Mubarak addresses the nation to tell the people of his refusal to leave Egypt, though promises to resign at the end of his term. He tells the people of Egypt that he is "proud of his achievements over the years in serving Egypt and its people". (Reuters)(AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)(Al Jazeera)(ABC News)
Protesters vow to stay in Tahrir Square until Mubarak goes. (Jerusalem Post)
Prime Minister of TurkeyRecep Tayyip Erdoğan completely backs the people of Egypt in their battle against the Mubarak regime. Newspapers had previously criticised him for his lack of a response to the revolution there. (Al Jazeera)
The owner of China's fourth-most visited website, Sohu.com Inc, posted a better-than-estimated 41 percent gain in profit after the company raised prices and boosted services such as video sharing. (China Daily)
A court in London bars the oil company BP from entering into a planned joint venture and share swap with Rosneft, a state-controlled Russian company. (Reuters)
The storm is expected to affect as much as a third of the U.S. population, and has already created dangerous travel conditions and forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and the closure of major interstate highways.(Reuters)(VOA)
U.S. soldier Bradley Manning, the alleged whistleblower who is thought to have revealed secret U.S. government documents to the international public, is reported to be held in solitary confinement awaiting trial by the United States for seven months now, treatment which the United Nations deems a form of torture when used for such prolonged periods. (Al Jazeera)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak cancel the appointment of Yoav Galant to the post of Israel Defense Forces chief. The announcement came after months of scandal surrounding his appointment due to allegations that he had illegally seized public lands near his home in Moshav Amikam, and after the State ComptrollerMicha Lindenstrauss stated that Galant lied to in a sworn affidavit about exceeding his building rights.[1][2]
Mohamed ElBaradei, an emerging leader of anti-regime protests, and other protesters say that Mubarak must leave Egypt by Friday at the latest to avoid further bloodshed and turmoil. (The Australian)
The protestors increase their demands for the end of the Mubarak regime and are not impressed by Hosni Mubarak's promise to resign at the end of his current term. (Al Jazeera)
Mubarak supporters, rumored to be directed by the Mubarak regime, protest in central Cairo, Alexandria and other cities, attacking anti-government protestors with stones, knives and Molotov cocktails. (The Washington Post)
Some supporters of the Mubarak regime ride horses and camels and attack anti-government protesters with whips. (AP via The Guardian)
Fourteen job seekers traveling home on the rooftop of an overcrowded train, are killed when they hit a low overhead bridge in northern India. (Times of India)(Jerusalem Post)
Egyptian prime minister Ahmad Shafiq says "sorry" for all the violence that has occurred in Tahrir Square and promises there will be no more. (Al Jazeera)
Journalists from Al Jazeera and the BBC are among those targeted in fresh attacks from Mubarak regime "thugs". The UK's Channel 4 News reports that Mubarak's "secret police" are threatening journalists to keep off the streets of Cairo. (The Guardian)
Prominent Egyptian blogger and anti-Mubarak activist sandmonkey is arrested and his blog is taken offline by authorities in Egypt. (The Guardian)(Hot Air)
Egyptian state television forments the unrest by reporting that "Israeli spies" have infiltrated Cairo, leading to an increase in antisemitic sentiment among the pro-Mubarak forces attacking people and journalists on the streets. (Al Jazeera)(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)(Channel 4 News)
Two Al Jazeera journalists are attacked on their way from the airport to central Cairo. (The Guardian)
Nile TV (state television) journalist Shahira Amin, deputy head of the station, resigns after being threatened and intimidated; she tells Al Jazeera "I can't be part of the propaganda machine and I refuse to be a hypocrite", adding that she feels "liberated". (iloubnan)(Gulf News)
Mobile phone firm Vodafone says the Egyptian authorities have hijacked its network to send unattributed text messages supporting the government. (BBC)
Egypt's attorney-general bans several former ministers and Ahmed Ezz, a prominent member of the ruling party who resigned last week, from travelling abroad; their bank accounts are also frozen. (Al Jazeera)
Video footage emerges on YouTube of a police van being driven at high speed into peacefully marching anti-regime protesters. (The Guardian)(Direct link)
2011 Syrian protests: Social media mobilises the people of Syria for rallies demanding freedom, human rights and the end to emergency law, scheduled for Friday and Saturday in front of the parliament in Damascus and at Syrian embassies internationally. (Al Jazeera)
A former policeman questions the suicide verdict recorded in the 1979 death of French cabinet minister Robert Boulin, claiming he could not have drowned. His family believe he was murdered. (BBC)
Al Jazeera's Cairo office is stormed by "gangs of thugs" who ransack it and set it on fire as attacks on foreign journalists continue. (The Guardian)
