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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.

 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.

 After December 5th – the date that will be remembered in Italy’s history as ‘No Berlusconi Day’ - the colour purple gained sufficient media attention to guarantee it significance beyond any momentary trend. It’s the symbolic colour of a battle for the affirmation of democracy, for the respect of our Constitutional Charter as the foundation of civilised living, for the defense of a free and plural information system, for the construction – in short – of that cultural and political renovation process that has been far too long delayed in this country.

The US has accused Iran of seeking a "near-total information blockade" to silence anti-government protesters. The allegations came after opposition supporters clashed with security forces as Iran marked the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.The US government said it had information that the telephone network was taken down, SMS messages blocked, and internet communication "throttled".China and Burma have also been accused of blocking internet communication.Analysts say some governments make strenuous efforts to block modern communications among opponents, with varying degrees of success.

As the situation in Xinjiang calms down, people from across China discuss the cause of the unrest and the impact it might have on social stability in the future. Harry He, tradesman, XianI used to work for a travel company, so I've travelled to Xinjiang a lot. I was totally shocked when I heard what happened there. Uighurs believe this is their land, and it is. But Han Chinese have been settling down there since the Tang dynasty, when the Silk Route opened up new cities and new opportunities. Maybe the Chinese did rule Xinjiang with an iron first. But we are learning the lesson.Things have already got better for ethnic minorities. In some ways, they enjoy more privileges. For example I have to study really hard to get into university while it's easier for Uighurs, as there is a reserved quota for them regardless of how well they've performed.

Tens of thousands of people, government protesters and supporters alike, demonstrated Saturday in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua."The only way for the government to change, as it has been shown in all these years, is for the people to go to the streets," said Dora Maria Tellez, who was a main figure in President Daniel Ortega's government during the 1980s but who now leads an opposition party."There is no other way," she said at the protests, which appeared to be peaceful. It was not immediately clear how many of the masses were demonstrating against the government and how many had gathered to support it.

December 1 is remembered by West Papuans as the day they should have been granted independence over 40 years ago. This year thousands of people across West Papua will be risking their lives by publicly calling for independence from Indonesia. In solidarity …December 1st – West Papuan Independence DayThe 1st December is remembered by West Papuans as the day they should have been granted independence over 40 years ago. This year thousands of people across West Papua will be risking their lives by publicly calling for independence from Indonesia. In solidarity with them we will be holding an important day of action in London, we hope you will be able to join us.

The history of Bertha Oliva de Nativi is the history of Honduras.  If the storyline of the past one hundred years of this continent has been ‘so few with so much, and so many with so little’, then Bertha has been the fearless protagonist racing to rewrite the chapters that will hence come.   In 1982 Berta’s husband, Professor Tomas Nativi disappeared.  One of hundreds of Hondurans and tens of thousands of Central Americans to lose their lives to state sanctioned violence, Tomas and all of those who have disappeared remain the most terrifying and silencing bootprint of the military regimes of the 1980’s.  The stories are all too common: "they came to our door in the middle of the night" or "he just never came home ever again."  Their families must find ways to grieve, to cope, and to say goodbye to their loved ones without the benefit of closure or resolution.  Some, however, began to demand answers.

US President Barack Obama on Monday made a surprise video address to celebrations in Germany marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall."There could be no clearer rebuke of tyranny. There could be no stronger affirmation of freedom," Obama said of the fall of the concrete barrier that divided East and West Berlin for 28 years until November 9, 1989.In the message beamed into celebrations at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, once on the border between East and West Berlin, Obama told cheering crowds: "Even in the face of tyranny. People insisted that the world could change."

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- The scene outside the U.S. Embassy last week illustrated fraying tensions in this capital where the Sandinista government has been maneuvering for reelection: Agitated pro-government youths hurled fireworks, rocks and eggs at the embassy grounds and shouted ``Death to the Yankees! Death to the empire!'' The following day, a Sandinista mob surrounded a university campus where U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan was attending a cultural festival, forcing him to flee with the help of riot police. The Sandinistas want Callahan's ouster, and went so far as to declare him persona non grata in a theatrical ``popular assembly'' held in front of the embassy Thursday evening.

As the debate in Congress continues over health care reform, activists are continuing to put the pressure on. In a new article at The Nation, Peter Dreier writes that momentum for reform is growing, with groups like Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and MoveOn having organized hundreds of protests in front of insurance company offices around the country, at the homes of insurance company CEOs, and at the annual conference for America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) in Washington, D.C. over the last month, calling for a robust public option.Rather than simply providing an alternative to the private insurance, other organizations – like the California Nurses Association, Physicians for a National Health Program, and Mobilization for Health Care for All – have continued to fight for a universal single-payer health care system that would get rid of insurance companies altogether. Over the last month, more than 100 people have risked arrest at sit-ins at the offices of  insurance companies in New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Minneapolis.

