Update 6:15 p.m. ET: "People are very angry," ElBaradei said in an interview on CNN, insisting that Mubarak and Vice President Omar Suleiman must step aside because "people have lost confidence in them."

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Mohamed ElBaradei, whom many regard as the leading opposition figure in Egypt, has taken to Twitter to denounce President Hosni Mubarak's speech:

Update 5:29 p.m. ET: The White House reporters' pool traveling on Air Force One with President Barack Obama passes along that Obama watched Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's speech during the flight back to Washington and was to convene a meeting with his national security advisers once he had returned to the White House.

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U.S. sources closely involved in the government's handling of the Egyptian crisis told NBC News that they were "taken by surprise" by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's announcement and that it appears "Mubarak is going nowhere."

The officials told NBCs Jim Miklaszewski that they were especially concerned about Mubarak's apparent declaration that he would "federalize the streets." They said, however, that their reaction was based on an initial translation of Mubarak's remarks.

"We have assurances, both private and public, that the military would not fire on the people," one of the officials stressed.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's address "a sadistic tease" and predicted that demonstrations could turn violent.
 
"He just lit the final fuse," Ackerman said in an interview on MSNBC TV.  "And now I think the situation is going to verge on the explosive over the next 24 hours."

Listen to Ackerman's comments: 

President Hosni Mubarak's address was not well-received in Tahrir Square. NBC News' Richard Engel reports that protesters are trying to organize a march to the presidential palace. Some protesters, he said, are already heading toward the state television building, which was largely evacuated earlier in the day.

Even as Mubarak's speech was still being aired, loud, angry chants could be heard from the thousands gathered in the square.

Update 4:14 p.m. ET: Here's the key action passage from Mubarak's address, as translated by MSNBC TV:

"By confirming the needs of the people, and by putting Egypt first, I will dissolve the upper levels of government effective immediately and hand my power over to my vice president. ... This is a major moment of change."

Update 4: 06 p.m. ET: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak defiantly said he "cannot and will not accept to be dictated orders from outside" and would remain until elections in September. At the same time, he declared that while he was keeping the title of president, he had "delegated with the vice president some of the powers of the president, according to the constitution."

The announcement contradicted reports by many news organizations for several hours — including NBC News — that he was likely to announce his outright resignation.

Update 4:02 p.m. ET: More defiance: "I will not separate from Egyptian soil until I am buried underneath. ... May God safeguard Egypt ... and guard its people to the rightful path."

Update 4:01 p.m. ET: Mubaraks is now sounding a defiant note: "The will of the people cannot be dented. Egypt will be back on its feet. We will not allow others to gloat over us. We are not a satellite state being dictated orders by others. We shape our own decisons."

Update 3:58 p.m. ET: Even as Mubarak's speech is still being aired, loud, angry chants can be heard from the thousands gathered in Tahrir Square.

Update 3:56 p.m. ET: Mubarak says his top priority is "to facilitate free presidential elections."

Update 3:50 p.m. ET: Mubarak says, "I remain adamant to continue to shoulder my responsibility" until elections in September, saying, "I cannot and will not accept to be dictated orders from outside."

Update 3:48 p.m. ET: President Hosni Mubarak tells Egyptian protesters that he takes "great pride in you as a new generation ... shaping the future." 

"I will hold accountable those who committed crimes against our youth," he says. He has not yet addressed his own future.

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Watch President Hosni Mubarak's address live.

If Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is forced into exile, he is likely to have access to billions in assets. But if Egypt's successor government tries to recover any of it, it will have a hard time if history is any judge, NBC News investigative producer Robert Windrem reports on msnbc.com's Open Channel investigative blog:

Estimates circulated inside the U.S. government, developed by various agencies, put  Mubarak’s wealth at between $2 billion and $3 billion.  How much of that total is outside of Egypt, and in what form, is uncertain. How much is recoverable is an even smaller fraction. ...

