http://news.linktv.org Link TV News Videos (Filtered by topics: Egyptian presidential election, 2012) en-us Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:26:00 -0700 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://news.linktv.org/videos/omar-suleiman-key-figure-in-egypts-revolution-dies?start=0 Hosni Mubarak's vice president and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has died in the US while undergoing medical examination, an aide has said. Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:26:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/omar-suleiman-key-figure-in-egypts-revolution-dies Omar Suleiman, Egyptian Revolution, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate, Cairo, Politics of Egypt, Cleveland, United States Hosni Mubarak's vice president and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has died in the US while undergoing medical examination, an aide has said. Sherine Tadros reports from Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypt-alexandria-divided-between-religious-conservatives-and-liberals?start=0 It may look like an idyllic seaside resort, but tensions are bubbling under the surface of Alexandria. Egypt's second-largest city is politically and culturally divided, between hardline religious conservatives and liberals. Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:18:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypt-alexandria-divided-between-religious-conservatives-and-liberals Egypt, Alexandria, Religion in Egypt, Al Nour Party, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Copt, Secularism, Salafi, Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi It may look like an idyllic seaside resort, but tensions are bubbling under the surface of Egypt's second-largest city. Alexandria is politically and culturally divided, between hardline religious conservatives and liberals. it is considered an Islamist stronghold, but it was a leftist candidate who won the first round of the presidential election here. Eventual winner Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood came third. http://news.linktv.org/videos/what-kind-of-power-will-president-morsi-have?start=0 Islamist Mohamed Morsi was sworn in as Egypt's first democratically-elected civilian president Saturday. Following his inauguration, he made his first speech as the country's president at a packed auditorium at Cairo University. Al Jazeera English brings analysis and reactions in the country. Sat, 30 Jun 2012 10:56:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/what-kind-of-power-will-president-morsi-have Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, President of Egypt, Egypt, Politics of Egypt, Egyptian Army, Cairo University, Egyptian Revolution, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera English Islamist Mohamed Morsi was sworn in as Egypt's first democratically-elected civilian president Saturday. Following his inauguration, he made his first speech as the country's president at a packed auditorium at Cairo University. Al Jazeera English brings analysis and reactions in the country. http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypts-new-president-mohammed-morsi-sworn-in?start=0 Mohamed Morsi took the oath of office on Saturday to become Egypt's first freely elected President. He is the first head of state since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow last year. Sat, 30 Jun 2012 09:42:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypts-new-president-mohammed-morsi-sworn-in Mohamed Morsi, President of Egypt, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Head of state, Egypt, Politics of Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Islamism Mohamed Morsi took the oath of office on Saturday to become Egypt's first freely elected President. He is the first head of state since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow last year. http://news.linktv.org/videos/how-will-the-us-react-to-egypts-morsi-government?start=0 Islamist politician Mohamed Morsi will be sworn in Saturday as Egypt's new president. Mariama Diallo of VOA News examines what this power shift means for relations between the United States and Egypt, as well as other post-revolution democracies. Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:41:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/how-will-the-us-react-to-egypts-morsi-government US-Egypt relations, Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egypt, Egyptian Revolution, Islamism, Politics of Egypt, Egyptian Army, Women in Egypt Islamist politician Mohamed Morsi will be sworn in Saturday as Egypt's new president. Mariama Diallo of VOA News examines what this power shift means for relations between the United States and Egypt, as well as other post-revolution democracies. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-26-2012?start=2748 The Supreme Court has overturned key parts of Arizona's anti-immigrant law S.B. 1070 but upheld the law's controversial "show me your papers" provision. In a separate ruling, the court also said states may not impose mandatory life sentences without parole on children. And Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports on how Egypt's historic presidential election is being undermined by continued military rule. Plus headlines, and more.<br /> Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:11:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-26-2012 Supreme Court of the United States, United States, Arizona SB 1070, Immigration law, Immigration, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Arizona, Citizens United, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, US juvenile justice system Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi has become Egypt's first-ever democratically elected president after beating out former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik. Despite his historic victory, Morsi will face major challenges under Egypt's ruling military council. The council recently issued new restrictions on the incoming president's authority and will retain control of Egypt's budget and legislation. "This has been a flawed [transition] process," says Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. "June 30th, which is when there's supposed to be a handover of power, isn't a real handover of power at all." We turn now to Egypt, where President-elect Mohamed Morsi has toured his new office in the presidential palace and is working on forming a new government. Tens of thousands celebrated the results of the historic presidential elections in Cairo's Tahrir Square over the weekend. Muslim Brotherhood candidate Morsi was declared the winner a week after the vote was held. He picked up 13.2 million votes, or 51 percent, beating out former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, who received 12.3 million. In his victory address, Morsi vowed to respect Egypt's international obligations as well as human rights at home. PRESIDENT-ELECT MOHAMED MORSI: [translated] I approach all of you on this day we are witnessing on which I have become, thanks to God and to your will, the president to all Egyptians. And I will treat all Egyptians the same and respect them equally. We will respect agreements and international law, as well as Egyptian commitments and treaties with the rest of the world. We will work to establish the principle of Egyptians and its civil identity as well as human values, especially freedom and the respect of human rights, the respect of women and family rights, as well as children, and to do away with any discrimination. Expectations are high for the first freely elected president in Egypt, and a webiste called Morsimeter.com has already been set up to monitor his progress. President Obama called President-elect Morsi and congratulated him following his victory. Speaking Monday, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland explained what President Obama had said. VICTORIA NULAND: As the president made clear in his phone call, we want to see President-elect Morsi take steps to advance national unity, to uphold universal values, to respect the rights of all Egyptians, particularly women, minorities, Christians, etc. To talk more about the significance of Morsi's electoral victory, we're joined now by Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. He is just back from Cairo. We last saw you, Sharif, overlooking Tahrir. Talk about the significance of Morsi's victory and just who Mohamed Morsi is. Well, it's a very significant victory. He's the first democratically elected Islamist president in the Arab world, the first civilian president ever in Egypt's history, and his win really marks a victory over the lingering remnants of Mubarak's regime—old party patronage networks, ex-party officials, media figures, state bureaucrats—who really rallied around Ahmed Shafik in a desperate bid to support his presidency and beat the Muslim Brotherhood, but they failed. But Morsi himself, really, his history is not one typical of leading Brotherhood members who had years of imprisonment and sacrifice to the organization. He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering from Cairo University in 1975. This is at a time, really, when there was a rise in Islamist politics within campuses, that was in fact encouraged by Anwar el-Sadat to counter the left, which was big on campuses at the time. He then went to study, to pursue his Ph.D. in the University of Southern California. He worked as assistant professor at California State University, Northridge. He has—two of his five children were born in the United States, are entitled to U.S. citizenship. And he returned to—and he's fluent in English, of course. And he returned to Egypt in 1985. And this really marked the beginning of his slow ascent in the organization of the Brotherhood, eventually serving on the influential Guidance Bureau. Many see his position in the Brotherhood as due to his close relationship with Khairat El-Shater, who is really the group's top financier and leading strategist, and because of his obedience, because of his skill as an organizational man, really he rose through the ranks of the organization. In April 2011, he was named the president of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. He—well, in 2000, he was elected to parliament, and this really was when his name first started bandying around. He's really a conservative's conservative within the organization. He has not been afraid of using, injecting religion into a lot of politics during his time as a parliament member, speaking out against movies and music that he deemed too liberal and things of this nature. He also put forward things against corruption that was occurring within the National Democratic Party and so forth. So, it remains to be seen how exactly he'll perform. Many see him—he also pledged and has done—resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood and resigned from the party, once he was elected. So we'll have to see where it goes. Already, he has met with Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and the de facto ruler of Egypt right now. He met with the Supreme Council of Armed Forces and has already backtracked on his earlier criticism of the military council, saying how the military has—was wise and praised its wisdom in running the transitional period and its transparency and democracy, really going back on what the military council has really done, which was a very erratic, erroneous, very flawed transition process, which really, on June 30th, which is when there's supposed to be a handover of power, isn't a real handover of power at all. But Sharif, some people have suggested that this was a vote not so much for the Brotherhood or for Morsi as against the Mubarak regime, you know, and Shafik was obviously a prime minister under Mubarak. Well, there was certainly a large member of—there was the core of the Brotherhood who obviously voted for Morsi. But, yes, a lot of his support came as an anti-Shafik vote, as a vote against the former regime. The celebrations in Tahrir Square, I would—I really doubt they would have been that big if Shafik wasn't the person who lost against Morsi. If it was a revolutionary candidate that lost to him, I very much doubt there would have been the celebrations in the streets. So it marks an important victory over Shafik and the ruling party regime. However, what is being handed over on June 30 is, I think, the essence of the problem. As we discussed last week, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, minutes after polls closed in the presidential election, submitted a set of constitutional amendments that severely restrict the powers of the president, that the main crux of which is that he's not—the president is not the commander of the armed forces. That goes to Tantawi, and that effectively enshrines the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as a fourth branch of government that's a constitutionally separate institution from the presidency and parliament and the judiciary. And this is really the main battle, is against the military council. So, what stands right now is for Morsi—there's apparently negotiations for him to name his cabinet and name a prime minister. Supposedly they're considering Mohamed ElBaradei as prime minister. But ElBaradei himself has said that he would not accept a position like that, a couple of weeks ago, because ElBaradei himself refused to run for president in January because, under the rule of the military council, he saw it as a flawed transition. And then announced he wouldn't vote. And then, yes, boycotted the vote himself. So I doubt that he would accept a position as prime minister, but we'll have to wait and see. Morsi has pledged to name three vice presidents, one of which will be a Coptic Christian, of Egypt's minority— Is that normal, three vice presidents? Is that— Well, we've never had a vice president in Egypt until January of 2011, when Mubarak appointed Omar Suleiman as his first and only vice president. So these are positions all being negotiated. Sharif, many of Mohamed Morsi's critics have expressed concern about his affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. This is Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who himself resigned from the Brotherhood when he decided to run in the presidential election. ABDEL MONEIM ABOUL FOTOUH: [translated] We need to move forward. I'm calling upon the national political forces to obligate President Mohamed Morsi to achieve his commitments. He vows to achieve them, and I'm congratulating him on his victory. I'm calling upon the forces to push him to fulfill his commitments, to convert it from just promises into facts. We do not expect only televised speeches from him, but we need him to fulfill his commitments. Firstly, he should be an independent president with no links to the Muslim Brotherhood and to the Freedom and Justice Party. That's Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh. Your response? He was with the Brotherhood, but he quit. He was a longtime member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a leading member, in fact, one that helped arise the resurgence of the Brotherhood on campuses in the '70s and early '80s. He left the group last year when he decided to run for president, going back on his pledge—the Muslim Brotherhood pledge not to field a presidential candidate. He has, since then, come into confrontation with the leadership of the Brotherhood, primarily Khairat El-Shater, and has been seen as really a candidate, a presidential candidate, that was in the spirit of the revolution, supported by a lot of revolutionaries, had a campaign which was really a rainbow coalition that had liberal seculars to ultra-conservative Salafis, ultimately came fourth in the presidential race in the first round. But he's been critical of the Brotherhood because they have really, over the transitional period, left many of the revolutionary principles that people fought and died for and sided with the military council on many issues in pursuit of their own interests. And we've already seen kind of this backtracking now. There's four very important—there's a sit-in that's continuing in Tahrir right now, and the Brotherhood is calling for four things, one of which is the annulment of the constitutional amendments that take away power from the presidency; also reinstating parliament, which was dissolved just a couple of weeks ago, where the Muslim Brotherhood really had a plurality of votes in that body; to annul a military judicial decree that gives the military widespread powers of arrest and detention. So, the Brotherhood is holding this sit-in. It's still there, but there's conflicting reports from senior Brotherhood members who are kind of also negotiating and backtracking. So, we'll have to see where that goes. There's also a bunch of court cases that are in play right now. Right when we're talking right now, there's one that may be ruled today which would annul that very pernicious decree by the Ministry of Justice to really restore elements of martial law to Egypt and allow the military, military intelligence, to arrest and detain citizens. There's also another very important court case, which is—will decide whether parliament can be reinstated. So what happens right now is that some element of executive power will be handed over to Mohamed Morsi at the end of the month. There's negotiations around the constituent assembly, which will draft the country's new constitution, which is really the crux of the new Egypt. And the military has reinstated control over this process. It can veto any element of the constitution it doesn't like before it gets drafted. If it doesn't agree—if there's any, quote-unquote, "obstacles" that this consistent assembly encounters, then it can dissolve that entire body, appoint its own constituent assembly, which will write the constitution within three months. After that, there's a referendum on the constitution. And we don't know, but we may also reelect the president, as well, after a new constitution. So Mohamed Morsi may only be an interim leader. In addition to the constraints that you've outlined on presidential power, there have been reports in the media that SCAF, the military, will retain control of all of the key ministries—interior, foreign affairs, justice and defense. Well, Mohamed Morsi has the right to name all the ministers, and that's what the Supreme Council has said. But no one is under any illusion that really these key ministries, which they are called the "sovereign ministries" in Arabic, will be appointed really by the military council. There's no way, I believe, Morsi would name anyone else other than Tantawi as defense minister or really name someone who is a civilian reformist over the interior ministry. So, you know, we'll have to see where that goes. And could the SCAF, the armed forces, just call for a new election in four months, and Mohamed Morsi would be out? Yes. The SCAF has made up the rules as it went along throughout this transitional period. This has been a flawed process from the beginning. And really, the biggest failure by many of the civilian political forces was to accept, back in March of 2011, the military to oversee what was a transition to a civilian democracy. And where is Ahmed Shafik? Ahmed Shafik apparently flew to the United Arab Emirates today with his—all of his children, some of his grandchildren, just hours after the general prosecutor opened up charges of corruption against him. Wow! Well, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, I want to thank you for being with us. It's so great to have you back here in New York. I know you're headed right back to Cairo. Sharif Abdel Kouddous is Democracy Now! senior correspondent in Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/who-is-mohamed-morsy?start=0 The Muslim Brotherhood promoted Mohamed Morsi as the person who could deliver on the revolution's aims and bring the economy back from the brink. But many Egyptians aren't so sure. Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:29:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/who-is-mohamed-morsy Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egyptian Revolution, Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt), Islamism, Politics of Egypt, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Ahmed Shafiq, Pakistani Defense Minister Many Egyptians felt they had been left with little choice in this election. They could either vote for a leading member of the old regime or take a chance on Mohamed Morsi, a candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood promoted him as the one who could deliver on the revolution's aims and bring the economy back from the brink, though he was never prominent within the organization. Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane reports. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-25-2012?start=98 Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo has been ousted in what he has described as a parliamentary coup after the Paraguayan Senate voted to impeach him. And, as the Rio+20 Earth Summit ends in disappointment, Democracy Now! is joined by the leading Canadian scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki. Plus headlines, and more.<br /> Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:47:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-25-2012 Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, Federico Franco, Rio+20, Earth Summit, Coup d'état, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, David Suzuki Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy has been declared the winner in Egypt's presidential race one week after the vote was held. Morsi picked up 13.2 million votes, or 51 percent, beating out former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who received 12.3 million. Tens of thousands of people flooded Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday after the result was announced. In his victory address, Morsy vowed to respect Egypt's international obligations as well as human rights at home. Mohamed Morsy: "We will respect agreements and international law as well as Egyptian commitments and treaties with the rest of the world. We will work to establish the principles of Egyptians and its civil identity as well as human values, especially freedom and the respect of human rights, the respect of women and family rights as well as children and to do away with any discrimination. I approach all of you on this day we are witnessing on which I have become, thanks to God and to your will, the president to all Egyptians. And I will treat all Egyptians the same and respect them equally." Morsi will become Egypt's first freely-elected president, but he'll face major challenges under Egypt's ruling military council. The council recently issued new restrictions on the incoming president's authority, and will retain control of Egypt's budget and legislation. http://news.linktv.org/videos/raw-video-tahrir-square-reacts-to-muslim-brotherhoods-egypt-election-victory?start=0 Tahrir Square, packed full of supporters of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy, erupts into wild celebrations as the official results of the presidential runoff are announced. Morsy beat his rival Ahmed Shafiq in a closely fought election. Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:32:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/raw-video-tahrir-square-reacts-to-muslim-brotherhoods-egypt-election-victory Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Muslim Brotherhood, Tahrir Square, Egyptian Revolution, President of Egypt, Egypt, Politics of Egypt, Ahmed Shafiq, Raw video Tahrir Square, packed full of supporters of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy, erupts into wild celebrations as the official results of the presidential runoff are announced. Morsy beat his rival Ahmed Shafiq and will be declared the next president of Egypt. http://news.linktv.org/videos/concerns-over-egyptian-power-handover?start=0 Islamists across the Middle East are celebrating the Muslim Brotherhood's win in Egypt's presidential election, but there are concerns over how much power the military caretaker government will hand over to the new president. Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:01:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/concerns-over-egyptian-power-handover Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Muslim Brotherhood, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egyptian Revolution, Politics of Egypt, Egypt, Tahrir Square, President of Egypt, Islamism Islamists across the Middle East are celebrating the Muslim Brotherhood's win in Egypt's presidential election, but there are concerns over how much power the military caretaker government will hand over to the new president. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-062512?start=729 Egypt is festive after the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohamed Morsi was announced as Egypt's first post-revolution president, reports Al-Alam. Morsi said that the revolution will continue until all of its goals are achieved. Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-062512 Syrian Civil War, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Mohamed Morsi, Israel, Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt, Yemen Uprising, 2011-2012 Sudanese protests, Sanctions against Iran, Israel-Russia relations Presenter, Female #1 Egyptian president-elect Mohamed Morsi said the revolution is continuing until all of its goals are achieved. He also confirmed that his country will not interfere in the internal affairs of any other country. Morsi said he will work on building relations with all countries on the basis of respect and mutual interests. Celebrations swept most of the country's governorates. Reporter, Female #2 Egypt is festive after the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohamed Morsi was announced as Egypt's first post-revolution president. Here, in central Cairo's Tahrir Square, as in most squares and cities of the country, different Egyptians celebrated in their own way. Some chanted "God is great," others celebrated to the tune of popular music, while some set off fireworks. Hundreds of Egyptian flags were raised to rejoice in this historic event, which is the culmination of months of struggle that ended an era of injustice and tyranny. Guest Male #2 Mohamed Morsi is responsible for us, and we are responsible for him, God willing. If he makes a mistake, we will evaluate him. Guest, Male #3 (Saad al-Katatni, Speaker of the People's Assembly) The Egyptian people are very happy because for the first time they are able to express their will, and choose their president on their own. Reporter, Female #2 The Egyptian people chose their president for the first time, so they elected Mohamed Morsi as Egypt's first post-revolution president. He is the fifth president after Mohamed Naguib, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak. In his first speech to the people after his victory, he vowed to be a president for all Egyptians without any discrimination, assuring that the revolution is continuing. Guest, Male #4 (Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian President Elect) I am now a president for all Egyptians, wherever they are, in the country or abroad. I will reach out to all Egyptians. The revolution is continuing until all its goals are achieved. Reporter, Female #2 Morsi also vowed to respect Egypt's treaties and international charters, and not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. He said he will work on building relations with countries around the world on the basis of respect and mutual interests. Guest, Male #4 We will respect international treaties and charters, and all pacts and obligations between Egypt and the entire world. We will not allow ourselves to interfere in the internal affairs of any country, as we will not allow any interference in our affairs. Reporter, Female #2 Egypt has entered a new phase in its history by electing the first civilian president for the country that has been ruled by the military since 1952. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-062512?start=923 <p>Yemen's Council of the Revolution's Youth holds first general conference, Sudan's al-Bashir says protests are no "Arab Spring" as crackdown continues, Syria warns NATO of conspiring against Damascus, and more.</p> Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-062512 Syrian Civil War, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Mohamed Morsi, Israel, Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt, Yemen Uprising, 2011-2012 Sudanese protests, Sanctions against Iran, Israel-Russia relations Israeli media expressed almost unanimous concern over the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood rising to power in Egypt. A number of newspapers, including Yediot Aharonot, Maariv, and the Jerusalem Post said that the election of Mohamed Morsi was a dangerous development in the Middle East, especially for Israel. IBA interviewed Jerusalem residents about the new development; they were hopeful that Morsi would be a pragmatic leader in terms of avoiding extremism, but not optimistic. http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypt-morsy-win-ultimate-moment-of-the-revolution?start=0 Islamist Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood was announced as the winner of Egypt's first competitive presidential election on Sunday. The news of his victory over Ahmed Shafiq comes after a week-long delay in official election results. Sun, 24 Jun 2012 11:16:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypt-morsy-win-ultimate-moment-of-the-revolution Mohamed Morsi, President of Egypt, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Revolution, Egypt, Tahrir Square, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Cairo Islamist Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was announced as the winner of Egypt's first competitive presidential election on Sunday. The news of his victory over Ahmed Shafiq comes after a week-long delay in official election results. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/egyptians-unite-against-military-but-are-protestors-ignoring-the-real-enemy?start=0 Thousands of Egyptians are back on the streets of Cairo, united in their opposition to military rule and demanding the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces hands over power to a civilian government. But are they focused on the wrong enemy? Fri, 22 Jun 2012 08:41:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/egyptians-unite-against-military-but-are-protestors-ignoring-the-real-enemy Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egyptian Revolution, Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq, Muslim Brotherhood, Protest, Constitutional amendment Thousands of Egyptians are back on the streets of Cairo, as revolutionary groups and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood unite in their opposition to military rule. They want the parliament reinstated and the ruling military council to hand over power to the new president. But, as Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports from Cairo, they may be focused on the wrong enemy. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-062212?start=1002 <p>Anti-austerity demonstrations spread across Khartoum after Friday prayers, Palestinians protest Israeli plan to demolish village of Susiya, humanitarian crisis looms in southern Yemen as war on terror continues, and more.</p> Fri, 22 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-062212 Israel, Palestinians, Economy of Sudan, Susya, Syria-Turkey relations, Kabul, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Shaul Mofaz Egyptian media says the Election Commission is expected to declare former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq winner of the presidential runoff. Ahram Online says government sources are saying Shafiq will be announced the winner Sunday evening. The news website also says that Western diplomats in Cairo have been told about the decision. Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is saying it will give a firm response to those who want to harm the public interest. The ruling general says that it was the two presidential runoff candidates who caused division in the country. They said Shafiq and Morsy's move to declare victory ahead of official results had heightened tensions in the country. http://news.linktv.org/videos/election-result-delay-raises-tensions-in-egypt?start=0 Today's official declaration of election results in Egypt has been delayed amid complaints from both candidates -- but protestors say the holdup is another sign the military junta does not intend to hand over power to civilian government. Thu, 21 Jun 2012 07:52:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/election-result-delay-raises-tensions-in-egypt Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian Revolution, Muslim Brotherhood, Politics of Egypt, People's Assembly of Egypt, Tahrir Square Today was supposed to see the official declaration of results from Egypt's presidential election, but the announcement has been delayed. Egypt's electoral commission says it needs more time to assess complaints from the two candidates, but protestors gathered in Tahrir Square say the holdup is another sign the military junta does not intend to hand over power to civilian government. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-062112?start=596 Egypt's Supreme Presidential Elections Commission said that election results will be announced on Saturday or Sunday, reports Al-Alam. Meanwhile, protests and sit-ins continue over the military council's recent presidential power-limiting decisions. Thu, 21 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-062112 Syrian Civil War, Politics of Syria, Palestinians, Syria, Al-Qaeda, Israel, 2012 South Sudan–Sudan border conflict, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown, Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel Presenter, Female #1 In Egypt, Secretary-General of the Supreme Presidential Elections Commission, Hatem Bagato, said the presidential election results will be announced on Saturday or Sunday. Bagato said that looking into the appeals presented by both candidates, Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafiq, requires some time. Presenter, Female #1 The Supreme Presidential Elections Commission in Egypt announced that the release of the election results had been postponed without specifying the new deadline; the results were supposed to be announced today. It confirmed that it is still looking into the appeals. Presenter, Female #1 Protests and sit-ins are continuing in Cairo and other Egyptian cities over the military council's decisions, and especially the constitutional declaration that limits the powers of the next president. Protestors expressed fear of fraud in the presidential election results after the Supreme Elections Commission decided to postpone announcing those results. Reporter, Male #1 The Egyptian election commission's decision to postpone the announcement of the final results of the presidential runoff has sparked popular anger, and concerns over the fate of the entire electoral process. As soon as the decision was announced, millions of Egyptians headed to Tahrir Square, to Cairo's streets, and other cities, to protest the ruling military council's decisions, especially since the election commission's announcement came after a series of decisions, most notably dissolving parliament and the constitutional declaration that was absolutely rejected. The people consider the election results as complete, and presidential candidate Mohamed Morsy's victory as indisputable. Reporter, Male #1 The people were not the only ones who opposed the decision to postpone announcing the election results. Members of parliament from different political forces also clearly expressed their objection. Guest Male #2 The presidential election law set a schedule of the dates, including one for announcing the results. According to this schedule, the commission must abide by these dates. Reporter, Male #1 In this context, legal experts expressed concern over the wide-ranging fraud in the electoral process, and said the military council may be attempting to escalate the situation with the Muslim Brotherhood. The near future will reveal these predictions. Guest, Male #3 Everyone connected to the general situation in Egypt were involved in fraud in the past. All of this indicates that something is being plotted. The question is, did the military council decide to clash with the Muslim Brotherhood? This will be made clear in the next few hours, because it is very clear that Dr. Mohamed Morsy is the legitimate president. Reporter, Male #1 The Egyptian people only found one way to defend their revolution's gains, achieved through publicizing their views on the streets, and by refusing the military council's decisions and adhering to Mohamed Morsy's victory in the elections. Reporter, Male #1 The military council's counter-revolutionary decisions and attempts to reverse the revolution's gains, most notable of which was the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak, are not longer secret to anyone. Observers view the military council's recent decisions as subordinate to foreign agendas aimed at toppling the revolution and turning back time. This means it is a step toward confronting and clashing with the people, who succeeded to demolish the pillars of the strongest dictatorship in the region and end a rule that suffocated the people's voices for over three decades. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-20-2012?start=0 Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports from Egypt, where former President Hosni Mubarak is on life support, both candidates are claiming to have won last weekend's election, and the ruling military council has seized greater power. Plus headlines, and more. Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:54:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-20-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Hosni Mubarak, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq, Coma, People's Assembly of Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Life support Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports from Egypt, where former President Hosni Mubarak is on life support, both candidates are claiming to have won last weekend's election, and the ruling military council has seized greater power. WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London and asked for asylum. And leaders from more than 100 countries are meeting today in Brazil for the start of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the largest United Nations conference ever. Plus headlines, and more. