25 November 2011
Last updated at 04:18 ET

Protesters in Cairo are gathering for another mass rally to demand that Egypt’s military rulers step aside.

The demonstrators are demanding the postponement of parliamentary elections due to start on Monday.

The latest wave of protests, which began a week ago, has led to the worst violence since the fall of President Mubarak. More than 40 people have died.

State media has reported that Egypt’s army appointed ex-Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri to form a new government.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) is overseeing a transition to civilian rule following the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Despite promises by the council to speed up the process, the protesters fear it intends to cling to power. They want military rule to end before elections are held.

Yet many Egyptians want the polls to go ahead as planned. The main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood – which is expected to do well in the vote – is not supporting the protests.

In Washington, the White House said power in Egypt should be transferred to civilians “as soon as possible”.

“The United States strongly believes that the new Egyptian government must be empowered with real authority immediately,” a White House statement said.

‘Last chance’

Reports of the appointment of Mr Ganzouri – who headed Egypt’s government from 1996 to 1999 under Mr Mubarak – has not been welcomed by the protesters.

“For the second time, we are going to depend upon the old guard of Mubarak’s regime. Why we do not give chance for the young, instead of those people who are 80 years old?” one man in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Suhir Nadim, told Reuters news agency.

“Appointing Ganzouri is a crisis for the revolution. We must remain in Tahrir,” another protester, 44-year-old Hossam Amer, told Reuters.

Activists, many of whom spent the night in the square, are calling Friday “the last chance” for Egyptians to demand an immediate transfer of power.

The Egyptian Independent Trade Union Federation called for a march to Tahrir Square while another labour rights group called for a general strike to back the protests.

The military council has offered its condolences, as well as compensation to families of the dead.

“What we want to hear is when they are leaving,” protester Khaled Mahmoud told the Associated Press news agency.

Much of the violence has taken place in a street leading from Tahrir Square to the interior ministry. Soldiers have now set up barricades of cement, metal bars and barbed wire to separate protesters and security forces.

State newspaper al-Ahram said on its website that Mr Ganzouri, 78, had agreed in principle to lead a “national salvation government” after meeting Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of Scaf.

Mr Ganzouri, who distanced himself from Mr Mubarak’s regime, has been suggested as a possible presidential candidate.

During his term as prime minister, he was known as the “minister of the poor” because he was seen as representing the less well-off, and he remains popular with many Egyptians, the BBC’s Yolande Knell says.

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DES MOINES, Iowa – They are barely blips in presidential polls and their campaign cash is scarce. Some are running on empty, fueled mainly by the exposure that comes with the blizzard of televised debates in this election cycle and interviews they eagerly grant to skeptical reporters.

Yet the second-tier candidates for the Republican presidential nomination soldier on. They argue that the race is far from over and that anything can happen with polls showing a wide-open race in Iowa five weeks before the Jan. 3 caucuses.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum is typical when he resists the conventional wisdom that only candidates with a lot of cash and a big campaign can win.

“I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing and I feel like I’m making a difference in the race,” said Sanotrum, who barely registers in state surveys despite having campaigned in Iowa for more than a year. “I absolutely believe our time will come and we’ll have the opportunity to have the spotlight turned on us.”

Santorum, who represented Pennsylvania in Congress for 16 years, frankly acknowledges the possibility of a different outcome.

“If it doesn’t, you know, it doesn’t,” he said.

Even more than energy and determination, also-ran candidates rely on particular issues, free media and prospects for the future to drive them to keep their small-scale operations going.

With polls and money putting candidates like Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain atop the field of Republican rivals, there’s a crop of others likely to remain in the race until voters have their say. One force in that dynamic is the fluidity of this year’s contest.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman, was among the many candidates who surged when they got into the race but then plummeted in the polls. She’s gotten feistier as her fortunes have sagged.

“I guarantee you, with everything within my being, I have the backbone,” Bachmann said. “I’ll put my backbone up against any other candidate in the race.”

That includes Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is adamant that he’s not giving up, even as his campaign flails and his once-flush bank account suffers following a series of debate missteps that has some of his fundraisers questioning his viability. He, like Bachmann, Santorum and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, are barely blips in many surveys.

Although they don’t seem to be catching fire, it turns out that the nomination itself is not the only prize to be had by seeking a presidential nomination.

Rep. Ron Paul’s hard-core libertarian views energize a small but loyal base. Santorum uses his platform to hammer his hard-core anti-abortion stance. Bachmann just released a book whose sales could see a boost in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses.

And history shows that future leadership posts — and presidential runs — can be in the offing.

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa waged a long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination in 1992, getting forced out after the early primaries. He endorsed candidate Bill Clinton, kept his seat in the Senate and became an influential voice in the Clinton White House.