MADISON, W.Va. - A Climate Ground Zero activist has been sentenced to 20 days in jail for blocking a road to a Massey Energy office during a mountaintop removal mining protest. The group has been committing acts of civil disobedience all year, many targeting Virginia-based Massey. Twenty-two-year-old Joseph Hamsher is the first to get jail time instead of fines. Hamsher pleaded guilty to conspiracy and trespassing in Boone County Magistrate Court on Tuesday, and will serve 10 days on each charge. A court official said Wednesday he could have been fined more than $1,800.

Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein has told Asian leaders the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi can contribute to national reconciliation.It was not clear if that meant Burma's military would allow her to take part in next year's elections. The Burmese PM was speaking at the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) regional summit in Thailand. The leaders were strongly criticised by activists for their failure to demand more of Burma on ending military rule. "He [the Burmese premier] briefed us on some of the dialogue that is taking place and he feels optimistic that she can contribute also to the process of national reconciliation," said Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Honduran women continue their resistance to the de facto regime that kidnapped and ousted the democratically elected president in a coup d'état on June 28, 2009. In August an international delegation organized by JASS (www.justassociates.org), Petateras, Radio Feminista and allied organizations traveled to Honduras and accompanied Honduran Feminists in Resistance, an alliance of feminists and women's organizations. The delegation, together with the Feminists in Resistance, documented the impact of the current political crisis on women - in particular, the human rights abuses, sexual harrassment and rape committed against women who are resisting the coup and calling for a return to democracy.

About 200 citizens, including health care providers and patients, supported Medicare for All, a single payer plan, by marching to the Aetna office in New York City on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. This video shows some of the marchers on their way from the downtown office of Bristol-Meyers Squidb to the office of Aetna, one of the nation's largest health insurance companies.The marchers were in solidarity with 17 who were arrested at the Aetna office earlier in the day, staging a sit-in in the lobby of the building to call for an end to insurance abuse and support real health care reform, Medicare for All.

On September 27th, the Mobilization for Health Care for All launched a national campaign of "Patients Not Profit" sit-ins at insurance company offices to demand an end to a system that profits by denying people care. We want the real "public option": Medicare for All, a single payer plan that cuts out the profit and puts patients first.Together, through this campaign, we can turn the tide and win the fight for health care for all. To succeed, we need to organize sit-ins in as many cities as possible in the month of October. The campaign began with the local leadership of Private Health Insurance Must Go (PHIMG) in New York City on September 29th and continued in Chicago on October 8th and in 9 cities across the country on October 15th. The next wave starts on October 28th and we will continue to organize actions in as many cities as possible until we win health care reform that ensures that the insurance companies no longer stand between the American people and the health care that we need. It's time to cut out the profit and put patients first with Medicare for All.

Sam Pullen, 31, was arrested on Thursday, October 15, in Los Angeles at a sit-in at the Blue Cross health insurance office. He is refusing to give information to police, vowing to stay in jail until Blue Cross stops denying care to those who need it most. He is being supported by the group Mobilization for Health Care for All, which coordinated sit-ins and rallies in nine cities across the country yesterday in which 54 people were arrested to end insurance abuse and win health care for all.Pullen was inspired to action by his mother, who was denied coverage for a lifesaving bone marrow transplant by Blue Cross when he was a teenager. Weakened by her cancer treatments, Pullen’s mother staged a one-woman sit-in at the insurance company office, resulting in the approval of the transplant that extended her life for years. Thanks to the transplant, she lived long enough to see Pullen reach 18 years of age.Here is Sam’s story.

The international community should strongly back the efforts of prosecutors in the human rights unit of the Honduras Attorney General's office to investigate army and police abuses in Honduras and to overturn a decree by the de facto government that severely restricts freedoms of speech and assembly, Human Rights Watch said.The organization also called on the international community to oppose any amnesty for human rights violations as part of the transition back to democratic rule. Deposed President Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government of Honduras are now engaged in negotiations about such a transition, and have announced that an agreement may be imminent.

CONAKRY, Guinea — Guinea's leader, who seized power in a coup nine months ago, said Friday that elections will continue as planned even as his military junta prepared to bury 57 people who died when troops fired live ammunition into a pro-democracy rally.Wearing a crisp military uniform, Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara laid a wreath in memory of the victims of Monday's massacre. Camara previously said he had no control over the troops — including his own presidential guard force — who committed the massacre in which 157 people were reportedly killed.On Friday, he took the offensive, saying opposition leaders were to blame for the protesters' deaths because they had defied a ban and organized the pro-democracy rally. He said the election would proceed as scheduled on Jan. 31. But, refusing to address the issue that sparked Monday's protest, he did not say whether he would run.

TEGUCIGALPA/MANAGUA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 500 supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Thursday protested the martial law imposed by the post-coup government in this Honduran capital. The demonstration, gathering members of the union and peasants' groups, was staged outside the U.S. embassy, also calling for Zelaya's reinstatement. Participants told local media that the protest would continue until the martial law and curfew was lifted. There were also demonstrations outside the capital city.