- / AFP - Getty Images

An image aken from a video uploaded on YouTube shows Syrian anti-government protesters waving the former Syrian flag during a demonstration in Khirbet al-Ghazaleh in Daraa province on November 18, 2011.

By Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News Correspondent

Ayman Mohyeldin covered the Middle East for several years as a correspondent for Al Jazeera’s English language channel. He reported extensively on the revolution in Egypt earlier this year, as well as on Tunisia’s fall. He recently became an NBC News Correspondent.

ANALYSIS

This Friday marks the end of another week of political upheaval across the Arab world with the international spotlight honing in Syria.
In the past week, the often-impotent League of Arab States took a stand against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The decision by the Arab League is a positive step, albeit late.

After Assad’s failure to meet a deadline to withdraw the Syrian military off the streets and talk to his political foes, the Arab League suspended Syria’s membership.

The move came after the organization assumed that Assad’s regime was genuinely engaged with it to end the Syrian uprisings through a brokered or negotiated settlement. This proved to be a false assumption. Force was the ultimate weapon of choice for the regime – reforms and negotiations were simply diplomatic covers to give the government the time to deal with the issue militarily.

The ‘Arab’ decision
Beyond the somewhat symbolic gesture of isolating Syria from the Arab world, the Arab League decision could potentially have an impact on the ground. It’s not so much that it will deter the Syrian regime from continuing its military operations against protesters as it will likely embolden the opposition.

The Arab League’s decision has effectively told the opposition, both internally and externally, that the Arab world no longer wants to do business with Assad – and new alternatives are welcomed.

This is also a call being echoed individually by Arab leaders, such as Jordan’s King Abdullah, who earlier this week was the first Arab leader to openly call for Assad to step down. "If Bashar [Assad] has the interest of his country [at heart] he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life," Abdullah told the BBC.

Neighboring and regional countries from Iran to Turkey to Qatar, as well as non-state players like Hezbollah, will now have a choice to make.  Come to the strategic defense of the embattled Assad regime and risk a similar public wrath and condemnation or work against the regime by recognizing, aiding, funding and even arming the opposition in accordance with the collective regional will.

Qatar is one country that was instrumental in arming and funding the Libyan opposition. It would not come as a surprise if Qatari funds and weapons ended up in the hands of Syrian opposition by way of Turkey or Jordan.

Internationalizing the conflict
But the Arab Leagues decision, also poses a dilemma for the international community. With no military capabilities, no standing military force or technical capabilities, the Arab League can do very little to actually stop the regime and protect civilians.

In Libya, the League essentially kicked the issue up to the international arena, first to the U.N. and then NATO, which imposed the no-fly zone and carried out subsequent airstrikes that ultimately turned the tide against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.

By condemning Syria and suspending its membership, the Arab League has played pretty much all the cards it has. Yes, it can try to further isolate and sanction the regime, but member states have already begun doing that unilaterally but withdrawing ambassadors and suspending bilateral trade and investments with Damascus.

Unlike its mantra when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program and a possible military strike, the U.S. has maintained that, “it’s keeping its options on the table” in terms of Syria. But the U.S. and other Western powers have also made it clear that any Libyan-style NATO operations are off the table.

In remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Nov. 9, Jeffrey Feltman, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, said: “Overall, the [Obama] administration is following a careful but deliberate and principled course. This is necessary given Syria’s complex and unique circumstances. We do not seek further militarization of this conflict. Syria is not Libya.”

This has given Assad a lifeline – he knows that his use of force will not be countered by any international use of force, no matter how bad it gets.

Assad’s options
With the international community unwilling to act militarily and the Arab League having exhausted their options, Assad can now shift his focus from the international diplomatic arena to his immediate existential threat – his own people.

He has demonstrated his willingness to use force to suppress those he has labeled as terrorists and militants. He has also rejected any notion of stepping down, seeking refuge in another Arab country or transitioning power to alternative forces.

And at this point, it’s unlikely that Assad will reach full international isolation so long as Russia, a longtime ally, and China continue to drag their feet on taking a firm stance.

Even if it were fully isolated, it does not mean the Syrian regime would crumble. Assad’s legitimacy may have eroded but his capabilities to rule can remain in place for the foreseeable future so long as he does not lose physical territory in his own country or key supply routes that can be used by the opposition to smuggle in weapons, cash and resources from neighboring countries.