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-20-2012?start=101 Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports from Egypt, where former President Hosni Mubarak is on life support, both candidates are claiming to have won last weekend's election, and the ruling military council has seized greater power. WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London and asked for asylum. And leaders from more than 100 countries are meeting today in Brazil for the start of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the largest United Nations conference ever. Plus headlines, and more. Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:54:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-20-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Hosni Mubarak, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq, Coma, People's Assembly of Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Life support Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is reportedly on life support after suffering multiple strokes, adding new uncertainty to the ongoing turmoil surrounding Egypt's transition to civilian rule. Earlier reports said Mubarak had already been declared "clinically dead," but Egyptian officials now say Mubarak is in a coma and on a respirator. As the news of Mubarak's deteriorating health spread, tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square and outside the Egyptian parliament in rallies called by the Muslim Brotherhood. The protesters denounced the ruling military council's recent decrees limiting presidential authority and assuming all legislative functions. Both the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, Mohamed Morsi, and his opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, have declared victory in the runoff vote. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-20-2012?start=792 Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports from Egypt, where former President Hosni Mubarak is on life support, both candidates are claiming to have won last weekend's election, and the ruling military council has seized greater power. WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London and asked for asylum. And leaders from more than 100 countries are meeting today in Brazil for the start of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the largest United Nations conference ever. Plus headlines, and more. Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:54:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-20-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Hosni Mubarak, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq, Coma, People's Assembly of Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Life support Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports from Egypt on the country's growing political crisis. Former President Hosni Mubarak is on life support, both candidates claim to have won last weekend's election, and the ruling military council has seized greater power. Official presidential election results are not expected to be announced until Thursday. Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested Tuesday night in Cairo's Tahrir Square in a rally called by the Muslim Brotherhood, expressing outrage over the army's decree late Sunday that it would seize all legislative powers. "Right now the country has no constitution, no parliament, and an incoming president that will have scant power," Kouddous says. "So, really, the military council is controlling the key branches of state. ... [It's] perhaps a fitting end to this nonsensical transition that we've seen over the last 16 months." We begin today's show on the political crisis in Egypt. Former President Hosni Mubarak has been moved from prison to an army hospital in Cairo where he is reportedly unconscious and on life support. The military strongman ruled the country for 30 years until he was toppled from power during last year's uprising. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the deaths of protesters. Senior officers have given various accounts of the 84-year-old Mubarak's condition, but they denied reports he was, quote, "clinically dead," as briefly reported by the state news agency. The news comes amid high tension over the results from last weekend's presidential vote that pitted Mubarak's former prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, against Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Official results are not expected to be announced until Thursday, but both sides have already claimed victory. Meanwhile, Egyptians showed little sympathy to news about Mubarak's deteriorating health. ADEL MORAD: [translated] We do not need anything from him or his family. We want them to leave us alone, because we've gotten tired of them. We are looking forward for good people to rule us. We do not need anything from his family. We want to live. We need security. We need a decent life. We need freedom. And we need to retrieve our dignity. Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested Tuesday night in Cairo's Tahrir Square in a rally called by the Muslim Brotherhood. Others protested outside Egypt's parliament. They expressed outrage over the army's decree late Sunday that it would seize all legislative powers. Some have described the move as a "military coup." This is Egyptian parliament member, Mhamed Uof. MHAMED UOF: [translated] We should stream into the streets. I'm calling on all free people from the army, police, all of the state associations, and all of Egyptians who are brave and free people, to come to Tahrir Square to protest. Hosni Mubarak stepped down after only 18 days. But the military council will leave power only during nine days. We will hinder traffic, close streets. We will do whatever it takes to achieve our demands. It is going to be a civil, peaceful disobedience. For more on the situation in Egypt, we go to Cairo, where we're joined by Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. Sharif, can you tell us what's happening, from what's happening to Mubarak right now, reported—reportedly in a coma, to what's happening in the streets, the reports of a military coup? Well, this news of Mubarak's health came in late last night, the state news agency, as you reported, saying that he was clinically dead. This caused, of course, a huge flurry in the media. But quickly, those reports were denied by his lawyer, senior members of the military council, who said he wasn't clinically dead, that he had suffered a stroke or he had suffered some kind of a heart attack, his heart had stopped. There's varying reports. What we do know is that he was transferred out of the prison where he's been held since he received his life sentence earlier this month. He's now in a military hospital. The news has been, honestly, treated with some skepticism amongst the Egyptian public here. I mean, Mubarak's health and reports of his death have been swirling in the media since the beginning of this revolution, especially since he was taken into custody last year. We keep hearing rumors that he died. And also, especially when he was moved to prison earlier this month, immediately there were rumors that he had collapsed, that he was having trouble breathing. But now he's moved out of the Tora prison. Some think that this was all just to get him out of the prison and back into a hospital. So, that's where—that's where that stands right now. But it comes at a very, very sensitive time. Tomorrow we're going to learn who the winner of Egypt's first competitive—arguably competitive—presidential election will be. Both sides have claimed victory in the poll. The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi has said that they won with 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent of Ahmed Shafik. They've backed this up with very detailed documents from each polling station around the country, which are stamped. And their tally seems to coincide with most independent reports and from most local media outlets. The Shafik campaign has denied that he lost, saying instead that their candidate won. But we'll find out for sure tomorrow. Over and above that is that what exactly—what powers will this president have, and that really this handover of power that was scheduled for June 30th has really been rendered meaningless by a sweeping set of amendments to the constitutional declaration that has been governing the country since March of 2011. These amendments were issued unilaterally by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and made public minutes after polls closed on Sunday evening. And really, they entrench the military's power, and they strip the incoming president of any significant authority. And, of course, we have to remember that these amendments come just three days after the country's top court, the Supreme Constitutional Court, dissolved the popularly elected parliament and also after a decree by the Ministry of Justice that really returns elements of martial law to Egypt and allows the military widespread powers of arrest and detention of civilians. So, most prominently, perhaps, of these constitutional amendments is that it removes the president's role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It gives that to the head of the Supreme Council, who is Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and effectively gives the military complete control over its own affairs. So what this does, really, is creates the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as a fourth branch of state that's constitutionally separate from the presidency, the parliament and the judiciary. It also—the amendments also shield the military from any kind of public oversight whatsoever, any kind of civilian oversight. They also—the amendments also allow the military to act as parliament. In the absence of a sitting parliament, they're allowed to issue laws by decree. They also tighten their grip on the writing of the country's constitution. So they have an effective veto over any clause that they might disapprove of, and they can also actually go further and dissolve the current assembly, that was formed by parliament just two days before it was dissolved, and on very vague grounds, if it encounters what's called an obstacle, they're allowed to dissolve that body and handpick their own hundred-member body that will draft this country's permanent constitution. And the military has made clear throughout the transitional period—we only need to look back to last fall to something called the Selmi Document to know exactly what they're looking for, what kind of protections they're looking for in the constitution, and that's really to enshrine their political and economic privileges in the constitution. So, and also, to add insult to injury, they recently—the head of the advisory council to the military council, a man named Sameh Ashour, said that the incoming president may only serve for an interim period, until a new constitution is written. Further above that, the Tantawi—the military council announced a national defense council that will be formed, of 17 members, which will be headed by the incoming president. But of those 17 members, 11 of them are senior military commanders, and decisions will be made by a simple majority vote. So, really, all of these sweeping steps have really stripped the incoming president of any significant authority, in a last-minute power grab, and really is perhaps a fitting end to this nonsensical transition that we've seen over the last 16 months. Right now the country has no constitution, no parliament, and a president without—an incoming president that will have scant power. So, really, the military council is controlling the key branches of state. Sharif, the powers you describe are, as you said, quite sweeping. Is there any way in which the incoming president can either—in any sense, either alter or overturn some of these amendments, these constitutional amendments? Well, the Muslim Brotherhood, who is widely expected to win the presidency tomorrow, has soundly rejected these amendments. They have also rejected the Supreme Court's ruling to dissolve parliament. The army deployed troops around the parliament building to prevent MPs from entering the building over the weekend. We saw a massive protest yesterday that was called primarily by the Muslim Brotherhood but also other forces, also political forces, but including revolutionary forces like the April 6 Youth Movement. The Revolutionary Socialists were there, as well. But really, the square was packed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood who rejected these amendments. And I think it was also a show of force to act as a warning, in case Ahmed Shafik is named as president, that they might return to street protests. From a legal perspective, whether these amendments can be overturned, it's anybody's guess. I mean, the Supreme Council has been changing the rules as it goes along and has issued laws by decree. There's no—there's no rules to the game right now. So, I'm sure negotiations are probably underway, but right now the military council is acting with a lot of hubris and really—and also in what appears to be desperation, which may be encouraging in a way, that they fear that their power may be slipping. But right now, they hold all the cards in terms of the levers of power of the state. Sharif, what role does the United States play in all of this? Well, the State Department and the Pentagon voiced concern over these amendments. We heard State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland expressing concern, as did the Pentagon. But as with so much in U.S. policy, especially towards Egypt, words rarely match the actions. And so, U.S. policy towards Egypt has changed very little since before the revolution. Washington, of course, backed the Mubarak regime with annual military aid of $1.3 billion for decades. We've seen that aid continue. Congress last year, in the wake of the revolution, added a provision to the aid that had this—the State Department had to certify that the military, the ruling military council, was doing a transition to civilian democracy. The Obama administration issued a national security waiver that overrode that provision to continue the aid to Egypt, despite widespread human rights abuses by the army and security forces. It came in the wake of the NGO crisis, where U.S.-funded NGOs were raided and closed down, and the son of the transportation minister, Sam LaHood, was not allowed to travel or leave the country. So, we've seen this continuation of U.S. policy where issues regarding regional concerns with Israel and so forth have trumped human rights concerns. But many people here on the ground are asking for the U.S. to finally take a stand and perhaps have its actual policy match its words and have a significant cutoff of aid, given what's happened with this—what many are calling a constitutional coup by the military council. Also, the number of people who came out to vote in this election this past weekend, can you talk about the boycott movement? I mean, the Egyptian elections are looking a little like the U.S. elections in how few people came out to vote. Amy, you know, Egyptians have gone to the polls three times in this transition, and each time they go, their vote has been rendered meaningless. They went in March 2011, voted on nine amendments to the constitution, and that was supplanted by a constitutional declaration issued unilaterally by the military council just a few days later that altered over 60 articles to the constitution. Then they went to the polls last fall, and they voted with a much lower turnout, and they voted for parliament. That parliament has now been dissolved, and so those elections were rendered worthless. And now they've gone to the polls again, and with again a lower turnout—or we're actually not sure what the turnout is, to be clear, in this round, but it's close to about 50 percent, some have predicted. And we've again seen that their vote has been rendered somewhat meaningless, because the person that they voted for has been stripped of all power. So, there has been a growing movement to boycotts, a growing movement to spoil ballots, to say that there's a third choice, we don't have to pick between the two candidates that were represented. And I don't know. I mean, if Egyptians find that there's—that their vote means nothing, then perhaps they'll seek other avenues of change. But, you know, the runoff election that we saw—really, the enthusiasm of the streets—I traveled around Cairo and went to the Delta, as well, to different polling stations, was—the enthusiasm was very low. You didn't see the ubiquitous, you know, person holding up their ink-stained finger and proudly showing that they voted, because of this—a lot of confusion and apathy that has been fostered by this very nonsensical transition, as well as the candidates themselves—on one side, Ahmed Shafik, who's really a stalwart of the Mubarak regime and represents the authoritarianism of that state, and on the other, the Muslim Brotherhood, a conservative Islamist group that, in many ways, has been seen as abandoning the revolution in pursuit of its own interests. So it was really a kind of a low-energy turnout. We'll have to wait for the numbers tomorrow. But everyone is going to be glued tomorrow to this announcement by the Presidential Elections Commission. It's a very close vote, regardless, by all counts, somewhere between 52 to 48 or 51 to 49. And the Presidential Election Commission's decision are unappealable. So, if they—so everyone will be tuned in tomorrow to find out who the incoming president is, even though his powers have been severely curtailed. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, I want to thank you very much for being with us. Sharif is joining us from overlooking Tahrir Square in Cairo, in Egypt, Democracy Now! senior correspondent. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-alert-hosni-mubarak-near-death-in-cairo?start=0 Conflicting reports are emerging from Cairo as former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was transferred from Tora Prison to Maadi Military Hospital. This special Mosaic Alert shows Press TV's initial report on Mubarak's condition. Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:05:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-alert-hosni-mubarak-near-death-in-cairo Hosni Mubarak, Egypt, Clinical death, Maadi, Cairo, Hypertension, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egyptian Revolution, Military hospital, Egyptian presidential election, 2012 Conflicting reports are emerging from Cairo tonight as former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was transferred from Tora prison to Maadi military hospital. Sources are saying that the deposed leader was clinically dead on arrival, and many news outlets are now reporting that he is being kept alive on life support after his heart stopped. This special Mosaic Alert shows Press TV's initial report on Mubarak's condition. