Release of Google executive fuels Egypt revolt
Top story: Only hours after his release from an Egyptian jail cell, Google executive Wael Ghonim described his imprisonment and his role in organizing the protests that have rocked Egypt over the past two weeks in a televised interview. Ghonim, who directs Google's marketing efforts in the Middle East and North Africa, said that he was "kidnapped" by Egyptian police on Jan. 28 while entering a taxi and detained for 12 days.
Ghonim also announced that he was the creator of some of the Facebook and YouTube pages that helped Egyptian youth organize during the earlier days of the unrest, and served as a rallying cry to focus public anger at the regime during that time. Ghonim said that he created a popular Facebook page commemorating Khaled Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian who was beaten to death by police in Alexandria in June 2010. The police would later try to cover up the crime by falsifying autopsy reports of the causes of Said's death.
Ghonim broke down in tears during the interview when told how many Egyptians had died during the current unrest. His imprisonment has turned him into a symbol for the technology-savvy youth that sparked the unrest in Egypt, with many taking to Facebook and Twitter to ask that he assume a leadership role in the protest movement going forward.
Iran's opposition petitions to protest: In a test for Iran's hardliners, Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi requested permission to organize a protest in solidarity with the protesters in Egypt.
| Middle East -
British Foreign Secretary William Hague traveled to Tunisia to pledge Britain's support for the country's new government. -
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said that the unrest in Egypt will strengthen the forces aligned against Israel in the Middle East. -
The Palestinian Authority set July 9 as the date to hold local elections in the West Bank and Gaza, a move quickly rejected by Hamas. Europe -
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Italian prosecutors will request that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi be prosecuted for sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power. -
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned to court in London to battle his extradition to Sweden. Asia -
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for shutting down the provincial reconstruction teams that work to improve local infrastructure and run development programs across Afghanistan. -
A mob of Muslim protesters burned two churches in Indonesia. -
The Burmese opposition endorsed sanctions on the ruling junta. Americas -
State Department investigators found "indicators" of exploitation at U.S. embassies in the Gulf. -
Haiti issued deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide a passport, clearing the way for his return. -
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for a coordinated plan with Brazil to convince China to stop manipulating the value of its currency. Africa -
Final results of south Sudan's referendum showed that 98.83 percent of voters had cast their ballot in favor of secession. -
The lawyer for former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is on trial for war crimes at The Hague, stormed out of the court as the trial nears its close. -
Pirates hijacked an Italian oil tanker in the Indian Ocean. |  |
-David KennerMARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images
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