President Hosni Mubarak : Still Supporters Clash with Protesters

President Hosni Mubarak :The uprising in Egypt has resulted in a relatively muted debate between the political parties in the United States - at least so far - with Republican lawmakers mostly backing the Obama administration's approach or registering minor disagreements.But the events in Cairo have exposed a schism between two longtime allies:

neoconservative Republicans, who strongly advocate democracy and the George W. Bush "freedom agenda" around the globe, and Israelis, who fear that a popularly chosen Islamist regime could replace that of President Hosni Mubarak.

CAIRO (AP) — Bursts of heavy gunfire rained into Cairo's Tahrir Square before dawn Thursday, killing at least three anti-government demonstrators among crowds still trying to hold the site after an assault by supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, according to a protest organizer.

Sustained bursts of automatic weapons fire and powerful single shots rattled

into the square starting at around 4 a.m., and was continuing more than an hour later."We would like our country not to be like Iran," Louis said. Many of the 3,000 or so people who turned out to support Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for 30 years, said they were worried that groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood would take over if free elections are held.

The Muslim Brotherhood says it is not ideological, but it was a mentor to Osama bin Laden, and alleged 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed attended its camps as a teenager. And before he left Egypt, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, was a member.

Egypt Governments on Pressure for Reforms

Egypt Governments started arranging for planes on Sunday to bring home citizens stuck in Egypt, where violent protests of the rule of President Hosni Mubarak have given way in some parts of Cairo to looting.Leaders around the world are calling for immediate economic and social reforms in Egypt as countries prepare to transport expatriates out of the area today.

On Sunday, the United States stepped up pressure on Mubarak's fledgling government, urging reforms and throwing its full support behind "peaceful protesters" demanding change.U.S.-based Delta Air Lines Inc, for instance, said on Friday it was suspending its service into Cairo indefinitely.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Janice Jacobs said on CNN television that U.S.-government sponsored flights will be leaving Cairo on Monday."We are in the process right now of arranging for some charter flights that will be going out of Cairo. Those will begin tomorrow and then they will be ongoing until we are able to get all Americans who are not able to get out via commercial airlines."They came from every corner of Astoria, Queens: Egyptian taxi drivers, Tunisian shopkeepers and Lebanese doctors, all seeking news and commiseration through the thick and fragrant haze

of hookah smoke at the Layali El Helmeya Café on Steinway Street, otherwise known as Little Egypt.But the moment President Hosni Mubarak appeared on the cafe’s television set on Friday, announcing that he was offering to replace his government ministers but refusing to cede power, their reaction was blunt and unified.

“Leave! Leave! Leave! You have no shame!” they chanted.As tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo on Sunday for the sixth day of open revolt, here in Astoria, the heart of New York City’s Egyptian community, people reacted with hope tinged with visceral anger for an Egyptian president who they said had suppressed freedom for too long and an American president whom they accused of abetting him.