“The initial numbers are often very overblown,” says [Nick] Peck [of Nardello & Co., who worked with Kroll Associates when it was hired by Kuwait to track Saddam Hussein’s wealth]. “Often suspect in terms of how much the official has.”

Officials say historically most of the assets controlled by dictators remains within their home countries. Peck pointed to a stash of millions of dollars in cash and gold bars found hidden underground in Iraq following the war.

Update 3:32 p.m. ET: More from Al Arabiya, according to Reuters: Mubarak confirms he will not run for another presidential term and will transfer powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman.

Update 3:27 p.m. ET: Reuters is citing a report on the Middle East channel Al Arabiya that says Mubarak will declare that he does not "accept orders from outside."

Update 3:25 p.m. ET: We're still awaiting Mubarak's speech. NBC News' Richard Engel notes that his previous addresses have also been delayed.

Update 3:03 p.m. ET: Reuters issues a new report quoting Information Minister Anas el Fekky as saying Mubarak "is definitely not going to step down." Reuters issued a similar bulletin quoting el Fekky several hours ago, before widespread reports appeared to firm up that Mubarak was likely to stand down.

Update 2:34 p.m. ET: In a major shift, Egyptian state television is now showing live video of the demonstrations in Tahrir Square ahead of Mubarak's speech. The Guardian calls it "an abrupt change from the pro-regime footage it had been showing in recent days, including interviews with supposed 'protesters' who made wild claims of US and Mossad involvement." 

Al Jazeera's English service, meanwhile, is also noting on air that thare's been a big change in the tone of state TV coverage.

Updated 2:07 p.m. ET: Al Jazeera, quoting Egyptian government officials, matches NBC's report, saying Mubarak will speak at 3 p.m. ET.

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President Hosni Mubarak's announcement is now expected in the next hour, NBC News' Charlene Gubash reports from Cairo, citing a senior intelligence source.

Update 12:54 p.m. ET: Eyewitnesses say Mubarak's residence is also being sealed off by tanks, troops and razor wire, NBC News' Charlene Gubash reports from Cairo.

Update 12:50 p.m. ET: The presidential palace is being sealed off, Engel reports.

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Police have been pulled back from Tahrir Square to "prepare for any scenario" when and if President Hosni Mubarak makes an announcement about his future tonight, NBC News' Richard Engel reports from Cairo.

Engel quotes a top military analyst as saying the meeting of the Higher Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's supreme military body, is particularly significant, especially as it gathered without Mubarak.

The council has met only two times before — during the 1967 Six-Day War and then during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of people have jammed Tahrir Square in Cairo awaiting President Hosni Mubarak's expected resignation. The crowds have been emobldened by comments by Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander of the Cairo area, who told them that "all your demands will be met today."

The protesters lifted al-Roueini onto their shoulders and carried him around the square, shouting, "the army, the people one hand."

Click the video at the top to watch the demonstrations live.

Update 12:33 p.m. ET: Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq was also in the meeting with Mubarak and Suleiman, Engel reports.

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NBC News' Richard Engel reports that state TV just broke in to its programming with an announcement that President Hosni Mubarak is meeting with Vice President Omar Suleiman. Mubarak will make a live address sometime later today, it said, offering no details.

The meeting comes as the Higher Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's supreme military body, is meeting and has issued what is says is the first of what may be multiple statements. NBC News reports that Mubarak, who as president is head of the council, is not a part of the meetings.

The council said it's in "continuous session to discuss what measures and arrangements could be taken to safeguard the homeland and its achievements, and the aspirations of the great Egyptian people."

The council made no mention of Mubarak, which NBC News' Richard Engel reports indicates that it is acting on its own.

The BBC has the full text of the statement here.

Update 12:05 p.m. ET: NBC News' Richard Engel reports that he has confirmed that Mubarak is still in Cairo.

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Unanswered in the rush of new information is a firm indication where Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak actually is right now — if he's even in the country at all.

