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Trying to disqualify the Muslim Brotherhood's Shura council election candidates...

Meanwhile: Number of arrested brotherhood members continues to rise... More from BBC... 78 more brotherhood members detained... Brotherhood military trial resumes... Human rights groups barred... Trial postponed till July 15... 52 others from the group are arrested... Plus: Brotherhood blogger released. Another "sort-of" meeting between the US and the brotherhood ... Photo... Meanwhile: Beginnings of a crackdown on Muslim brotherhood Shura candidates?

Another two weeks added to Ayman Nour's jail time... Earlier: Not happy about Bush's Ayman Nour remark... Earlier: Ayman Nour will not be released at this time... Ayman Nour not being released yet... More from AFP...  Ayman Nour's wife blasts the US for abandoning democracy...

Another Sadat relative expelled from parliament..

Real opposition? Former MDP bigwig Osama Ghazali Harb's new Democratic Front party gets official approval...

The democratic juice... NY Times ruminates politics over a glass of sugarcane...

Interesting book club discussion about the future of Egyptian politics....

Repentant Jihad extremists released from jail...

Going deeper into the labor strikes issue...

All about brotherhood? More brotherhood arrests... Pravda says 45... Muslim brotherhood contemplates a new slogan... Lower court's rare decision to prohibit a military trial of 40 Muslim Brotherhood members has just been overruled..  Earlier: court rules against military trial... More from AFP... Two Muslim Brotherhood lawmakers stripped of their immunity... More from Reuters... Brotherhood blogger's detention ordered extended by 15 days... Earlier:  Police arrested two lawmakers and at least 10 other members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group for holding a secret meeting... Latest Brotherhood military trial news... More from Reuters... and Pravda...  New Statesman lends its support to the detained brotherhood blogger... Human rights group urges Egypt to free Muslim brotherhood blogger... Earlier: Brotherhood blogger detained, as are 15 more students... Meanwhile, brotherhood to field 20 candidates for Shura elections... Expectations that they will be banned. Plus, Just a casual chat? Newsweek interprets the controversial US-Muslim Brotherhood "meeting"... A top U.S. Democratic congressman said he did not have "personal meetings" with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood during a recent official trip... More from AP... Earlier: Interesting moves... Boston Globe op-ed urges Washington to deal with the brotherhood... Meanwhile, Mubarak asks parliament for law providing appeals options on military trials... Plus, latest round of brotherhood detentions...

Shura elections set for June...

Speculation won't stop... Gamal Mubarak denies wanting to be president in an interview on Orbit TV... More wedding commentary from The Guardian... AP appears sympathetic to the Mubarak family's denials of Gamal wanting to be president. Earlier: Significant ceremony... The first part of Gamal Mubarak's wedding covered by AFP... Plus, Gulf News collects a lot of commentary... Earlier: AP story on Gamal Mubarak's wedding talks politics... Daily Star critical of opposition attention to the matter... Arabic papers concentrating on NDP official who tells the news agency that "In the past year, debate within the party has moved beyond whether Gamal should succeed his father to how best to carry it out, said a party official close to the president's son. The official agreed to discuss the party's inner workings only if not quoted by name."

How the public transport workers strike ended... Plus photos of the strikes... Earlier: Why strikes are getting serious: blogger Arabawy's account of a sudden transport workers' strike in Nasr City... Closure of workers' rights group attracts attention...  Labor disputes taking on a new dimension...

Judges protest increasing working age to 70...

Calm for now? Deal ends simmering Sinai Bedouin sit-in... Much more from AP...Earlier: Tensions with Sinai Bedouins inspire some to try and head for Israel...  Reuters: "Sinai villagers burn tyres after deaths in chase..."

Egypt offended about Amnesty's human rights report... More from BBC...

Robert Fisk is impressed by a conversation with Heikal...

Authorities arrested a lawyer on charges of belonging to a militant Islamist group

Shadid's two-part Post piece covers Kifaya's rise and fall... Bitter Thursday... The protest that wasn't -- Kifaya's anti-constitutional amendment demo broken up, scores arrested, then released... Earlier: 35 arrested? Info trickles in on Thursday's demo...

Insightful blogger: "Mubarak’s regime picked the most risky successor possible and planned to install him using the riskiest method possible..."  Plus, a visiting British professor tries to tackle the same subject in the Guardian... And: a theoretical look at Egypt and democracy: "Condi's rock'n'roll approach has been and gone. Let's try Benita's slow waltz..."

