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To know: Demonstrations have escalated in Egypt, despite the government shutdown of Internet and cell-phone service and the police’s use of tear gas, water cannons, and clubs against the protesters—including the Egyptian pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei. (Tens of thousands of Yemeni protesters are also calling for their government’s ouster.) The F.B.I. issued more than forty search warrants related to an investigation of last year’s “Operation Payback,” the targeted hacking of companies that had cut off support to WikiLeaks. And the Republican favorite Mike Pence says that he will not run for President in 2012.
To replace Robert Gibbs: Jay Carney, currently the communications director for Vice-President Biden, and formerly the Washington bureau chief for Time magazine. He’s also a good dancer.
To remember: The seven crew members who died on the Challenger space shuttle, which launched and, seventy-three seconds later, disintegrated twenty-five years ago today.
To watch: Bill Daley on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, in his first television interview since taking over as President Obama’s chief of staff.
To make tennis history: Li Na, the first Chinese tennis player to reach a Grand Slam final, will be the first Asian player to win a major singles title if she wins on Saturday.
To perk up the Mojave desert: Recorded bird songs, under a plan suggested by R. Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California.
