BRAZIL
Brazil’s Federal Police seize journalist’s equipment
Brazil’s Federal Police seized a journalist’s equipment – including his computer – during an operation to remove indians from a farm in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The seizure was decried as illegal by the reporter’s employer, one of the country’s most prominent aid agencies aimed at indigenous peoples, Rafael Spuldar reports. (Index on Censorship)

ISRAEL
Bill protecting IDF from slander passes first Knesset reading
New law will allow for defamation lawsuits to be filed against people or groups who slander the IDF, without having to go through the attorney-general, as is the case today. The bill aims to protect the IDF from libel by Israel detractors. (Israel Hayom)

PHILIPPINES
DOJ deletes libel from new anti-cybercrime bill
THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has removed libel from the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, pruning away one of the questioned sections of the law. (Business Mirror)

RUSSIA
Putin’s war on dissent in Russia
A year after the mass protests marking Vladimir Putin’s controversial presidential win, Elena Vlasenko reports from Moscow on the heavy-handed repression confronting the Russian opposition. (Index on Censorship)

SYRIA
Birthday wishes for Bassel Khartabil
Software engineer and open-source advocate Bassel Khartabil spent his second birthday in prison yesterday. Index calls on the Syrian government to release Khartabil. (Index on Censorship)

THAILAND
Critic’s Facebook page suspended; cartoonist ‘ignores’ summonses
Thammasat University academic Somsak Jeamteerasakul’s Facebook account has been suspended for 30 days, leading to widespread criticism on social media. (The Nation)

TUNISIA
Crackdown on radical Islamists tests Tunisia’s stability
For the first time since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, relations between mainstream Islamists in government and radical Salafist Muslim activists have reached breaking point, sparking deadly clashes in two Tunisian cities. (Reuters)

TURKEY
Turkey presents Prophet’s sayings for the 21st Century
cholars around the Muslim world were alarmed five years ago by news reports that Turkey planned a new, possibly heretical, compilation of the Prophet Mohammad’s sayings that might scrap those it thought were no longer applicable. (Al Arabyia)

UKRAINE
Journalists defend colleagues in Ukraine’s ‘new war with press’
Two journalists were attacked while covering a street rally in Kiev, and nine more Ukrainian reporters were in danger of losing government accreditation following a protest to support their colleagues, Andrei Alaiksandrau reports. (Index on Censorship)

UNITED KINGDOM
A responsible internet
Internet companies and service providers need to do much more to keep pornography away from children. (The Telegraph)

Woolwich attack: two arrested over Twitter comments
Two men are arrested for making alleged offensive comments on Twitter about the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich. (Channel 4)

UNITED STATES
Associated Press Scandal: Does the Media Only Care About Free Speech When It Comes to Their Own?
It is no surprise that the media has been quick to voice its support for Fox News reporter James Rosen and the Associated Press , following revelations of invasive government investigations into their respective sources. (PolicyMic)

Obama to Gitmo Speech Heckler: ‘Part Of Free Speech Is…You Listening’
President Barack Obama had a hard time getting through parts of his foreign policy speech at the National Defense University Thursday, thanks to Medea Benjamin, co-founder of left-leaning, female anti-militarism group Code Pink. (Personal Liberty Digest)

Sexual harassment rules on college campuses trickle down to freedom of speech
The places where you might find some of the freest thinkers and those that want to protect their right to free speech are now also the target of new policies that will limit that same speech. (MyNorthwest.com)

PostScript: McConnell and free speech
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appears with an opinion piece on our page today. He argues that the IRS and AP scandals are part of a pattern with the Obama administration’s push for the disclosure of political donors. (Washington Post)

LePage tells legislative leaders he’s moving out of State House because of ‘censorship’
Democratic legislative leaders said Thursday that Republican Gov. Paul LePage told them he would move his office from the State House in a protest over not being able to have a television display outside his office. But LePage said his staff would remain there “until partisan leaders of the Legislature choose to evict them.” (Bangor Daily News)

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