Sunday, December 9, 2012
Egypt F-16 fighter jets fly low over Cairo amid calls for protest......Obama plays Golf.
Egypt F-16 fighter jets fly low over Cairo amid calls for protest.......Obama plays Golf.(AA).Egyptian F-16 fighter jets made low passes over the center of Cairo on Sunday in a rare maneuver by the air force over the capital amid high political tension, AFP news agency reported.
At the end of October, jets made similar passes as part of a surprise military exercise.
On Saturday, the army released a statement on political unrest that has killed seven people in the capital, urging supporters and opponents of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi to open talks to stop Egypt descending “into a dark tunnel with disastrous results”.
“That is something we will not allow,” it said.
The Egyptian opposition considered Sunday whether to maintain mass protests against Mursi after the Islamist leader announced a key concession in the political crisis dividing the country.
A Mursi aide said the president had agreed “from this moment” to give up expanded powers he assumed last month that gave him immunity from judicial oversight.
However, in a meeting with other political figures on Saturday, Mursi said he would still press ahead with a Dec. 15 referendum on a controversial new constitution drafted by a panel dominated by his Islamist allies.
Calls for protests started late on Saturday from opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, shortly after the president’s decision to annul a controversial decree.
“We call on Egyptian youth to hold peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins in all of Egypt’s squares until our demands are met,” the National Salvation Front said, in a statement read to media by one of its leaders, Mohamed Abu al-Ghar.
“The will of the people is turning toward a general strike,” Abu al-Ghar added.
The Front’s statement called on Mursi to disband organized militias, to investigate clashes between rival camps that left seven dead and hundreds injured in Cairo on Wednesday and to denounce violence between protester camps.
It reiterated its two core demands that Mursi annul a Nov. 22 decree putting himself beyond judicial review and that he cancel a Dec. 15 referendum on the new constitution.
The Front said it “maintains its offer for serious and objective dialogue” conditioned on those demands.
The Muslim Brotherhood, on the other hand, said it will organize human chains on Sunday to back up the dialogue’s results in front of its main headquarters in Mokattam, Cairo, according to Al Arabiya.
The protest calls follow Mursi’s decision on Saturday to annul a constitutional declaration he issued last month expanding his powers and that puts his decisions beyond judicial review.
However, the effects of that declaration would stand and a referendum on a draft constitution would still go ahead as planned on Dec.15, said Islamist politician Selim al-Awa.
“The constitutional decree is annulled from this moment,” al-Awa said, as he relayed the substance of a meeting between Mursi and political leaders.
The president was legally bound under the constitution to maintain that date and had no choice, al-Awa explained.Hmmmm....Anyone still believing that Obama cares about the Copts or the Egyptian moderates?Read the full story here.
An unusually warm Washington fall has allowed Obama to golf right up to his Hawaii vacation scheduled for later this month, when he will play constantly.
And we’re keeping score. Since Election Day:
Obama Golf Outings: 4
Meetings with Boehner about the Fiscal Cliff: 1
It’s Obama’s 108th time golfing as president and his 16th time of 2012.HT: WhiteHouseDossier.
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