Sudan Special: Today's Referendum for Secession by the South (Ezell)

Photo: Associated PressToday voters in southern Sudan decide whether to secede from the north to form the world’s newest nation.

Assuring peace in Sudan this weekend will not be easy, but it is imperative to keep all parties satisfied. In an agenda including the great partition, power-sharing, and equal distribution of revenuesfrom natural resources, the hope is that both Khartoum and Juba have recognized that a bold, shrewd form of government-tribal reconciliation is essential to prevent an explosion of violence.

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Egypt-Israel Analysis: Cairo Pushes Against "Threats to Hamas"

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reportedly asked his counterpart representing the European Union, Catherine Ashton, to send a force to stop arms smuggling, to the coast of Gaza, making an Israeli blockade unnecessary. However, Ashton commented, "This is just something that Foreign Minister Lieberman raised at dinner. This is not an issue that we're discussing."

Meanwhile the EU has responded to the Palestinian demand for the recognition of a state of Palestine by saying that they will do this "when appropriate".

On another front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hosted by Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday. Netanyahu asked Mubarak to put pressure on Ramallah to sit at the negotiating table while Mubarak warned Netanyahu not to use hard power in Gaza. Mubarak said Israel must reassess its policy and "initiate concrete steps to build trust with the Palestinian Authority in a way that would allow negotiations to resume", adding that Israel's threats against Hamas may be detrimental to the peace process and regional stability.

For Cairo, although the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks are still at an impasse, the region cannot sustain another war. Blamed for cooperating with Israel over the blockade of Gaza and criticised for building its own walls to prevent smuggling, the Egyptian Government is pursuing diplomacy to maintain its credibility.

Egypt's balancing act: no boost to Hamas but also a closed door to any prospect of a renewal, two years after the last Gaza War, of Israeli military operations.

Egypt Feature: The Fallout from the Alexandria Bomb (Slackman)

“It is very clear that the government totally lost control --- of everything. The only control they have is on the security of the president, the group around him, and few other party figures. That’s it.”

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WikiLeaks Iraq Special: Did US Ambassador "Green Light" Saddam's Invasion of Kuwait in 1990?

For more than 20 years, one of the controversies over the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent US-led war against Baghdad is whether the US Ambassador in Iraq --- deliberately or inadvertently --- gave a "green light" to Saddam Hussein to attack the Kuwaitis.

Now WikiLeaks makes an important intervention in the story, releasing the cable with Glaspie's lengthy account of her meeting.

So, taking a fresh look, did April Glaspie give "tacit approval" or at least refrain from objecting to an Iraqi invasion?

The general verdict: Not Guilty.

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Egypt Exclusive: "Up to 50" Killed in Bombing of Alexandria Church

UPDATE 1950 GMT: Protests and clashes with police are continuing in Alexandria.

UPDATE 1940 GMT: President Mubarak sent Mufeed Shehab, the head of the Alexandria Council, and the Minister of Development to the funerals, and a couple of other ministers reportedly were present.

Bishop Youanis, the secretary of the Copt leader Pope Shenouda III, said, "We thank the President." The audience responded with shouts of "No, no, no", and waved their hands. They also reportedly shouted, "We want our rights", and sang, "Kyrie, Eleison" ("Lord Have Mercy").

UPDATE 1855 GMT: A source reports that doctors at St Mark's Hospital are "livid" over the official accounts minimising the casualties. They say there are definitely, and one doctor says there are more to be processed.

There are reports of graffiti on church walls saying "Watch out" and "You're Next".

Ten Christians have reportedly been detained for questioning.

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Egypt Breaking: 21 Killed in Car Bomb Attack on Christian Church

LATER UPDATES: "Up to 50" Killed in Bombing of Alexandria Church

UPDATE 1530 GMT: A picture from the post-bombing protests in Alexandria today:

UPDATE 1510 GMT: Protesters and police are clashing near the site of today's bombing. There are reports of injuries and suffocation from tear gas used by anti-riot forces.

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Egypt Video: El Baradei Intervenes After the Elections "The Regime's Last Chance"

Last week, Mohammad el Baradei --- the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a key actor in the National Alliance for Change --- issued a video response to the Parliamentary elections that gave more than 90% of the seats to the ruling National Democratic Party: "We do not have real industry , we do not have real agriculture, we laugh at ourselves and the world laughs at us.... You are not investing in your future, you are investing in the end of what you have, in destroying Egypt and in destroying the future generations."

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Israel-Palestine Analysis: Six Weeks of Indirect Talks But No Clear US Position

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US special envoy George Mitchell,said that he was "prepared to discuss all of the fundamental issues" necessary for resuming negotiations with Palestinians and reaching a peace agreement.

Netanyahu, with no preconditions such as a settlement freeze, is ready to sit and discuss matters freely. According to some sources, the issues of refugees (with reference to the demand to recognize the "Jewish" character of the State of Israel), security issues, and borders are expected to be on the table. 

The Palestinian side is not in the same position. It has received no "guarantees" from the Obama Administration over recognition of a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders --- whether that is through the UN, from Washington, or through talks --- and a "complete halt" to Israeli construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Egypt Snapshot: Mubarak "Pleased" But Protests Continue Over Elections

Yesterday, even as President Hosni Mubarak tried to settle any tensions over this month's Parliamentary elections, in which his ruling National Democratic Party won more than 90% of the seats, there were further signs of troubled political waters.

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Egypt and the Elections: The "Strategic Blunder" of President Mubarak's Party (Hamid)

There is no transition whose beginning is not the consequences --- direct or indirect --- of important divisions within the authoritarian regime itself. Those divisions, in Egypt, are only likely to grow.

For the National Democratic to make a strategic blunder at such a crucial moment in Egypt's history suggests a regime that is nervous, unsure of itself and increasingly incoherent.

The Parliamentary elections were the first such mistake. Whether there will be more ---- and whether the opposition manages to capitalise --- will determine the course Egypt takes in the coming, critical months.

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