Democracy Now!

The wave of protests sweeping the Middle East in the aftermath of the Tunisian uprising continues today in the two key U.S. allies of Egypt and Yemen. Thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets in defiance of the government’s efforts to clamp down on the biggest demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak in three decades.

The protests that took place today in Yemen and Egypt have drawn inspiration from the uprising in Tunisia that forced the ouster of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The interim Tunisian government is expected to announce the dismissal today of all leftover cabinet members with ties to former President Ben Ali.

Thousands of people have rallied in the northwestern Pakistan zone in order to protest for the ongoing United States drone attacks that killed scores of civilians. On last Sunday, thousands of demonstrators at the Pakistani city of Peshawar, blocked a main road and several small ones helding a vigil to mourn drone attack victims.

The protests that led to Ben Ali’s overthrow gained momentum after unemployed university graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire. He died earlier this month. Copycat self-immolations have followed in at least 4 other North African states. In Egypt, 52-year-old lawyer Mohamed Farouk Hassan became the latest Egyptian protester to set himself on fire following two others.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has wrapped up a state visit to the U.S. were he delivered an address in which he renounced “hegemony” and “expansionism.”
Hu Jintao: “We will remain committed to the path of peaceful development, continue to strive for a peaceful international environment to develop ourselves and uphold and promote world peace through our own development”.

U.S. Vice President Biden has reaffirmed a U.S. pledge to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Biden met top officials in Baghdad for the first time since Iraqi lawmakers agreed on a new government last year. Biden says he told the Iraqi government the U.S. is committed to meeting a status of forces agreement that calls for a full U.S. withdrawal this year.

Thousands of people have taken themselves to the streets of the Tunisian capital of Tunis today in order to demand the resignation President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Nationwide protests have erupted over the past month against unemployment, police brutality and government repression under Ben Ali’s twenty three years rule.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains in a London jail after Swedish officials challenged a British court decision to release him on bail.
Julian Assange has been detained since last week, when he was arrested in London, United Kingdom, on an international warrant to face supposed sexual crime allegations in Sweden.

The United States is facing a diplomatic crisis as the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks has begun releasing today over 250,000 secret diplomatic cables. The cables have already proved embarrassing to numerous world leaders. The cables show the Saudi king Abdullah has repeatedly urged the United States of America to attack Iran.

Thousands of delegates, scientists and activists are gathering today in Cancun, Mexico, for the start of a two-week United Nations Climate Change Conference. A new scientific report being issued on the occasion reveals that up to a billion people from different nations could lose their homes in the next 90 years due to climate change.