A fascinating article on how the eurozone crisis has effected Japanese and Chinese companies.

Below is the link. Sorry about that.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/15/business/asia-markets/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29

Turkish foreign minister Davutoglu announces that Turkey will stop sending weapons to Syria. Businessmen who support Assad's regime will have their assets frozen in Turkey. Turkey is hoping that these sanctions will persuade Assad to stop the violent crackdowns

here is the link to the economist article about african economies

Here is an article about the improved economies of Africa. Although many African countries are still wrought with malnutrition and kleptocracy, there is a growing educated middle class that is becoming more involved in the global economy. Also, the access of technology is growing and cases of AIDS and of malaria are declining with improved technologies.

Here is a great article about the rising middle classes of Chile, Brazil, China, India, and South Africa. It talks about the Chinese middle class use of technology to voice their opinions. They use this website called Sina Weibo which is the Chinese equivalent of tweet.

This article is about how the protesters are experiencing a divide between those who want to work on consensus building versus those who would like to have majority "winner takes all" vote. The current issue is about how to vote for a massive public works program funded by ceasing America's overseas military operations.

I never really knew much about occupy Wall Street, but it's really cool. It's like the "American Spring" or another American Revolution. The protesters seem to have a clear cut plan too. This articles discusses how the new "Demands Working Group" has drafted their own constitution which they've posted online. It demands that there be effort to create more jobs and that politicians be publicly supported in their campaigns rather than receiving money from private businesses. The movement of the "99%" seems strong and it is about time!

This is an article about the conflicts between the National Transitional Council and political and military local leaders in Libya.

I am glad that the Arab Spring movement is largely being led by the resident youth in the Arab nations.The US has been notorious for imposing their ideas of democracy onto the Middle East such as when Jimmy Carter in the 1970s pressed the Shah of Iran into changing many traditions (defined as "backwards" from a Western pov) too quickly. Of course, that was a big threat for members of society who wanted to keep the traditional way of life, and as a result, after the Shah stepped down, Khomeini's regime was actually worse for Iranians than before the US stepped in. In places like Libya, I just hope that the youth will continue to be assertive in what they want in spite of nations like France, Britain, and Italy that now want to exert their influence and exploit the region with expedient policies.