“Human rights and civil liberties” on The Daily Caller

CAIRO (AP) — The trappings of a determined protest movement — chanting, flags and raised fists — fill Tahrir Square, the hard-won enclave of those who seek a new Egypt. But some there fear an enemy in their midst. (more)

CAIRO (AP) — A young Google executive who helped ignite Egypt’s uprising energized a cheering crowd of hundreds of thousands Tuesday with his first appearance in their midst after being released from 12 days in secret detention. “We won’t give up,” he promised at one of the biggest protests yet in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. (more)

BEIJING (AP) — The protests in Egypt are about free elections and overthrowing a longtime dictator? Not according to China’s state media, which is painting them as the kind of chaos that comes with Western-style democracy. (more)

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — The judge who ruled the Obama administration’s health care overhaul unconstitutional questioned whether the government was reaching beyond its power by requiring citizens to buy health insurance because everyone needs medical care. (more)

LONDON (AP) — What happens in the palace stays in the palace. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare concession on a highly sensitive issue, Chinese President Hu Jintao used his White House visit on Wednesday to acknowledge “a lot still needs to be done” to improve human rights in his nation accused of repressing its people. President Barack Obama pushed China to adopt fundamental freedoms but assured Hu the U.S. considers the communist nation a friend and vital economic partner. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Missing a plane connection cost Utah gun owner Greg Revell 10 days in jail after he was stranded in New Jersey with an unloaded firearm he had legally checked with his luggage in Salt Lake City. (more)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Mobs and security forces allied to Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo attacked at least six U.N. vehicles Thursday, setting some ablaze and injuring two people in the latest round of violence sparked by this West African nation’s disputed election. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal job bias complaints climbed to record levels last year, led by a surge in workers claiming discrimination based on disability. (more)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians to remain strong in the face of intolerance and violence in a New Year’s appeal that came several hours after a bomb blast outside an Egyptian church that killed at least 21 people as worshippers left Mass. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he is still wrestling with whether gay couples should have the right to marry, now that a new law will allow them to serve openly in combat. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring that members of the U.S. military will no longer be asked to lie, President Barack Obama fulfilled a campaign promise Wednesday and signed a landmark law repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the armed services. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gays and lesbians will be treated just like any other soldiers, sailors, airmen or marines, the new rules say. But commanders will have some flexibility when they believe it’s needed to maintain order and discipline in their units. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year got off to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad start. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 2010 census report coming out Tuesday will include a boatload of good political news for Republicans and grim data for Democrats hoping to re-elect President Barack Obama and rebound from last month’s devastating elections. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted to overturn the military’s ban on openly gay troops and sent the bill to President Barack Obama. (more)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An astronomer argues that his Christian faith and his peers’ belief that he is an evolution skeptic kept him from getting a prestigious job as the director of a new student observatory at the University of Kentucky. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time this year the House voted to dismantle the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, giving the Senate a final shot in the waning days of this Congress at changing a law requiring thousands of uniformed gays to hide their sexual identity. (more)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Three military veterans who were discharged under the law that prohibits gays from serving openly in uniform sued the government Monday to be reinstated and to pressure lawmakers to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law before a new Congress is sworn in. (more)

MILLBRAE, Calif. (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder reiterated his resolve to prosecute hate crimes while standing behind the methods used in anti-terrorism cases during a speech Friday night before a Muslim advocacy group near San Francisco. (more)