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Cairo:  As protesters in Tahrir Square faced off against pro-government forces, they drew a lesson from their counterparts in Tunisia: "Advice to the youth of Egypt: Put vinegar or onion under your scarf for tear gas."The exchange on Facebook was part of a remarkable two-year collaboration that has given birth to a new force in the Arab world -- a pan-Arab youth movement dedicated to spreading democracy in a region without it. Young Egyptian and Tunisian activists brainstormed on the use of technology to evade surveillance, commiserated about torture and traded practical tips on how to stand up to rubber bullets and organize barricades.

Sudanese police have beaten and arrested students as protests broke out throughout Khartoum demanding the government resign, inspired by a popular uprising in neighbouring Egypt.Hundreds of armed riot police on Sunday broke up groups of young Sudanese demonstrating in central Khartoum and surrounded the entrances of four universities in the capital, firing teargas and beating students at three of them. Police beat students with batons as they chanted anti-government slogans such as "we are ready to die for Sudan" and "revolution, revolution until victory". There were further protests in North Kordofan capital el-Obeid in Sudan's west, where around 500 protesters engulfed the market before police used tear gas to disperse them, three witnesses said."They were shouting against the government and demanding change," said witness Ahmed who declined to give his full name.

Egyptian authorities have blocked internet and mobile services in a bid to quell anti-government protests, but the measures may have come a bit too late. Activists spread the word online about Friday's protests, detailing the list of public squares where people should gather.Calls for action circulated on Twitter and Facebook since early on Friday morning.Twitter user rassdwda wrote: "#Egypt protests begin from mosques & churches, #Muslims #Christians 2gether#Jan25".Another user named eacusa tweeted: "#Jan25 #Egypt Good news, morale in Cairo still high, veteran activists from 60s & 70s r spreading knowledge of predigital ways 2 coordinate."

Patience is a virtue – maybe even the supreme one in Egypt's popular hierarchy of values, but patience also has its limits and, now, at last, it seems as if we've arrived at ours. And fittingly, it's the young of the country who are leading us. They've had enough of unemployment, deteriorating education, corruption, police brutality and political impotence.As is now well known, they organised Tuesday's protests over Facebook and in closed virtual and actual meetings. Talk about grassroots! "They" is some 20 groups that have sprung up over the last five years. The question has always been how and when will they coalesce? They did on Tuesday; they fused, and with them multitudes of Egyptians young and old – inspired by what happened in Tunis.

The internet has galvanised dissidents, but the key events that fuelled the uprising happened offline Middle-class, urban, web-savvy – the archetypal media image of the young protesters who have shaken Egypt's dictatorship this week captures only part of the reality.This generation of dissidents, most of whom have lived their entire lives under the three-decade rule of President Hosni Mubarak, have rejected the moribund landscape of formal politics that has ensnared many of their liberal elders since Nasser's 1952 revolution.

Anonymous flyers provide practical and tactical advice for confronting riot police, and besieging government offices Egyptians have been urged to come out after Friday prayers tomorrow and demand the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's government, along with freedom, justice and a democratic regime.Anonymous leaflets circulating in Cairo also provide practical and tactical advice for mass demonstrations, confronting riot police, and besieging and taking control of government offices. Signed "long live Egypt", the slickly produced 26-page document calls on demonstrators to begin with peaceful protests, carrying roses but no banners, and march on official buildings while persuading policemen and soldiers to join their ranks.

Members of the Central Intelligence Organization who were terrorizing villagers in Manicaland Province have removed registration numbers from their cars, after an SW Radio Africa SMS news alert on the 6th August. The SMS exposed the names of officers involved in the violence and gave the registration numbers of the cars used.The alert exposed the use of a white Nissan double cab ABM0196 used by a CIO officer identified as Shingi, ABM0155 used by the Officer in Charge of Chipinge CID known as Chizemo and another similar truck ABM0203, used by a CIO known as Matake.On Friday Makoni South legislator Pishai Muchauraya told Newsreel; ‘After that exposure by SW Radio Africa the CIO’s involved in that violence removed the number plates of the cars operating in Chipinge. They also confronted some of our members, including some drivers, asking us why we are putting them on the internet including their registrations numbers and names.’

 More than 11,000 Egyptians have responded to a Facebook call for a Friday protest of police brutality in the death of Egyptian businessman Khalid Said. After a second autopsy, Egypt today upheld the original finding that the man had choked on a bag on drugs.Cairo.-Egypt’s general prosecutor said Wednesday that the results of a second autopsy uphold the conclusion that a young Egyptian businessman whose death has incited anger and protests died from choking on a bag of drugs – not from a police beating.

Following the recent massive wave of online censorship carried out by the Tunisian censor, targeting major social websites, such as the popular video-sharing websites, flickr, blogs aggregators, blogs, facebook pages and profiles, the anti-censorship movement adopted very creative, outspoken and brave tactics in protesting the online censorship. A censorship that is not only harming the country's average Internet users but is also affecting professionals whose work is relying on web 2.0 services and platforms, like youtube, flickr and other media-sharing websites.

Several dozen demonstrators rallied outside of Egypt's parliament Tuesday, two days after a member of President Hosni Mubarak's party said opposition activists should be shot.Some of the protesters in Cairo carried banners saying "shoot us," an apparent reference to comments made by National Democratic Party member Nashaat al-Qasas.

Police in Ivory Coast have fired on hundreds of demonstrators at an anti-government rally, killing three people and wounding a dozen others in the latest protest since the president dissolved the government last week.Moussa Dembele of the opposition RDR party said the protest took place in Gagnoa, about 200km northwest of Abidjan, the country's economic capital.Demonstrations spread to at least eight cities on Friday over a decision by Laurent Gbagbo, the country's president, to dissolve the government and the electoral commission after a row over voter registration.