In addition, Assad has been a close ally of Iran and Hezbollah and may be inclined to cash in favors for the years of support he provided both of them in the wake of their own regional political isolation and diplomatic hardships.

Free Syrian Army
Although it is in its nascent stages, the Free Syria Army – a growing group of army defectors carrying out attacks against regime elements inside Syria – could prove to be the tipping balance in this conflict. But the Free Syria Army has a long way to go before it can succeed operationally and politically.

Complete with its own Facebook page, the FSA says it has tens of thousands of soldiers all across the country “capable of targeting the regime in its most strategic locations,” as it demonstrated with their high-profile attack on the Air Force Intelligence complex on the edge of Damascus earlier this week. 

For now, the leader of the FSA, Col. Riad al Asaad, is operating along the Syria-Turkey border (which has significant ramifications on Turkey’s role inside Syria). In a phone interview posted on the Facebook page, Asaad said the FSA is drawing its financial and military support from within the ranks of the regime’s military and the people of Syria, an indication that members of the regime’s security apparatus are defecting in large numbers.

While this may be the case, these forces have yet to prove they can act as a military deterrent to the regime. More important, for the FSA to succeed, it must capture and secure a base of operations within the country that can become the “liberated” capital of the opposition, similar to the way Libyan rebels held Benghazi, that nation’s second-largest city. This city would then allow a political and military opposition council to form and operate directly against the regime within the country. When the Libyan opposition managed to “liberate” Benghazi and make it a safe haven from which it could operate, the countdown on the Gadhafi regime began.

To do so, the FSA must also secure a border with a neighboring country that can serve as a conduit for supplies, medical assistance and safe travel.

But for now the Syrian opposition, both politically and militarily, are not functioning as a single cohesive unit with a base of operation and coordinated messaging. This can improve with time, especially with the help of countries such as Turkey, which is clearly allowing the FSA to operate from within its own borders.

Mustafa Ozer / AFP - Getty Images

Syrians living in Turkey chant slogans as they wave Turkish and Syrian flags protesting against the government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers during a demonstration in front of the Syrian consulate in Istanbul, on Nov. 18.

Turkey’s backyard
Throughout the Arab Awakening, Turkey has been involved in almost every revolution. For the most part, it has been involved politically in calling on previous leaders to step down – often times ahead of other Arab or European leaders. Sometimes its positions faltered early, as was the case in Libya. But now the Arab revolutions have reached Turkey’s doorstep and there is no ambiguity about its role.

On one hand, it has been among the most critical of the Assad regime. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had invested a lot of political and diplomatic effort in working with Syria – increasing trade, attempting to negotiate a final peace deal with Israel and bolstering bilateral Turkish-Syrian relations.

But once the uprisings began, the Syrian regime shunned Turkish mediation efforts – at times brazenly in the public eye. At one point, Syrian tanks reportedly entered Turkish territory in July as thousands were fleeing the fighting.

Turkey in return has made its position clear with its actions: It has given safe refuge to thousands of Syrian refugees; it has allowed the leadership of the FSA to reside in Turkey along its border with Syria; and Turkey has reportedly intercepted arms shipments making their way into Syria.

As a NATO member and a powerful regional player, Turkey may attempt to assume more of the strategic role in facilitating assistance to the Syrian opposition if the FSA can manage to secure a base of operations and safe routes to Turkey from within Syria.

Civil war?
With the stage set, regionally and domestically, there is one inevitability: The conflict in Syria is certain to escalate.

Unlike other Arab revolutions, each with it own challenges and strategic significance, Syria takes it to a whole new level.

Like every other Arab leader who has fled, or has been deposed or has been killed by his own people, Assad has warned that after him there will be chaos and that the region would be engulfed in violence.

Because of its strategic location – Syria is a country that borders Israel and is a close ally of Iran, has porous borders with Iraq and Lebanon and has an internal ethnic composition rife with disparities and historical differences – many are worried about the effects of the fall of the Assad regime on the region. That has paralyzed the international community. The lessons of Iraq are still fresh in everyone’s mind and few dare to deconstruct a regime if it means opening a Pandora’s box inside Syria.

Even Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned this week that the attacks by the FSA could mark the beginning of “real civil war” in Syria.

But those who believe Syria is on the verge of civil war fail to recognize what these Arab revolutions are about. It’s precisely for this reason, I dislike the term, the Arab Spring.