Egyptian state Nile TV is reporting that Mubarak has left the country and that his statement was recorded Wednesday, according to Sky News. Earlier Mubarak statements are known to have been pre-recorded. 

The Middle East channel Al-Arabiya, by contrast, is reporting that Mubarak is in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with his army chief of staff.

The United States says it knows little more right now than what is being reported publicly.

Update 1:02 p.m. ET: Greeting supporters in Michigan, Obama reacts to the news from Egypt: "We're going to have to wait and see what's going on."

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The Obama administration is taking a cautious line on reports that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is stepping down. 

CIA Director Leon Panetta said he has "received reports" that Mubarak might possibly step aside, but he stressed that "I have no specific word he would leave."

Panetta said he didn't know the particulars of how a transition would work, but he said he assumed more power would be turned over to Vice President Omar Suleiman to direct reforms.  

Aboard Air Force One on its way to an event in Michigan, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that President Barack Obama was "watching same thing you are" and that Washington doesn't "want to prejudge what might happen later today."

"We're watching a very fluid situation," Gibbs said. "We are in contact with our embassy, obviously, in Cairo. ... I do not know the outcome of what today will be."

Egyptian TV has confirmed that it will air an address from President Hosni Mubarak this evening. The time has not been firmed up, NBC News' Charlene Gubash reports from Cairo.

Reuters quotes Egyptian Information Minister Anas el-Fekky as dismissing the reports Mubarak will step down. "Everything you heard in the media is a rumor," it quoted him as saying.

Hossam Badrawi, secretary general of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, however, told Britain's Channel 4 that Mubarak would not only would stand aside in a televised address but would hand over power to Vice President Omar Suleiman.

Aboard Air Force One on its way to an event in Michigan, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that President Barack Obama was "watching same thing you are" and that Washington doesn't "want to prejudge what might happen later today."

NBC News’ Robert Windrem

NEW YORK – Should President Hosni Mubarak indeed step down and leave Egypt, he will not have to worry about his personal finances.

Estimates circulating inside the U.S. government, developed by several government agencies, put Mubarak's wealth at more than $2 billion.

Previous reports that he controlled $70 billion have been dismissed by U.S. officials who noted if that was the case, he would be the wealthiest man in the world.

Update 12 p.m. ET: The BBC has the full text of the communiqué here.

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By Charlene Gubash, NBC News producer 

CAIRO - What seems to be happening in Egypt now is essentially a military coup, according to the director of a leading think tank.

The head of the High Military Council is President Hosni Mubarak, yet the Military Council has met in his absence.

They have made a first statement that the military will take the actions necessary to protect the Egyptian people and are in a permanent meeting.

They are expected to make a second statement about the situation soon.

President Hosni Mubarak to step down as Egypt's leader Thursday evening; Vice President Omar Suleiman to take over, two separate sources tell NBC News. See NBC's Richard Engel's report above.

By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com reporter

Amal Sharaf says she has two daughters: her 10-year-old girl and a movement she co-founded in Egypt to remove President Hosni Mubarak from power.

More than two weeks after the popular revolt swept Egypt, the 36-year-old English teacher, whose name means “hope” in English, remains holed up with her daughter and other organizers of her group, the April 6 Youth Movement, in a human rights center in Cairo.

The worst day, so far, was last Thursday, when pro-government mobs launched attacks on protesters, members of the media and human rights groups.

“They attacked the building we are sitting in … and they took some people. They let me go only for the sake of my daughter because she had a nervous breakdown,” the single mother said in a telephone interview.

The other 20 organizers at the center are professionals like Sharaf, including engineers and journalists. They share a common goal: Mubarak’s immediate departure from power and the implementation of economic and political reforms.

NBC News

Amal Sharaf is interviewed at her office in Cairo last week.

