US Backs Suleiman; Demonstrators Shrug

See if this sounds familiar: The day's wire reports on Egypt bring news of yet more pressure on Hosni Mubarak and more concessions from the government, followed by the same response protesters have given for 12 days—nowhere near good enough. The two developments competing for headlines are:

• Hillary Clinton specifically endorsed the idea of a transitional government led by VP Omar Suleiman, the first time a high-ranking US official has done so, reports the Wall Street Journal. Still, she backed off on the push for immediate change, adds the New York Times. “That takes some time,” she said. “There are certain things that have to be done in order to prepare.” Opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei repeated that nothing short of Mubarak's departure will satisfy.

• The leadership of Egypt's ruling party resigned, including Hosni's son Gamal and some of the nation's top politicians. Some accounts had Hosni Mubarak himself quitting as leader of the party, reports Reuters, but they're not confirmed and seemingly irrelevant: Demonstrators brushed it all off as semantics.

Against this backdrop, Mubarak tried to proceed with business as usual by meeting with the new ministers in his government, reports al-Jazeera.
(More Egypt protests stories.)