I disagree with the term primarily because spring is a season with a beginning and an end and it that ultimately passes. But what is happening across the Arab world is much more of an “Arab Awakening” -- and awakenings can be painful and groggy, even on a good morning.

More important, the people who are protesting on the streets in Syria and who have been for the past eight months did so not to impose an ideology but to get rid of one – an ideology of oppression.

It’s for this reason I don’t believe the uprising in Syria is on the verge of a civil war. Nor was the Libya conflict a civil war. In revolutions, those fighting to change the regimes and those fighting to preserve regimes are not fighting ideological wars competing for the hearts and minds of citizens.

Those fighting for change are fighting for a cause – freedom. Those fighting to save the regimes are struggling to maintain power and those that are doing the fighting on their behalf are mostly doing it out of fear – not out of loyalty.

I think a real civil war, as we have seen around the world time and time, is when competing forces are fighting to advance ideologies and consolidate power. I don’t believe that is what the people in the Arab world who are facing down tanks, guns and bullets are fighting for today.

But then again, this is Friday and Fridays always mark the beginning of a new week of opportunity across the Arab world.

Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images

Afghanistan's National Army (ANA) soldiers secure the vicinity of the upcoming Loya Jirga in Kabul on Tuesday.

By Atia Abawi, NBC News Correspondent

KABUL – This week over 2,000 Afghans representing all walks of life - from far-flung villages and the country's big city - will congregate in the capital Kabul. Some will come from the far-flung provinces within Afghanistan, others from neighboring Iran and Pakistan, where millions of refugees still live after 30 years of war. 

There will even be representatives from the Afghan diaspora who have found new homes in the Unites States, Canada and Europe.

They will gather for a traditional meeting, called a loya jirga or grand assembly, a tradition that dates back hundreds of years. The jirga is a gathering of tribes to discuss and decide on important decisions and milestones in the country.  In the past it has been used to choose kings, constitutions and regimes. 

This year tribal elders and community leaders will discuss the future of the relationship between the U.S. and Afghanistan as American troops begin to withdraw.  But while the Jirga is an ancient tradition, some Afghans say the meeting has no binding authority and is being used simply to provide non-binding advice to the government of President Hamid Karzai.

“I think no major decisions will come out of this jirga,” political analyst Haroun Mir told NBC News.  “It will be up to President Karzai either to take into consideration these recommendations or go ahead with his own decision.”

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers stand guard Monday near where the loya jirga meeting will be held in Kabul starting Wednesday.

The U.S. isn’t commenting on the jirga, saying only that it is an Afghan process that they have the “upmost respect” for, according to the State Department’s Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner.

“The U.S. and Afghanistan are close partners and allies, and we have great confidence that this loya jirga is going to reaffirm that strong partnership,” Toner said.

Taliban threat
The challenges of holding this jirga are vast, with security being the biggest problem in the eyes of most Afghans, as well as the international community.

To underscore this point, The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the gathering and kill anyone taking part in it.

They also claim to have obtained the security plans for the three-day congregation.  To add validity to the group’s assertion, on Sunday Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid sent NBC News a 20-page document it claims are those plans.

Some Afghan government officials say that the document has been fabricated, while others say that although the document is authentic it is actually an outdated version.

Mir says Taliban threats should be taken more seriously.

“Certainly the risk is very high and they have the capacity to threaten the Afghan forces,” he said.  Mir underlined his point by referring to recent insurgent attacks in the Afghan capital, including the September assassination of the head of the High Peace Council for Reconciliation, Burhanuddin Rabbani.

 “These attacks happened through those who provide protection for Taliban inside Kabul and facilitated their transportation in the city,” Mir said.

While top officials are at risk from attacks, regular Afghans have borne the brunt of worsening violence in Afghanistan – with around 1,462 civilians killed between January and June, the first six  month of 2011 have been the deadliest six months for civilians since the war began in 2001, according to BBC News.

Peaceful settlement?
Despite continued threats from the Taliban, it is expected one of the topics of discussion will be on how to forge a peaceful settlement with them. 

Security aside, there is still confusion among many Afghans and foreigners as to why this jirga has been called now, what will be discussed and will the decisions made hold any weight.

Some parliamentarians have even called on Afghans to boycott the jirga, saying that it is an illegal process and that decisions made on Afghanistan should be done in the democratic fashion through the government.

