Egypt's Supreme Military Council has had only three public meetings in it's history. The first one was in 1967, the second was in 1973 and the third took place today. In it they announced that they had convened the meeting in response to the current political turmoil and that they would continue to convene such meetings. It is most significant that Mubarak didn't chair the meeting as he normally would have. Instead the meeting was chaired by Defense Minister Mohamed Tantawi. The statement says
"Based on the responsibility of the armed forces and its commitment to protect the people and its keenness to protect the nation... and in support of the legitimate demands of the people [the army] will continue meeting on a continuous basis to examine measures to be taken to protect the nation and its gains and the ambitions of the great Egyptian people,"
Mubarak has stepped down as Commander-in-Chief of the Army!
This meeting took place amidst growing rumors from multiple sources that President Mubarak will step down from the presidency this evening and turn power over to his new Vice President and Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman. Other rumors have the army or taking over.
The government has announce that President Mubarak will make a major speech live to the nation from his palace this evening. This is amidst rumors that he has already fled to the Red Sea.
Stay Tuned! This is a fast moving story that we will be updating often today.
Here are some of the most recent tweets we are receiving at WL Central:
Greg Mitchell: Well, Mubarak live speech will get biggest audience ever for any program worldwide, I would guess...
matthew cassel:Tahrir is absolutely packed, I think if people get any more excited all of central Cairo could explode
RT @AJELive: NDP chief reportedly stopped Mubarak making speech, handing power in #Egypt to VP Suleiman.
DailyNewsEgypt: Armed Forces Council says in first statement it will continue convening, reiterates support of Egyptian people and their demands
Reuters: NBC reporting Mubarak will step down tonight
Reuters FLASH: Senior military officer in Tahrir tells protesters demanding Mubarak leave: "Everything you want will be realized"
The army is meeting has not ended! They Supreme Military Council is on continuing meeting. A former NDP member on AJ thinks this means that Mubarak will turn over power to the military.
This is the latest from Al Jazeera at this hour: [7:50pm Cairo]
Hassam Badrawi, the secretary general of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), told the BBC and Channel 4 News on that he expected Mubarak to hand over his powers to Omar Suleiman, the vice-president.
"I think the right thing to do now is to take the action that would satisfy ... protesters," Badrawi told BBC television in a live interview.
Ahmed Shafiq, the country's prime minister, also told the BBC that the president may step down on Thursday evening, and that the situation would be "clarified soon". He told the Reuters news agency, however, that Mubarak remained in control, and that "everything is still in the hands of the president".
However, Anas el-Fekky, Egypt's information minister, denied all reports of Mubarak resigning."The president is still in power and he is not stepping down," el-Fekky told Reuters. "The president is not stepping down and everything you heard in the media is a rumor."
10:40am pst US President Obama just called for an "orderly and genuine transition in Egypt." No clue as to what is happening.