One year of Syrian protests, Japan Earthquake anniversary, Clooney visits Sudan

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. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We witnessed devastating scenes from Afghanistan, as 16 civilians were killed and five injured after a US soldier allegedly went on a shooting spree in the south of the country.
• We were saddened to hear of the deaths of 28 Belgians, including 22 children, who were killed in a coach crash inside a Swiss motorway tunnel near Sierre.
• We followed George Clooney as he witnessed the horrific effects from the war crimes that have taken place in Sudan's Nuba Mountains.
• We marked one year since the revolt against Assad's regime began in Syria, even as towns where the uprising began, such as Daraa, continued to be mercilessly bombed.
• We observed a 'mini-Tuesday' for GOP candidates on the US campaign trail, as Rick Santorum pulled off a southern sweep with wins in Alabama and Mississippi.
• We viewed solemn reflections in Japan one year after the most powerful earthquake in their history struck, causing a devastating tsunami and the now infamous Fukushima nuclear plant incident.
• We saw heightened violence between Israelis and Palestinians leave at least 20 people dead.
• We were awestruck as a massive tornado hit Dexter, Michigan on Thursday, leaving several homes destroyed as it swept through the town.
• We watched David Cameron receive a warm White House welcome from President Obama as the UK and the US celebrated their 'special' relationship.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Raw Video: Clooney Arrested at D.C. Protest"

Infographic: YouTube Ad Blitz post-game report

From brewskies to Bradshaw and celebs to salsa, the 2012 Super Bowl brought millions of you from across the globe to YouTube's Ad Blitz channel to vote on your favorite commercials. When the final tallies came in, Ad Blitz saw more than 89 million views worldwide, and the day after the game, 26 percent of those came from outside the US.

The Ad Blitz team was so excited by all of you that participated, so to thank you we pulled together an infographic about the activity from the big game.

If you’re as inspired as we are by some of these commercials, check out more creative campaigns on YouTube to spark some ideas of your own.

Lexi Turpack, YouTube interactive programs analyst, recently watched ‘Vitalic - Poney Part 1.’

19,000+ episodes of Indian TV on YouTube Shows

India is one of world’s largest producers of TV shows. With more than 400 terrestrial and local channels available, Indians often face the challenging question: What am I going to watch?

The good news is that we increasingly don’t have to worry about when to watch. Over the last few years, major Indian broadcasters such as Sony Entertainment Television, Colors, ImagineTV, Star India, and VikatanTV have been bringing their shows to YouTube so that you can watch them whenever you want.

Now that our Indian TV partners offer more than 19,000 full episodes of 300 programs in six different languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, and Punjabi), we wanted to offer our Indian viewers an updated Shows page at youtube.com/shows to help you better follow shows you love and discover new favorites. For the rest of the world, you can still find the shows through youtube.com/shows/other-languages.



You’ll find programs into genres like drama and comedy, as well as the latest and top watched episodes featured on the page. Missed the last episode of Bade Acche Lagte Hai? It’ll be right there in the channel waiting for you. If you’re looking for a few good places to start, check out popular shows like Balika Vadhu, Ramayan, CID, Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah and Thendral.

These 19,000+ episodes are just a start, so we hope we can keep delivering more and more content that viewers across India—and around the world—want to see.

Ajith Rao, software engineer, recently watched “Adaalat - Episode 104,” and Gowri Ramkumar, technical account manager, recently watched “Kuch toh log Kahenge - episode 118.”

YouTube now local in Chile through YouTube.cl

Latin America is a melting pot, full of talented and witty people, and Chile is no exception. Traditionally known as a country of poets and wine, Chile is also home to many people coming to YouTube to entertain and be entertained. For that and so many other reasons, we’re very excited that now Chile joins the nations with a local version of YouTube.

