Radio Netherlands

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.

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.

KLM Royal Dutch airlines is adapting its timetable to the expanded evening curfew imposed by the Egyptian authorities in response to the protests against President Hosni Mubarak. Radio Netherlands Worldwide is increasing also its broadcasts to Egypt after the authorities shut down all internet servers and mobile services.

Russia wants an unambiguous answer from NATO over Moscow’s role in a European missile defense shield and will deploy nuclear weapons if no agreement is reached, President Dmitry Medvedev warned.
“Our partners have to understand that we do not want this to have some common toys that NATO and us can play with, but because we want adequate protection for Russia,” Medvedev said.

Turkish Nobel Literature Prize winner Mr. Orhan Pamuk and several other international top authors are boycotting Sri Lanka’s upcoming literary Galle Festival, following an appeal done by Reporters Without Borders. “Authors who are going would legitimize Sri Lanka’s very poor freedom of expression record,” the group says.