Why I returned to Tahrir Square

My name is Ihsaan Azab. I’m 20 years old, and I was born in America. I lived half my life there and the other half in Egypt. I grew up in free country and knew how it felt to express myself. I moved to Egypt 10 years ago, but I still didn’t realise the burdens of daily life for Egyptian people lived in until 25 January last year.

Participating in protests on 25 Jan last year was an indescribable feeling. I was out with millions of people chanting the same demands. We insisted on our demands and achieved our goal — bringing down Mubarak’s oppressive government.

A year has now passed, and on 25 January this year, the same people who protested last year were out to say that they still have demands and will continue with the revolution. Others were there to celebrate its first anniversary. I was there again because I believe we still have more goals to be achieved, and as I chanted with the crowd, “down with the Military Council!” I was proud, more than ever, of being Egyptian.

Uganda: Photojournalist shot at by security forces

A Ugandan photojournalist was shot at by security forces on Tuesday as he covered their attack on the motorcade of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. Isaac Kasamani, a photojournalist with the independent Daily Monitor, said men in plainclothes shot at him from a blue police van some 10 metres away as he kneeled to take a photo of an exploding tear gas canister thrown by the agents. He wrote that the bullet narrowly missed him

Twitter to restrict tweets in specific countries

Micro-blogging site Twitter last night [26 Jan] announced it would begin withholding tweets in certain countries, sparking claims of censorship. Prior to this move, Twitter had to remove a Tweet from its global network if it received a government takedown request from a government, but it will now be able to restrict content in a specific country while keeping it available in others. In the interests of transparency, Twitter has also expanded its partnership with the Chilling Effects website, making it easier to find Twitter takedown notices.

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