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Vice President Biden says "I would not refer to Mubarak as a dictator," showing a lack of sensitivity and understanding of the Egyptian people's demands for freedom of expression, human rights, and democracy. Harshaw says that its clear the Mubarak regime has been wounded at the core. In the light of this the Obama administration's hesitant and timid response to the protests against 30 years of one party rule under Mubarak is baffling. It means the US will have to bear the costs of being on the wrong side of public opinion in the Arab world says Harshaw. And President Obama has failed to bring the much needed change that he promised for US relations with Africa, the Arab world, and the developing world. Apart from improvement of relations with Turkey, the failure of the Obama administration to grasp opportunities for forging a new era of relations with the Muslim world.

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The credibility of the US at stake in its ambivalent responses to the protests in Egypt against thirty years of one-party rule under Mubarak. Opposition leader and Nobel laureate El-Baradei leads demonstrators after prayers at a mosque in Cairo and is met by waves of police shooting tear gas. After returning to the mosque El-Baradei tells reporters that Mubarak's regime has closed the door to a peaceful transition with its use of the police in large numbers to stop the demonstrators. He said if the international community is not speaking now when would it speak up. He called the Mubarak regime barbaric in its treatment of the Egyptian people on the streets of Cairo and other cities. He held the US responsible for its wavering and hesitant approach to the popular revolt demanding democracy, human rights and the rule of law. By supporting the barbaric regime the international community should not be surprised if it loses all credibility in Egypt and the rest of the world, said El-Baradei. ...

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China's ginni coefficient at 0.5, has changed from 0.3 several decades ago, according to Li Shi at Beijing Normal University. A level above 0.4 is considered socially destabilizing. 150 million migrant workers from rural areas are denied access to benefits such as health care, education and pensions which are provided to urban residents. Migrant incomes are also affected by rising food prices. Estimates of per capita income are $935 a year for rural areas, up 13% in 2010, and $2,965 in urban areas, up 10 % in 2010. An economist at the National Economic Research Institute in Beijing says the income gap is understated because the incomes of families in the higher end are understated.

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Increasing popularity of tea sales and for Starbucks type marketing of tea products.

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The Tunisian revollution was middle class, un-Islamic and pro-western. The people in the streets of Cairo are young, connected, non-ideological and pragmatic. They are looking for an end to despotic regimes. This is the way Cohen describes the demonstrators after his visit to Tunis. Egypt's opposition leader El-Baradei tells Cohen's colleagues Kirkpatrick and Slackman that he is pretty sure that an elected government in Egypt woulld be a moderate one. The policies of a community activist from the south side of Chicago, who as US President fails to take a clear stand in favor of freedom from repression and economic freedom for people in the Arab world.

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Inflation is a problem in developing countries of Asia, Africa and the Arab world. Zhu Min, a Chinese economist pointed out the significant impact of a rise in food prices in India and China. Food makes up 47% of the basket of products used for India's consumer price index and 34% for China. Rising food prices hurt the poorer sections of the Indian people, said Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro. This could result in political uncertainty. A rise in prices in Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt is leading to street protests.

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New York Times executive editor gives his account of how the Wikileaks documents came to be published in the paper, and the erratic relationship with Julian Assange.