Big update coming soon

One hates to use the phrase 'turning point' cheaply, but it seems that today is one of those junctures - though it is too early to say which direction the situation will turn. As I write this at 3:30 p.m. ET in the U.S., it is evening in Tunis, and the capital city is under a all-out curfew. The city was packed with a huge military presence, from the medina to the suburbs today. Protests were reported in cities across the country, as were casualties inflicted by government forces.

Prior commitments mean it will be late this evening (US time) before I get to update everything. But the developments are absolutely fascinating - if you'd asked anyone the first week of protests what the odds were of Ben Ali being unseated, you'd have had to say that it was maybe - maybe! - 1%. But every shred of news coming out - whether through traditional or social media - indicates that the dissatisfaction with Ben Ali is far, far more widespread than anyone has believed. Things once said in the cover of darkness among friends with a resigned laugh are being shouted in the streets, and on the 'net. I'll have much more to come late this evening.

For now...
• NYT confirms what we heard last night, that Sakhr el-Matri beat feet out of town, and the rest of the clan may not be far behind
• Foreign Policy on repression on journalists.
• Reuters confirms something heard earlier on social media. A professor (our sources say a journalism prof) was among the dead in the Saharan city of Douz
• Tunindex continues to plummet with the unrest
• IFJ backs journalists' strike