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was BREAKING: Mubarak Expected to Step Down!

Defying the will of the people that have come out in their millions throughout Egypt in premature celebration of President Mubarak's widely rumored resignation.

Mubarak announced in his speech on Egyptian state TV tonight that we would not step down as president as the people have been demanding.

"I will not relent in punishing those responsible for the violence."
"The blood of those killed in the violence will not be wasted."
"I will not bow to outside pressure"

"I will remain in office until elections."

He plans on making reforms and is calling for amendments to six sections of the constitution.

He will remain on as president but transfer his powers to his new vice president and longtime intelligence chief Omar Soleiman.

He repeated many time that he would not bow to outside powers which sound like a direct response to earlier reports that US officials had told him to resign.

was BREAKING: Mubarak Expected to Step Down!

Defying the will of the people that have come out in their millions throughout Egypt in premature celebration of President Mubarak's widely rumored resignation.

Mubarak announced in his speech on Egyptian state TV tonight that we would not step down as president as the people have been demanding.

"I will not relent in punishing those responsible for the violence."
"The blood of those killed in the violence will not be wasted."
"I will not bow to outside pressure"

"I will remain in office until elections."

He plans on making reforms and is calling for amendments to six sections of the constitution.

He will remain on as president but transfer his powers to his new vice president and longtime intelligence chief Omar Soleiman.

He repeated many time that he would not bow to outside powers which sound like a direct response to earlier reports that US officials had told him to resign.

When Google Marketing Executive for Middle East and North Africa [MENA] Wael Ghonim went missing amidst the chaos that was enveloping Cairo in the first week of the uprising in Egypt, Google started a search. So did friends and family.

He took six days off from Google, saying he had to take care of some "personal business." The day before the big January 25th protest he tweeted "Heading to Tahrir square now. Sleeping on the streets of Cairo, trying to feel the pain of millions of my fellow Egyptians. #Jan25"

His last tweet, before he went missing was on Thursday, 27 January. He was helping another Internet user get around Egypt's web censorship:

@Ghonim how can you tweet when its blocked??

He responded:

@SweetOwl proxy servers

At first Google refused to confirm that Wael was missing, In an email, a spokeswomen said "We care deeply about the safety of our employees, but to protect their privacy, we don't comment on them individually."

When Google Marketing Executive for Middle East and North Africa [MENA] Wael Ghonim went missing amidst the chaos that was enveloping Cairo in the first week of the uprising in Egypt, Google started a search. So did friends and family.

He took six days off from Google, saying he had to take care of some "personal business." The day before the big January 25th protest he tweeted "Heading to Tahrir square now. Sleeping on the streets of Cairo, trying to feel the pain of millions of my fellow Egyptians. #Jan25"

His last tweet, before he went missing was on Thursday, 27 January. He was helping another Internet user get around Egypt's web censorship:

@Ghonim how can you tweet when its blocked??

He responded:

@SweetOwl proxy servers

At first Google refused to confirm that Wael was missing, In an email, a spokeswomen said "We care deeply about the safety of our employees, but to protect their privacy, we don't comment on them individually."

Under the title Anonymous Hacks Security Company HBGary, Dumps 50,000 Emails Online readwriteweb.com broke this story yesterday:

A security company that's been working with the government to track down the cyber-activists involved with Anonymous has now become the target of that very group.

HBGary's website has been defaced and its CEO Aaron Barr has had his social media accounts hijacked and his personal information leaked online - all in retribution for his claims that he had infiltrated Anonymous, the loosely-affiliated collective of hacktivists.

I also have heard from Anonymous sources that they got copies of all the source code for the company's security products. Maybe they need to hire some computer security experts themselves. The article goes on:

Under the title Anonymous Hacks Security Company HBGary, Dumps 50,000 Emails Online readwriteweb.com broke this story yesterday:

A security company that's been working with the government to track down the cyber-activists involved with Anonymous has now become the target of that very group.

HBGary's website has been defaced and its CEO Aaron Barr has had his social media accounts hijacked and his personal information leaked online - all in retribution for his claims that he had infiltrated Anonymous, the loosely-affiliated collective of hacktivists.

I also have heard from Anonymous sources that they got copies of all the source code for the company's security products. Maybe they need to hire some computer security experts themselves. The article goes on:

Even though Tunisia's dictator for 23 years, President Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali has been forced to flee the country and is currently a fugitive from an Interpol international arrest warrant with his assets frozen in Tunisia and Europe, the very difficult task of thoroughly rooting out the old regime and building a new Tunisia continues.

