On July 30th, Shaukat Aziz, the finance minister nominated to be the next prime minister, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while electioneering in the north.

ECONOMIST: Rounding up al-Qaeda

Third, on November 14th, Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister in another state, Andhra Pradesh, called for an early election, partly to pick up the sympathy vote after he narrowly escaped a terrorist assassination attempt last month.

ECONOMIST: In training for the big match next year

During his long years at the helm, Mubarak escaped at least two assassination attempts, including a close call in 1995 when Islamic militants opened fire on his motorcade at a pan-African conference in Ethiopia.

CNN: For Mubarak, once Egypt's strongman, a long fall from grace