It said it "renews its call for Egyptians to gather across Egypt on Friday".
The group's spokesman, Hussein Abdel Ghani, said "we will continue to escalate [protests], using peaceful means".
A youth opposition group in the coalition, April 6, called for marches from all of Cairo's mosques to converge on the main squares.
There were fears of more violence after clashes in Egypt on Wednesday between pro- and anti-Morsi protesters that left seven people dead and more than 600 injured.
The army on Thursday cleared the area in front of the presidential palace in the capital of protesters from both sides, and deployed tanks and barbed wire to keep crowds away.
The demonstrations were the biggest since Morsi's election in June. The street clashes were also reminiscent of the upheaval in February 2011 that ended Hosni Mubarak's presidency.
At least four of Morsi's advisers have quit over the crisis, and the Cairo stock market has taken a heavy hit from the latest violence.
US President Barack Obama expressed "deep concern" Thursday over the events in Egypt, in a call to Morsi, the White House said.
Obama also told Morsi that it was "essential for Egyptian leaders across the political spectrum to put aside their differences and come together to agree on a path that will move Egypt forward," the White House said in a statement.
And in Afghanistan , Karzai finds his voice against the US once again....
Says US Behavior Hasn't Changed Since 'Strategic Partnership' Pact
by Jason Ditz, December 06, 2012
In an interview with NBC today, Afghan President Hamid Karzai noted that the US and NATO occupation is fueling the continued insecurity in Afghanistan, while appearing to express regret for having signed a deal keeping US forces in the nation through 2024.
 “We signed the strategic partnership agreement with the expectation and the hope … the nature of the United States’ activities in Afghanistan will change,” Karzai said, adding that the US “ continues to violate Afghan sovereignty” despite the deal.
Karzai’s list of complaints included long-standing disputes, including annoyance that the US appears to continue to believe it can win the war with attacks on Afghan villages, and the US refusal to follow through on the pledged handover of Bagram Prison.
The US has continued to express irritation with Karzai, insisting he is insufficiently grateful for the ongoing occupation and spends too much time complaining about the massive death toll of the war.
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/06/nato-attacked-afghan-health-clinic-in-serious-war-crime/
NATO forces raided a health clinic, detained people inside and used the building to house detained Afghan insurgents in breach of Geneva Conventions
by John Glaser, December 06, 2012
US-led NATO forces attacked a health clinic in Afghanistan, stormed the building, damaged equipment, detained those inside and turned it into a temporary jail and military base, in a grave violation of the laws of war.
 The incident occurred in October in Wardak province, according to the aid group that runs the clinic, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.
“The soldiers knocked down a wall to enter the building, damaged doors, windows, examination beds and other equipment, and detained clinical staff and civilians inside,” reports the Guardian‘s Emma Graham-Harrison from Kabul. ”And for the next two and a half days they brought dozens, maybe hundreds of prisoners through the clinic, using it as a jail, logistics hub and for mortar fire, contravening the Geneva conventions, which protect medical centres.”
“The protection of medical persons and facilities, and respect for their neutrality was one of the founding principles of international humanitarian law,” Erica Gaston, a human rights lawyer and senior program officer at the US Institute of Peace, told theGuardian.
“This latest incident is a serious violation…if true, it’s incredible to me that they not only raided this clinic but that [NATO] command allowed them to continue occupying it for days afterwards.”
The Swedish Committee said it complained to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and they admitted the takeover violated international laws, but said it was a mistake.
But apparently this incident isn’t so out of the ordinary.
Andreas Stefansson, the Swedish group’s director, told the Guardian that ”Most NGOs who deliver healthcare in this country experience this almost on a monthly basis; that there are breaches in different provinces, where the Afghan National Army, or ISAF, or special forces basically don’t show the level of respect they should for health facilities.”
And Syria heats up as fog of war descends regarding rebels composition and battle progress and chemical weapons ( which both sides have )
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/06/as-syrias-rebels-gain-in-north-battle-with-kurds-heats-up/
Rebel Victory Could Set Stage for Another Major War in Syria
by Jason Ditz, December 06, 2012
The Syrian rebels’ progress in the ongoing civil war has often been overstated by Western officials predicting imminent victory. Still, the groups are taking more territory in the north, and as their hold in that region strengthens, the face of the battle is starting to change.
 Skirmishes with Kurdish factions in Ras al-Ayn have been ongoing for weeks, but as the rebels’ hold on the north looks at least semi-permanent, the Kurds are more resigned to having to confront them sooner, rather than later.
