what s next for the troubled actor. today is saturday, january 29th, actor. today is saturday, january 29th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome to today on a saturday morning. i m lester holt. and i m amy robach. we re getting disturbing new details. there are thousands of people now in the streets of cairo. some estimates putting that number at 50,000. you have to wonder if this is all getting ahead of where the mubarnemubarak government thoug would be. there are new reports from suez that says they re using live ammunition. americans and other foreigners desperately trying to get out of the country. at least 35 people have been killed since the violence began five days ago. president nmubarak has fired his entire cabinet, but he s defending the crackdown. he also spoke to president obama in a 30 minute phone call. we ll have a live report from egypt and washington in just a moment. in other news, we ll also have new accusations against t
central cairo looked like a war zone. antigovernment protestors fought their way past police and pushed into the very heart of the city cheering and chanting we demand the end of the regime. hours earlier after friday prayers, crowds set out to march but almost immediately they were stopped by lines of police in full riot gear who beat them and fired round after round of tear gas and rubber bullets. that s the front line right there. that s where the police lines are preventing people from getting to the center of town. these demonstrators are penned in and furious. (screaming) they want one thing. we don t want this party anymore! go, leave out of egypt! reporter: people are demanding an end to corruption, to abuse, unemployment. but above all they want to see the end of president hosni mubarak. go away from egypt. go away from egypt! reporter: the main stand off played out on a bridge over the file river. protestors who funneled here from all parts of the city wer
serious threat to his 30-year- old regime. for decades, anger has simmered near the surface in egypt and throughout the arab world, anger over corrupt governments, poverty, and a lack of freedom. today, for the fourth straight day, protesters poured into the streets of cairo and other cities in egypt, throwing rocks at the police, who fired back with water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas. president mubarak imposed a curfew and cut off all internet access. he also called out the military to restore order. late tonight, mubarak went on television and said he s firing his cabinet but he is staying put. this wave of protests began two weeks ago in tunisia with the overthrow of the president. today in tunis, police again clashed with protesters who want the prime minister to resign as well. and thousands marched today in jordan. they also want their prime minister to step down amid rising food prices and high unemployment. tonight, though, the world s attention is focused on e
the nation of egypt is probably changing forever, and it may not stop there. what appears to be a revolution is under way, led by protesters in the streets against the almost 30-year rule of president hosni mubarak. late tonight local time he went on television, gave a speech talking about freedom and democracy. he said he s going to replace his own government tomorrow. we later learn when president obama made his own statement tonight that the two had spoken for 30 minutes late in the day. egypt has shut down the internet, which helped fuel this after all in a nation where over half the population is age 30 and under. importantly this is not a middle east protest against the u.s. or britain or israel, this is egyptians protesting their own government. here s where we re talking about, three major protests going on in three big egyptian cities. suez, alexandria and of course in cairo. that s where our chief foreign correspondent, richard engle, is standing by tonight. richard
homes and businesses without power right now crews restored service to about 13 thousand customers overnight dominion virginia power has about 245 outages. and bge has about 200 customers without service pep coco s president came to discuss it. our plan started on tuesday we started to hold back our contractors. at that point, we were right in the middle of a shift change we kept those employees on the property so we would be able to use them in an event a major event did hit that evening, wednesday evening, we made a call. we were on a call with baltimore gas and electric. so you are saying you called and pepco called for outside resources at the same time as the other utilities did contrary to the report in the post today that they called earlier and you guys waited until 8:30 at night? i have to tell you, the post got it wrong i am here to set the record straight we participated on the very same call at baltimore gas and electric and every other utility seeking mutua