Thousands of people are expected to gather near Cape Town in South Africa today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release.It will be the centrepiece of commemorations to mark the moment that Mandela emerged after 27 years behind bars, ushering in a transition from apartheid to multi-racial democracy and his rise to become the country's first black president.This morning Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who held Mandela's hand and punched the air in triumph on that day, will lead a 500-metre march from the former Victor Verster prison in Paarl, Western Cape, to symbolise the walk that was seen by a TV audience of millions.Mandela's former wife is also expected to address a rally attended by African National Congress veterans including Ahmed Kathrada and Denis Goldberg.

(CNN) -- Nestle, one of the world's largest food companies, has shut down a factory in Zimbabwe after a dispute with the government, it announced Wednesday.The company came under pressure from the government to buy milk from suppliers not of its own choosing, it said. The dairy at the center of the dispute is owned by the wife of President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean media reported.Government officials and police paid an "unannounced visit" to the Nestle factory on Saturday, and a tanker of milk was "forced" upon the factory, the company said. Two company managers were questioned and released the same day, the company said. "Since under such circumstances normal operations and the safety of employees are no longer guaranteed, Nestle decided to temporarily shut down the factory," the company said.

The situation in Guinea remains alarming. Despite the negotiations in Ouagadougou and the build up of regional and international pressures, the junta seems like it would rather lead the country into a civil war than give up power. . The Ouagadougou negotiations enter a critical phase today; their agenda should be limited to the departure of the junta. A “National Unity Government” that allows the current military regime to stay in power would only increase the risks for the region. To prevent a catastrophe, ECOWAS and the United Nations should start preparing for an eventual military intervention.Since Dadis Camara took power in December 2008, political tensions have constantly increased. They reached the point of no return on 28 September, when security forces executed demonstrators, killing 160 people and injuring 1700. Testimonies about the organization of the killings point towards a premeditated massacre: the military units that carried it out  were already in position  while officers issued  orders at the stadium Since that day, security forces have led a terror campaign, using rape and torture as tools of repression.

Lilongwe — In Malawi, local government elections are as rare and endangered as the country's black rhinoceros.In fact, it seems as if the local government elections are even more endangered than the wild animal - because at least the black rhinoceroses are slowly being re-introduced into Malawi. But for now, there seems to be little hope in sight for local government elections being re-introduced on a regular basis.This comes after the country's Electoral Commission (EC) says it has not planned any activities in readiness for local government elections, because the government has not provided the resources.

A Western Sahara activist on hunger strike in Spain's Canary Islands has been told to appear in court on public order charges, her supporters say.Aminatou Haidar has been refusing food at Lanzarote's airport since Sunday after being expelled by Morocco from the disputed territory. She is protesting at Spain's refusal to let her return to Western Sahara. Morocco controls most of the Western Sahara but Algerian-based separatists want a vote on independence. Ms Haidar was held by Moroccan authorities on Friday when she arrived in Western Sahara's main city, Laayoune - where she lives - on a flight from the Canary Islands. She was then sent back to the islands without her Moroccan passport.

Observers of the Egyptian April 6th Facebook Group and its online mobilization in 2008 lavished attention on the possibilities of so-called “Facebook activism.” Western journalists and activists alike touted the potential of using Facebook to organize, a process imagined as “tapping into the ready-made structure of online social networks to make joining a group as quick as a click of a button.” On the valuable piece of real estate known as the Washington Post’s op-ed page, Nir Boms hailed Facebook as the latest weapon against authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. “Facebook,” he claimed, “is quickly turning into a hotbed of ‘actual’ activism - a cause for alarm for many autocratic regimes in the Middle East....” Newsweek’s Jack Fairweather called Facebook “an important platform for dissent” in the Middle East.

It is difficult to understand, rationally or emotionally, the full meaning of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s election victory for a fifth consecutive term Sunday, with 89.6 percent of the vote, after two decades in power. One wonders whether we should congratulate the president on his massive victory, or offer him expressions of sympathy because his share of the votes slipped below 90 percent for the first time since he took over power in 1987. In the world of the modern Arab security state that has prevailed in our region since around 1970, President Ben Ali typifies the new breed of leader who stays in power as long as biology allows him, and justifies his perpetual incumbency as the logical consequence of his people’s appreciation for his combination of stability, development and democracy. Very few people outside the Arab world take this sort of thing seriously; in fact, we Arabs are the laughing stock of the world in terms of domestic governance systems. Yet the destiny of most people in our region remains to live in countries that are ruled for life by ex-officers from the armed forces and internal security systems.

Cape Town — When Zimbabweans were being attacked and killed in political violence, a little-known South African musician was inspired to act by the stories she heard from refugees living illegally in South Africa.Johanna Booysen of the Black Rose African Jazz Orchestra was particularly angered when she heard about a Zimbabwean who died outside an office of South Africa's home affairs ministry, which handles refugees.She couldn't understand how this was "allowed" to happen. "Politicians and everybody were folding their hands and allowing everything to deteriorate," she said.

A former MDC security officer who was tortured by state security agents in March 2007 died two weeks ago, from the injuries he sustained. Reports of his death have only just been received.Gift Nhidza was one of several activists arrested when police brutally crushed an opposition protest in Harare’s Highfields suburb. Gift Tandare, a National Constitutional Assembly activist, was shot dead while MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was brutally assaulted by police. Nhidza was initially tortured using electrical shocks and beaten underneath his feet.The Chairman of the MDC Veteran Activists Association based in South Africa, Solomon Chikohwero, told Newsreel that although Nhidza fled to South Africa, the regime pursued him there. Four months after fleeing Nhidza sought employment in the farms around the Musina area close to the border. It was there that members of the Central Intelligence Organization abducted him and took him back to Zimbabwe.