Romney lost his first presidential bid in 2008 but used that experience to build a network of political and financial supporters serving him well in this election cycle.

There are other reasons too to press ahead when chances of victory seem slim, not the least of which is how quickly politics can change.

Just ask Gingrich. The former House speaker was a footnote in the race this summer after his campaign imploded. Now, as Iowa voters give him a second look, he’s enjoying a rise in state and national polls. And he reports that money and manpower are now flowing his way.

It’s not unusual for second-tier candidates to stick around long after they have fallen out of favor with voters and donors alike. The structure of the race in Iowa and other early voting states like New Hampshire and South Carolina is designed to make it possible for them to keep going because the states are relatively cheap places to campaign and they value hand-to-hand campaigning over pricy TV ads.

“In Iowa, you can sleep on people’s couches and hang on for a long time with very little money,” Republican strategist Rich Galen said. “You can live off the land in Iowa. You can’t do that in Florida.”

The nature of the politics of the first three states to vote also encourages longshot candidates because the contests are dominated in both parties by hard-core activists more interested in political purity than poll numbers.

Steve Scheffler, who heads the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, notes that very few people in Iowa have made firm decisions on whom to support, meaning the race could be anyone’s to win.

“There’s enough fluidness in the race and enough people out there who are not entrenched in stone,” Scheffler said. “The verdict is still out there.”

Thus, so too are the second-tier candidates.

RABAT, Morocco – Moroccans began voting for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn’t committed to real change.

A moderate Islamist party and a pro-palace coalition are expected to do well in the voting, but a key test for the authorities’ legitimacy will be how many voters cast ballots.

The result will be watched by Morocco’s U.S. and other western allies, as well as European tourists who cherish its beaches and resorts.

In the affluent Agdal neighborhood of Rabat a steady stream of professionals lined up early in morning at a polling station to vote before work.

“I’ve always voted but this time it is more important,” said Mohammed Ennabli, a doctor. “Before it was the king who chose, now it is the people who choose.”

Nadia Zerrou, a woman in her 30s, said voting “is a right which I always exercise.”

“This time there have been developments, there is more transparency and voters are more aware,” Zerrou said.

Morocco’s reputation as a stable democracy in North Africa has taken a hit with this year’s protests. And its once-steady economy is creaking from the amount of money the government has pumped into raising salaries and subsidies to keep people calm amid the Arab world turmoil.

The election campaign has been strangely subdued, unlike the lively politicking in nearby Tunisia when it held the first elections prompted by the Arab uprisings last month.

Morocco with its many political parties and regular elections was once the bright star in a region of dictatorships.

But all that has changed with the Arab uprisings that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Now a political system that holds elections but leaves all powers in the hands of a hereditary king does not look so liberal.

Under the new constitution, the largest party must form the government, which could well be the Islamist party, known by its French initials PJD. But there’s uncertainty over whether it can truly change anything.

The Islamists’ biggest rival for the top spot is Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar’s Rally of Independents, which leads an alliance of seven other pro-palace parties.

Mezouar said he expected his coalition to take a majority of the parliament and ruled out any kind of alliance with the Islamists. He also told The Associated Press that he expected a high turnout.

“I am confident about the level of participation, because during this campaign we’ve seen how interested the citizens are in this election, enormously more than in 2007,” he said.

Like elsewhere in the Arab world, Moroccans hit the streets in the first half of 2011 calling for more democracy, and King Mohammed VI responded by amending the constitution and bringing forward elections.

But since then the sense of change has dissipated.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said that since Oct. 20 government has taken more than 100 activist in for questioning for advocating a boycott.

“Moroccans feel that aside from the constitutional reform, nothing has really changed, meaning that the elections of 2011 will be a copy of the elections 2007 and that is what will probably keep the participation low,” said Abdellah Baha, deputy secretary general of the Islamist Justice and Development Party.

The 2007 elections, the first with widespread international observation, had just 37 percent turnout, and some fear it could be even lower this time around.

The constitutional referendum passed with over 98 percent voting in favor, and a staggering 72 percent turnout, which most observers found hardly credible.

25 November 2011
Last updated at 03:25 ET

Moroccans have begun voting in parliamentary elections.

The poll in the north African kingdom was brought forward in response to the Arab Spring uprisings.

It is the first since the introduction of a new constitution, proposed by King Mohammed VI, was approved by a referendum in July.

It is expected to be a close contest between a moderate Islamist opposition party and a new coalition of liberals with close ties to the royal palace.

Both parliament and the prime minister will have greater powers under the new constitution.

The prime minister must now be appointed by the king from the party which wins the most seats in the assembly.

However, the king still has the final say on issues of defence, security and religion.

Polling stations opened at 08:00 (08:00 GMT) and are due to close at 19:00.

‘Test poll’

The BBC’s Nora Fakim, in Rabat, says that these polls are seen as a test of the king’s response to the Arab Spring, and his gamble of ceding some of his powers to elected officials.

But, she says, turnout is expected to be low, with little political campaigning and even less excitement on the streets.

The pro-reform February 20 movement, responsible for the protests staged just before the king announced his plans to reform the constitution, has called for a boycott of Friday’s election.

Some voters said they would not vote as they had little faith that it would change anything.

“I am not going to vote and I say it with my head held high,” Aicha, a housewife in the mountain village of Tiddas, told AFP news agency.

Hassan Rafiq, a vegetable vendor in Rabat, told AP news agency he also did not plan cast his ballot: “The parties have presented the same people for the past 30 years, the least they could do is change their candidates.”

The 2007 elections, the first with widespread international observation, had a turnout of just 37% and some fear it could be even lower this time around.

The moderate Islamists of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), say they believe they can take the largest share of seats, hoping to replicate the success of moderate Islamists in Tunisia who won an election last month.

But the country’s communications minister has said that outcome of the election was “open”.

“The strongest party will not capture more than 16-18% of the vote. The formation of a [government] majority will be tough and it is hard to make predictions,” Communications Minister Khalid Naciri told AFP.

NEW YORK – Move over turkey — it’s time to shop.

Black Friday began in earnest as Target, Abercrombie & Fitch and other stores opened their doors at midnight — a few hours earlier than they normally do on the most anticipated shopping day of the year. A few retailers even had lines of shoppers when they opened on Thanksgiving Day.

Herald Square in New York was bustling at 6 p.m. with shoppers looking to snag discounts at Old Navy and other stores that were open on the Thanksgiving. By 9:45 p.m., more than 300 people were waiting outside a Best Buy in New York before it opened at midnight. An hour later, nearly 2,000 were in line at another Best Buy in St. Petersburg, Fla., ahead of its midnight opening.

Roberto Rubi, 24, of Seminole, Fla., had been standing in line since 1 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning and hoped to score a cheap TV and laptop. He ate dinner with his family at home while three of his buddies took his place in line.

“It’s hard times,” Rubi says. “So, any discount helps.”

Retailers hope the earlier openings will make shopping more convenient for Americans who are more likely to be worried about high unemployment and the other challenges they face in the weak economy. Black Friday is important to merchants because it kicks off the holiday shopping season, a time when they can make 25 to 40 percent of their annual revenue. It’s expected that shoppers will spend nearly $500 billion during the holiday shopping season, or about 3 percent more than they did last year.

“It’s a good move to try to get shoppers to spend sooner, before they run out of money,” says Burt Flickinger, III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group.

About 34 percent of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday, up from 31 percent last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, and 16 percent had planned to shop on Thanksgiving Day itself. For the weekend, 152 million people are expected shop, up from 138 million last year.

To get people to shop, merchants pulled out of their bag of tricks. A few opened last year at midnight, but several other stores are doing so this year. Some are matching the prices of their competitors. Others are offering layaway plans that allow shoppers to pay as they go.

But the deals are what’s driving many early shoppers into stores. After all, Americans are focusing more on bargains these days, a habit they picked up during the economic downturn.

The Gap is offering discounts of 20 to 60 percent on many items. Old Navy has pea coats for $29 and jeans for $15. Toys R Us is selling a Transformers Ultimate Optimus Prime action figure for $30 off at $47.99 and a Power Wheels Barbie vehicle for $120 off at $199.99. And Best Buy has a $499 42-inch LCD HDTV for $199 and a $400 Asus Transformer 10-inch tablet computer for $249.99.

Millie Ayala, 28-year-old receptionist, began standing in line at a Toys R Us in New York at 5:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving, armed with the retailer’s circular and a plan for how she and her sister would scour the store for deals. On her list? An interactive dog named Cookie and dolls for her two young daughters.

“Finances have been tough,” she says. “Things are a lot more expensive but with Black Friday deals, things are more affordable.”

After showing up at Best Buy in New York on Wednesday at 3 p.m., Emmanuel Merced, 27, and his brother were the first in line when it opened. On their list was a Sharp 42-inch TV for $199, a PlayStation 3 console with games for $199.99 and wireless headphones for $30. Merced says he likes camping out for Black Friday and he figures he saved 50 percent.

“I like the experience of it,” says Merced, who plans to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on gifts this season.

It remains to be seen whether that enthusiasm will linger throughout the holiday shopping season. But analysts seem to agree that if retailers want shoppers to keep coming back, they’ll have to keep discounting.

“The consumer is continuing to spend and shop and look for the bargains,” says said John D. Morris, BMO Capital Markets analyst. “If it’s the right product at the right price, she’s shopping and buying.”

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Anne D’Innocenzio in New York and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Fla., contributed to this report.