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US President Obama signed ratification documents for a new START nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, in a showpiece moment for his “reset” of ties with the Kremlin.
Obama signed the documents in the Oval Office surrounded by key senators and top national security and military officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

King Abdullah II of Jordan named Maruf Bakhit as prime minister on Tuesday with orders to carry out “true political reforms,” the palace said, after weeks of opposition protests demanding change.
“King Abdullah II designated Maruf Bakhit to form a new government to replace the government of Samir Rifai,” a palace statement said.

Several hundred thousand Egyptians amassed on Tuesday for the biggest outpouring of anger yet in their drive to oust President Hosni Mubarak, on day eight of a revolt in which an estimated 300 have died.
Demonstrators flooded Cairo’s Tahrir Square protest epicenter from early morning for a “march of a million” planned for the capital and second city Alexandria.

Twitter and Google recently joined forces to help Egypt talk to the world. The Egyptian authorities last week decided to block most internet and SMS traffic, but the two companies combined efforts and came up with a way around the blockade.
Their system is called ‘Speak2tweet’ (link http://twitter.com/speak2tweet#) and is quite simple.

Massive tides of peaceful protesters flooded Cairo and Egypt’s second city Alexandria on Tuesday in the biggest outpouring yet of defiance in a relentless drive to oust President Hosni Mubarak.
Several hundred thousand demonstrators massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter for a “march of a million” in the capital, and similar numbers turned out in Alexandria.

Protesters in Egypt have called for a general strike today and a “million man march” on Tuesday in an attempt to force Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power. Over the past seven days, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have protested in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other cities in the largest protests Egypt has seen in decades.

Top dissident Mohamed ElBaradei told a sea of angry protesters in Cairo on Sunday that they were beginning a new era after six days of a deadly revolt against embattled President Hosni Mubarak.
But despite the anticipation of change, Mubarak ordered police back on the streets after they had largely disappeared over the past two days following street battles with protesters.

The Dutch government has changed its travel advice to people wanting to visit Egypt because of the continuing demonstrations. After an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, the Foreign Ministry advised against any trips to Egypt.
Although no decision has been taken to evacuate Dutch nationals, travel agencies are bringing people home.

People’s expectation raised for change will dash against the reality that it will take decades to create systems of governance, accountability, economic justice, etc to allow for unleashing the great potential in the Arab world – natural resources, water, educated hard-working middle class etc. It is critical that people begin to chart this future honestly and pragmatically.

The end of the government of President Mubarak is the main demand of demonstrators in Cairo and other Egyptian cities, currently under curfew and suffering a partial cut in communications.
Thousands of people, mainly youngsters, have taken to the streets, chanting “Mubarak, Go” and using stones and sticks in clashes with riot police.