Reporter Bert Sundström of Swedish public broadcaster SVT, reported missing yesterday, is hospitalised and undergoing surgery for serious "knife injuries" in Cairo after being kidnapped and stabbed. (AFP via The Swedish Wire)
The chiefs of the European Union condemn the violence and a statement is jointly issued by Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. (AFP via The Australian)
Plainclothes Syrian security agents are deployed outside Parliament in Damascus ahead of the anti-government demonstrations there. (CP via Google News)
At least ten people are killed and several others injured in separate incidents of violence across Afghanistan. (PressTv)
Business and economy
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, jointly propose a new set of policies for the euro zone defined to defend the euro as a currency, such as higher retirement ages and the abolition of inflation-indexed wages. (Reuters)
A court in Canada strikes down the government's decision to allow Globalive to operate a wireless telecomm network in that country, given the extent of foreign holdings. (Reuters)
Researchers report that fishing rates in the Arctic are 75 times higher than those reported by the U.N., suggesting future increased exploitation is less possible than previously thought. (Reuters)
U.S. TV coverage of the uprising in Egypt is criticised for being both pessimistic and superficial and for its focus on what events mean for the U.S. and its regional allies. (Al Jazeera)
Comedian Steve Coogan criticises the presenters of BBC television series Top Gear in relation to their recent insulting of Mexicans. He also criticies the BBC's "pitiful" and "mealy-mouthed" apology after it offended Mexicans. (The Guardian)
UK prime minister David Cameron uses an important speech at a security conference in Munich to say "state multiculturalism" has failed, adding that the UK needs a stronger national identity and promising to promote Western values. (BBC)(Al Jazeera)(The Guardian)
The largest anti-government demonstration in years occurs in Belgrade, with thousands of disenchanted Serbs travelling to the parliament building from across the country to call for early elections there. An opposition party leader at the event compares it to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. (BBC)(Deutsche Welle)(Reuters)
Second-place Arsenal become the first team since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992 to blow a 4–0 lead, as Newcastle United storm back to draw 4–4.
People demonstrate against the Mubarak regime for the thirteenth consecutive day, dubbed the "Day of Martyrs" in memory of those killed. (Press TV)(Al Jazeera)(The Guardian)
Protestors express anger at the governments of France, Israel and the United States due to their support of the thirty-year Mubarak dictatorship. (Press TV)
Human Rights Watch expresses increased concerns at the continuing targeting by the Egyptian authorities of journalists, human rights defenders, and youth activists, while another Al Jazeera reporter is arrested. (The Guardian)(The Guardian)
An Israeli man is released from custody. (Press TV)
Traffic to Al Jazeera's English-language website, which features a live stream of events, increases by 2,500 per cent during the past week of its coverage of the events in Egypt, with as much as 60 per cent of this coming from the United States. (Los Angeles Times)
Police in Tunisia kill at least two people during a protest in the northwestern town of El Kef demanding the resignation of a police chief - crowds retaliate by burning the police station. (BBC), (Houston Chronicle)(Al Jazeera)
The Indian Army insists it is to inquire "on its own" the death of a man in Kashmir, allegedly killed in an army ambush. His family says he was snatched from his home before being shot. (Sify)(Kashmir Observer)
The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expresses what she believes is the even more crucial need for progress in peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians due to events in Egypt and other countries. (Sunday Independent)
Newly released cables sent from the U.S. embassy in Cairo in 2008 refer to Egypt's Defence Minister, Field MarshalMohamed Tantawi, as "Mubarak's poodle", though conclude that he "retains Mubarak's support, and could easily remain in place for years to come". (The Sydney Morning Herald)
The IsraeliKnesset approves the "Bishara Bill", which would revoke the pension payments of Knesset members if they fail to appear at criminal proceedings held against them, or if convicted of severe felonies. (Ynetnews)
The protests continue in Egypt for a fifteenth day, hours after a detained Google executive is released with the crowds the biggest yet. (Al Jazeera), (New York Times)
Labour unions involving thousands of workers go on a nationwide strike, boosting the pro-democracy demonstrations occurring across the country. (Al Jazeera)
Human rights groups say the military is secretly detaining and torturing hundreds and possibly thousands of suspected government opponents and has been doing so since the protests started. (The Guardian)
South Korea agrees in principle to resume discussions with North Korea on humanitarian issues including reuniting families separated by the Korean War. (BBC)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claims the possibility of terrorism being carried out against the country "has evolved significantly" and, she claims, is "at its most heightened state" since the 9/11 attacks". (BBC)
