2011 January | Here & Now

After living nearly all his life under a dictatorship, 31-year-old Hossam Bahgat says he has never seen this kind of unity on the streets of Cairo. Bahgat and thousands of other Egyptians are gathering for Tuesday’s million-person march.

We speak with Edward Walker, former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Israel and the U.A. E. He says the U.S. “has been a little bit too reluctant to criticize our friends.”

As a child growing up during World War II, David Seidler struggled with a stutter. Seidler was inspired when he heard radio broadcasts of King George VI, who had to overcome his own speech troubles. Seidler tells the story of King George and his speech therapist in the screenplay he authored for the new movie, “The King’s Speech.”

We touch down in the Cairo airport, where hundreds of American college students are waiting to leave Egypt.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named a new cabinet today, but protesters are showing no signs of letting up. We speak with Egyptians in the thick of the protests about what one calls “the best moment of my life.”

A Massachusetts-based group of Internet activists is helping Egyptian protesters stay online, while hiding their cyber tracks from the government.

On Monday we heard music from Freddie Hubbard, The Wee Trio and more.

The Obama Administration is watching the anti-government protests in Egypt closely to see what happens to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek, a close alley to the U.S.

On Friday we heard the sounds of Mike Mills and Dave Douglas.

Anti-government protests in Egypt escalated today with police firing rubber bullets into the crowds and using tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators after Friday prayers.

This week Serbia’s Novak Djokovic beat Switzerland’s Roger Federer to make it to the finals of the Australian Open. We take a look at how a new kind of tennis strings could be impacting match outcomes with Nate Ferguson, a stringer to both Federer and Djokovic and Britain’s Andy Murray.

One of the movies nominated for an Oscar this week is “Restrepo,” a documentary about American soldiers at a remote outpost in Afghanistan. We revisit a conversation with Army Capt. Dan Kearney, featured in the film.

Thursday we heard music from Sam Spence, Moby and more.

Super Bowl ads are nothing if not predictable. Gone are the years of high concept ads that won industry awards. These days, scantily-clad women, talking babies and simians of all sorts dominate Super Bowl commercials.

New research finds that 45 percent of college students surveyed say they didn’t have “any significant improvement in learning” in the first two years of college.

NASA gave an assignment to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman: imagine aircraft that can fly 7,000 miles without refueling, and travel close to the speed of sound.

A Ugandan gay activist has been brutally beaten to death, after his photo was recently put on the front page of a newspaper that called for his killing.

Three years after it was promised, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, still isn’t finished. And Boeing recently suffered the cancellation of several defense contracts. But despite what seems to be a gloomy future, some analysts see a bright path ahead for the company.

Today marks the third day of protests in Egypt calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. The government there has been blocking social media sites that demonstrators are using to organize, but now Facebook may have found a way to break the blockade.

President Obama travels to Manitowoc, Wisconsin Wednesday where he will tour a renewable energy company. If he wanted to hear about the ups and downs of doing business in China, he could also stop by the Manitowoc Company, which makes industrial cranes, and is constantly trying to stay one step ahead of its Chinese competition.