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Mines, rail lines and coal ports were closed in Queensland state as Cyclone Yasi headed towards the coastline. Up to a third of Australia’s sugar crop was also under threat, officials said.

“This storm is huge and life threatening,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said, warning the system was still intensifying and picking up speed on its path from the Coral Sea, with destructive winds expected on Wednesday morning.

Major demonstrations are planned for Cairo, Alexandria and other cities, the latest in a series of rallies that began a week ago. Protesters have defied orders for a curfew, and the country’s powerful military announced Monday that it would not open fire on peaceful demonstrators.

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Egypt’s military announced Monday evening that it recognized “the legitimate demands of the honest citizens” and would not open fire on peaceful protesters.

“The presence of the armed forces in the Egyptian streets is for your benefit to protect your safety and peace,” an unnamed spokesman announced on state television Monday night. “Your armed forces will not use violence against this great people, who have always played a significant role in every moment of Egypt’s great history.”

And human rights activist and blogger Ramy Raoof told CNN’s “Parker Spitzer” that troops are mingling with demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

On 27 January, Egypt fell off the internet as virtually all international connections were cut following an order from the government.

But older technologies proved their worth as net activists and protesters used them to get round the block.

Protesters are also circulating information about how to avoid communication controls inside Egypt.
Call charge

Dial-up modems are one of the most popular routes for Egyptians to get back online. Long lists of international numbers that connect to dial-up modems are circulating in Egypt thanks to net activists We Re-Build, Telecomix and others.

Dial-up numbers featured heavily in Twitter messages tagged with hashes related to the protests such as #egypt and #jan25.

ISPs in France, the US, Sweden, Spain and many other nations have set up pools of modems that will accept international calls to get information to and from protesters. Many have waived fees to make it easier for people to connect.

Few domestic lines in Egypt can call internationally to get at the modems, however. The Manalaa blog gave advice about how to use dial-up using a mobile, bluetooth and a laptop. It noted that the cost of international calls could be “pricey” but said it was good enough for “urgent communication”. The advice was posted to many blogs, copied and sent out by many others.

We Re-Build, which campaigns for unmonitored internet access around Europe, said it was also listening on some ham radio frequencies and would relay any messages it received either by voice or morse code.

The unauthorised examinations include genital, rectal and breast exams, and raise serious questions about the ethics of up-and-coming doctors, Madison reports.

The research, soon to be published in international medical journal, Medical Education, describes – among others – a student with “no qualms” about performing an anal examination on a female patient because she didn’t think the woman’s consent was relevant.

Egypt’s military moved more aggressively Sunday to take control over parts of the capital, but the sixth day of unrest ended with increasing questions about how much longer President Hosni Mubarak could withstand calls for his resignation, including an electrifying demand from opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei that he step down to “save the country.”

Just hours after fighter jets buzzed overhead and a column of tanks tried to enter Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, thousands of protesters defied a government-imposed curfew to gather in a peaceful nighttime demonstration that culminated in the dramatic appearance by ElBaradei.

The opposition leader, who earlier in the day won a political endorsement from Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood, promised protesters through a megaphone that “change is coming in the next few days.”

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Sunday’s show of force by the military was seen as a sign that it could be preparing to crack down on protests to restore calm to Cairo and other cities. The chaos in the streets has shocked entrenched strongmen throughout the region, galvanized the Arab world and left about 100 people dead, according to Egyptian media.

In one brief but tense standoff, hundreds of protesters blocked army tanks from the downtown square, some sitting in front of their path and waving them off angrily. Protesters feared the military was preparing to cordon off an area that has become the heart of mass demonstration. The situation was defused when the tanks changed course and left.

Thousands of protesters continued to occupy the city center until late Sunday, chanting anti-government slogans while army helicopters periodically flew overhead.

In a move applauded by many government critics, the military seized control of the headquarters of the much-reviled Interior Ministry, whose police officers had been recalled from duty since violently clashing with protesters last week.

There was no official figure, and the real figure may be very different, given the confusion on the streets.

On Saturday in Beni Suef, south of Cairo, police shot dead 17 people trying to attack two police stations and eight people were killed during protests. Eight others were killed in clashes when prisoners tried to escape from Abu Zaabal prison in Cairo.