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Undercover Basij militiamen - many with slicked-back hair, wearing dress shirts and holding walkie-talkies - patrolled the main city arteries, in proportionally larger numbers than past protests. Although officially under the supervision of the Revolutionary Guards, they have in the past month become a fearsome force in quashing dissent. The reported killings of dozens of protesters last month has sufficiently intimidated many would-be protesters, as has Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's continued threats of a "brutal" response to any public demonstrations. On July 20, he declared that "anybody who drives the society toward insecurity and disorder is a hated...
...Revel in it: "Italians like me as I am," Berlusconi stated a month ago. That's true. The Prime Minister has an incredible ability to embody certain values that Italians see in themselves. They also like that he defies what many see as the hypocritical moralizing of his opponents. Remember, Berlusconi is at his most powerful when he is at his most entertaining...
...graduate who lives near Haft e-Tir says he did not go to the protest because he knew security forces would be waiting there. "It's too dangerous," he says. Those who still go perhaps have less to lose; one man in his 30s, who earns roughly $300 a month working three jobs, has been to almost every protest thus far, with a bag of metal bearings in his pocket and a slingshot under his belt that he uses to target the Basij. "Yes, I'm risking my life," he admits. (See a video of TIME's Joe Klein discussing...
July has been a trying month for China's President, Hu Jintao. First he was forced to scurry home from Italy to deal with race riots in western Xinjiang province that left some 190 dead. His departure just ahead of the opening of the G-8 summit at which China was slated to play a key role must have been embarrassing. So unprecedented was the decision that it prompted some Sinologists to wonder whether a shaky political position at home was the real reason Hu decided to cancel. (Read "In China...
...There are signs, though, that Beijing may be slowly changing its policy toward the yuan in ways that could, over time, lead to its greater use on a global scale. Most notably, China and Hong Kong launched a pilot program this month through which Hong Kong banks can begin settling cross-border trade transactions in yuan for selected Chinese companies. This step will likely increase the use of yuan in Hong Kong, one of the world's premier financial centers. (The program also solidifies Hong Kong's role as China's chief financial hub.) This step follows a series...