While many are still troubled by the fact that long time Ben Ali crony Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi remains the head of government, there haven't been many street protests in recent days.  After a major government reshuffle purged it of Ben  Ali loyalists, most people seem to have adopted a wait and see attitude and started to get back to normal life.

"I think the pressure that was put on the government has borne its fruit, meaning that we have obtained good concessions," was the way Kamel Ben Hamida, a resident of Tunis, put it.  "It would be more reasonable to stop asking for the government to fall."

Even though Tunisia's dictator for 23 years, President Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali has been forced to flee the country and is currently a fugitive from an Interpol international arrest warrant with his assets frozen in Tunisia and Europe, the very difficult task of thoroughly rooting out the old regime and building a new Tunisia continues.

While many are still troubled by the fact that long time Ben Ali crony Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi remains the head of government, there haven't been many street protests in recent days.  After a major government reshuffle purged it of Ben  Ali loyalists, most people seem to have adopted a wait and see attitude and started to get back to normal life.

"I think the pressure that was put on the government has borne its fruit, meaning that we have obtained good concessions," was the way Kamel Ben Hamida, a resident of Tunis, put it.  "It would be more reasonable to stop asking for the government to fall."

Twitter has been something of a lifeline for the Egyptian people in this time of struggle. It has been a major conduit for getting up to the minute information out of Egypt and it has allowed the Egyptian protesters to communicate and organize.

So when Hosni Mubarak pulled the plug in on the Internet last week in an effort to quell the dissent, the people at Google decided it was time to take their latest speech-to-text technology out of Google Labs and into the real world. They got together with Twitter and set up three phone lines that Egyptians could call and leave a voicemail that would be turned into a Tweet. The numbers, which went into service on Monday, are +16504194196, +390662207294 and +97316199855 and they have been advertised in Al Jazeera's ticker since. The tinker doesn't mention Google BTW.

Twitter has been something of a lifeline for the Egyptian people in this time of struggle. It has been a major conduit for getting up to the minute information out of Egypt and it has allowed the Egyptian protesters to communicate and organize.

So when Hosni Mubarak pulled the plug in on the Internet last week in an effort to quell the dissent, the people at Google decided it was time to take their latest speech-to-text technology out of Google Labs and into the real world. They got together with Twitter and set up three phone lines that Egyptians could call and leave a voicemail that would be turned into a Tweet. The numbers, which went into service on Monday, are +16504194196, +390662207294 and +97316199855 and they have been advertised in Al Jazeera's ticker since. The tinker doesn't mention Google BTW.

Al Jazeera says this about the video piece which they showed for the first time yesterday evening and put on YouTube minutes later. It describes how "Tunisian members of Anonymous, the same group of hackers that targeted anti-WikiLeaks sites" are now supporting the struggle in Egypt. The piece features an interview with the Tunisian hacker anon.m. It is less than 2 minutes long.

Social media played a crucial role in organizing the uprising in Tunisia, and now, activists there are focusing their technical skills on helping anti-government protesters in Egypt.

Tunisian hackers say they will attack website belonging to the Egyptian government in solidarity with the pro-democracy activists protesting in Cair, Alexandria and Luxor.

Nazanine Moshir reports from Tunis.

Al Jazeera says this about the video piece which they showed for the first time yesterday evening and put on YouTube minutes later. It describes how "Tunisian members of Anonymous, the same group of hackers that targeted anti-WikiLeaks sites" are now supporting the struggle in Egypt. The piece features an interview with the Tunisian hacker anon.m. It is less than 2 minutes long.

Social media played a crucial role in organizing the uprising in Tunisia, and now, activists there are focusing their technical skills on helping anti-government protesters in Egypt.

Tunisian hackers say they will attack website belonging to the Egyptian government in solidarity with the pro-democracy activists protesting in Cair, Alexandria and Luxor.

Nazanine Moshir reports from Tunis.

4:00pm Cairo - In the face of unrelenting violence from Mubarak's thugs, protester have come roaring back with a massive "Day of Departure" demonstration today as the White house scrambles to work out a deal in which Mubarak would leave immediately. Waving Egyptian flags and chanting the national anthem, protesters in their thousands are filling Tahrir or Liberation Square in Cairo as Friday pray lets out. More than a million people are reported to have flooded into Liberation Square, another million are reported in Alexandria and the numbers are still growing. Thongs of protesters can still be seen crossing the Nile River at the October 6th Bridge into Tahrir Square. In the face of all the death, destruction and injury cause by the Mubarak regime in the past few days, the masses remain steadfast in their demand that "Mubarak must go now!"

