Claudia Bracholdt

The hostage crisis at a gas field in Algeria ended this morning with a raid by Algerian forces, killing the last of the Islamic militants who stormed the facility on Jan. 16. Algerian officials estimate the total death toll in the stand-off to be 32 militants and 23 hostages. The militants had said their action was a retaliation for the recent French intervention against Islamist rebels who staged a coup in northern Mali last year.

Germans take their privacy seriously and have coined a term—gläserner Bürger, or “the glass citizen”—to describe a dystopic future in which Germans are surveilled around the clock. The news that that Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), Germany’s version of the FBI, is testing software by a controversial surveillance firm is sure to raise the glass citizen image yet again.

Germany thanks you for keeping its gold, but it would very much like to have it back now.

In the race to lead the solar sector, China will surpass Germany this year, which had the biggest solar market in 2012. In a note to its investors, Deutsche Bank predicted China’s solar market will more than double to 10 gigawatts capacity this year, up from 4 gigawatts, making it the world’s biggest solar market. And that’s thanks partly to, ahem, Germany.

Already complained about the weather today? If you’re too hot or too cold, you’ve got lots of company around the world:

For most of their history, mobile phones have been shrinking. Small meant portable; it even, in the not too distant past, was a sort of status symbol. Remember Motorola’s runaway hit, the ultra-thin Razr?

Al Jazeera has finally found a way to infiltrate the US media, with its purchase of Current TV this week for about $500 million. The network, owned by the Qatar government, plans to establish an Al Jazeera America channel and will have extended its reach to 40 million American homes with the acquisition.

During the financial crisis in Europe, several countries have been moaning under an inflicted “German” austerity. How then to explain that more Germans are going into debt?