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longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak, but a flurry of deadly incidents this week appears to have touched a raw nerve in the nation's psyche, with many Egyptians abandoning hopes for democracy and freedom and instead embracing a grim view of the future.
• "I think the time has come for everyone to acknowledge that the only thing this country can offer us is nightmares," prominent activist Mona Seif wrote despairingly on her Twitter account Thursday. "It is futile that, every now and then, we try to find an excuse to be happy or optimistic."
• The interim, military-backed president, Adly Mansour, announced a three-day state of national mourning Wednesday to honor 39 Egyptians who died this week. They include 11 army soldiers killed in a suicide bombing in the turbulent Sinai Peninsula, 27 who perished when a freight train rammed into their cars at a rail crossing south of Cairo and a senior security officer in charge of monitoring Islamist groups who was slain by gunmen near his home in the capital.
• A day after Mansour announced the mourning period, two police officers, one in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia and the other in the town of Qaha north of Cairo, were gunned down by suspected Islamic militants.
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Wisconsin's Gov. Walker hopes to split Chris Christie, tea partyers, in GOP presidential hunt
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Many Republican activists, citing Congress' deep unpopularity, say they want a governor to be their next presidential nominee. The buzz centers on New Jersey's Chris Christie for now, but Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is using a national book tour to try to climb into the 2016 conversation.
• A small but potentially potent group of GOP insiders say he's a can-do governor with Christie's good qualities, and few of Christie's downsides.
• Everything depends on Walker winning re-election next year. If he does, he can join Christie in casting himself as a two-term Republican governor who thrived in a Democratic-leaning state.
• Then, Walker's supporters say, his more conservative stances on several issues would help him in GOP primaries. And Walker's calm Midwestern demeanor, they say, will play better in Iowa, South Carolina and other places than would Christie's penchant for bombast and confrontation.
• Plenty of potential hurdles stand in Walker's way, as they do for other Republican governors, such as John Kasich of Ohio. They are not well-known outside their (Continued on page 33)
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