In a new agreement, Denmark and Russia will for the first time, cooperate within military. (Jyllandsposten)
Law and crime
Prime Minister of ItalySilvio Berlusconi brands "disgusting" a request by prosecutors in Milan to have him put on trial immediately in relation to sexual relations with underage prostitutes which allegedly occurred at one of his house parties. (BBC)
Detectives investigating claims over tabloid phone hacking in Britain are re-examining whether a string of high-profile individuals and celebrities were targeted. Scotland Yard is taking a second look. (Radioaire)
A Manx2 flight from Belfast to Corkcrashes on landing, killing six and injuring at least another six. It is the deadliest in Irish aviation since 1968. (The Guardian)(RTÉ)(CBC News)
Three people are dead, and two others are missing after a natural gas line rupture and explosion in the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania. (CNN)
Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators march on state television and presidential palaces as "Farewell Friday", the eighteenth day of protests against the Mubarak regime, gets underway. (Al Jazeera)
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei warns "Egypt will explode" in response to Mubarak's non-resignation speech last night. (CNN)
Military leaders pledge to end the 30-year state of emergency law when the protests end. (Al Jazeera)
Algerian police and security forces attempt to prevent the people from participating in the illegal march for democracy and change in Algiers. (Xinhua)
The Algerian government shuts down the internet as tear gas and plastic bullets are deployed and journalists, especially those seen with cameras, targeted by state-sponsored thugs. (The Daily Telegraph)
A demonstration occurs from the streets of Montreal in Canada to the front of the Algerian consulate as people, including many Tunisians and Egyptians, join international calls for Abdelaziz Bouteflika's resignation. (AFP via Google News)(Montreal Gazette)
Anti-government protesters march towards Sana'a University, chanting slogans such as "Get out, Get out Ali" and "The people want the regime to fall." (Times LIVE)(Press TV)
Yemeni police use clubs to beat those protesting against the Saleh regime, leaving Yemen's ally, the United States, in a "delicate position". (Taipei Times)(Radio New Zealand)
The United States lifts its ban on freight flights from the country after finding Yemen to have sufficiently developed its airport security measures and that there would be "no problems with resuming cargo flights from Yemen anymore". (Yemen Post)
Yemen's government offers its "respect" for the choice of the Egyptian people to protest and force the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. (Reuters)
Turkey releases its inquiry into the Gaza flotilla raid, finding Israel violated international law and used "excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate force" during the attack. (AP via Google)
Tammy Marquardt's 1995 conviction for the murder of her 2-year-old epileptic son is quashed by the Ontario Court of Appeal, remedying a miscarriage of justice in Canada. (CBC)(Toronto Star)
An investigation is launched after two horses are believed to have been electrocuted by underground cabling in the paddock at Newbury Racecourse in Berkshire, England. (BBC Sport)
Iraq War: Jeremy Paxman faces being punished by the BBC after being judged to have violated the corporation's strict impartiality rules by writing an article for The Guardian in which he stated that Tony Blair's "lies" had led Britain to war with Iraq. (Daily Mail)
Police block the protesters who shout slogans such as "The Yemeni people want the fall of the regime" and "A Yemeni revolution after the Egyptian revolution", as Saleh postpones a visit to his United States allies "due to the current circumstances in the region". (Reuters)(Xinhua)
Pakistan's former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi dismisses claims by U.S. authorities that the American gunman who recently shot two Pakistanis dead is a diplomat. (Xinhua)
Julian Assange's mother criticises leading figures in the U.S. government who called for her son's assassination on television, and expresses concerns that her son is being targeted by an American fatwā similar to the one brought against the writer Salman Rushdie in 1989. (Herald Sun)
The FARC organisation in Colombia releases a fourth hostage in the past week. (BBC)
Supporters of 23-year-old Bradley Manning, including a member of the legal advocacy team, criticise the White House for its "thuggish behaviour" and "torture" in trying to break the soldier by pressuring him to implicate Julian Assange in the alleged theft of 250,000 documents the U.S. government wished to keep secret. (ABC News and Current Affairs)
The IsraeliKnesset passes the "Bishara Bill", a law allowing the House Committee to cut off the pensions of Knesset members evading investigation or trial, by a vote of 36 to 11. (Ynetnews)
Argentina lodges an official complaint against the United States after America's landing of a military plane loaded with undeclared "sensitive material", including guns, drugs and satellite phones, leading the Argentinian government to express concerns that the U.S. was attempting to sneak its cargo into the country. (The Guardian)