The rebels’ rhetoric varies from group to group, but the commonality is Sunni Arab nationalism, a sentiment which has alienated Kurdish factions initially hoping to see more autonomy, and now likely to see much less in the event the rebels win the war.
Staying neutral in the war has been goal for many Kurdish groups, but has proven impossible as the fighting moves into their oil-rich lands. With the Syrian military more or less ceding those lands to the rebels to focus on defending the area around the capital, the rebels are finding in the Kurds new enemies, and a major war that they will likely have to deal with even if they manage to defeat the Assad government.
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/06/rebel-snipers-kill-alawites-in-northern-lebanon/
11 Killed as Violence Enters Third Day in Tripoli
by Jason Ditz, December 06, 2012
Sectarian violence in the Northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli is no closer to ending today, despite the military sealing off most of the major roads and setting up checkpoints between neighborhoods of different religious sects. The death toll is now up to 11.
 With that making fighting on the ground more difficult, Sunni militias linked with Syrian rebels have turned to sniper attacksagainst Alawite neighborhoods, killing several people, including a 13-year-old shot inside his own home.
Opposition MPs are slamming the military for a “ lax” response, saying that they aren’t serious about getting the city back under control and insisting they hold the ruling coalition responsible.
The fighting in the city centers on Syria Street, which separates the Sunni neighborhoods from the city’s Alawite minority. The Sunni neighborhoods are home to militias linked with Syria’s rebel movement, and as they have gotten more active the Alawites, who are targeted primarily because they are the same sect as Syrian President Assad, have set up their own armed groups.
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/05/anonymous-us-officials-syria-has-loaded-chemical-weapons-into-bombs/
The anonymous intelligence would appear to give green light to US, given Obama's 'red line' on Syrian chemical warfare
by John Glaser, December 05, 2012
Anonymously cited US intelligence sources claim the Syrian military has “locked and loaded” chemical nerve agents inside aerial bombs, as the Obama administration reiterates chemical warfare as its “red line” for military action in Syria.
 “The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers,” NBC reports US officials as saying.
“As recently as Tuesday,” however, “officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the ‘precursor’ chemicals had begun.”
The Obama administration on Wednesday again repeated a vow to take military action against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad if it uses chemical weapons to crush the armed rebellion trying to overthrow it.
“Our concerns are that an increasingly desperate Assad regime might turn to chemical weapons, or might lose control of them to one of the many groups that are now operating within Syria,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday.
“We have sent an unmistakable message that this would cross a red line and those responsible would be held to account,” she added.
But some wonder whether these reports are being blown out of proportion. The Russian government on Tuesday claimed the West was knowingly overstating the threat from the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons stockpiles, adding tension to the geo-politics surrounding Syria’s civil war.
“I take these reports with a large grain of salt,” writes Middle East expert Juan Cole in reference to the risk of Assad deploying chemical warfare on the Syrian rebels.
“Chemicals would be difficult to deploy against a guerrilla movement of the sort the Baathist government of dictator Bashar al-Assad is facing,” Cole explains. “Moreover, Syria’s mixed population makes it difficult to use chemical weapons on rebels without killing Alawi Shiites and other groups that so far have largely been an underpinning for the regime.”
In addition, despite how desperate Assad might be, it’s unlikely he views chemical warfare as in his best interest. The only thing worrying the Assad regime more than the rebellion is the prospect of some kind of US-led bombing campaign or invasion, which the US has vowed to engage in if chemical warfare takes place and which could undoubtedly topple the regime. Assad isn’t about to attract that sort of attention.
“Last time this happened,” writes Bilal Y. Saab, Executive Director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in The National Interest, ”worries that chemical attacks on rebels or the civilian population were imminent ended up being unfounded.”
It’s unclear as well what the Obama administration is prepared to do in the unlikely event that Assad uses chemical weapons. Tens of thousands have already died in Syria’s bloody civil war, and the administration has not militarily intervened.
This is primarily because they lack feasible military options. A no-fly zone is likely to put more civilians at risk, and bombing the chemical stockpiles would be about as bad as Assad unleashing them on his own targets. If the US were to move in with ground forces to secure the weapons, it would take at least 75,000 troops, a huge commitment that a war weary American population isn’t about to condone, especially since any limited mission to secure the weapons would lend itself to mission creep and eventually turn into regime change, which would eventually turn into a long and bloody occupation costing hundreds of thousands of lives à la Iraq.
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