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-061912?start=122 <p>Sudanese students "rise up" against Bashir's austerity plan, Egyptians rally against military rule as both presidential candidates claim victory, Bahrain's opposition escalates protests demanding the release of political prisoners, and more.</p> Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-061912 Israel, Palestinians, Egypt, Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, Bahrain Uprising, Hamas, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Human rights in Bahrain, Sinai Peninsula, Ashkelon Meanwhile, both candidates in the runoff presidential election in Egypt are claiming victory. The Muslim Brotherhood says that its candidate, Mohammed Morsy, has won 52 percent of the votes, while Ahmed Shafiq's campaign says the claim is false. http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypts-political-crisis-deepens?start=0 Egypt's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been turned on its head. There is still no official winner in the country's presidential elections, and the ruling military council has decreed the new man will not be commander in chief. Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:21:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypts-political-crisis-deepens Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egypt, Ahmed Shafiq, Egyptian Revolution, Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Army, Military junta, Politics of Egypt Egypt's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been turned on its head. There is still no official winner in the country's presidential elections, and whoever is declared victor looks likely to occupy only a ceremonial role. The ruling military council, SCAF, has decreed the new man will not be commander in chief, and that it alone will retain control over the budget. Opposition groups say the decision amounts to a coup. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/in-graphics-egyptian-militarys-power-grab?start=0 Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has made a last-minute power grab, leaving the incoming president with very limited powers. The army says it will be its own boss, have control over the budget, and can bring in any new laws it likes. Mon, 18 Jun 2012 09:56:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/in-graphics-egyptian-militarys-power-grab Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egyptian Revolution, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egypt, People's Assembly of Egypt, Politics of Egypt, Egyptian Armed Forces, Military junta, Constitution, President of Egypt Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has made a last-minute power grab, leaving the incoming president with very limited powers. The army says it will be its own boss. The new President will not be commander in chief. SCAF has given itself control over the budget and who writes the permanent constitution. And, in the absence of a sitting parliament, the military council will retain legislative power. That means, for now, SCAF can bring in any new laws it likes. http://news.linktv.org/videos/muslim-brotherhood-claims-disputed-victory-in-egypt?start=0 The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohamed Morsy has declared victory in Egypt's presidential elections. However, with the ruling military council has also announced it will retain many of the powers it currently holds after the new president takes office. Mon, 18 Jun 2012 09:01:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/muslim-brotherhood-claims-disputed-victory-in-egypt Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Muslim Brotherhood, Ahmed Shafiq, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt, Egyptian Revolution, President of Egypt, Politics of Egypt, People's Assembly of Egypt The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohamed Morsy has declared victory in Egypt's presidential elections, a claim disputed by supporters of his rival, Ahmed Shafiq. However, with the ruling military council announcing that it will retain many of the privileges it currently holds, it is unclear how much power the new president will have. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-061812?start=34 The Muslim Brotherhood announced that its presidential candidate, Mohamed Morsy, is leading the preliminary results of the Egyptian presidential elections, reports BBC Arabic. Morsy's campaign spokesman said he has 61 percent of the total votes counted thus far. Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-061812 Israel, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Syrian Civil War, Syrian army, Syria, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Homs, Gaza–Israel conflict, Aden, Nuclear program of Iran Presenter, Female #1 The Muslim Brotherhood announced that its presidential candidate, Mohamed Morsy, is leading the preliminary results of the Egyptian presidential elections. Morsy's campaign spokesman said he has 61 percent of the total votes counted thus far, placing him ahead of his rival Ahmed Shafiq. The spokesman for Morsy also announced that the latter will begin forming a new government one week after the announcement of the official results of the elections, which are expected on Wednesday. The spokesman said that Morsy will resign from his position as the head of the Freedom and Justice Party as soon as the results are announced. Reporter, Male #1 In Egypt, Tahrir Square is receiving revelers. Mohamed Morsy's supporters announced their presidential candidate's victory in a runoff round that kept Egyptians holding their breath until the early hours of Monday morning. Guest Male #2 (Mohamed Morsy, Egyptian Presidential Candidate) The dear families, who voted for me, and the dear families who did not vote for me, all of them are the children of Egypt, and all of them are my family and neighbors. All of them hold a dear place in my heart. Reporter, Male #1 In the center of Cairo, the Freedom and Justice Party's campaign held a press conference, announcing Morsy's lead in the runoff round with a comfortable margin over his rival, Ahmed Shafiq, in different governorates. Guest, Male #3 The total number of eligible voters before this committee is 86,932. The total number of voters who turned out to vote is 45,781. Reporter, Male #1 In Ahmed Shafiq's campaign headquarters, anxiety had been visible on people's faces since midnight. They were following updates from the campaign representative, and waiting for a surprise that would differ from the indications received by their rival's campaign as they confirmed their candidate is approaching the presidential seat. Guest, Male #4 (Ahmed Sarhan, Ahmed Shafiq Campaign Media Spokesman) Until now, the vote-counting process is continuing in committees. Only about a quarter of the results were announced. The turn out is about 40 percent, so we are talking about 20 million votes; whoever collects more than 10 million votes wins the presidential election. We are waiting the results of the major governorates like Cairo, al-Sharqiya, al-Dakahlia, al-Monofiya, al-Gharbia, and Kafr al-Sheikh. Reporter, Male #1 Two days before the Supreme Electoral Commission's official announcement of Egypt's next president, the counting records, published by the Freedom and Justice's candidate, point to Morsy's lead. He has started celebrating and making vows to the Egyptian people. However, Shafiq's campaign is continuing to reject these results, assuring that the hours to come may result in their candidate's victory. Ahmed Khaireddine, BBC, Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-15-2012?start=0 Days before Egypt's presidential runoff, the Egyptian Supreme Court dissolves the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated parliament, handing power back to the military. Plus Ralph Nader on the US elections, minimum wage, and more. Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:02:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-15-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Egypt, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Muslim Brotherhood, US presidential election, 2012, Minimum wage, US economy, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq Days before Egypt's presidential runoff, the Egyptian Supreme Court has dissolved the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated parliament, handing power back to the military. The minimum wage hasn't increased since 2007, but a new bill aims to restore the hourly rate to its inflation-adjusted 1968 figure of over $10. And, as the presidential race heats up, the focus is increasingly on the nation's slow economic recovery. Plus headlines, and more. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-15-2012?start=128 Days before Egypt's presidential runoff, the Egyptian Supreme Court has dissolved the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated parliament, handing power back to the military. The minimum wage hasn't increased since 2007, but a new bill aims to restore the hourly rate to its inflation-adjusted 1968 figure of over $10. And, as the presidential race heats up, the focus is increasingly on the nation's slow economic recovery. Plus headlines, and more. Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:02:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-15-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Egypt, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Muslim Brotherhood, US presidential election, 2012, Minimum wage, US economy, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq Protests have erupted in Egypt after the country's Supreme Constitutional Court ruled to dissolve the newly elected parliament and decreed former regime leaders can hold political office. The decision to annul the Muslim Brotherhood-led parliament effectively places legislative power in the hands of the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces, which has managed Egypt's transition since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood has slammed the decision, calling it a "coup." The court also rubber-stamped the candidacy of Mubarak's former prime minister and current presidential hopeful, Ahmed Shafik, just two days before he's supposed to square off against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-15-2012?start=898 Days before Egypt's presidential runoff, the Egyptian Supreme Court has dissolved the newly elected parliament, handing power back to the military. The court also confirmed Mubarak's former PM Ahmed Shafiq can run for president. Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:02:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-june-15-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Egypt, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Muslim Brotherhood, US presidential election, 2012, Minimum wage, US economy, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq Days before Egypt's presidential runoff, the Egyptian Supreme Court has dissolved the newly elected parliament, handing power back to the military. The court also confirmed Hosni Mubarak's former prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, can run for president against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi. Protests have erupted in Egypt, with critics saying the decision is tantamount to a judicial coup. We go to Cairo for an update from Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. "These court rulings have really dealt the final fatal blow to a military-managed transitional process that's been so deformed as to barely make sense anymore," he says. "Right now Egypt is in a state where there's no parliament, no constitution or even a clear process for drafting one, and a presidential runoff that will leave Egypt with a ruler who will be a very divisive president." Egypt's democratic transition was thrown into disarray Thursday when the country's Supreme Constitutional Court ruled to dissolve the newly elected parliament in what critics have described as a judicial coup. The decision effectively puts legislative power into the hands of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. In addition, the court ruled that former leaders of the Mubarak regime can hold political office, effectively approving the candidacy of former prime minister and presidential hopeful, Ahmed Shafik. The court decision is a major setback to supporters of last year's uprising, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, which held 46 percent of seats in the newly elected parliament. The court's decision comes just two days before Egyptians go to the polls for a presidential runoff between Shafik and the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi. After Thursday's ruling, Morsi vowed to stay in the race but said that any foul play in the election would be met by a new revolution. MOHAMED MORSI: [translated] We will continue with our journey and observe closely. And if there's any fraud, we already know what the consequences will be: a revolution against the criminals, a revolution against those who protect the criminals, a revolution until the goals of the January 25th revolution are fully achieved. After the court ruling Thursday, protesters gathered outside Egypt's constitutional court. MOHAMED HUSSEIN: [translated] This ruling is void. By what logic or what justice can the one who killed our brothers and the person who was behind the camel battle and the one who was part of Mubarak's regime and who said that Mubarak is his role model—by what logic can we return to the tyrannical old regime? Where is the justice in that? We had a revolution, and no revolution in the world brings back a tyrannical regime. This military council wants to bring back the old regime, and they want us to return back to being subservient. We will not go back to being subservient. We will continue to struggle and to struggle against Ahmed Shafik. We will go on, God willing. Well, to find out more about what's happening in Egypt, we go to Cairo to talk to Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. Sharif, welcome to Democracy Now! Talk about what's developed over the last 24 hours in Egypt. Well, Amy, these court rulings have really dealt the final fatal blow to a military-managed transitional process that's been so deformed as to barely make sense anymore. Right now Egypt is in a state where there is no parliament, no constitution or even a clear process for drafting one, and a presidential runoff that will leave Egypt with a ruler who will be a very divisive president. The rulings really set off shock waves. This is the cover of a privately owned newspaper, Shorouk. The top head says, "As You Were." And it reads, "The constitutional court returns all powers to the military." So, as you mentioned, there was two landmark rulings yesterday, the first of which was on something called a political isolation law. This was a law that was passed by the parliament in April. It was initially intended to target Omar Suleiman, who had put himself as a nominee in the race and who was, of course, Mubarak's first and only prime—first and only vice president and who was his longtime intelligence chief. He was disqualified out of the race for technical reasons. But the law would also apply to Ahmed Shafik, who was Mubarak's last prime minister, appointed on January 29th of 2011. So, this law would have banned any top Mubarak officials from running for office for 10 years. The law was passed. It was signed by the military council. However, the Presidential Elections Commission refused to implement the law and instead referred it to the Supreme Constitutional Court, which yesterday ruled this law unconstitutional, thereby leaving Ahmed Shafik in the race, which is scheduled—the runoff is scheduled for tomorrow. What was more of a bigger blow was the second ruling, which was the ruling that one-third of the—the way that parliament was elected, one-third of them was unconstitutional. The way the elections were set up, the parliamentary elections last fall, was a complicated system where two-thirds of the candidates would be elected on a list-based system that's also known as proportional representation. The other third would be individual candidates who would run for winner-take-all seats. But in a last-minute change, they allowed members of parties to run for these individual seats, as well. And it was that aspect that the court yesterday ruled unconstitutional. It effectively dissolves the parliament, the first really freely and fairly elected parliament in Egypt for many decades. And it effectively hands the legislature, the powers of the legislature, back to the military council. The military council, of course, had that power up until January of this year, when the parliament was first seated. So, the response has been varied, but many are calling it a coup. What Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who is a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a liberal Islamist thinker who came forth in the presidential race, called it—called it a coup. The Muslim Brotherhood has said it would respect the decision, but senior Brotherhood member Mohammed el-Beltagy and others have called it a military coup. Hamdeen Sabahi, who came third in the presidential race, is calling on the Muslim Brotherhood to not field its presidential candidate tomorrow, to pull out of the race, and thereby delegitimize the process. However, Mohamed Morsi, the presidential candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, as you heard in the clip earlier, has pledged to go on in the race, putting himself forward as the revolutionary candidate against [Ahmed Shafik]. So, really, these decisions yesterday were really monumental, because this transition process has—over the course of these past 16 months, there has been a crisis of legitimacy at every turn. There has been complicated court rulings at every turn, putting things into question. And right now, it seems that almost nearly all of the power is in the hands of the military council. So while many have called it a coup that happened yesterday, many also point to the fact that this was really maybe a coup on February 11th of 2011, when the military council first came to the helm of power after replacing Mubarak after he was forced out of office. Well, Sharif, what would happen now in terms of the ruling on the parliament? Would they have to schedule new elections? And to—because, obviously, the presidential election now comes, and if Morsi wins, he will be faced basically with being the president but having no government to work with. That's exactly right. He will be president without a parliament or a constitution delineating what his powers exactly are. So it's a very dangerous situation to be in and a very vague and unclear one. Right now, parliament—the ruling yesterday doesn't actually—isn't actually enforced until the military council actively dissolves parliament. But for all intents and purposes, parliament will be dissolved. The military council is the one that was scheduled to—will schedule parliamentary elections to be held. It's very unclear when these will be held, under what rules they will be held. As with so much else in this erratic transition process, many things are vague. But what is clear is that the military council has really taken control of the basic aspects of what we were supposed to have been building in a post-Mubarak state these last 16 months. I