It has been one week since Iran's contested presidential election, and YouTube has been flooded with footage from the streets of Tehran and other cities, documenting the civil unrest that is unfolding there. In the past few days, many Iranians have participated in violent demonstrations , held silent rallies to protest the elections, and grieved for those killed as a result of deadly clashes with the Basij, Iran's auxiliary police force. In the past 36 hours,

Lately, the team has been pushing out features and fixes as they're ready in "mini-pushes" rather than waiting for the big, numbered releases that occur once a month. Here's what's gone out in the last few weeks: * The Wonder of "Wonder Wheel": Next time you search for a video on YouTube you may notice a link on the right-hand side of the page labeled "Wonder Wheel." This is a new beta search option from Google.com,

What is democracy? It may be a simple question, but as current events in Iran have highlighted, the answer can be complicated depending on where you are. When the U.S. State Department asked the question during its Democracy Video Challenge , it got over 900 submissions from 95 countries. A user from Zambia likened democracy to a smoothie of blended philosophical ideas.

Last Friday marked a long-anticipated Election Day in Iran to choose the next Iranian president. While the voting process itself ran smoothly, widespread violence has since broken out in protest of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim to a decisive victory over challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi supporters, who believe Ahmadinejad rigged the election results, refuse to accept the verdict and have been openly protesting since Saturday.

[Cross-posted from the Google Blog ] As you might have noticed, there's a lot of fascinating stuff that happens on YouTube every day. For example, did you know that a nine-year-old recently used YouTube to successfully campaign to save his local kickball lot? Have you seen the video of a Guatemalan lawyer who predicted his own assassination on YouTube moments before it happened?

Last week, YouTube Senator of the Week Chris Dodd )D-CT( asked you for your input on the health care legislation that Congress is currently drafting. You responded enthusiastically on the Senate Hub , contributing over 500 unique ideas on health care reform and casting over 26,000 votes on these ideas, making this the most successful round of Senator of the Week to date. Today,

After viewing and voting on an incredible group of dunkers, you've spoken and chosen the winner of YouTube Slam Dunk Challenge , a competition honoring the most talented hoopsters on YouTube. We're proud to announce WhiteFlightBD as The Best Dunker on YouTube! Here's his winning video: WhiteFlightBD will receive a prize package including signed gear from our panel of super-judges Chris Bosh and Jalen Rose,

As we learned in kindergarten, sharing is good. We want you to be able to do more of it with your videos. With a simple one-time log-in on our upload page , you can now have your YouTube account automatically update your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and Google Reader shared items when you upload a video. If you change your mind, you can shut it off at any time. And of course, for those videos that you'd rather not share,

Last night, we had the honor of attending the 13th Annual Webby Awards in New York City, where YouTube stars like video DJ Mike Relm performed and YouTube staples like The Onion were recognized. But what happened on stage is only half the story. Starting today, you can watch the show on the official Webby Awards YouTube Channel : www.youtube.com/webby. You can also design your own Webby Awards experience, using show highlights )like this montage (,

Currently, the Senate is writing major health care legislation that has the potential to affect millions of Americans who currently lack coverage, as well as businesses and families who are getting hit with rising costs. That's why YouTube Senator of the Week Chris Dodd )D-CT( wants to hear your ideas on health care reform: is your current coverage is working for you or do you have a better solution in mind? As a Senior Member of the Senate's Health, Education,

Today, we're proud to celebrate the 37th annual World Environment Day with the world premiere of "Home," a documentary about the survival of our planet, from award-winning filmmaker Luc Besson and photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Not only does this film give us a glimpse of our planet from never-before-seen perspectives that demonstrate the urgency for more sustainable living, but it also marks the first time a global audience can watch a movie online, in movie theaters,

We are aware of recent emails where users posing as Google or YouTube support have tried to obtain the log-in credentials of our users and partners. Security is a top concern at YouTube and we employ techniques that are both proactive and reactive to block these scams. We are taking additional steps to try to prevent something similar from happening in the future. Also,

YouTube Politics might just have come full circle. It all started during the 2006 midterm elections, when Senator George Allen's infamous "Macaca Moment" spread across YouTube and ultimately, many say, led to his narrow defeat in that election. Fast forward three years later, and Virginia is once again home to a YouTube Politics first: the first citizen-powered interview series for the gubernatorial primary.

For gaming fans, E3 is the place to see the industry's most-anticipated new properties. If you can't make it to Los Angeles for the convention, E3 Spotlight is the place to check out the highlights of the show. E3 Spotlight brings together some of YouTube's top gaming partners for the first time to give you in-depth coverage of this annual industry event. Respected gaming editors from channels like IGNentertainment , GameSpot , Machinima ,

Though the United Nations has had a presence on YouTube for several years, it recently re-vamped and re-launched its channel with the goal of providing more relevant videos to citizens around the world. Now, you can find pertinent information about a wide range of topics including peace and security, social and economic development, human rights and climate change. In its new incarnation, the UN's YouTube channel is particularly focused on providing timely content. Today,

The YouTube Slam Dunk Challenge has moved into Round Two! Our esteemed panel of judges â€" Chris Bosh , Jalen Rose and Team Flight Brothers â€" have studied all the entries and selected six finalists. These finalists have each uploaded a new video showcasing their prodigious skills â€" but who will earn the crown "Best Dunker on YouTube" and perform with Team Flight Brothers at an official TFB event? You decide.

Last January we introduced a video website especially for people who wanted to access YouTube videos through their Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii game consoles. You could say we've now "expanded" on that. Just as there's a YouTube browser for mobile devices, the new YouTube XL is optimized for watching YouTube videos on any large screen. In addition to an all new design offering large text and simplified navigation, YouTube XL offers a continuous play feature,

A few weeks ago we asked you to submit and vote for your most pressing questions for YouTube star Michael Buckley. Over 100 of you participated enthusiastically by asking 84 questions and voting 1,623 times. And while we would have loved it if Michael could have answered every question, he did manage to answer your top 10 queries, along with a few more that he hand-selected.

API stands for "Application Programming Interface," but what it means is "open for innovation." Developers write software that enables you to bring elements of YouTube to your website, software application or device, creating whole new portals of possibility. Our API blog keeps developers in-the-know on the latest happenings in the YouTube API world, and this page on YouTube gives a comprehensive overview of where to start, how to build custom players for your site,

Today marks an exciting change for the Community Help Forum: We'll be transitioning from the Google Groups platform to a new support platform which we believe will make it even easier for you to find help and share knowledge with one another. In addition to an updated look and feel, the new Help Forum has some useful features geared toward better serving your needs. So what's new? * Particularly great answers can now be marked as a "Best Answer,