Sharaf spends her days going to see the protests in Tahrir Square, writing on the Internet and sending updates to foreign media. She said the square is full of people of all ages, who get food and blankets from those coming to the area to help. Some sing songs asking for Mubarak to step down, and Sharaf said she saw a wedding take place among the throngs of protesters. “They’re staying, and they’re not leaving until Mubarak departs,” she said.

Sharaf helped co-found the April 6 movement in 2008, upset by police brutality as well as her belief that the country needed changes to resolve its political and economic problems.

She said the group called for a protest on this year’s national police holiday on Jan. 25. They were not expecting a large turnout, but the events in Tunisia — where the president was ousted after three weeks of protests — changed that. “People got influenced by what happened in Tunisia … influenced a lot,” she said. “They said they hoped they could make such a thing like Tunisians. So this event helped to gather people.”

More than 300 dead
Hundreds of thousands of people have participated in the demonstrations in Egypt, and the United Nations says 300 people may have died so far. Opposition figures have reported little progress in talks with the government.

Mubarak, 82, has refused calls to end his 30-year rule now, saying he will stay until an election in September — but will not compete in it.

On Tuesday, Egypt’s newly appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman, said the government had a plan and timetable for the peaceful transfer of power and that there would be no reprisals against protesters for their two-week campaign to eject Mubarak from office.
"The youth of Egypt deserve national appreciation," Suleiman quoted Mubarak as saying. "They should not be detained, harassed or denied their freedom of expression.”

Back at the center, Sharaf insists that Mubarak must step down before any negotiations.

She also noted the great risk being taken by members of the protest movement.

“If it doesn’t go well, we all go to prison, we will be in jail, all of us,” she said, noting that some have already been arrested and injured in the protests.

Sharaf said her family understood why she was involved, and that she would not give up on their cause.

Once you get involved in something like this, you can’t leave,” she said. “Once you see that people need your support you never leave them.”

As hundreds of thousands jam Tahrir Square and Alexandria in protest against the Egyptian government, here are other top developments today:

• New Scientist: Tunisia's government has fallen and Egypt's is facing insurrection — and this could be just the start. Food and economic analysts are warning that these governments could be the first victims of a global food crisis, and others are similarly vulnerable.

• World Blog: Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has ticked off the Obama administration, but the White House is sticking to its position that he's in charge of the transition to a new government that it won't determine.

• World Blog: Wael Ghonim, the Google Middle East/North Africa marketing executive whose detention for a week and a half has emerged as a critical spur to protesters, has returned to Tahrir Square and to a hero's welcome from tens of thousands of Egyptians.

• Al Jazeera: The Egyptian government is reported to have freed 34 political prisoners in a move seen to be part of promised reforms aimed at ending anti-government protests.

• Guardian: Iran's opposition has called for renewed street protests next week on the back of the wave of demonstrations that have swept across the Middle East.

• CBC: Egypt's central bank moved to halt a drop in the country's currency, bankers said Tuesday, while the country's stock exchange introduced rules aimed at heading off potentially steep losses when it reopens next week.

• World Blog: The Pew Center has come out with a new poll asking Americans about the crisis in Egypt, and it's clear they're not thinking about it a great deal. About half of Americans — 52 percent — report having heard little or nothing about the demonstrations, according to the poll of 1,385 adults, which was conducted Wednesday through Monday.

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has ticked off the Obama administration, but the White House is sticking to its position that he's in charge of the transition to a new government that it won't determine.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs made it clear at his daily briefing for reporters that the administration strongly disagrees with Suleiman's contention that Egypt isn't ready for democracy, calling them "particularly unhelpful comments." In the language of diplomacy, that's a major slam.

In case anyone doubted what that meant, Gibbs declared: "I speak for the president of the United States."

He went on to say, however, that disputes like that "can't be arbitrated by us."

"That's going to be determined by the reaction in Cairo and by the people," he said.

Gibbs also reiterated that the government must stop arresting protesters and journalists as a way to prove its commitment to "these important, real changes that demonstrate progress for the people."