Algerian protesters chant slogans during a demonstration in Algiers. Internet providers were shut down and Facebook accounts deleted across Algeria on Saturday as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were arrested in violent street demonstrations. Plastic bullets and tear gas were used to try and disperse large crowds in major cities and towns, with 30,000 riot police taking to the streets in Algiers... 

A protest against deportation of migrant workers' children. Israeli policy requires that these women leave the country within three months after giving birth or, alternatively, send their children abroad if they wish to retain their work visa. A report by the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has for the first time included criticism of Israel’s... 

An injured Ivorian lies on the ground outside the UN building in Abidjan on December 20. At least 296 people have been killed in Ivory Coast since a presidential stand-off escalated in mid-December, the United Nations mission in the crisis-hit west African nation has said. At least 296 people have been killed in Ivory Coast since a presidential stand-off escalated in mid-December, the United Nations... 

Even the Washington Post describes it like something out of Orwell’s 1984. The FCC has approved a presidential alert system. Obama may soon appear on your television or call your cell phone to warn you about the next specious al-Qaeda underwear bombing event. Commissioners voted last week to require television and radio stations, cable systems and satellite TV providers to participate in a test... 

Hassan Saad with his girlfriend Sara Elmi. A woman from Borås in western Sweden has filed a discrimination complaint against a health clinic after she was told to go back to Africa and get help from a medicine man for pain in her legs. Sara Elmi visited the Viskafors health clinic last summer for advice for how to deal with the pain caused by a serious leg infection, Sveriges Radio (SR) reported. As... 

Afghan fears of proselytizing have been brought on by the influx of foreigners since the U.S.-led invasion. Demonstrators protested against Christian organizations in Mazar-i-Sharif in June 2010. The jail commander had remained silent as the prisoner, Sayed Mussa, told a reporter about his journey from Islam to Christianity: his secret baptism nine years earlier, his faith in Jesus Christ and the promise... 

As Congress seeks to renew the Patriot Act, new information exposes egregious FBI violations. Last week, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-VT, introduced legislation to extend the Patriot Act past its February 28 expiration date to December 2013. Though the extension once again saves some of the most nefarious, First-Amendment trampling provisions of the act — roving wiretaps, secret... 

Houston activist Quanell X shows a videotape of an alleged 2010 beating of a 15-year-old burglary suspect by Houston police on Thursday. A surveillance video shot almost a year ago apparently shows Houston police officers relentlessly beating, kicking and stomping on a teen burglary suspect was just released to the public. The footage was released by Quanell X, a Houston activist, on Wednesday. It... 

With protests erupting across the region, one of the first protests in Iraq, in the impoverished southern city of Diwaniyah, ended in violence when Iraqi police opened fire on the crowd, wounded at least three. Roughly 1,000 people were said to have gathered in the provincial capital, demanding increases to their food rations and improvements in the state’s crumbling power and water infrastructure. Lack... 

Too many in power want to restrict Internet access critics say. After Egypt’s government temporarily cut off Internet service there, debate in other countries on a “kill switch” has flared up. One prominent computer group has voiced concerns about possible developments in Germany. Discussion over a “kill switch” that would paralyze the Internet has flared up in Germany... 

In a move that calls back to the attempt by Texas cattlemen to sue Oprah Winfrey for “defamation of beef.” an Israeli lawyer has filed a class-action lawsuit against former President Jimmy Carter, seeking $5 million in damages because his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” allegedly defamed Israel. Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner insisted that Carter’s book violated New York State’s... 

The feds' new airport security plan: scanning your face to read your mind. Stranded travelers could face a new homeland security toy this week. On Tuesday, the Transportation Security Administration announced that it’s begun “testing new software” on select airport body-scanning machines in Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Washington DC. The new imaging technology “auto-detects”... 

Soldiers in a central Nigerian city opened fire Saturday on university students protesting continuing violence between Christians and Muslims, witnesses said, with at least nine people killed in the ensuing violence. The shooting came as gas stations and farmers’ markets smoldered after late Friday violence that sparked when Christian students attacked Muslims trying to bury a corpse in Jos,... 

China blocks "Egypt" searches. China blocked the word “Egypt” from micro-blog searches in a sign that the Chinese government is concerned that protests calling for political reform in the country could spill into China’s internet space. Skip related content Searches on Sunday for “Egypt” on micro-blog functions of Chinese web portals such as Sina.com and Sohu.com... 

Protestors call on Hungarian govt to repeal media law, ask premier to return to dissident past. Several thousand people have protested Hungary’s new media law and urged Prime Minister Viktor Orban to repeal or amend it. The law greatly expands the state’s power to monitor and penalize private news outlets. There are concerns it will be used against media critical of Orban’s centre-right...