Another controversial day...
Although the referendum on amending the constitution is done, the on-the-ground analysis goes on...

Rights groups say referendum turnout was only five per cent... Oxford says the new constitutional amendments may help to balance the budget... The EU makes a critical comment about the recent referendum... Economist looks at the pros and cons of the just-passed constitutional amendments... So does BBC. Meanwhile, judges reject results... A government affiliated rights group charges fraud... Earlier: Economist says "rushed constitutional change betrays official unease"... The LA Times says Brotherhood might abandon political life as a result... And the Post sees politics as usual...

75 % said yes? Reuters: "blogs have published amateur video footage purporting to show ballot stuffing and vote fraud in a nationwide referendum on constitutional amendments which opposition groups say was rigged..." AFP says voters overwhelmingly approved the referendum... AP reports skepticism... Reuters looks at opposition reactions... White House critical of low referendum turnout and "abbreviated" process; urges Egypt to meet goals it has "set for itself..."

Credit and blame... NY Times covers the constitutional amendments debate, with an eye on the real politic of the aftermath of the Sayeda Zeinab fire... Time listens very closely to Gamal Mubarak... Egypt's ambassador to Washington pens an article in the Washington Times about the amendments... Meanwhile, a slide show of photos from an anti-constitutional amendments protest in  front of the Egyptian embassy in DC...

Referendum now... Reuters reports on a "trickle" of voters... and quotes official turnout figures in the process... Polling stations are deserted, AP reports... Meanwhile, the State Information Service provides a summary of all the amendments... and, interestingly enough, a voter's guide...

Last minute constitutional latest.. On the eve of the public referendum on the constitutional amendments, presidential son Gamal Mubarak weighs in... Meanwhile, BBC does a useful referendum Q and A... and Condi's latest remarks, courtesy of CS Monitor... Also: referendum eve tension, with a protest broken up by police...  Turnout expected low, AFP says in last minute roundup... A prominent judge thinks so too... and the Washington Post at its harshest...

Getting closer, heating up... In a nationally-televised speech on Saturday, President Hosni Mubarak defends his controversial constitutional amendments... Earlier, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she is very concerned about the speed by which Mubarak's amendments are being turned into law. Condi is meeting the president and foreign minister this weekend... Meanwhile, foreign minister Abul-Gheit is not happy about Condi's remarks... Time magazine's verdict is that "the regime's hopes of managing a smooth political transition that would have international and domestic support are being dashed..." Ahram Weekly provides an overview of all the amendments, and Carnegie releases a comprehensive analysis as well...

Referendum roundup... Public referendum on new constitutional amendments has been set for March 26... Brotherhood decides to boycott... More from AFP here and here... AP's take... And even more from the Guardian... Kefaya says referendum will be fixed... AFP calls US reaction muffled -- State Department says Egypt not meeting benchmarks? Meanwhile, Baheyya keeps a careful eye on the changing dynamics of parliament... Plus, a slide show of several referendum-related protest photos...  Earlier: A rather tricky situation... Unhappy lawmakers walk out of parliamentary session on constitutional amendments... The parliament goes ahead & approves the amendments anyway, while the hyperbolic debate escalates... Meanwhile, IHT urges Washington to do something, and a rights group is highly critical of the anti-terror amendment... Opposition unites against constitutional amendments... Kefaya tries to strategize against the referendum...  Earlier: Coming very soon... Referendum on constitutional amendments scheduled for April... Ahram Weekly provides a handy roadmap to the constitutional changes... Meanwhile, Gamal Mubarak goes front and center to reassure public about the constitutional amendments...  Constitutional amendments progressing through the parliamentary process...

Target Brotherhood... Even more brotherhood arrests... Top Brotherhood leader pens a piece in the Guardian... New brotherhood arrests...

Shadid's two-part Post piece covers Kifaya's rise and fall...

A rather tricky situation... Unhappy lawmakers walk out of parliamentary session on constitutional amendments... The parliament goes ahead & approves the amendments anyway, while the hyperbolic debate escalates... Meanwhile, IHT urges Washington to do something, and a rights group is highly critical of the anti-terror amendment... Earlier: Opposition unites against constitutional amendments... Kefaya tries to strategize against the referendum...  Earlier: Coming very soon... Referendum on constitutional amendments scheduled for April... Ahram Weekly provides a handy roadmap to the constitutional changes... Meanwhile, Gamal Mubarak goes front and center to reassure public about the constitutional amendments...  Constitutional amendments progressing through the parliamentary process...

