This Week's Top News Stories on YouTube--Tunisia makes history, Turkey gets leveled, and #OccupyOakland gets violent.

This Week's Top News Stories on YouTube--Tunisia makes history, Turkey gets leveled, and #OccupyOakland gets violent.

Everyday on the CitizenTube Channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Every week we'll post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week:

• We watched history unfold in Tunisia as the country's people were the first to go to the polls since they ignited the Arab Spring, and chose the moderate Islamist Ennahda party as their majority representatives in their first ever democratic elections.
• We witnessed Libya mark its "declaration of liberation" and the secret burial of Moammar Gadhafi, as the country prepares for a new, democratic future.
• We saw eastern Turkey's Van province get leveled by a massive 7.2 earthquake that crushed buildings and killed at least 500 people despite some fortunate rescues.
• We noted a violent escalation in police enforcement during Occupy Oakland protests and the subsequent solidarity marches by affiliated Occupy movements across the US.
• We followed Michelle Bachmann as she filed her paperwork for the New Hampshire primary and a baby-kissing Barack Obama on the US campaign trail.
• We monitored worsening floods in Thailand as water crept in on the capital Bangkok and forced officials to issue evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents.
• And finally, we were mystified along with the rest of the US with Republican candidate for president Herman Cain's newest viral ad in which his chief of staff is seen smoking.

Chancellor Angela Merkel takes your questions on new German government YouTube channel

From the Philippines to Israel, Mexico to Iraq, governments from around the world have created YouTube channels and are using the site to communicate with their constituents. Today, the German government launched their YouTube channel to provide regular updates to German citizenry.

Better still, they want to hear from you. Chancellor Angela Merkel will be taking questions from citizens through YouTube. You can vote on the questions you'd like to see asked and she'll answer the top ten questions in a three-part video series on the new channel.



What questions do you have for the Chancellor? Upload them now.

Nonprofits use video to drive action on World Food Day

Cross-posted on the YouTube Blog.

Today is World Food Day and we wanted to highlight some of the ways we’re seeing nonprofit organizations around the world are sharing stories of the over one billion people who are living in hunger.

Organizations like the ONE Campaign are employing famous faces like Bono, George Clooney and Jessica Alba to help raise awareness about the issue:



Others like LinkTV are using this important day to highlight the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, which has affected over 11.5 million people thus far:



A collection of videos related to World Food Day are featured on the YouTube homepage today. Watch them to learn more about the global hunger crisis and to see how you can help.

Live Conversation with Jeffrey Immelt (CEO of GE) on jobs and the economy

With unemployment at 9.1%, Jeffery Immelt, Chariman and CEO of GE and Chairman of the President’s outside panel of economic advisors, faces a daunting task: to figure out how to get American firms hiring again. In a recently published October report, Immelt and staff laid out recommendations for President Obama and Congress, including the formation of a new government “financing institution” to invest in alternative energy and manufacturing projects, among others. Dubbed “The Jobs Czar”, Immelt stands front and center of issue number one in the mind of the American voter: jobs, jobs, jobs.

Beginning 8:30 (EST) on Monday October 17, Thomson Reuters will explore the jobs agenda in a conversation with Jeffrey Immelt. The event will be held in New York City at the Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event, moderated by Thomson Reuters Digital Editor, Chrystia Freeland.

To watch the conversation, please visit the Reueters YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/reuters. The event will air live at 8:30 EST on Monday October 17th.

This Week's Top News Stories on YouTube--tensions in Egypt, New Zealand's oil disaster, and global Blackberry outages

Everyday on the CitizenTube Channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Every week we'll post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week:

• We saw a dramatic renewal of tensions in Egypt after deadly clashes broke out between Coptic Christian protesters and army forces that killed at least 24 people.
• We watched an environmental disaster unfold in New Zealand because of tons of oil from the crashed cargo ship Rena spilling into the Bay of Plenty and onto nearby beaches.
• We witnessed Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York take aim at Fox News and Occupy protesters in Boston forcibly removed from Dewey Square.
• We celebrated the eightieth birthday of world-renowned South African activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu amidst the controversy of the Dalai Lama not being granted a visa to attend.
• We observed dramatic, deadly flooding half a world a part devastate local communities in Thailand and Mexico.
• We enjoyed the beautiful fairy tail royal wedding of the king of Bhutan and his commoner bride.
• We followed Mitt Romney on the US campaign trail as he received a coveted endorsement from New Jersey governor Chris Christie, as well as all of the GOP candidates as they debated economic policy in New Hampshire.
• We monitored intense Arab Spring fighting in Bahrain, Syria, and Libya.
• We tracked massive Blackberry outages as they spread across the globe and the angry backlash from frustrated customers.
• And finally, we reflected on ten years of war in Afghanistan by looking at the fighting, protests, and politics surrounding the conflict.

"What's your story?" video challenge

The White House recently launched a creative initiative asking Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) to record their personal stories via short YouTube videos:

A select number of videos will be posted to the White House website and exceptional AAPI leaders will be invited to the White House for a special gathering. To learn more, or submit your own video (deadline November 1st), visit WhiteHouse.gov/WhatsYourStory.

This Week's Top News Stories on YouTube

This Week's Top News Stories on YouTube--Michael Jackson's doctor goes on trial, Typhoon Nesat rips through the Philippines and China, and the passing of the first African woman Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Everyday on the CitizenTube Channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Every week we'll post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week:

• We watched the highly anticipated trial of Michael Jackson's personal doctor get underway with Conrad Murray facing charges of involuntary manslaughter.
• We saw Hollywood celebrities join protesters trying to curb "corporate greed" with the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in NYC, while organizers started solidarity campaigns in cities across the United States.
• We observed the Russian government in flux as the finance minister resigned in an open confrontation with President Medvedev, who announced he would swap roles in next year's elections with current Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin.
• We witnessed Typhoon Nesat pound the Philippines, killing at least 35 with another 45 missing, and then move on to produce dramatic flooding and destruction in China.
• We followed an "animated" Barack Obama, a "new" ad for Newt Gingrich, and 200,000 people who "like" Hermain Cain on the US campaign trail.
• We monitored the latest in the European economic crisis as Germany's parliament voted to increase the European bailout fund and Greece tried to convince the EU and IMF to release more emergency cash.
• We tracked the ongoing Arab Spring uprisings in Libya, where anti-Gadhafi forces made advances on the stronghold of Sirte, and in Syria, where the US ambassador's convoy was pelted with stones as security forces continued to kill protesters.
• And finally, we reflected on the life and achievements of the first African woman Nobel Peace Prize laureate, environmentalist Wangari Maathai, who died at the age of 71.