Labor Strikes Swell Egypt Protests

A day after the release of Google executive Wael Ghonim reanimated Egyptian demonstrators, a wave of strikes across the country on Wednesday is helping to keep their ranks strong. Workers in Cairo, including some government employees, and elsewhere across Egypt are on strike, although their motivations were not immediately clear. And it all may be just the beginning of the largest week of protests yet: Following record attendance at Tuesday’s enormous demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the opposition to President Hosni Mubarak is organizing another big protest for Friday. The White House, meanwhile, had Joe Biden push Vice President Omar Suleiman to end Egypt’s 30-year emergency law and for "prompt, meaningful, peaceful, and legitimate” transition. The BBC says the U.S. is no longer focusing on Mubarak’s future, but rather pushing for concrete reforms.