Islamists in Cairo have begun protesting the current military government which took over after the forced exodus of Hosni Mubarak nine months ago. The military and the Muslim Brotherhood initially had a truce dating back to the beginning of the civil unrest in Egypt over a year ago. But now that Mubarak is firmly out of power and the military has taken over, the Brotherhood wants Muslim involvement in the government and are protesting their exclusion.
The pressure against the Syrian oppression is mounting, as Turkey and France are now calling for the Syrian government to make greater efforts in preventing the killings of its own people. In the past week reports indicated another 15 people were killed, in spite of the Syrian government’s previous promise to end the bloodshed.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, a global nuclear watchdog program, issued a stern rebuke to Tehran regarding Iran’s continuation of their uranium enrichment process. An Iranian envoy adamantly replied their country would not cease its nuclear program, maintaining that it exists for peaceful purposes only.
Amidst financial turmoil and considerable international market pressure, the Italian unity government has forced the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and appointed technocrat Mario Monti as an interim Prime Minister to revive Italy’s struggling economy. Much of the international financial community is skeptical that Monti will be able to fix the Italian economy in time, but many European politicians support the change.
In the aftermath of the Fukushima Daichi meltdown last spring, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), has been struggling to keep up with energy demand in Japan’s capital city. The government of Tokyo has chosen to build a new power plant powered by natural gas that would match the output of Fukushima Daichi. The government is pursuing this option in order to weaken the stranglehold that TEPCO has had on the nation and to spur new economic growth.
The Occupy Wall Street movement that is sweeping the nation has involved hundreds of arrests and some violent confrontations. Last week thousands of protesters converged on the New York Stock Exchange in an failed effort to shut it down. Meanwhile, about 100 people in the Occupy Denver movement marched on government and financial buildings downtown causing major traffic problems.