A coroner has given his verdict into the death of Linda Norgrove by stating that the soldier who threw the grenade had "acted unaware of Linda's presence". (Sky News)
Amanda Knox's parents have been indicted for allegedly libeling police in Perugia, Italy in statements made surrounding the murder of Meredith Kercher. (CNN)
A Palestinian teen is released from Israeli custody after the police officer who allegedly beat a confession out of him fails to show up to an inquiry. The teenager was held in Israel for 7 months for allegedly throwing rocks before being released.(Haaretz)
A proposal by a consortium of private contractors to attack WikiLeaks and to discredit journalists in favour of the website - including Glenn Greenwald - is uncovered after thousands of e-mails are leaked onto the internet, some of which call for people who donate to be tracked and intimidated. (The Independent)
In an FBI Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force Operation Power Outage, 74 members of Armenian Power criminal syndicate have been arrested on charges of racketeering offenses, bank fraud schemes, kidnappings, and drug trafficking. (CNN)
Khalid ibn Ahmad Al Khalifah, the Foreign Minister, defends the crackdown stating that it pulled the country back from the brink of the sectarian abyss. (NPR)
Clashes continue in the main streets of Manama hours after the crackdown. (Al Jazeera)
14 anti-government protesters are killed as Libyan protesters seeking to oust president Muammar Gaddafi defied a crackdown and took to the streets in four cities on what they called a "day of rage". (The Jerusalem Post)(CNN), (Al-Jazeera)
At least 32 people are killed in several hours of explosions due to an accident at a munitions dump in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania closing the city's airport, destroying homes, a school and sending debris flying across the city as thousands of people seek shelter in a stadium. The death toll is expected to rise. (BBC)(DAWN)(Al Jazeera)(CNN)(France24)
English football fan Garry Mann, jailed for his role in a riot during UEFA Euro 2004, is transferred from jail in Portugal in order to serve the remainder of his sentence in his home country. (BBC)
Troops and tanks patrol Manama as the Bahraini military sets up checkpoints; a ban on public gatherings is announced. (Al Jazeera)
King of BahrainHamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa visits and praises the military for its nighttime crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Manama, lauding their "bravery and readiness to assume their national duties". (Press TV)
Thousands of people attend the first funerals of those killed by security forces in yesterday's massacre at Pearl Square, many making known their anger at the Bahraini regime. (BBC)
Bahrain's military fires at hundreds of mourners advancing towards Pearl Square with reports of live ammunition being used. (New York Times)
Anti-regime protests continue overnight after yesterday's "Day of Rage". Funerals of those killed due today. Human Rights Watch lists 24 killed and many wounded. (BBC)(Human Rights Watch)
Libyans in Benghazi take over a radio station; it broadcasts its message to the world - calling on the international media to cover what "the criminal Gaddafi" is doing - while libya17.com posts videos in English. (Foreign Policy)
Anti-regime protests occur in Baghdad, with demonstrators calling for a larger demonstration next Friday as part of an "Iraqi revolution". (CNN)(Xinhua)
Anti-regime protesters gather for the largest of eight days of demonstrations. (Bloomberg)
4 people are killed during nationwide protests in Yemen. (MSNBC)
In the southern port city of Aden one anti-government protester is shot dead and 40 others are injured as police open fire on thousands of demonstrators; thousands of protesters later storm two council buildings setting them on fire. (Xinhua)
Some Egyptians march through the streets of Cairo apologising for the way in which Hosni Mubarak was deposed after 30 years in the recent revolution. "Yes to Change, No to Humiliation". (Reuters)
The U.S. abandons its criminal investigation of Angelo Mozilo former chairman of Countrywide Financial, in connection with Countrywide's collapse in 2007-08. Mozilo settled a civil action four months ago. (L.A. Times)
International relations
Japan officially suspends its whaling program for the season due to interference by the Sea Shepherd conservation organisation. (NHK)
A McCann family spokesman insists reports that Madeleine McCann was taken to the United States after being snatched during a family holiday in Portugal must be treated with caution. (Sky News)
The Obama administration rescinds most of a regulation designed to protect health care workers who refuse to provide a service that they find objectionable but retains protections against performing abortions when you have strong anti-abortion convictions. (Washington Post)
The U.S. state of Wisconsin has demonstrations in the tens of thousands against a bill forcing public service workers to pay increased pension costs, increased healthcare coverage as well as stripping them of almost all union rights. Senators yesterday fled the state to Illinois. (CNN)(Los Angeles Times)(The Washington Post)
Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to protest yesterday's U.S. veto at the United Nations and call for an end to the “US-supported occupation”. (The Jerusalem Post)
Thousands of people rally in Spanish municipality of Bilbao calling for the legalization of the new separatist party Sortu. (BBC)
Anti-regime demonstrators continue their overnight occupation of Pearl Roundabout junction in Manama, chanting "Get out Hamad" in reference to the country's ruler, having reclaimed the junction after earlier being forced out by authorities. (Al Jazeera)
Protests spread to the city of Rabat as thousands march on the central Hassan II Avenue calling for health and educational reform, economic opportunity and assistance against increased cost of living. (Al Jazeera)
Police in China show up in force in several cities after a call for a "Jasmine Revolution", and disperse protesters in Beijing and Shanghai. (Sify India)(BBC)
Iranians are invited to attend a protest rally in Tehran and other cities in commememoration of the two people killed while attempting to demonstrate for better freedoms last week. (Al Jazeera)
Mehdi Karroubi, the opposition leader under house arrest, calls for his trial to take place in public so that people can "get to know the truth". He posts the request on his website since he cannot leave his house to personally deliver it. (Al Jazeera)
NATO pledges to investigate itself amid reports of its recent killing of dozens of civilians in eastern Afghanistan. (BBC)
A coalition of anti-war groups, pacifists, religious organisations and digital activists urges people to boycott next month's UK's census due to the involvement of the U.S. arms manufacturer responsible for Trident. (The Observer)
At least five people are killed and dozens injured in clashes between military forces from Somaliland and clan militias in the disputed Sool region. (AHN)
UK based oil giant BP agrees to pay Reliance Industries $7.2 billion for a stake in 23 oil and gas blocks in deep water off India. The two companies will also enter into a joint venture for marketing and sourcing natural gas. (Reuters)
China's top security official urges ways to "detect conflicts and problems early on" and improve "social management", after small protests took place inspired by events in the Middle East and North Africa. (BBC)
The life insurance company Metlife expects to sell its Taiwan unit soon, perhaps as early as April, according to anonymous sources cited by Reuters. Regulators blocked an early effort by MetLife to sell the same unit. (Reuters)
Rescue crews pull out of central Christchurch due to fears that one of the tallest buildings, the Grand Chancellor Hotel, will collapse. (ABC News Australia)
Colin Hatch, a convicted child murderer, is murdered in jail while serving his sentence; a 35-year-old male prisoner has been arrested on suspicion of murder. (Sky News)
Toyota recalls more than two million vehicles in the United States to address problems with accelerator pedals being trapped in floormats. (Detroit News)
Allison Transmission, a maker of transmissions for trucks and buses, is planning an initial public offering expected to raise between US$500 million and $1 billion, according to Reuters, which cites "four sources familiar with the situation." (Reuters)
German prosecutors investigate several companies for possible illegal sales of HIV drugs including those intended for use in Africa. (AP via KTUU)[permanent dead link]
Shimon Peres, the President of Israel, is on a four day state visit to Spain as King Juan Carlos expressed his support for the Middle East peace process. (Zimbio)
Thousands of people stage an anti-government protest in the capital Manama, on a day of mourning declared by the government following the deaths of protesters. (Reuters)
Tunisia announces that elections are planned for mid-July 2011, as thousands protest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi. (Al Jazeera)
Hundreds of Iraqi journalists, artists, and intellectuals are arrested the day following the country's "Day of Rage" protest, which resulted in at least twenty-nine deaths throughout the country.(Washington Post)
Bahrain: Thousands of anti-government protesters demonstrate in the capital Manama, as 18 opposition MPs submit their resignations. (AFP via Google News)
Lebanon: Hundreds of protesters demonstrate in the capital Beirut against the country's sectarian political system. (Reuters)
A year-long trial also begins allowing commercial television channels to show up to 12 minutes of adverts per hour during films and dramas, bringing them into line with soap operas where this is already permitted. (Daily Telegraph)
At least 16 people in Bandeira do Sul are killed after a high-voltage electric powerline crashed onto a float participating in a parade ahead of Brazil's carnival celebrations. (Straits Times)
Former military leaders in Argentina go on trial on charges that they masterminded a plan to steal the children of dissidents. (Al Jazeera)
Wing Chau, a money manager, files a lawsuit against Michael Lewis, the author of The Big Short, a popular book about the financial crisis of 2007-08. Chau alleges the book makes "false and defamtory statements" in order to use Chau as a foil for his protagonist, Steve Eisman. (Reuters)
The President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, accuses the opposition of provoking violence in the country in an attempt to remove the government. (Reuters)
