Email addresses and passwords belonging to British, U.S. and NATO officials were posted online following the hacking of a U.S. intelligence analysis firm over Christmas, the Guardian daily reported Monday.

Online "hacktivist" group Anonymous claimed via Twitter on Christmas Day that it had stolen a trove of emails and credit card information from Stratfor's member subscribers.

A Bangladeshi high court on Sunday ordered police to prosecute a university lecturer for sedition after he wished for the death of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Facebook, a state prosecutor said.

The same court handed Jahangirnagar University teacher Ruhul Khandakar six months in jail last week for contempt of court after he failed to respond to repeated summonses to explain his Facebook posting.

Howard Stringer, the Welsh-born American head of Japanese games, music and electronics giant Sony, is to step down as the firm's president, reports said Saturday, while remaining CEO and chairman.

The move puts his reported successor Kazuo Hirai, a games and music veteran who is currently executive deputy president, in pole position to ultimately take over at the top of the company.

Yahoo dangled a $27 million pay package to lure its newly hired CEO Scott Thompson away from PayPal.

The struggling Internet company disclosed the details of Thompson's compensation in a regulatory filing late Friday. Thompson starts his new job Monday after spending the past four years runningeBay Inc.'s PayPal service, where revenue more than doubled during his tenure. PayPal took in an estimated $4.4 billion last year.

Netflix's streaming-video audience of more than 20 million subscribers has led many to label it a kind of digital TV network, and one that may grow into an HBO rival — if it's not already.

But unlike television programming, which comes with viewing guides, DVR reminders and weekly picks from all manner of media, the Netflix instant universe is a largely uncharted, Byzantine library prone to aimless clicking and haphazard double features.

The U.S. State Department on Friday launched a new high-tech form of outreach to the international community when it took questions on foreign policy from Twitter followers in different languages.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland answered a number of tweets from followers in English as well as those arriving in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.

Israel said on Saturday that it will respond to cyber-attacks in the same way it responds to violent "terrorist" acts, by striking back with force against hackers who threaten the Jewish state.

The message from Deputy Foreign Minister Dany Ayalon came after a self-defined "Saudi hacker" from a cabal known as "group-xp" published details of more than 6,000 Israeli credit cards online.

Inspired by the role of social media in the Arab Spring, Palestinians have harnessed the same tools, under the wary gaze of the authorities in the West Bank and Gaza.

In both parts of the Palestinian territory, ordinary people and activists have taken to social networking to share their hopes, mobilize demonstrations and call for government reform.

Belarus introduced tough new Internet restrictions on Friday that imposes fines on providers for failing to monitor their clients and allow the authorities to block sites deemed "extremist".

The new rules also require local Internet vendors to register in the ex-Soviet nation and impose fines on companies selling goods in Belarus through foreign websites.

Ultra-thin laptops will take center-stage alongside new software and smartphones at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a gadget extravaganza that officially opens on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The more than 2,700 exhibitors filling an excess of 1.8 million square feet - approximately 33 U.S. football fields - will range from car, computer and chip makers to technology startups and iPhone accessory sellers.