Egyptian leader touts laws to be passed
President Hosni Mubarak said Tuesday that laws to be passed in 2007 would improve democracy and abolish Egypt’s 25-year state of emergency, but rights activists said they doubted the long-serving leader would liberalize the country. Laying out next year’s legislative agenda, Mubarak asked lawmakers to amend 34 articles in the Egyptian constitution to “consecrate the people’s sovereignty as a source of power and give parliament more authority to monitor the government.” Full Story