarak is ‘immensely courageous and a force for good’
Former PM praises Egyptian president over role in peace negotiations and warns against a rush to elections that could bring Muslim Brotherhood to power
Fear mongering from a war criminal
Egypt’s ‘co-ordinated’ transition
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst says those hoping for a quick Mubarak resignation have been disappointed.
Politics pervade Cairo’s streets
Egyptians air different views on their hopes for the future but all of them agree it is time for Mubarak to go.