NewsBreakingOnline

Paul Owen with the latest from Egypt as protests against the government enter their 17th day ترجم هذه الصفحة إلى العربية 9.53am: Good morning. Protests against the government in Egypt are entering their 17th day today. Protesters remain camped out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and outside the People’s Assembly, calling for Hosni Mubarak, the president, to leave office immediately. The US and Egypt have got into a row over Washington’s call for rapid change in Cairo . Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egypt’s foreign minister, has rejected a demand from the US that Cairo speed up the pace of reform. The US should not impose its will on a “great country”, Aboul Gheit said. But the White House said Egypt’s plans for change did not amount to enough to satisfy protesters. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said: I think it is clear that what the government has thus far put forward has yet to meet a minimum threshold for the people of Egypt. PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the US state department, said: If there’s some notion on the government side that you can put the genie back in this bottle, I think that’s gone a long time ago. Aboul Gheit also responded to calls by Joe Biden, the US vice-president, for Egypt’s emergency law to be lifted, saying that the escape of 17,000 prisoners meant this was impossible. Gibbs has previously hinted that Cairo’s behaviour may affect US aid to Egypt . But according to the Times today Saudi Arabia has said it would prop up Mubarak if the White House tried to force a change of regime, and would step in with financial aid if the US withdrew its assistance, which the paper says amounts to $1.5bn a year. Egypt is the fourth-highest recipient of American aid after Afghanistan, Pakistan and Israel, with most of the money going to the Armed Forces. Slashing this was seen as a key weapon in Washington’s armoury should it wish to force Mr Mubarak from office, but Riyadh’s intervention seriously undermines America’s leverage. The White House declined to comment yesterday, saying that the Administration did not divulge what other leaders said to Mr [Barack] Obama. Some protesters slept in front of Egyptian army tanks last night in order to serve as human barricades to prevent the tanks from driving into the square. The BBC has a good map of the area . The government refuses to give ground on the demonstrators’ main demand, although Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, has promised there will be no reprisals against the protesters for their campaign to remove Mubarak. Mubarak has promised to stand down when his term expires in September, but the demonstrators want him gone now. Demonstrators are accusing the government of playing for time and say they will not give up until the “half revolution” has been completed. But the protesters are now in danger of losing momentum. Tomorrow’s demonstration will be the biggest test, as protesters try to bring as many people out on to the streets as they could last Friday and this Tuesday. Tuesday’s was the biggest demonstration yet, while yesterday protests spread to the parliament building. Meanwhile in China, Ma Zhaoxu, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, has expressed support for Egypt’s efforts to maintain stability and rejected the idea that foreigners should interfere with the country’s government. He said: China understands and supports the efforts made by the Egyptian side to protect social stability and return to normal law and order. We maintain that Egypt’s affairs should be decided by Egypt alone, and should not receive interference from outside. In the Guardian today: • Chris McGreal reveals allegations of detention and torture made against the Egyptian army . The Egyptian military has secretly detained hundreds and possibly thousands of suspected government opponents since mass protests against President Hosni Mubarak began, and at least some of these detainees have been tortured, according to testimony gathered by the Guardian. The military has claimed to be neutral, merely keeping anti-Mubarak protesters and loyalists apart. But human rights campaigners say this is clearly no longer the case, accusing the army of involvement in both disappearances and torture – abuses Egyptians have for years associated with the notorious state security intelligence (SSI) but not the army. • Robert Tait tells of his experiences being tied up and blindfolded by the Egyptian security services as his fellow detainees were electrocuted and beaten . I had been handed over to the security services after being stopped at a police checkpoint near central Cairo last Friday. I had flown there, along with an Iraqi-born British colleague, Abdelilah Nuaimi, to cover Egypt’s unfolding crisis for RFE/RL, an American radio station based in Prague. We knew beforehand that foreign journalists had been targeted by security services as they scrambled to contain a revolt against Mubarak’s regime, so our incarceration was not unique. Yet it was different. My experience, while highly personal, wasn’t really about me or the foreign media. It was about gaining an insight – if that is possible behind a blindfold – into the inner workings of the Mubarak regime. It told me all I needed to know about why it had become hated, feared and loathed by the mass of ordinary Egyptians. • Ian Black analyses the Egyptian regime’s intentions and the role of Suleiman . The first talks on Sunday were inconclusive. The impression is strengthening, say analysts in Egypt and abroad, that Suleiman is not serious about a constitutional review, a timetable for change, protecting freedom of expression, allowing peaceful protest, and ending the state of emergency. His remarks on Tuesday, rejecting an immediate departure by Mubarak or any “end to the regime”, did not sit well with his wish to resolve the crisis through dialogue. His warning of a possible “coup” sounded like a threat of more overt military intervention than has been seen so far. • Jack Shenker and Chris McGreal report from Cairo on the talks between the opposition and the government, the spreading of unrest, and the involvement of striking workers . • Timothy Garton Ash says ecstatic crowds in Cairo prove there is no clash of civilisations – everyone wants freedom. The question is, how to get it? • Ahmed Salah, a co-founder of the 6the April Youth Movement and the Egyptian Movement for Change, argues that the west has a duty to help end Mubarak’s rule . • And the Guardian’s leader column looks at the two faces of Egypt . Egypt Middle East Hosni Mubarak Protest Paul Owen guardian.co.uk