mean, we spent three months going to parliamentary elections, and that's just been voided. There's been no reform in the security apparatus. There's been no reform of the media. There's been no reform of the judiciary. So, really, the Mubarak regime is still very much in place. And to top it all off, its last prime minister is now in a runoff against the Muslim Brotherhood, which is really the same political landscape that Egypt has had for many decades now. And is there any sense of possible exhaustion among the population in terms of the continued turmoil that might lead to a movement basically to restore order and which would benefit the old Mubarak regime and those members of that old—of that old regime? Well, I mean, there has been this idea of people being tired of what they call a security vacuum. Police have not been really deployed on the streets. There has been—protests have continued for these last 16 months. Many say that they lack the leverage that they once had to actually effect change. Ahmed Shafik himself ran on a law and order platform, which seems to have resonated with large segments of the electorate that placed him second in the first round of the elections. However, I think his election—or his success may also be attributed to the patronage networks that really were part of the former National Democratic Party, Mubarak's party, that we didn't see really in the parliamentary elections but seem to have come back with a vengeance in the presidential elections. I just went to a conference of his a couple of days ago, and there were leading members of the National Democratic Party, the now-dissolved party. Mustafa al-Fiqi and Jehan Sadat, the wife of the assassinated former president, was there, all supporting Ahmed Shafik for president, supporting him as a bulwark against the rise of the Islamists, against the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. So, he's really had—has a lot of support from the state that the protesters rose up against last year to try and topple. Sharif, earlier this week, Egyptian activists unveiled a campaign to boycott the elections, calling it a false choice under ongoing military rule. Boycott organizer Tarek Shalaby said Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF, have effectively rigged the election to ensure their continued dominance. This is what he said. TAREK SHALABY: So, they do that, and therefore, what they're trying to do is they're trying to show us that there's no other way for the revolution to continue, except for collaborating with SCAF in these elections that they've made for us. And obviously they make these elections customized specifically for them, so that the result that comes out, whatever it is and whoever it is, works perfectly for them. And that's why what we need to do is we need to reject these elections, refuse to collaborate with them, and make sure that we organize ourselves and do go for labor strikes and for demonstrations and sit-ins, because that's how we use popular masses and the workforce to cripple the regime and to bring it down and make it lose its power. And that's how there could be a balance of power, and then we can bring change that way. And Sharif, this news just in: in an interview with The Guardian, Mohamed ElBaradei says he will not vote in the presidential election this weekend. He expects Shafik to win but has harsh words for the Muslim Brotherhood. If you could comment on the boycott movement and also, as all these decisions came down yesterday, Shafik sounding like he had won, in a statement that he was making to the public, and the anger of Mohamed Morsi. Well, the boycott movement has certainly grown, especially after the first round of the—the results of the first round of the presidential election. There were a number of—I'd say a small core of revolutionary youth who boycotted the first round of the presidential election, saying that the entire process being led by the military council was illegitimate. But this boycott is being pushed further right now, and I think it's growing. There's been people like Alaa Al-Aswany, who's a leading intellectual here, who was previously backing Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, has now said he's going to boycott. As you just said, Mohamed ElBaradei said he's going to boycott. So there's a leading movement against it, because—for a number of reasons. One is seeing as—the elections as being rigged, the whole process as being rigged. There were certainly questions surrounding the first round. The Presidential Elections Commission behaved suspiciously by distributing last-minute voter lists and not allowing monitors into the aggregation of vote counts. And so, there's questions of legitimacy surrounding the poll, but also the outcome of the poll, pitting the Muslim Brotherhood, which is, you know, a conservative Islamist group that is in many ways the mirror establishment to the one that has ruled Egypt for 60 years—highly disciplined, highly hierarchical, secretive, with its own set of patronage networks—of course, not guilty of the same crimes as the regime, so perhaps the comparison is unfair, but I'm pitting that against really a stalwart of the former regime. And so, telling people that there is—it's not just these two choices. There is a third choice, and that choice is to refuse to participate in this process. A lot of people are going to go in, and have done so already in the ex-pat vote of people voting abroad, Egyptians, have spoiled their ballots, written "Down with military rule" on their ballots. So, the turnout was—the first round of the elections was much lower than the parliamentary elections, and many expect that when the polls open tomorrow, that there will be fewer people going to the polls, as well. There's also just one other thing I—a very important point to mention that was announced this week was that the Justice Ministry decreed basically giving military officers, intelligence officers, military police the right to detain and arrest citizens, to arrest civilians. This actual decree was announced on the 13th but was actually made on June 4th. And that's just four days after Egypt's 30-year emergency law finally expired, you know, a small gain in this transitional process, where Egypt had lived under emergency law for so long, and now the minister of justice issues this decree basically allowing these widespread powers of search and detention by the military. Seventeen Egyptian human rights groups condemned it, calling it a worse substitute than the state of emergency. So, all of these factors combined—with these court rulings, with Shafik in the race—really throw the entire transitional process into question, and many say that it's, in fact, dead. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, I want to thank you very much for joining us. Of course, we'll speak to you next week at the end of this election cycle to see what happens. Sharif Abdel Kouddous is a Democracy Now! senior correspondent, speaking to us from Cairo, Egypt. http://news.linktv.org/videos/raw-video-egyptian-political-crisis-provokes-anger-on-streets?start=0 Thousands of protesters marched in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Friday, protesting a court ruling allowing Hosni Mubarak's former prime minister to run for president. Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:55:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/raw-video-egyptian-political-crisis-provokes-anger-on-streets Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egyptian Revolution, Egypt, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, People's Assembly of Egypt, Alexandria, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Protest Thousands of protesters marched in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Friday, protesting a court ruling allowing Hosni Mubarak's former prime minister to run for president. http://news.linktv.org/videos/political-earthquake-rocks-egypt-just-days-ahead-of-election?start=0 Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court has dissolved the country's recently elected parliament and ruled that Mubarak's former prime minister can stand for the presidency. Some protestors are calling the decisions a de facto "military coup". Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:40:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/political-earthquake-rocks-egypt-just-days-ahead-of-election Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Egypt, People's Assembly of Egypt, Dissolution of parliament, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egyptian Revolution, Muslim Brotherhood Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court has dissolved its recently elected parliament, calling it invalid, and ruled that the ousted president Hosni Mubarak's former prime minister can stand as president. This means the presidential run-off between Ahmed Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy will go ahead this weekend. The Brotherhood said the dissolution of parliament will send Egypt into a "dark tunnel". Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-061412?start=35 Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved parliament days before the presidential runoff elections, reports New TV. The fate of the 100-member Constituent Committee is also under threat since it was founded by a now-dissolved parliament. Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-061412 Israel, Gaza blockade, Gaza, Gaza–Israel conflict, Palestinians, Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Syrian Civil War, Governance of the Gaza Strip, Nuclear program of Iran, Muammar Gaddafi Presenter, Male #1 Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved parliament, and confirmed the presidential runoff elections will be held on time. Our correspondent Mona Ashmawy reports from Cairo. Reporter, Female #1 Even the fate of the 100-member Constituent Committee that parliament approved is also under threat, since it was founded by a now-dissolved parliament. Although Egyptians have long waited for the formation of this committee tasked with drafting the constitution, everything is moving in the opposite direction; things are faltering, and the people can't differentiate between the starting and end points. Guest, Male #2 The ruling that the disenfranchisement law is unconstitutional was expected, of course, since the judiciary is not independent. So obviously, it will issue a verdict in favor of the government, and the person supported by the regime, and that is Ahmed Shafiq. Reporter, Female #1 What will happen in Egypt in the next few hours as it faces an uphill battle for democracy, and an ongoing revolution in the square? And with so many issues to protest, the revolution is uncertain what it must protest now. However, the struggle between Egypt's judges and the dissolved parliament seems ongoing, after parliament insulted and defamed the Egyptian judiciary and Judge Ahmed Rifaat, who presided over Mubarak's case. This led the chairman of the union of judges to respond in kind as the battle continues between the legislative and judicial powers. Guest, Male #5 (Ahmed el-Zind, Chairman of the Union of Judges) We did not elect a parliament to bring people together to insult and defame the judicial bodies, or cross their boundaries. Reporter, Female #1 There are people waiting for revenge; the Brotherhood, the Salafis and even the revolutionaries said they will take to the street and hold sit-ins. The country will be devastated if Shafiq becomes president. Guest Female #2 (Mona Makram Ebeid, Political Science Professor) As you heard, Shafiq said in the press conference that the freedom to protest is granted, and that freedom of expression is granted. So let them go to Tahrir, it is their right. They have the right to disagree, but destruction is not their right. Reporter, Female #1 There are strict procedures and harsh measures in a fierce presidential election that will determine Egypt's fate in the next four years. Calls to postpone these elections, or even keep the winner in power for just one year, were all in vain. The race is continuing despite all these conditions, a race that revolutionaries feel is determined in secret, while nothing has changed. Reporter, Female #1 The next few days are critical for Egypt. Ahmed Shafiq's team is still in the presidential race. As for a third of the members of the people's assembly, they are no longer in parliament, both constitutionally and judicially. So by law, the work of parliament has been halted. As for the Egyptian people, they are still unsure whether to choose the Brotherhood or the military. Or, sit at home to watch and observe the elections as though they were happening in another country. This situation can be summed in the Egyptian saying, "No one is worse than my grandmother than my grandfather." Mona Ashmawy, New TV, Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/will-egypts-new-president-change-the-countrys-foreign-policy?start=0 This weekend's presidential election in Egypt has raised fears of a radical shift in foreign policy should Islamist candidate Mohamed Morsi win -- but others see few changes on the immediate horizon. Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:32:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/will-egypts-new-president-change-the-countrys-foreign-policy Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt, Foreign relations of Egypt, Politics of Egypt, US-Egypt relations, Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, Egypt–Israel relations This weekend's presidential election in Egypt has raised fears of a radical shift in foreign policy should Islamist candidate Mohamed Morsi win. But as Elizabeth Arrott and Japhet Weeks report from Cairo, some see few changes on the immediate horizon. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-060812?start=766 <strong>WARNING: Graphic Content.</strong> Bahraini protestors demand the right to self-determination, Jordanians continue to rally for economic reforms, bomb targeting government bus kills 20 in Pakistan, and more.<br /> Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:35:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-060812 Palestinians, Beit El, Politics of Israel, Israeli outpost, Afghanistan, Israeli settlement, Israel, Bahrain Uprising, 2011-2012 Jordanian Protests, Yemen Uprising Presenter, Male #1 Tahrir Square is witnessing a demonstration titled the "Friday of Determination" to demand the retrial of deposed President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, and his regime's figureheads. Protestors are also calling for the implementation of the disenfranchisement law that would prevent the last prime minister during Mubarak's era, Ahmed Shafiq, from running in the presidential runoff election. Reporter, Male #2 Angry demonstrations have returned to the streets and squares of Egyptian governorates, starting with Alexandria, passing through Suez, and other governorates, and reaching Tahrir Square. Following the verdict of Mubarak and some of his regime's figureheads, masses took the squares and held spontaneous protests; they were not mobilized by any particular revolutionary or political force. Reporter, Male #2 The protests, in which thousands participated, viewed the verdict as a step toward reproducing the former regime. The demands varied throughout the demonstrations, and included the implementation of the disenfranchisement law on candidate Ahmed Shafiq, preventing him from participating in the presidential runoff round. Guest Male #3 After the field marshal ratified this law, Shafiq does not have the right to run in the presidential elections. Guest, Male #4 We will not leave the squares until all of the revolution's demands are met. Reporter, Male #2 Some members of parliament joined the angry popular reactions to reject and criticize the verdict of Mubarak and his aides. This led to a crisis between the judiciary and parliament, as judges threatened to boycott the oversight process in the runoff round. Guest, Male #5 All options are available: striking, not monitoring the election, and making this case an international issue. Reporter, Male #2 The million-man march of determination is the second in three days. Observers considered the march an attempt to pressure the country's leaders to halt the presidential runoff elections until the disenfranchisement law is implemented. These observers doubt that such an attempt will have an impact on the election date. Guest, Male #6 It is very difficult to postpone the presidential elections under the pretext of an increasing number of people on the Egyptian street. Reporter, Male #2 The fate of the presidential runoff election is still dependent on the verdict of the Supreme Constitutional Court that will be decide if the disenfranchisement law is unconstitutional on June 14, and in turn decide if calm will be restored to the squares, or if things will be turned upside-down. Mahmoud Hussein, Al Jazeera, Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-060612?start=801 <p>NATO air strike kills 18 civilians in Afghanistan, rights groups call for release of Yemeni revolution's detainees, Bahrain's crackdown extended to schoolchildren as journalist accuses police of torture, and more.</p> Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-060612 Logar Province, Nuclear program of Iran, Human rights in Yemen, Bahrain Uprising, Syrian Civil War, Hosni Mubarak, Israeli outpost, Naksa, Latakia, Knesset Presenter, Female #1 Under the slogan "A million-man march for justice," hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered in central Cairo's Tahrir Square yesterday. While protestors were united over the core issues, most notably the implementation of the political disenfranchisement law and the retrial of Mubarak and elements of his regime, they were divided over their next move. Presenter, Female #1 Meanwhile, the meeting between the military council, which is insisting on holding the presidential runoff elections on time, and the various political blocs ended with both sides agreeing to meet again on Thursday. The aim is to set standards for the formation of a founding committee to draft a new constitution. Tawfiq Ahmed reports from Cairo. Reporter, Male #1 In a scene that is reminiscent of the events of the January 25 Revolution, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square in a march of millions, titled "Justice." The demonstration attracted dozens of political and national blocs, as well as revolutionary coalitions that were united by a specific set of demands. Guest, Male #2 We demand and plead to all officials to retry the cases. This is unacceptable. How could they ask for proof if they have the videos? Guest, Male #3 This trial and the verdicts are a joke. They tricked us and tricked the people. Guest, Male #4 We tell all elements of the former regime that they have no place among the honorable people of Egypt and the founders of this great revolution. Reporter, Male #1 Despite their agreement over the fundamental issues, political blocs were divided over the formation of a presidential council to run the country's affairs during the transitional period. Reporter, Male #1 While many of the demonstrators' demands have been attained over the past year, many are still beyond reach, especially amid the legal hurdles and the military council's decision to hold the presidential runoff elections on time. Reporter, Male #1 Both the military council and the political parties have rejected the formation of a presidential council because it is illegal. In addition, the political parties strongly rejected a proposal by the consultative council to amend Article 60 of the Constitutional Declaration pertaining to the formation of the constitution's founding committee. Guest, Male #5 (Ashraf al-Ashri, Associate Editor-in Chief, al-Ahram Daily) This will not be accepted, especially considering that political blocs and the Islamic parties reject such a proposal, which is identical to the Constitutional Declaration issued on March 19 of last year. The declaration grants the authority to the People's Assembly or the parliament. So we must abide by the law and legislation to avoid run-ins with the major political blocs. Reporter, Male #1 If the political parties fail to agree on the standards for the formation of the founding committee in their meeting slated for Thursday, a Constitutional Declaration to amend Article 60 will be issued, as confirmed by independent Member of Parliament Mustafa Bakri. However, speaker of the People's Assembly, Saad al-Katatni, said he will do everything in his power to help uphold the privileges granted to the legislative council, which may spark a new crisis between the military council and the parliament. Tawfiq Ahmed, Dubai TV, Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/energized-and-angry-egyptians-reclaim-tahrir-square?start=0 For the fourth consecutive day, Egyptians protesting the exoneration of key regime figures have settled into sit-ins. In the cities of Suez, Alexandria, and Arish, organized sit-ins are growing in size and formulating their demands. Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:54:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/energized-and-angry-egyptians-reclaim-tahrir-square Tahrir Square, Egyptian Revolution, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Ahmed Shafiq, Protest, Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Habib Ibrahim El Adly, Gamal Mubarak, Alaa Mubarak For the fourth consecutive day, Egyptians protesting the exoneration of key regime figures have settled into sit-ins. In the cities of Suez, Alexandria, and Arish, organized sit-ins are growing in size and formulating their demands. Meanwhile, former presidential candidates deemed revolutionary by some joined in the demonstrations. On Monday, the former hopefuls spoke to protesters in the iconic Tahrir Square, proposing the formation of a presidential council that would rival the military junta's elections. Political groups, organizations, and campaigns endorsed a march of millions scheduled Tuesday afternoon. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-060512?start=36 Another million-man rally in Tahrir Square, titled "Justice," will demand the retrial of Hosni Mubarak, Dubai TV reports. Meanwhile, Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party announced it will boycott a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Tue, 05 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-060512 Illegal immigration from Africa to Israel, Jerusalem, Israel, Migrant worker, Illegal Immigration, Hosni Mubarak, Naksa, Syrian Civil War, Nuclear program of Iran, Human rights in Bahrain Presenter, Male #1 Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is holding a meeting today with party leaders and political forces to discuss the developments of the political arena in Egypt, and the recommendations submitted by the advisory council yesterday. Meanwhile, the Freedom and Justice Party announced it will boycott the meeting. Presenter, Male #1 This comes amid preparations for another million-man rally in Tahrir Square, titled "Justice," to demand the retrial of the former Egyptian president and a number of high-ranking security officials. The protestors are also demanding for the runoff round of the presidential elections to be halted until the disenfranchisement law is implemented. This is an attempt to disqualify presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, whose opponents have intensified efforts to prevent him from participating in the runoff round. Most political forces and figures announced their intention to participate in this million-man rally. Presenter, Male #1 Joining us from Cairo is our correspondent Tawfiq Ahmed. Tawfiq, how large was the response to today's million man rally? And what are the protestors' most essential demands? Reporter, Male #2 So far, there are only a few hundred people in Tahrir Square. But the attributes of the revolution have returned once again to the square; many tents have been set up, and the popular committees are securing Tahrir Square's entrances and exits. Reporter, Male #2 We are witnessing a very nationalistic atmosphere, and hearing slogans that call for enforcing the disenfranchisement law. This number will probably increase in the afternoon, at four or five pm Cairo time, considering that Hamdeen Sabahy and Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, the two candidates who lost the presidential elections, and respectively ranked third and fourth, will lead two marches to Tahrir Square, and we may witness great momentum. Reporter, Male #2 The Muslim Brotherhood and many other forces and revolutionary movements announced they will participate in this demonstration. But it seems the heat and working hours have prevented the presence of large numbers until now. As for the demands, we surveyed the protestors in Tahrir Square and asked them, "What are your demands?" Their answers varied, but there was consensus on some of the demands, and differences over others. Let's listen to what they had to say. Guest, Male #3 I am here today for the martyrs' blood that was wasted. The court that ruled let us down. Guest Male #4 Hosni Mubarak and Habib al-Adly must be put on trial again. This is my first demand. Then, the disenfranchisement law must be enforced because Ahmed Shafiq is not fit for the presidency. The presidential race was rigged, and that's how Ahmed Shafiq was allowed to run. My third demand is retribution for the martyrs. Guest, Male #5 I am here to confirm I am against electing the remnants of the old regime, or any candidate that does not belong to this revolution. Guest, Male #6 The martyrs' blood comes first! This is the first demand. Second, we don't want this presidential council; this is how they're trying to create problems among the people and divide us. Guest Male #7 We want bread, freedom, and social justice. Guest Male #8 To raise wages so people can live at ease. We also want an honorable president; it's not important if its Ahmed, Mohamed or Adel, the most important thing is that he is decent and loves this country! Presenter, Male #1 All of these demands will be discussed at the military council's meeting. http://news.linktv.org/videos/none-of-the-above-many-egyptians-dismayed-by-final-presidential-choices?start=0 After the promise of round one of Egypt's first post-revolution presidential election, a bitter debate has arisen among many voters over the relative merits -- and demerits -- of the final two candidates. Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:09:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/none-of-the-above-many-egyptians-dismayed-by-final-presidential-choices Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Politics of Egypt, Islamism, Egyptian Revolution, Egyptians, Hosni Mubarak After the promise of round one of Egypt's first post-revolution presidential election, a bitter debate has arisen among many voters over the relative merits -- and demerits -- of the final two candidates. VOA's Elizabeth Arrott has more from Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-060112?start=124 <p>Jordanians take to the streets against price hikes, Houthis agree to take part in Yemen's national dialogue, UN members warn of civil war in Syria on the Friday of the children of Houla, and more.</p> Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-060112 Syrian Civil War, Houla massacre, Yemen Uprising, Palestinians, Israel, Syria, Ban Ki-moon, Istanbul, 2011-2012 Jordanian Protests, Egyptian presidential election, 2012 Egyptians are on the streets calling for the disqualification of the ex-premier Ahmed Shafiq from the upcoming presidential runoff. They reject the idea of having a remnant of the former Mubarak regime as the first post-revolution president. Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsy won more than 24 percent of the vote in the first of the elections; Shafiq came in second with more than 23 percent. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-053012?start=35 Al-Alam reports that in secret talks last week, Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq assured American politicians that he would crush the revolution if he could, and that he would prevent Islamists from gaining power. Wed, 30 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-053012 Iran, Israel, Iran-Israel relations, Sudan, Syria, Ahmed Shafiq, 2012 South Sudan–Sudan border conflict, Zainab Alkhawaja, Afghanistan War, Iran-Saudi Arabia relations Presenter, Female #1 Egyptian media sources revealed that in a secret dialogue last week, presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq assured American politicians that he would crush the revolutionaries and execute them if they oppose the election results, and that he would not abandon Mubarak. Newspapers also uncovered Shafiq's threats that he will deploy the army and tanks into the streets, if protests erupt against him if he wins the runoff elections. Reporter, Male #1 In between building a new republic and returning to the oppressive past, Egypt is witnessing a political disappointment in light of the heated electoral battle between Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafiq. Despite what appears to be a likely triumph of Morsy, versus a slim chance of Shafiq gaining more votes, the role of regional and international players and their plans will make it difficult to predict the election results thus far. Political observers believe it has become certain that Lieutenant General Shafiq, backed by the military institution and affiliated with the former regime, will not win the battle against Morsy in the runoff, unless foreign powers interfere in the matter. Reporter, Male #1 This information was confirmed in a secret meeting last week between Shafiq and American officials and businessmen. Shafiq assured them that he will crush the revolutionaries if they oppose the election results. He considers Mubarak his role model and he will never abandon him. Guest, Male #2 (Egyptian TV Anchor) When asked about who your role model is, you said, your father is your first role model. And the second is President Mubarak, who manages to balance between fairness and leniency. Guest, Male #3 (Ahmed Shafiq, Presidential Candidate) I still say the same thing; until the end of my days, I will still say the same. Reporter, Male #1 Journalist Ala'a al-Aswani uncovered this information by quoting his sources, and also according to the American newspaper, The New York Times, which published the closed-door secret talks. Al-Aswani confirmed that Shafiq pledged to the US to protect its interests, repress the forces rejecting the US projects, fight the Islamic movement, and prevent it from spreading. Guest, Male #3 (Ahmed Shafiq, Egyptian Presidential Candidate) I will put everyone in their place. I know who they meet with, and I will be watching them. Reporter, Male #1 For his part, Major-General Mohsen el-Fangary, member of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, called on the people to question Shafiq regarding his statements saying he will send the army and tanks into the streets to protect him, if the people oppose his victory in the elections. Reporter, Male #1 In this context, the Jerusalem Post, quoting Raphael Israeli, a specialist in the Middle Eastern affairs in the Israeli entity, considered Shafiq to be Israel's only hope. The newspapers explained that many Egyptians consider Shafiq a modified version of Mubarak. It asserted that the decision-makers in the Israeli entity view Shafiq, pragmatically and morally, as the continuation of the deposed president's alliance with Washington, and what it referred to as a strategic partnership with Israel. Amid these dangerous developments of Shafiq's ideology and methodology, political observers believe that abandoning the square was a strategic mistake in the path of the Egyptian revolution. They also believe that the upcoming phase calls for popular and political coalitions in order to protect the revolution and its goals. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-29-2012?start=0 Protests erupt in Egypt as Mubarak's ex-PM secures a spot in presidential run-off election. Sharif Abdel Kouddous talks to Jimmy Carter about the Egyptian elections. And Charles Ferguson speaks about his new book, "Predator Nation." Tue, 29 May 2012 11:18:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-29-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egypt, United States, Charles Ferguson, Jimmy Carter, Drone, JPMorgan Chase, Drone attacks in Pakistan, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi Protests erupt in Egypt as Mubarak's ex-PM secures a spot in presidential run-off election. Sharif Abdel Kouddous talks to Jimmy Carter about monitoring the Egyptian elections. Charles Ferguson, director of the Academy Award-winning documentary, "Inside Job," speaks about his new book, which argues Wall Street has turned the US into a "predatory nation." Plus headlines, and more. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-29-2012?start=786 Protests erupt in Egypt as Mubarak's ex-PM secures a spot in presidential run-off election. Sharif Abdel Kouddous talks to Jimmy Carter about monitoring the Egyptian elections. Charles Ferguson, director of the Academy Award-winning documentary, "Inside Job," speaks about his new book, which argues Wall Street has turned the US into a "predatory nation." Plus headlines, and more. Tue, 29 May 2012 11:18:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-29-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egypt, United States, Charles Ferguson, Jimmy Carter, Drone, JPMorgan Chase, Drone attacks in Pakistan, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports from Egypt, where protests erupted last night after final results were announced in the country's first-ever competitive presidential election. The top two candidates in the first round of the race are Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in a popular uprising 15 months ago. "[Shafik] speaks the language of Mubarak's regime. And what that means is the retention of broad discretionary powers given to the executive and given to security forces, a very strong role for security agency involvement, whether the intelligence services or Ministry of Interior security agencies, to ensure stability and control over protests, which, as far as he is concerned, are the source of instability," says Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch. Morsi and Shafik will face each other in a runoff vote set to begin June 16. Special thanks to Democracy Now! video producer Hany Massoud. Protests erupted in Egypt last night after final results were announced in the country's first-ever competitive presidential election. The top two candidates in the first round of the race are Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak who was ousted in a popular uprising 15 months ago. Morsi and Shafik will face each other in a runoff vote set to begin on June 16th. The race was tight, with the top four candidates all garnering between 20 and 25 percent of the vote. But the so-called revolutionary votes, that were neither for Muslim Brotherhood or former members of the Mubarak regime, were split between third and fourth place. Three of the top candidates in the race filed appeals alleging violations in the vote, but they were all rejected by the presidential elections commission. The decisions by the commission are final and cannot be challenged. Hours after the official announcement, protests erupted in Cairo and Alexandria. The headquarters of Ahmed Shafik was also stormed and set on fire. Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous is in Cairo covering events on the ground. He filed this report. The presidential elections commission makes the official announcement. Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, are the two top winners in Egypt's first-ever competitive presidential election. Hours after the official decision by the presidential election commission, that announced that Ahmed Shafik and Mohamed Morsi are in the runoff, the streets of Tahrir have once again been filled. People are chanting against Shafik. They're chanting against the Brotherhood. They're calling for some kind of change. And they're here to protest. Tarek Shalaby is a member of the Revolutionary Socialists. In Tahrir, there are hundreds growing into thousands maybe, hopefully. I think it's just a reaction to the official results that have been announced putting Morsi first and Shafik in second place. And I think it's just a lot of people expressing discontent, one way or the other. Maybe a lot of people feel that there was fraud. Others have boycotted and just don't trust the system, and they're just taking the streets. Others can't believe that the Egyptians have chosen—if they choose to believe it, have chosen Shafik and Morsi to be the final two. So I think it's a combination of a lot of things. It's very difficult to generalize. Not long afterwards, the campaign headquarters for Ahmed Shafik is stormed and set ablaze. Outside the campaign headquarters of Ahmed Shafik here in Dokki, there's a chaotic scene. Firetrucks are here. They put out a fire. People are blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for what happened here. People are blaming revolutionaries. They're calling for people to respect what they say is the will of the people, respect the ballot box. In Egypt's first democratic presidential election, the outcome is a deeply divisive one. More than 23 million Egyptians took part in the landmark poll last week, a turnout of 46 percent. The race was very close with the Brotherhood's Morsi coming out on top with 25 percent of the vote, followed by Shafik with 24 percent. The unanticipated first round result has been called "the nightmare scenario" by Cairo-based journalist Issandr El Amrani. I do think, for a substantial number of people who were, I'd say, pro-revolution, as it's defined here, that they had hoped for an outcome that wouldn't be this binary choice that Hosni Mubarak had warned of so long: if it's not him, it's the Muslim Brotherhood. The so-called revolutionary votes were mostly divided among the candidates who placed third and fourth in the election: Hamdeen Sabahi, a Nasserist whose dark horse candidacy surprised many by capturing 21 percent of the vote, and Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a liberal Islamist who garnered 20 percent. Many had expected the Brotherhood to do well by virtue of the group's vast grassroots network. Abdullah Al-Arian is an assistant professor at Wayne State University. On the one hand, the Muslim Brotherhood has demonstrated a strength, a real ability to mobilize its own base. It has an unparalleled organizational structure and hierarchy. It has unparalleled discipline within its ranks, which brought it the 25 percent or so that they demonstrated in this first round. What came as more of a shock was the success of Ahmed Shafik in the election. As Mubarak's last prime minister, he was forced out of office by popular protests just three weeks after Mubarak stepped down. In his race for the presidency, he has campaigned on a law and order platform, vowing to use brutal force to restore order within a month and says he'll act as a bulwark against Islamists in government. Heba Morayef is a researcher for Human Rights Watch. HEBA MORAYEF: He speaks the language of Mubarak's regime. And what that means is the retention of broad discretionary powers given to the executive and given to security forces, a very strong role for security agency involvement, whether the intelligence services or Ministry of Interior security agencies, to ensure stability and control over protests, which, as far as he is concerned, are the source of instability. A former air force general, Shafik is seen as the candidate of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces that has been ruling the country since Mubarak's ouster. And experts say his campaign was boosted by Mubarak's old party networks. There still remains, I think, patronage networks that perhaps we didn't see it work in the parliamentary elections, where the old NDP, the former ruling party, networks did not perform well. But they seem to have come back with a vengeance in this election. As the preliminary election results began to emerge, allegations of voter fraud and violations quickly surfaced. Of course, there are very widespread reports of violations and all kinds of irregularities with the vote. Several of the losing candidates have already called on the elections commission in Egypt to actually not authenticate these results until a thorough investigation has been held. There are numerous reports that hundreds of thousands of government and state employees who were not authorized to vote were given false documents to actually be allowed to vote in favor of Shafik. There are other reports that whole villages were given large sums of money to basically vote in a particular way. While the top three candidates filed appeals alleging violations, they were all summarily rejected by the presidential elections commission two days later. The Carter Center was one of three international organizations accredited to witness the vote. