The Obama administration renews its call for early political change in Egypt. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls for continued efforts against human trafficking. The U.S. is in a race to get 1 million electric cars on the road. Peter John Brownlee of the Terra Foundation for American Art talks about race and art history. And finally, a pair of pandas are staying put in Washington.

U.S.: Violence in Egypt Must Stop
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The White House strongly condemns “outrageous and deplorable violence” that has broken out in Cairo and other Egyptian cities and has renewed its call for political change to begin in the country. “It is imperative that the violence that we’re seeing stop and that the transition that was spoken about last night begin immediately,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, right, says.

Combating Human Trafficking
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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the United States must continue to work to address human trafficking. Calling it an issue of “grave importance,” Clinton tells the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons that “anywhere from 12 to 27 million people are currently held in forced labor, bonded labor, or forced prostitution.”

An Electric Cars Race
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In his State of the Union address, President Obama challenged the United States to become the first nation with 1 million electric cars. Cleaner vehicles are part of the federal government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build “clean” industries that provide new jobs.

On Race and American Art
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Peter John Brownlee, associate curator at the Terra Foundation for American Art, fielded questions about depictions of African Americans in American art during a digital video conference with Palestinians in Jerusalem. “I took that as an opportunity to go through a few slides and talk about how issues of race have evolved,” Brownlee says.

The Panda Program
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The United States and China renewed their partnership to save the giant panda during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s January visit to Washington. Under an agreement signed January 20, the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park will continue to host two pandas, Mei Xiang (meaning Beautiful Fragrance) and Tian Tian (More and More), first loaned by China to the United States in 2000.