Free Republic

And end the Muslim Brotherhood's dictatorial rule in Egypt. By The Editors Egypt’s ongoing crisis has taken its latest turn with a dramatic showdown between the Morsi regime, beset by massive street protests, and the Egyptian military, which has given it an ultimatum to accommodate the protesters — or else. The so-called Arab Spring has perpetually presented devilish choices between different sorts of malign actors, but this confrontation isn’t a hard call. We should encourage the military to act to end the dictatorial rule of Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi has made Hosni Mubarak look like a paragon of good...

Mohammad Morsi says he is the country's "guardian of legitimacy", as protests claim more lives and army deadline looms. Cairo - Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has rejected calls for his resignation, saying that he is Egypt’s "guardian of legitimacy" after three days of nationwide pro- and anti-government demonstrations, that have drawn millions to the streets. His speech was a response to the protests, and to an ultimatum from Egypt’s military, which on Tuesday said it would issue a political "road map" unless Morsi resolved the crisis in 48 hours. Morsi had earlier dismissed the ultimatum, demanding in a message posted...

The Egyptian army has set a deadline of 4 p.m. Cairo time for the Muslim Brotherhood government of President Morsi to compromise with the people of Egypt (by stepping down.) Morsi refuses. 18 people were killed and 200 were wounded in clashes at Cairo University last night.A Washington Post report from Cairo on dueling statements from Morsi and the army: Waving his hands and shaking his fists in a 45-minute speech on national television late Tuesday, Morsi swore that he was committed to the democratic process that brought him to power and said that any attempts to subvert the constitution...

Army ultimatum to resolve political crisis expires at 14:30 GMT with leaks projecting draft constitution to be scrapped. Egypt is bracing for a showdown between the military and President Mohammed Morsi, who has rejected an army ultimatum to end a political crisis with his opponents, vowing to stay in office. The ultimatum expires at 4:30pm (14:30 GMT) on Wednesday but the army said on its Facebook page that it had set no times for issuing statements or speeches. The political wing of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood refused an invitation to meet the armed forces commander on Wednesday, hours before deadline....

CAIRO - Egypt's army has plans to push President Mohamed Morsi aside and suspend the constitution if he fails to strike a power-sharing deal with his opponents within 24 hours, military sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Egypt's first freely elected leader was still clinging to power with tens of thousands of people on the streets from rival factions. There were some clashes between Morsi's Islamist supporters and those who want him forced out after only a year in office. Military sources told Reuters that once a two-day deadline set by the head of the armed forces expires at 5 p.m....

A 2nd century map of Germania by the scholar Ptolemy has always stumped scholars, who were unable to relate the places depicted to known settlements. Now a team of researchers have cracked the code, revealing that half of Germany's cities are 1,000 years older than previously thought. The founding of Rome has been pinpointed to the year 753. For the city of St. Petersburg, records even indicate the precise day the first foundation stone was laid. Historians don't have access to this kind of precision when it comes to German cities like Hanover, Kiel or Bad Driburg. The early histories...

Studying a statue of Atlas holding the sky, an American astronomer finds key evidence of what could be a major fraud in science history. In a sunlit gallery of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Italy, astronomer Brad Schaefer came face to face with an ancient statue known as the Farnese Atlas. For centuries, the 7-foot marble figure of the mythological Atlas has bent in stoic agony with a sphere of the cosmos crushing his shoulders. Carved on the sphere - one of only three celestial globes that have survived from Greco-Roman times - are figures representing 41 of the 48...

No, this is not a blonde joke. If you want one of those, go to this week’s Humor File. Cleopatra was in fact a blonde. That’s because she was not Egyptian. She was a Macedonian Greek, with hair as blonde as Alexander’s. Alexander conquered Egypt in 332 BC, then went on to subdue all of the Middle East. When he died nine years later, his just-conquered empire was fought over and carved up by his generals. The one who ended up running Egypt was Ptolemy (367-283 BC). Declaring himself Pharaoh, he founded the Ptolemaic Dynasty, with twelve Ptolemies in succession,...

The Persian Wars may be famed in history, but few artifacts and material remains have emerged to shed light on how the ancient Greeks defeated the Asian invaders and saved Europe in what scholars call one of the first great victories of freedom over tyranny. It is well known that a deadly warship of antiquity, the trireme, a fast galley powered by three banks of rowers pulling up to 200 oars, played a crucial role in the fierce battles. Its bronze ram could smash enemy ships, and armed soldiers could leap aboard a foe's vessel in hand-to-hand combat with...