Image of the Day

Political crisis deepens as judges refuse to oversee referendum
on new constitution proposed by president
Abdel-Rahman Hussein in Cairo
Photograph: Petr David Josek/AP
Protesters gather in front of the presidential palace in Cairo.
An International Monetary Fund loan to Egypt has been delayed until
next month, intensifying the political crisis gripping the country.
The delay, announced on Tuesday, came as judges voted decisively
against overseeing the referendum on the controversial new constitution.
Ahmed El Zend, the head of the judges club, an unofficial body with
most of Egypt's judges among its members, said 90% had decided not to
supervise the referendum. However, the high elections commission, the
judicial body supervising the referendum, said there were enough judges
on board to oversee the voting but only by staging the referendum in two
phases, on 15 December and 22 December.
In a further sign of the seriousness of the country's political
stalemate, the defence minister, Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, called for a "national
dialogue meeting" to try to find consensus between the Muslim
Brotherhood and opposition groups.
The delay in the $4.8bn (£3bn) loan, which was agreed last month,
occurs amid mounting protests against the government, which has faced
accusations that it is behaving in an authoritarian fashion by issuing
decrees and attempting to push through a new constitution.
As rival factions gathered in Cairo for more demonstrations, the
finance minister, Mumtaz al-Said, said the delay in the loan agreement
was intended to allow time to explain a heavily criticised package of