1430 GMT: British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt has welcomed a truce between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel after recent clashes, airstrikes, and firing of rockets: "The UK welcomes reports that a truce has been reached and calls on all sides to show restraint and prevent further such escalations in future. We urge all parties to prevent civilian casualties and loss of life."
The boycotting factions included the Constitution Party, the Popular Current, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Nasserist Party, the Karama Party, the Free Egyptians, the Socialist Popular Alliance, Free Egypt, and the Adl Party.
The meeting was attended by Ayman Nour, spokesman for the Conference Party and member of the Constituent Assembly; Mohamed El-Beltagi, prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party; and Essam Sultan, deputy head of the Wasat Party and Constituent Assembly member. Presidential advisors Emad Abdel-Ghafour --- who is also head of the Salafist Nour Party --- Ayman El-Sayad, Omaima Kamel, Pakinam El-Sharqawi, and Farouk Gowida.
Some of those who attended expressed concern about the Constituent Assembly. Nour told Morsi, "The threat of dissolving the assembly has vanished. We're now left with the possibility that one wing will control the assembly, and therefore we need your intervention."
Nasserist Sameh Ashour said that finalising the constitution before the High Constitutional Court (HCC) rules on the Constituent Assembly was "wrong", insisting that the assembly should freeze its work until the HCC issues its verdict.
The government denies using excessive force against protesters or carrying out torture, and dismisses the activists as a handful of agitators with little support among the public. Mainstream opposition parties say they sympathize with protesters, but have been lukewarm at best in support.
Still, a hard core of anti-Bashir activists are trying to spark a popular revolt to end his 23-year rule, devising tactics as they go to overcome the many obstacles to public dissent in the vast, ethnically-divided country.
"They are geniuses, we must admit this," says an engineering student activist, about the regime's ability to survive political and economic crises. "They manipulate Sudanese minds and know how to do it, to tell people what they want to hear. Now, for example, people are tortured, but you would not know it unless it happened to a relative. But the economic crisis has made people open their eyes more."
Those who have taken to the streets are mostly activists, says this student, who like other activists interviewed for this story asked not to be named. "But a regular Sudanese is just sitting in his house saying, 'Good work,'" says the student. "They are not physically engaged."
1958 GMT:Syria. Defections have been occurring at a faster and faster pace, but today there were reports that a relative trickle, perhaps a hundred ot a few hundred soldiers every week, may have finnaly reached flood-stage, with unconfirmed reports that hundreds of fighters jumped ship.
There are reports that a single new brigade of Free Syrian Army soldiers, the "Unification Brigade" claiming to be made up of soldiers from many different backgrounds, contained more than 100 soldiers, all of whom appear to be heavily armed, and that those soldiers are also equipped with multiple vehicles armed with heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons.
Protest in Khartoum, 29 June 2012 (Photo: Nabeel Alhady/Girifna)
In my dream, I was inside a tunnel. The tunnel was jammed with cars, and I was in one of them. I was alone in the taxi, and the driver was frustrated with the heavy traffic. The tunnel seemed endless, and I asked the driver to roll down the windows because I could slowly feel myself running out of breath. My claustrophobia started to kick in, and the long queue of cars both ahead and behind me gave me a strong sense of uneasiness. The windows were now open, but I couldn't feel any air gushing in. I poked my head out of the window in an attempt to find where the tunnel ended… to figure out if freedom was near. The tunnel was a long, endless spiral. I was trapped and there was no way out. Stepping out of the car was not an option; there was no sidewalk inside the tunnel. Death was near; I began preparing myself for it.
Much like what I went through with my multiple detentions a week or so ago, the trauma I suffered during this dream felt real.
Sparked by Government austerity measures, protests were renewed in Sudan against the Bashir regime on 15 June. In an episode of Inside Story broadcast last Friday, Al Jazeera English talks to two analysts --- one from Sudan and one from Britain --- and a member of the opposition Democratic Union Party about the future of the demonstrations.
The activist call for support for today's protests
After almost two weeks of protests in the capital Khartoum and other cities, fostered by the regime's austerity measures, Sudan's activists hope to increase the numbers on the streets today.
The regime's security apparatus has started to flex its muscles in response. The opposition claims hundreds have been arrested so far, including bloggers, human rights activists, and members of the influential organisation Girifna. Some foreign journalists have been expelled, and there are reports of limitation and cut-off of the Internet. In the circumstances, some protesters have been sheltering in safe houses.
The opposition is defiant, however as the title of today's demonstration, Elbow Lick Day, testifies. It is a "tribute" to President Bashir, who said this week that it would be easier to "lick your elbow" than to remove him from power.
Sudan has flirted with joining the Arab Spring twice in the past 18 months. Whether this occasion will be the lasting spark is far from certain. However, it is likely to show that the Bashir regime is not immune from the calls for democracy and justice.
Developments can be followed on Twitter via the hashtag #SudanRevolts.
Al Jazeera English's report on conflict in Sudan, 25 June 2012
The success of the current, rapidly growing rebellion in Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan is far from assured. The National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime—facing a serious domestic challenge for the first time in years—will use all the considerable force at its disposal to retain full control over national wealth and power. Brutality has already increased with the number and determination of protestors, who now include not only students but lawyers and other civilian constituencies. And as the protests spread—to Omdurman and other parts of central Khartoum, to Sennar, el-Obeid, Wad Medani, Damazin (Blue Nile University), Gedaref, Kosti, and Port Sudan — there is even more pressure on this ruthlessly survivalist regime to emulate the tactics of Gaddafi in Libya and al-Assad in Syria. The coming days and weeks are likely to be extremely bloody.
But Sudanese with whom I’ve spoken in recent days are unanimous in their conclusion that now is the moment—that having come this far, there is no turning back. If the moment is lost, another may not come again soon.
Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 9:12 | 