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said his group was not able to monitor the entire process because authorities only granted the observers permits one week before the vote, and observers were not allowed to witness the aggregation of ballots. This is the 90th election in which we have been involved as observers for almost a quarter of a century. And we have had restraints placed on us as witnesses that have never been present before. There is no way we can certify that the entire process has been proper. But what we've observed, I would say, has been encouraging to me. At the press conference, Carter also pointed out a unique aspect of Egypt's presidential election. This entire process has been exciting and gratifying, but it's a first time that I have ever participated in an election for president of a nation when there were no description of future duties of the president who was being elected. The presidential elections are being held without a constitution in place. The country is being ruled under a constitutional declaration issued by the ruling military generals last year, and it remains unclear what authority the newly elected president will have when the military council hands over power on June 30th. Further muddying the waters is the fact that Ahmed Shafik almost didn't make it into the race at all. Last month, the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated parliament passed a law to ban former senior members of the Mubarak regime from running, but the presidential elections commission allowed Shafik to take part. The presidential election commission, that makes all decisions regarding to this race, decided not to apply the law in his case. Now, there could be legal reasons, that the law came after the beginning of the registration period. But it's still very puzzling when a democratically elected parliament has issued a law and the current executive authority, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, has approved that law, that it should not be implemented, especially when you combine that with the fact that under the current system the decisions of the presidential election commission cannot be appealed. Both Shafik and Morsi are now looking to pick up supporters from the other front-runners who finished behind them in the first round of the vote. Both candidates face an uphill battle. Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, is set to go into a runoff against Ahmed Shafik, the former member of the Mubarak regime. The Muslim Brotherhood is now looking to gain support from some of the revolutionary forces and the liberal forces that they distanced themselves from over the past year and a half. They had a turnout of support of roughly 47 percent in the parliamentary elections, but now, since then, we've seen that support dip almost by half, to only about 24 percent, in the presidential elections. How they're going to make up that loss of support, I think, is one of the critical questions facing the Muslim Brotherhood. The reason for that drop in support has been the perception, widespread among all of the revolutionary segments, all of the different movements within the revolution, that the Muslim Brotherhood has really just been looking out for its own interests, that at certain times when it suited the movement and the organization and its political wing, that it has cooperated with the SCAF government at the expense of the revolutionaries. And at other moments, when its own personal interests were being threatened, they then joined with the revolution against the government or against the SCAF. Mohamed El-Sawy is a member of parliament with the Hadara Party. He briefly served as culture minister in Shafik's cabinet, yet he says he'll vote for Mohamed Morsi to prevent Shafik from reaching the presidency. I'm really convinced, long ago, has been my life dream to get rid of being a state that is run by military people. I'm not ready to keep on living in a state that is a semi-military state. Voters now face a choice: the Brotherhood candidate or the member of the old regime? It's become a polarizing question that has deepened divisions in Egypt. Rasha Azab is a prominent activist and protester. She boycotted the first round of the vote and is boycotting the runoff. The revolution should have known from day one that our path is far away from elections. We should know that elections or the ballot box won't make the revolution. The ballot box, in reality, toppled the revolution in Egypt. The elections are a return to Mubarak's regime completely, hierarchically, up to the post of the president. The president is being returned in the same old way. Everything is in the hands of the military council. Mubarak was the weakest link in the chain. Mubarak, who is now in hospital, is nothing. The regime is still there and still performing. The only difference is we will change from Mubarak to Shafik or Morsi. The presidential election was supposed to mark the final step in Egypt's turbulent transition. But the outcome of the first round has only sparked outrage and brought protesters once again to the streets of Cairo and elsewhere. Just weeks from the so-called handover of power from the military to a newly elected president, the future of Egypt is as uncertain as ever. For Democracy Now! I'm Sharif Abdel Kouddous with Hany Massoud in Cairo, Egypt. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-29-2012?start=1593 Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous interviewed President Carter in Cairo about Egypt's landmark presidential vote. He also discusses the role of the military in post-Mubarak Egypt, and the Camp David Accords. Tue, 29 May 2012 11:18:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-29-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egypt, United States, Charles Ferguson, Jimmy Carter, Drone, JPMorgan Chase, Drone attacks in Pakistan, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi The Carter Center was one of three international organizations accredited to witness Egypt's historic presidential election last week. Its mission was led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Two days before the official election results were announced, Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous interviewed President Carter in Cairo about the landmark vote. “It's unprecedented to have presidents elected before the president's duties are defined, but I think it can be done successfully, and I believe it will," Carter says. He adds that the Carter Center will be in Egypt "for the writing of the constitution and even for the referendum, where the Egyptian people can decide to approve or disapprove the drafted constitution." He also discusses the role of the military in post-Mubarak Egypt and the Camp David Accords. [includes rush transcript] The Carter Center was one of three international organizations accredited to witness Egypt's historic presidential election last week. Its mission was led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Two days before the official election results were announced, Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous interviewed President Carter in Cairo about the landmark vote, the role of the military in post-Mubarak Egypt, the Camp David Accords, and more. President Carter, welcome to Democracy Now! Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you. What is your assessment on the first round of the presidential elections in Egypt? Well, we can't make a final judgment about the entire process, because the Carter Center's role here has been limited. We were approved quite late. We could not make comments to the press. We didn't get a chance to see the preparation of the ballots and the voters list and the conduct of the campaign, the qualification of candidates. So we were excluded from all that. But we did see the voting days, and we did see the counting of ballots in the polling stations. But we were also deprived of a right to witness the final tabulation in Cairo when all of the ballots were brought together. So, with that limitation, I think that the Egyptian people would agree with us that basically it was a good process and that there was no allegation that I have heard that any problems in the voting was designed to hurt one candidate or to help another candidate. So, overall, we're pleased. Do you think you can have a freely elected government under military rule, especially one that's viewed by many as an extension of the former regime? Some of the young revolutionaries have boycotted for this reason. Well, I met with some of those leaders after the election day was over. And I think they are now preparing to listen to the two candidates, whoever they might be in the final count, and to try to present their demands or their requests to the candidates and then decide whether or not to participate in the runoff election and which candidate to support. And my guess is that no matter who the two final candidates are, when the election commission makes its final decision, that both of those candidates will be eager to have the support of people who did not support them in the past—women's groups, very liberal groups, Christians, young people and so forth. So, it'll be a good process, compatible with democratic elections everywhere. Well, you met with the generals. Are you confident— Yeah. —that the military will hand over full authority to a civilian president? Well, I think they will have some demands. I recommended in the press conference that they might look at America and see what we do and treat the military that way with the election—elected officials—that is, a president and a congress having unquestioned domination over the military, but with the military treated with respect, which we do in my country—I was in the military for 12 years myself—and with the budget and laws that relate to the military and the foreign policy established by others, not by the military. So those kind of things, I think, will be orchestrated, if not immediately, then over a period of a very few months or years. The United States backed the Mubarak regime for years, with $1.3 billion in military aid. Last year, Congress added a restriction on that aid that conditioned it on the State Department certifying that Egypt's military rulers are making a successful transition to democracy. Earlier this year, the Obama administration issued a national security waiver to bypass that restriction and to continue military aid to Egypt. This came in the wake of the NGO crisis in which U.S. NGOs were raided. This came in the wake of continued crackdowns on protests that left protesters killed and many more wounded, with thousands of civilians put on military trials. What are your thoughts of this continued U.S. policy of funding, providing military funding to the Egyptian government despite these kinds of abuses? Well, I believe that the human rights violations that have occurred in the past will be alleviated in the future. I don't think there will be abuses like there have been under a military dictatorship. So I would guess that the United States would look with favor on the new government in Egypt as honoring human rights more than in the past. So I would like to see the United States and Europe and Arab countries and the World Bank and the IMF be generous with the grants and loans to Egypt. Egypt has suffered a lot during this revolutionary period, with a loss of tourism and those kinds of things. And I think it would be in the best interest of America and the rest of the nations in the world to see Egypt have a strong economic system. The Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Morsi, who's widely expected to be in the runoff, has said that he would reexamine the Camp David Accords that you brokered in 1978, and saying that Israel has not fully respected the agreement. What are your thoughts? Well, I've talked to him at length about this. And you have to remember, there are two parts of the Camp David Accords. One was a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, and that cannot be changed without approval or agreement with Israel. And I don't think that will happen. I don't think that that would be violated. The second part, though, was the rights of the Palestinians. And the rights of the Palestinians have not been honored, as agreed by Israel, by Anwar Sadat in Egypt, and by me in the United States. And in the past, I think President Mubarak has been willing to accept this attitude by the Israelis and the Americans—that is, not to give the Palestinians full honor of their rights. And I would guess that in the next Egyptian government, both the president and the parliament, that they will be much more attuned to Palestinian rights. So, the peace treaty will be kept intact. There will be more attention by Egypt now on Palestinian rights. You met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal yesterday here in Egypt. You discussed Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, and it was reported that he brought up the U.S. continuing to block reconciliation talks. What are your thoughts on U.S. policy towards Fatah-Hamas reconciliation? Well, I think the United States in the last few years has basically deferred to Egypt to negotiate between Hamas and Fatah. And I presume that this is a situation that will continue. The Carter Center is not bound by restraints. We meet with whom we choose, and we choose to meet with Fatah and with Hamas, and with Israel and with Jordan and with Lebanon and with Syria and with Egypt—everybody that's involved in the future peace for Israel and its neighbors. So, in my opinion, it's good to see Hamas and Fatah come together. They plan to form a technocratic government. They will not comprise representatives of Fatah or Hamas. And I think that government will prepare the Palestinian community for future elections. Gaza has been under siege for many years now by Israel, but also by Egypt. Last year, the foreign minister of Egypt, after Mubarak's toppling, said he would open the Rafah crossing. It was reopened somewhat, but not fully. What are your thoughts on Egypt's policy towards Gaza? In the past, it's been too restrictive. And my hope is it will be opened up in the future so that there's easy access to and from Gaza from Egypt. Finally, President Carter, do you have hope that things can actually change in Egypt? This has been a very badly mismanaged transition. Many say we've put the carriage before the horse. There's been a lot of abuses over this transitional period. Do you have hope that things will actually improve for the better? Yes, I do. The one thing that was a departure from previous plans by the Egyptians was the writing of a constitution before the presidential election. That proved to be impossible, because the first constitutional assembly was not constituted fairly. It was not representative of the Egyptian public. And the parliament and others decided we need to make a new list of the hundred people that will write a new constitution. So it will be done after the presidential election. I don't see this as a fatal mistake. It's unprecedented to have a presidents elected—presidents elected before the president's duties are defined, but I think it can be done successfully, and I believe it will. The Carter Center, by the way, we intend to be here for the writing of the constitution and even for the referendum, where the Egyptian people can decide to approve or disapprove the drafted constitution. President Carter, thank you very much. I enjoyed talking to you. Thank you. Former President Jimmy Carter in Cairo with the Carter Center. He was observing Egypt's first-ever competitive presidential election. He was speaking with Democracy Now!'s Sharif Abdel Kouddous. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-052912?start=295 Egyptian cities witnessed protests against Mubarak-era presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq in the runoff round, Al-Alam reports. Protestors reached Shafiq's campaign headquarters in several governorates and set them on fire. Tue, 29 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-052912 Israel, Syrian Civil War, Sudan, Ramallah, Yemen, Iran, Syria, Beersheba, Houla massacre, Egyptian presidential election, 2012 Presenter, Female #1 Egyptian cities witnessed protests against Ahmed Shafiq's qualifications in the runoff round. Protestors in central Cairo's Tahrir Square were attacked with batons by "thugs." The al-Nour Party and the martyrs' families announced their endorsement of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy. Meanwhile, political activists waged a campaign to combat the regime's remnants in the runoff elections. Reporter, Female #1 With these slogans, Egyptians took to the streets to express their anger towards presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, who is participating in the runoff round, and possibly becoming Egypt's first president after the revolution. Once again, the revolutionaries took to the squares in different governorates to protect their revolution, which would be at stake if Shafiq won the elections, given that he was one of the figures of the regime they revolted against. Guest, Male #1 We are here to bring victory to the revolution. If Ahmed Shafiq wins, then the revolution will be wasted. Reporter, Female #2 The protestors in Tahrir Square in Cairo announced that Shafiq's presidential candidacy is unacceptable, and a loss of the martyrs' rights. They stepped on his pictures and lifted signs condemning him. One of them reads: "Shafiq will be president over my dead body." Guest, Male #2 People are very upset, and they will not allow Ahmed Shafiq to rule the country. All of these people revolted against Hosni Mubarak, who was poorly managing the country. We were very intimidated by the police. If Ahmed Shafiq wins, we will go back to square one. Reporter, Female #2 Protestors also called for the enforcement of the disenfranchisement law on Shafiq. Guest Male #3 The disenfranchisement law forbids anyone from the old regime ruling us. Reporter, Female #2 The enraged protestors reached Shafiq's campaign headquarters in several governorates and set them on fire, throwing his campaigns' advertisement materials outside his headquarters in the Dokki area in Cairo, where some of his supporters were gathered. Guest, Male #4 I don't want the remnants of the regime that corrupted political life over the past 30 years to return to politics again. Reporter, Female #2 Alexandria also witnessed large protests condemning Ahmed Shafiq. Sinai revolted, calling for enforcing isolation on Shafiq. Social movements and political forces, including the al-Karama, or 'dignity' party, the Committee to Protect the Revolution, revolutionaries of Sinai, and some political and religious movements, went out in a massive protest in al-Sadat Square, in the center of al-Arish City, to demand the enforcement of the disenfranchisement law on Shafiq. Khaled Arafat, al-Karama Party's founder in Sinai, announced the organization of protests to activate the disenfranchisement law on Shafiq. The Revolutionary Socialists organization in Egypt called for establishing a National Front to challenge Shafiq, who they described as a candidate for the Military Council and the dissolved National Democratic Party. They considered his victory a severe loss to the revolution, and a strong blow to its gains. Reporter, Female #2 Political activists in Fayoum organized a campaign to warn citizens of Egypt's return to the former regime's rule if they elect the regime's remnant, Ahmed Shafiq. Losing candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh called for excluding Shafiq and implementing the disenfranchisement law. He considered the Supreme Electoral Commission's decision to reject the appeals a further deterioration of the situation. Candidate Khaled Aly, who initiated an open sit-in in Tahrir Square until Shafiq is excluded from the runoff round, asserted that the elections were rigged in Shafiq's favor. He called for forming an independent judicial committee to revise the vote-counting process. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-25-2012?start=0 Preliminary results from Egypt's first competitive presidential election indicate there may be a runoff between Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, and Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's ex-prime minister. Plus headlines, and more. Fri, 25 May 2012 10:33:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-25-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egypt, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi, United States, Montreal, Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, Student debt, Education in the United States, Islam in the United States Preliminary results from Egypt's first competitive presidential election indicate there may be a runoff between Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, and Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's ex-prime minister. A three-month review by New Jersey's attorney general has concluded the New York City Police Department did not violate state laws when it conducted extensive surveillance of Muslim groups with help from the CIA. In Montreal, nearly 1,000 were arrested as mass Quebec student strike passed its 100th day. And we examine controversial plans to close or privatize public schools in several Pennsylvanian cities. Plus headlines, and more. http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-25-2012?start=625 Preliminary results from Egypt's first competitive presidential election indicate there may be a runoff between Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, and Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's ex-prime minister. A three-month review by New Jersey's attorney general has concluded the New York City Police Department did not violate state laws when it conducted extensive surveillance of Muslim groups with help from the CIA. In Montreal, nearly 1,000 were arrested as mass Quebec student strike passed its 100th day. And we examine controversial plans to close or privatize public schools in several Pennsylvanian cities. Plus headlines, and more. Fri, 25 May 2012 10:33:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/democracy-now-may-25-2012 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Egypt, Ahmed Shafiq, Mohamed Morsi, United States, Montreal, Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, Student debt, Education in the United States, Islam in the United States Preliminary results from Egypt's first-ever competitive presidential election indicate there may be a runoff between Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, and Ahmed Shafik, the former prime minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak. The elections appear to have been relatively free and fair, with voter turnout estimated at around 40 percent. While official results will not be announced until Tuesday, Morsi appears to be in the lead. The two candidates competing for second place are Shafik, the anti-revolutionary former prime minister, and Hamdeen Sabahi, a longtime protester of the Mubarak regime. We get an update from Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous in Cairo. We turn now to Egypt, where preliminary results are emerging from the country's first-ever competitive presidential election. Several independent vote counts put the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in first place out of 13 candidates. The Brotherhood had monitors in polling stations around the country. According to its tally, with 90 percent of the votes counted, Morsi came in first place, followed by Ahmed Shafik, Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister. The two would go into a scheduled runoff that's slated to begin on June 16th. However, votes are still being counted, and at the time of the broadcast, reports are emerging second place might also go to Hamdeen Sabahi, a socialist candidate and founder of the Nasserist party. Turnout has been estimated around 40 percent. The official results will be announced Tuesday. For more, we go directly to Cairo to speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. Sharif, welcome. Tell us what's happening. Well, Amy, the polls closed last night at 9:00 p.m., and vote counting started right after that. Much of Egypt was glued to the TV, the state TV showing split screens of different governorates of the polling stations of the votes being counted. While the actual results will come out—the official results will be announced on Tuesday, what is clear from preliminary results from journalists and from the campaigns themselves is that the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi has—will probably be in first place, and he will go into a runoff. This is a testament to the Muslim Brotherhood, its weight and effectiveness and the weight of its political machine and its grassroots outreach campaign. He campaigned on a very conservative platform, portraying himself as the sole Islamist candidate that can implement Sharia law. And let's remember, he's not the Muslim Brotherhood's first candidate. He's basically promised to execute the plans and platforms of the Muslim Brotherhood's first candidate, which was Khairat El-Shater, who is its lead strategist and financier. Now, Ahmed Shafik may be in second place. He's in a very tight run, it seems, with Hamdeen Sabahi as these votes are coming out. Ahmed Shafik, of course, is the former air force general who served as Mubarak's last prime minister. He was appointed a few days after the revolution began. He was prime minister during the infamous Battle of the Camel, when the Mubarak regime sent in thugs to try and clear Tahrir Square. And he was forced out of office by protests three weeks later. He's billed himself as the law and order candidate, but disorder seems to follow him wherever he goes. When he voted just the other day, he was swarmed by protesters as he emerged from the polling station. They hurled shoes and debris at him, and he had to be escorted into his car. His campaign spokesman—he's very allied to the generals and to the military, and he's very anti-revolutionary. And his campaign spokesman today told the New York Times that the revolution has ended. So, there was—there's a lot of outrage amongst revolutionary forces if he does make it into the runoff. However, we must keep in mind that votes are still being counted. And really, the dark horse in this race is really Hamdeen Sabahi, who is in this race for second place against Ahmed Shafik. He is a longtime protester against the Mubarak regime. He's a socialist in the tradition of Gamal Abdel Nasser. He formed the Karama party, which is a Nasserist party. And he's probably the only—well, he is the only leading candidate that was not a member of the former regime and who is not an Islamist. He has very strong revolutionary credentials. You know, there's video of him showing—breaking through the lines on January 25th. So, it's a very exciting time right now. Everyone is watching the results as they emerge. And we'll just have to wait to see who the runoff will be against Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate. Sharif, as I understand it, there was a split between liberals and leftists in Egypt on who to support. You had Sabahi, who you mentioned, but also Aboul Fotouh. I wonder if you could talk about the results showing that, had—that taken together, these candidates attracted more support than the others, but because they both ran, they might have split the leftist liberal vote. Well, some have ruefully been talking about that fact, that Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, he's a former Muslim Brotherhood member. He left the group last year to run. He formed this coalition that brought together some revolutionaries, some liberal seculars, and combined them with conservative Muslims to bring kind of this rainbow coalition into his campaign. And some belay the fact that he may have taken—with Sabahi and Aboul Fotouh together, they beat even Mohamed Morsi, if you add the votes together. However, I think it's important to realize that, especially in Egypt, the political map is not so cut and dry. You can argue that Hamdeen Sabahi took votes away from Ahmed Shafik. You can argue that Aboul Fotouh definitely took votes away from Mohamed Morsi. It's a very complicated political picture here. There are many issues to do with secularism and Islamism, but also just the history of the candidates, anti-Muslim Brotherhood votes. So it's a complicated picture. But, you know, if Hamdeen Sabahi hadn't run, would Aboul Fotouh have done better? Yes, but it's unclear how the others would have done, as well. So— And finally, the—Sharif, the fairness and freeness of the elections? Well, I think, by most accounts, this was a well-conducted poll. The Carter Center and other groups have said that it was conducted better than the parliamentary elections, which were not deemed in the words "free and fair," but were deemed to be largely free of irregularities and to reflect the overall opinion of the electorate. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, we want to thank you for being with us. We'll be speaking to you on Tuesday when the final results are expected. Sharif's speaking to us from Cairo, Democracy Now! correspondent and Nation Institute fellow. http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypt-divisive-figures-emerge-as-likely-second-round-candidates?start=0 With no clear winner in the first round of Egypt's presidential election, leading candidates Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafik are likely heading to a run-off vote. The two -- an Islamist from the Muslim Brotherhood and a former PM under Hosni Mubarak -- look set to polarize opinion. Fri, 25 May 2012 08:35:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/egypt-divisive-figures-emerge-as-likely-second-round-candidates Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Politics of Egypt, Egyptian Revolution, Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt), President of Egypt, Prime Minister of Egypt Counting in the first round of Egypt's first free elections has revealed no candidate will emerge with an overall majority, meaning there will be a run-off -- likely between Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy and former prime minister Ahmed Shafik. The two are likely to polarize opinion between those who reject any links to former President Hosni Mubark's regime, and others who fear a hardline Islamist in charge. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-052512?start=36 Al Jazeera reports that after counting 90 percent of the votes, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party candidate, Mohamed Morsy, had 25 percent of the votes, as opposed to Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister in Mubarak's era, who had 23 percent. Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-052512 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Israel, Iran, Nuclear program of Iran, Syrian Civil War, Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan Nasrallah, Ahmed Shafiq, Lebanon, P5+1 Presenter, Male #1 Al Jazeera's reporter in Egypt confirmed that the vote counting process for the presidential elections is nearing an end in most governorates, except for Cairo and Giza, where the process is continuing, considering they are the largest, in terms of number of voters. The Muslim Brotherhood group said that after counting 90 percent of the votes, the candidate for the Freedom and Justice Party obtained 25 percent of the votes, as opposed to candidate Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister in Mubarak's era, who obtained 23 percent. The group said that Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh ranked third place, with 20 percent. Hamdeen Sabahy came in fourth with about 19 percent. Reporter, Male #2 Under tight safeguarding by police and military forces, ballots were transported to the central headquarters in all governorates to preserve them for some years to come, according to the rules regulating presidential elections. This comes after most votes were counted at the subcommittee centers after hours, marking the end of the voting process. A mostly calm atmosphere prevailed during the counting process, which was done under the supervision of judges, civil society organizations, and media outlets. Reporter, Male #2 On the other hand, an atmosphere of excitement and suspense prevailed as the results appeared, often placing candidates neck-and-neck, or behind at other times. However, it seems that none of the candidates will sweep the results during the first round. Guest, Male #3 (Bashir Abdel Fatah, Editor of Democracy Magazine) Whatever the results are, they should be accepted, as long as the election process was fair and transparent. We should all respect the results of these elections, even if we are not satisfied with it. Reporter, Male #2 The Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission set next Tuesday as a date to announce the final results of the first round, after looking into any possible challenges presented by any of the candidates. After decades or even centuries of authoritarian rule, Egyptians are on the verge of a new period of their history, voting for a new president for the country on a democratic basis. Voting that was based on free will. Egyptian voters needed an additional hour after the official time, which at some polling stations was extended to two hours, to complete the voting process before the counting process began at the subcommittees. Guest, Male #4 (Ahmed Samih, Director of Center for Human Rights) What is really amazing is that the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission added a new dimension to the vote-counting process, which added to the transparency of these elections. Reporter, Male #2 A runoff round is expected in the middle of next month between the two candidates who obtained the most votes in the first round. The elected president will receive his full authority from the ruling Military Council at the beginning of July, which was the date set by the council to transfer power to an elected civilian president. Abdel Basir Hasan, Al Jazeera, Cairo. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-052512?start=236 <p>Brotherhood candidate claims early lead as protestors rally against Mubarak-era candidates, Lebanese hostages released in Syria as Annan plans to meet with al-Assad officials, Iran's nuclear talks moved to Moscow after reaching a stalemate, and more.</p> Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-052512 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Israel, Iran, Nuclear program of Iran, Syrian Civil War, Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan Nasrallah, Ahmed Shafiq, Lebanon, P5+1 Protestors in Egypt have rallied against Mubarak-era premier and current presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, claiming that the Military Council is fooling Egyptians, and that a revolution will erupt again if a Mubarak-era candidate is elected. http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-052512?start=1086 <p>Brotherhood candidate claims early lead as protestors rally against Mubarak-era candidates, Lebanese hostages released in Syria as Annan plans to meet with al-Assad officials, Iran's nuclear talks moved to Moscow after reaching a stalemate, and more.</p> Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://news.linktv.org/videos/mosaic-news-052512 Egyptian presidential election, 2012, Israel, Iran, Nuclear program of Iran, Syrian Civil War, Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan Nasrallah, Ahmed Shafiq, Lebanon, P5+1 Joining IBA in the studio to analyze the latest Iranian nuclear talks and the Islamist leaning of the Egyptian presidential election is Ambassador Yoram Ettinger, former charge d'affaires in Washington, who says that a society that still performs female genital mutilation, executes apostates, and elects the Muslim Brotherhood to power is not a democratic society, in spite of their acceptance of US aid.