4:00pm Cairo - In the face of unrelenting violence from Mubarak's thugs, protester have come roaring back with a massive "Day of Departure" demonstration today as the White house scrambles to work out a deal in which Mubarak would leave immediately. Waving Egyptian flags and chanting the national anthem, protesters in their thousands are filling Tahrir or Liberation Square in Cairo as Friday pray lets out. More than a million people are reported to have flooded into Liberation Square, another million are reported in Alexandria and the numbers are still growing. Thongs of protesters can still be seen crossing the Nile River at the October 6th Bridge into Tahrir Square. In the face of all the death, destruction and injury cause by the Mubarak regime in the past few days, the masses remain steadfast in their demand that "Mubarak must go now!"

                    ‘The chant is يسقط يسقط حسني مبارك – Tell the world he is killing us’

As the Sun rises in Cairo on the tenth day of the Egyptian uprising, the protesters opposed to the government of Hosni Mubarak still hold Tahrir Liberation Square. They still hold it in spite of a night of horrific violence by pro-Mubarak thugs that attacked the peaceful protesters with machine guns, other guns and fire bombs. Overwhelming evidence is already mounting that this murderous gang was composed of police in plain clothes, NDP functionaries and loyalist and hired thugs. The army, which in previous days made sure all the protesters that entered the square were unarmed, stood by and did nothing while the assault took place.

The goal of the thugs was to drive the protesters from the square. In this they were not successful.

                    ‘The chant is يسقط يسقط حسني مبارك – Tell the world he is killing us’

As the Sun rises in Cairo on the tenth day of the Egyptian uprising, the protesters opposed to the government of Hosni Mubarak still hold Tahrir Liberation Square. They still hold it in spite of a night of horrific violence by pro-Mubarak thugs that attacked the peaceful protesters with machine guns, other guns and fire bombs. Overwhelming evidence is already mounting that this murderous gang was composed of police in plain clothes, NDP functionaries and loyalist and hired thugs. The army, which in previous days made sure all the protesters that entered the square were unarmed, stood by and did nothing while the assault took place.

The goal of the thugs was to drive the protesters from the square. In this they were not successful.

                    ‘The chant is يسقط يسقط حسني مبارك – Tell the world he is killing us’

As the Sun rises in Cairo on the tenth day of the Egyptian uprising, the protesters opposed to the government of Hosni Mubarak still hold Tahrir Liberation Square. They still hold it in spite of a night of horrific violence by pro-Mubarak thugs that attacked the peaceful protesters with machine guns, other guns and fire bombs. Overwhelming evidence is already mounting that this murderous gang was composed of police in plain clothes, NDP functionaries and loyalist and hired thugs. The army, which in previous days made sure all the protesters that entered the square were unarmed, stood by and did nothing while the assault took place.

The goal of the thugs was to drive the protesters from the square. In this they were not successful.

                    ‘The chant is يسقط يسقط حسني مبارك – Tell the world he is killing us’

As the Sun rises in Cairo on the tenth day of the Egyptian uprising, the protesters opposed to the government of Hosni Mubarak still hold Tahrir Liberation Square. They still hold it in spite of a night of horrific violence by pro-Mubarak thugs that attacked the peaceful protesters with machine guns, other guns and fire bombs. Overwhelming evidence is already mounting that this murderous gang was composed of police in plain clothes, NDP functionaries and loyalist and hired thugs. The army, which in previous days made sure all the protesters that entered the square were unarmed, stood by and did nothing while the assault took place.

The goal of the thugs was to drive the protesters from the square. In this they were not successful.

"2 Million in Alexandria. Almost 3 Million in Cairo. Around half a Million Suez. It's happening." read an Anonymous tweet I received this morning about the massive day of protests in Egypt.

I have been very busy recently writing updates for WikiLeaks Central on the uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and Egypt. But I wanted to use my DailyKos diary today to look back on that petty bit of police harassment that started this prairie fire burning.  

"2 Million in Alexandria. Almost 3 Million in Cairo. Around half a Million Suez. It's happening." read an Anonymous tweet I received this morning about the massive day of protests in Egypt.

I have been very busy recently writing updates for WikiLeaks Central on the uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and Egypt. But I wanted to use my DailyKos diary today to look back on that petty bit of police harassment that started this prairie fire burning.