Chile joins the group of 40 countries around the world with a local version of YouTube, the fifth in Latin America with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

Having a hometown version of the site makes finding and sharing local channels easier through charts and trending videos, and it also makes discovering new videos more relevant for Chileans on the local version. It also gives more visibility to local channels as Chileans subscribe and favorite new videos.

Because of its geography, Chile has varied cultures and customs, and we hope you enjoy seeing how they connect through YouTube. Some examples we’ve seen already are the work of Puntaje Nacional, a channel that prepares students to get into college, or the ironic humor of Soy Germán.

We’re looking forward to see the rich content that will be discovered and shared through YouTube Chile, and hope you enjoy it too. We’ll soon see how YouTube Chile takes flavor and color, like its world-renowned wines the local team is celebrating with right now!

Alejandra Bonati, communications and public affairs manager, Google Chile, recently watched “Aumento de nivel del río San Jose en costanera de Arica.”

Seeing familiar faces on YouTube through Google+

As you surf through YouTube's decorative vegetable carvings, wingsuit flying videos and Hindi lessons, you might start to notice some familiar names and faces. That's because today we're adding a feature that lets you sign up for a new YouTube channel using your existing Google+ profile. You can now use your Google+ profile name and photo on a new YouTube channel, giving you one consistent identity across platforms when uploading videos, sharing, commenting and other public activities.

Today’s update gives the more than 100 million of you on Google+, who are already able to watch YouTube in Hangouts and share videos with your Circles, another way to bring the best of Google+ directly into your YouTube experience.

Here’s what you’ll see if you sign up for a new YouTube channel and you already have a Google+ profile. If you want this to be your channel name and photo, just click OK, “I’m ready to continue.”



If you want to create a YouTube channel that’s different from your Google+ profile (e.g. “KatnissForPresident”), click “Create a username,” and you’ll have the option to create a YouTube channel as usual. It looks like this:



This is currently available on the English version of YouTube and we’re looking to roll it out across languages in coming months. Also, if you already have a YouTube channel and want to connect it to your Google+ profile—stay tuned. We’ll be following feedback on this update and hope to add more features that bring the best of Google+ into YouTube.

Trevor O’Brien, product manager, recently watched “Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run.”

Live from Toronto: World MasterCard Fashion Week

World MasterCard Fashion Week may have been an exclusive event in the past, but now it’s available to everyone live on YouTube.

Starting today through Saturday, March 17, fashion enthusiasts everywhere can watch the hottest Canadian designers showcase their Fall 2012 collections live from Toronto on the Fashion Week Live YouTube Channel, presented by Maybelline NY. The channel will also have behind-the-scenes videos and make-up tips on YouTube Fashion Week Live, giving you even more tutorials to get the looks fresh off the runway.



Check out the schedule and add your favorite show to your calendar so you don’t miss a thing. If you can’t make it for the live stream, all of the shows will be available on the Fashion Week Live YouTube Channel.

Jamie Reichstein, YouTube lifestyle program manager, recently watched “KONY 2012.”

An update to the YouTube Nonprofit Program goes live

Last Saturday, we joined the American Foundation on Equal Rights to live-stream 8, a star-studded play that depicts the Proposition 8 trial surrounding same-sex marriage. On World AIDS Day in December, the ONE Campaign and RED live-streamed a day-long symposium on the end of AIDs.

Today, we’re opening up the opportunity to live-stream to all members of the YouTube Nonprofit Program. Nonprofits, from small to large, will now be able to engage live audiences in charity concerts, conferences, and other special events to raise awareness about their causes and drive donations in real-time.

The YouTube Nonprofit Program is currently open to registered organizations in the U.S., U.K. Australia and Canada and offers free benefits like donate buttons/overlays, custom thumbnail selection and channel branding. To learn more and apply, please click here. For organizations who are already members of the Nonprofit Program, you can enable live-streaming in a few simple steps, outlined here.

Ramya Raghavan and Jason Toff, YouTube Nonprofit Team, recently watched “30 dolphins stranded and incredibly saved.”