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Rolling coverage of all the day’s events in Egypt 10.08am: More world leaders have joined the US president in putting pressure on Mubarak for an orderly transition of power. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, backed the pro-democracy demonstrators, saying the rest of the world would be remiss “if we were not siding with these people”. Speaking at a security conference in Munich, she added: “There will be a change in Egypt … but it needs to be change in such a way that it is peaceful and orderly.” However, Merkel added that early elections would probably be unhelpful. “Early elections at the beginning of the democratisation process is probably the wrong approach,” she said. At the same conference, the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said the turmoil in Egypt, Tunisia and other Arab countries demonstrated the risk of insecurity caused by a “deficit of democracy”. He said democracy created peace and security but “where it is absent there is chaos and uncertainty. We see this of course … most recently in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries in the Middle East.” The causes of this instability include “human insecurity, poverty, diminished or disappointed expectations, lack of good governance, corruption, ineffective governance of public institutions and deficits of democracy”, the UN chief added. 9.52am: Egyptian state television has reported that saboteurs blew up a gas pipeline in north Sinai. It quoted an official as saying that the “situation is very dangerous and explosions were continuing from one spot to another” along the pipeline, according to Reuters. “It is a big terrorist operation”, a state TV reporter said. There were no injuries and the blaze was quickly brought under control after the gas flow was shut off, according to the Associated Press. The governor of the region, Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, said he suspected “sabotage”. Security sources told Reuters that the Egyptian army closed the main source of gas supplying the Jordanian branch of the pipeline, blaming the attack on “foreign elements”. Israel Radio said the Egypt-Israel pipeline was not damaged, but the supply has been stopped as a precaution. Jack Shenker said it is thought that the explosion is linked to the ongoing dispute between Mubark’s government and the Sinai Bedouins, rather than being directly related to the current protests against the regime. 9.38am: Good morning this is David Batty with the Guardian’s live coverage of the unrest in Egypt. It is the twelfth day since mass protests began against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak and thousands of people spent the night in Tahrir Square in central Cairo, after another huge rally demanding his resignation. Jack Shenker and Mustafa Khalili are in Cairo for the Guardian and will be filing reports throughout the day. We’ll also be bringing you a roundup of UK and international news coverage of the protests. In the meantime, here is a roundup of the latest developments: • Thousands of people spent the night in Tahrir Square following another huge rally against Mubarak. • The US has raised the pressure on Mubarak, with President Barack Obama urging him to begin an “orderly transition” of power. US officials say a meeting between Egypt’s leaders and the opposition could be held in the next few days, perhaps even this weekend. • Egypt’s finance minister, Samir Radwa, says talks are planned between the vice-president and opposition leaders. The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is not expected to take part. • Reuters reports that there has been a blast near Egypt’s gas pipeline with Israel in north Sinai. Jack Shenker will have more details on this shortly. Egypt Middle East David Batty guardian.co.uk