Austria incest trial starts

UPDATE> Thursday 19th March Per BBC News, Josef Fritzl has been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison after changing his plea to guilty in all charges.

Per Deutsche Welle, the trial has started in Austria of Josef Fritzl. Fritzl is accused of keeping his daughter locked in a cellar beneath his home for 24 years, and fathering seven children with her. The Saarbruecker Zeitung reports that Fritzl has already made a partial confession - admitting guilt to charges of incest, imprisonment, assault and rape but denying a murder charge.

Thousands of Twitter users have written about this case today - interestingly, some of the most insightful have come from outside the German-speaking Twitterverse.

@juliareid21 Is an online journalist with Britain's Sky News. She is tweeting live from the scene outside the court house, posting photos and linking to blog entries too. Follow her updates throughout the day. One recent (gruesome) tweet & picture:

Plastic blood stained dolls litter the path outside the Fritzl court. Remains of the strangest demo we've seen http://tinyurl.com/dbrbvd

@ewantoo (Manchester, England) Think there'll be a big rise in bank robberies using a folder as a disguise? Josef Fritzl arrives at court http://bit.ly/EjJ0



@WintersNight (Bronx, USA) i had no idea who Josef Fritzl was until this morning. . . is it cause i'm dense? or because the US News sucks? i will endevour to find out



@vctrjmnz (London, England) RT @pressgazette: 3,000 reporters arrive for secret Josef Fritzl trial http://tinyurl.com/csdgy4 / Whatever happened to that G20 summit...



@clairebrown (Hull, England) Josef Fritzl's lawyer says that Fritzl is "a human being not a monster". Really? Come on now.



@ToreHolmem (Oslo, Norway) Ftitzl covered his face in a book. Fritzl is scared. Fritzl sneezed. Fritzl is in all of us, but let's not talk about that.

Austria incest trial starts

FMLN wins election in El Salvador

Per the El Paso Times, leftist candidate Mauricio Funes won El Salvador's presidential election on Sunday, effectively ending two decades of conservative rule in the nation and bringing the FMLN - a party of former guerrillas - to power.

Breaking Tweets found that most twitterers who commented on the election celebrated its results.

@ciskosv (Santa Ana, El Salvador): Well, the Salvadoran people speak! Really truly a civic celebration, so forward El Salvador!



@kingconejo (San Salvador, El Salvador): THE FMLN ACTUALLY WON THE ELECTION! Wish I was partying in Suchitoto instead of alone here. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7944899.stm


@AdrianaLemus (San Salvador, El Salvador): El Salvador has a new president. The people have spoken. There was a change for democracy at last :D


@sagotmontse (Costa Rica): Ver ganar al FMLN en El Salvador es como sentir que finalmente la guerra se resolvió y que se hizo justicia #elecciones2009 (View FMLN win in El Salvador is like to feel that the war was finally resolved and that justice was done #elecciones2009)

@cafe_con_leche (Los Angeles): FMLN's expected win today has been LONG awaited!!!



One Twitter user in El Salvador provided election-related tweets throughout the day.

@Alexanndra (El Salvador): # http://twitpic.com/24htl - Hace media hora ejercí mis derechos... y me dejaron neeegro el dedo xD (http://twitpic.com/24htl - About half an hour exercising my rights ... and left me black finger xD)

@Alexanndra: #eleccion2009 Sigue tráfico paralizado en Soyapango. Hace 2 horas hay embotellamiento en el sector de Unicentro y Plaza España (#eleccion2009 still paralyzed traffic in Soyapango. 2 hours ago there are bottlenecks in the sector and Unicentro Plaza España)

@Alexanndra: #eleccion2009, nuestro amigo el Garrobo reportando en su blog, desde San Miguel: http://tinyurl.com/dcje4c (Un poco jocosa la nota) (#eleccion2009, our friend Garrobo reporting on his blog, from San Miguel: http://tinyurl.com/dcje4c (A little note in jest))

FMLN wins election in El Salvador

Twitter follows NASA shuttle launch

Hundreds of twitterers followed the launch of the NASA space shuttle Discovery this evening from Kennedy Space Center in Florida live on Twitter, using hashtags like #live, #shuttle, #nasa, #discovery, and #space.

An influx of TwitPics of the launch, from backyards to beaches in southern and central Florida, appeared to crash TwitPic.com momentarily, but the site is now back up and running.

@jefferygilbert (Orlando, Fla.): Just watched shuttle launch from Orlando. Awesome! http://twitpic.com/2529o



@LisaH (Sarasota, Fla.): http://twitpic.com/25258 - OMFG! MY BACKYARD!!!!!!!



@Tim846 (Sarasota, Fla.): the view of STS119 from Sarasota! http://twitpic.com/2523d



@heathscott (Ocala, Fla.): One of the benefits of living in Florida. SPACE ROCKETS!!! http://twitpic.com/2525v



@imajeanyus (Tampa, Fla.): http://twitpic.com/2525g - This is how clear I can see the shuttle launch. Awesome!!!



Links to live streaming video of the shuttle launch also made there way around Twitter, such as this one, which was retweeted several times:

@motionblur (Canada): Watch the Space Shuttle launch live right now: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/spacevidcast #nasa



The stream produced this image as a result of the sunlight:

Twitter follows NASA shuttle launch

Featured TwitPic: Front row at World Baseball Classic

"Sitting front row at world baseball classic with sdsf t shirt on. These players know the science of sport. #wbc" (Japan vs. Cuba in San Diego, Calif., posted by @sdsciencefest, March 15, 2009)

Featured TwitPic: Front row at World Baseball Classic

New Bin Laden tape surfaces

Per Al Jazeera, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called the Israeli offensive in Gaza a "holocaust" and criticized some Arab leaders for not doing enough in the conflict in the latest audio tape attributed to him.

It appears Twitter may have broken this story for some. These two tweets popped up from journalists before the news had gone mainstream:

@W7VOA (New Delhi, India): Looks like another Osama bin Laden audio tape is coming out today.



@jimsciuttoABC (Zimbabwe): Al Jazeera airing new bin laden audio tape




Reaction to the tape was strong in the United States.

@sondosia (Beavercreek, Ohio): If Bin Laden thinks Israel's offensive on #Gaza was a holocaust, I wonder what he thinks of 9/11?



@BeckaBella (Georgia): We've spent how many trillions in Iraq?...And Bin Laden is still making movies!



@jenciTN (Jackson, Tenn.): Dear Osama Bin Laden: SHUT THE F UP! (that's all) (sorry for the strong language folks, hope you understand)



@david_a_stein (Orange County, Calif.): Well he is back, looks like Bin Laden has released a new tape, this time calling for worldwide jihad. http://tiny.cc/sNgbj



A twitterer in Germany wondered about Bin Laden's method of communication.

@doestrei (Mittweida, Germany): N24 berichtet Bin Laden hat sich per Audiobotschaft gemeldet. Haben die kein Twitter in den pakistanischen Höhlen? (N24 Bin Laden has been reported with the audio message. Do not Twitter in the caves of Pakistan?)


Global Post has a video of the audio recording on its Web site with English subtitles.

New Bin Laden tape surfaces