Bitter Thursday... The protest that wasn't -- Kifaya's anti-constitutional amendment demo broken up, scores arrested, then released... Earlier: 35 arrested? Info trickles in on Thursday's demo...

Insightful blogger: "Mubarak’s regime picked the most risky successor possible and planned to install him using the riskiest method possible..."  Plus, a visiting British professor tries to tackle the same subject in the Guardian... And: a theoretical look at Egypt and democracy: "Condi's rock'n'roll approach has been and gone. Let's try Benita's slow waltz..."

Bloomberg assesses the current state of Ayman Nour and the Ghad party...

Bitter victory? Destour editor Ibrahim Eissa avoids prison, but gets fined nonetheless... Plus, a little more from the Irish Times...

Target Brotherhood... Even more brotherhood arrests... Top Brotherhood leader pens a piece in the Guardian... New brotherhood arrests...  AP says brotherhood leaders are laying low for now... Meanwhile, the Guardian looks at the brotherhood's new young bloggers... Carnegie report digs deep into the Muslim brotherhood... Court upholds brotherhood finance freeze...Photo from protest outside... Earlier: 75 sudden brotherhood arrests... More from BBC... Interesting bit of a warped Washington Times editorial... Earlier: Tension at an Al-Aqsa support protest at Al-Azhar... Brotherhood appears to threaten back... Mubarak orders military trial for Brotherhood members...  Earlier: AFP provides details on the government's financial freezing of the Muslim Brotherhood... Court orders release of 42 Muslim Brotherhood students held since December...  7 more brotherhood arrests... BBC says recent brotherhood arrests are a serious escalation... More brotherhood arrests... Big push...  Mubarak said the Muslim Brotherhood "poses a threat to Egypt's security and the country would face isolation in the world if the Islamist movement became more powerful..."

Rising tide? Colorful San Fran Chronicle feature on the worker strikes.. AFP reports on labor strikes beginning and ending... BBC: "Thousands of workers in some of the country's largest textile factories have gone on strike, demanding better pay and bonuses."

Condi brings up Ayman Nour's health in the lead up to a DC meeting with Abul Gheit...  More details from AFP...  Meanwhile, back in Cairo, a medical committee says no to releasing Nour from jail...

Lens demo... Photographers hold protest in front of Press Syndicate over new restrictions and old harassment... Plus, a slide show... Earlier: Day at the assembly... Interesting set of spur of the moment parliamentary pics...

Parliament voted in favor of amending 34 articles in the Egyptian constitution as part of a political reform package proposed by President Hosni Mubarak... Earlier: Story out of nothing -- angry parliamentarian supposedly starts to undress during session on constitutional amendments.. The constitutional countdown begins... An insightful Carnegie piece encouraging the US to take active role in Mubarak's proposed constitutional amendments, while discouraging any appearance by America of helping to choose a successor... Go to the intro or straight to the whole PDF...

Blogger trial adjourned until February...  Earlier: Blogger goes on trial...

Police, torture and blogs... "Wael Abbas hasn't been arrested by Egyptian police, but the blogger fears it could happen any day..."... The Nation gets comprehensive on blogs, etc... According to AFP, the "politically active blogger community has brought to light another torture case..." Earlier: CS Monitor tries to tell a bigger story about the Taha trial and the press... Interior minister speaks up on range of current controversies....

Kefaya gets a new boss in Abdel-Wahab El-Messri... Plus, the Arabist's take... Earlier: Kifaya commemorates the bread riots of 30 years ago with a protest in Sayeda Zeinab... Slide shows here and here...

To the people... Baheyya pens another good one -- this time an insightful commentary about why the parties court rejected applications from Wasat and Karama, and what these would-be parties should do next... Earlier: Licenses not granted to fledgling parties... Plus: A timely Harvard Review sum-up of the political and economic scene...

Hidden pressure, open support? Columnist wonders if US has abandoned Egypt's patriots... A US appeal to free Ayman Nour... Interesting IHT analysis of Rice's Cairo visit tries to place it in the context of changing Egypt-US relations...Meanwhile, Egypt pledges support to US Iraq surge plan... Earlier: Bush discusses Iraq plan with Mubarak... Preparing for Rice's visit...