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The struggle between pro-Ozawa and anti-Ozawa factions inside the Democratic Party of Japan leads to the election of a candidate who is not the first choice of either faction. Yoshihiko Noda is elected prime minister in a runoff vote by defeating Banri Kaeda 215 votes to 177. Noda was finance minister in the outgoing Naoto Kan administration. Kan had only recently replaced prime minister Hatoyama. Hatoyama resigned after a dispute with the Obama administration on the issue of bases on Okinawa- when N.Korea was developing its nuclear weapons and taking hostile actions against S. Korea and Japan.

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As Finland based Nokia's business declines the foreign investment from Sweden and other countries that see Finland as a stable location for operations in the eurozone is increasing. Swedish paper maker Billerud AB invested 130 million euros in a Finnish forestry group as a way to shift costs away from krona which is strengthening to the euro. This is a significant advantage for Finland, a small country with only 5.4 million people, and only 17% of Finns see an exit from the euro as a good option during the eurozone crisis, according to MTV3. Growth of the Finnish economy is expected to slow. The government of prime minister Jyrki Katainen, is planning spending cuts and tax increases of 2 billion euros in 2013, or about 4% of the government budget to reduce its deficit.

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The resignation of Ahmed Shafiq, a former Air Force official who was close to Mubarak, from the prime minister's position. He will be replaced by Essam Sharaf, a former transport minister. Protest leaders had suggested Sharaf's name to the military running the country. ElBaradei former head of the IAEA and Amr Moussa of the Arab League had pushed for Shafiq's resignation. Sharaf is an engineer who studied for his Ph.D. at Purdue University in the U.S. In Egypt the changes demanded by the protests for democracy are still unmet. The emergency laws are still in place, the large internal security services have not been disbanded. One example of this was the arrest just last week of one protestor and sentencing by a military court within 3 days to 5 years in prison.

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Israel's defense minister Ehud Barak, tells the Wall Street Journal in an interview, that the protests throughout the Arab world are a movement in the right direction, and moving Arab societies toward modernity. His view is that Israel should not fear changes in the region and should offer bold concessions in setting up the conditions for a permanent peace with Palestinians.

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Stephen Harper's Conservative party won 167 of the 308 seats in Canada's House of Commons, the NDP won 102 seats, the Liberals 34 seats and the Bloc Quebecois 2 seats. Harper gave indications of how he would govern by saying that he would stay on the same path the Conservatives followed when they were a minority party. He said there would be no changes to Canada's public health care system. He told a news conference in Calgary, Alberta: "Even as a majority you have to, on an ongoing basis, keep the trust of the population." The Conservatives won only 40% of the popular vote, and this may be a reason for the caution in making major changes. The Conservatives maintained their base in western Canada, and gained seats in Ontario. The gains in and around Toronto, came because the left-of-center vote was split between the Liberals and the NDP. Experts say Harper will shut down a disputed registry for rifles, end direct government subsidies of political parties, and maintain scheduled corporate tax cuts. The Conservative government is also expected not take any significant steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions that are opposed by the oil and gas industries in western Canada. ...

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Singapore's tight politcal control which hinders the kind of free expression which is considered normal in advanced economies is raising questions about Singapore's future and the kind of society it sees itself as becoming. Different opinions are coming from within the ruling PAP party and from the public. Issues are immigration, property prices, growing inequality, similiar to those facing native Hong Kong people. Non residents and permanent residents made up 39% of Singapore's population of 5.5 million in 2014. A law professor at Singapore Management University reflects the trend of public opinion saying it is not a question of whether but when Singapore evolves into a two or multi-party system of government.

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Lindy Boggs, U.S. Congresswoman from Louisiana, who led the fight for civil rights in a deeply segregated South, and was a pioneer for financial rights of women.