NPR News

India has the world's largest democracy, and one of the most rambunctious. Millions of its young people are cutting edge when it comes to high-tech.

Yet the country is still very conservative by Western standards, and a government minister recently said that offensive material on the web should be removed.

The way it was reported in India, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal started the whole row by assembling the heads of social networking sites at a meeting in his office in New Delhi.

Part of an ongoing series

Delly Mawazo Sesete wants American consumers to know what is in their smart phones, computers and other electronics and where U.S. companies like Apple are getting those rare metals.

Sesete says that, without knowing, consumers in the U.S. could be fueling conflicts in Eastern Congo. The human rights activist is from a remote part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where armed groups are wreaking havoc and get much of their funding from mining rare metals.

Newt Gingrich has seen his once-sizable lead in Iowa collapse over the past couple of weeks. One of Gingrich's rivals, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, has taken to the airwaves with very tough ads targeting the former House speaker. And a pro-Mitt Romney super PAC has also run ads criticizing Gingrich. All this raises a question: Does traditional, on-the-airwaves negative advertising still work?

Today, Syria signed an agreement that would allow Arab League observers into the country. It's all in a bid to end its isolation and the nine-month standoff between the government of President Bashar Assad and protesters who are demanding his ouster.

The Guardian reports: