There is no shortage of advice in the United States about how the Obama administration should approach Egypt. The familiar ring of policy prescriptions bouncing around the Beltway and beyond is either a testament to a lack of creativity or limited leverage or the return of some version of the political order that prevailed under Mubarak. Take, for example, Saturday’s lead editorial in the Washington Post called, “The U.S. Must Confront the Egyptian Military’s Push for Authoritarian Rule.”

The Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas movement has cancelled its upcoming anniversary celebrations, for the first time since it came to power six years ago, as the territory grapples with economic woes. Hamas said it would be inappropriate to hold the annual celebrations, used to display the group's control on the region, as deep economic challenges rip the crowded coastal strip. "The decision to cancel the rally is a message of solidarity recognising the difficult circumstances experienced by our people in Gaza," Hamas official Ashraf Abu Zayed was quoted by AP news agency as saying.

Here's a story fit for Halloween from CBS's New York affiliate (hat tip to journalist Patrick Galey): According to reporter Amy Dardashtian, Muslim Brotherhood members marching on Tahrir Square were caught "using puppies as gas bombs -- dipping them in gasoline and lighting them on fire."

An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the Muslim Brotherhood to be banned and its assets confiscated in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown by the military-backed government against supporters of the ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

Egyptians call it the “deep state.” And it was there all along for anyone who wanted to see it throughout the two and a half years since the world watched Egyptians take to the streets in what was so widely viewed as a revolution by the people, for the people.

From cookies to burgers to dates, it’s been gimmicks galore for Egyptians incessantly searching for new ways to shower their army leader with compliments. Egypt’s army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has emerged as one of the most powerful people in the country after he deposed Islamist President Mohammad Mursi on July 3, sparking nationalist fervor and widespread resentment of the Islamists.

In the heat of a Cairo summer, the battle lines have been drawn. In the tense standoff, Abdelazim Fahmy, better known as Zizo Abdo, finds no room on the street for revolutionaries like himself. I met with Zizo at a downtown Cairo café called Hikayitna—Arabic for “our stories.” We’re a stone’s throw away from Tahrir Square, which has been cordoned off by the military with barbed wire, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. Soldiers man checkpoints into the square, searching bags and requesting identification.

Opinions among lawmakers remained split on Sunday over whether the US should cut off or suspend aid to Egypt. The US spends roughly $1.5 billion a year on assistance to Egypt with much of it going to financing the purchase of US military equipment. Calls to cut off or suspend this aid has been growing since the Egyptian military's crackdown against supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. The violence has so far killed more than 750 people.