Need To Know News: Egypt protests ramp up; government crackdown escalates

Each day, we here at "Piers Morgan Tonight" will put together the news you need to know – from what happened last night to what will happen today.

For January 28, 2011, an update on the escalating and violent situation in Egypt.

• An update on Egypt, from CNN: "Thousands of angry anti-government demonstrators took to the streets Friday in several Egyptian cities and clashed with police who fired tear gas to quell the crowds.
In Cairo, the capital, vans packed with riot police circled neighborhoods before the start of weekly prayers Friday afternoon. But protesters, fed up with high unemployment and a lack of freedoms, defied security warnings to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian 30-year-rule."

• Social media in the country has been hampered: "Despite attempts to block Twitter, Facebook and other sites (the government denies it was responsible), a Facebook page devoted to Friday's planned protests had more than 80,000 followers as of 2 p.m. ET Thursday, compared with some 20,000 the previous day."

• Nelson Mandela has been released from the hospital. From CNN: "Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was discharged from a South African hospital Friday after treatment for an acute respiratory infection, the nation's surgeon general said."

• Rahm Emanuel can run for Chicago Mayor: "The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met residency requirements and that his name will stay on the mayoral ballot in Chicago."

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