"The real representatives of the people are in parliament. We have been elected,” Nasrullah Sadiqizada Nili, a lawmaker from Day Kundi province, told the Associated Press. Although parliamentarians are included in the event, Nili said he and many others would not attend in protest.

"This loya jirga has no legitimacy," Nili said.

Still thousands will gather starting Wednesday and the meeting is expected to last three to four days.

Fazl-e-Ahad contributed to this report. 

Courtesy Telemundo / Courtesy Telemundo

Screen grab of a video clip from shortly after the Colombia volcano eruption in 1985 that shows a boy at an orphanage being treated by paramedics. Claudia Ramirez is sure it's her son Andres Felipe Cubides Ramirez.

By Maribel Osorio, Telemundo Correspondent

BOGOTA, Colombia – Most people thought Andres Felipe Cubides Ramirez died 26 years ago in a devastating volcano. That is except for his mother, Claudia Ramirez, who said her heart told her the boy was still alive even though she had no proof.

There has been no trace of Andres Felipe since Nov. 13, 1985, when the volcano erupted, destroying her town of Armero, Colombia.   

That day, as she watched via television from the capital Bogota, Claudia saw how the lava buried her parents, husband, friends and neighbors, 20,000 of the town’s nearly 30,000 residents died. Her town, Armero, was the city worst-affected by the eruption and was buried by mud and rubble from the eruption. There was no reason to believe little Andres Felipe, then 6 years old, didn't also perish.

At the time, Claudia was a 21-year-old student studying dentistry at the university in Bogota, 50 miles away from Armero; her parents took care of Andres Felipe while she was at school. 

She intensely looked for him all over the country during the first year after the tragedy and posted missing child photos of him all over Colombia. But everything seemed to indicate that he had died along with thousands of others.

For more than two decades, Claudia refused to watch the images from the scene that were like a dagger to her heart. But as fate would have it, a few weeks ago she was watching TV and saw a show all about the anniversary of the volcanic eruption – that’s when she saw the video clip that she's sure shows her son.  

In the clip from shortly after the volcanic eruption, a boy is at an orphanage being treated by paramedics, drinking water and trembling from the cold but without injuries. Claudia contacted the TV producers and watched the video again at the TV station. She now has no doubts that it is her son and showed photos of him around that age to make her point.

Courtesy Telemundo / Courtesy Telemundo

A photo of the missing boy Andres Felipe Cubides Ramirez. He would now be 32 years old.

Claudia still doesn't have an answer from the institute that coordinated adoptions from the tragedy. But she's convinced that Andres Felipe was adopted by someone abroad, because that was what happened to many children who survived.

Since she does not know what country he may be in, she has begun an Internet crusade to find him. This is the Facebook page she set up with photos of her son as a boy.  

During a recent interview she showed photos of his youth and, between tears, she recalled how his grandmother bought him three Spider-man costumes because after a Halloween party he decided he never wanted to wear anything else.

She now hopes that the old photos of her Andres-Felipe will help identify her grown-up son, who would be about to turn 32.

Anyone with information about Andres Felipe is urged to contact the Armando Armero Foundation at: fundacion@armandoarmero.com.

Charlene Gubash / NBC News

Tourists stroll down the Giza pyramids plateau, even though the Great Pyramid was closed Friday.

By Charlene Gubash, NBC News Producer

CAIRO – Egypt’s legendary pyramids are always a draw for tourists from all over the world – but they had a particular lure for New Age spiritualists Friday who wanted to meditate inside the country’s greatest pyramid on the auspicious date of 11-11-11.

But no dice; pyramids closed Friday.

No visitors were allowed to enter the stone portal of the Great Pyramid of Giza, climb the Grand Gallery, marvel at the soaring stone ceiling above, and awe at the king’s 4,500-year-old burial chamber and empty sarcophagus. 

Antiquities officials said they were forced to close the pyramid because of a Facebook campaign and media blitz against tourists who wanted to commemorate the day by meditating inside the king’s chamber. 

Post-revolutionary Egypt is rife with conspiracy theories with an anti-Semitic edge.  Rumor-mongering writers warned that the foreign tourists who wanted to engage in strange rituals commemorating 11-11-11 were Masonic worshippers and Jews. 

The title of an anti-meditation website said it all: “Together, Reject the Masonic and Jewish Celebration of 11-11-11 in the Pyramid.”

One of the more bizarre and widely held opinions was that 1,200 Jewish worshippers would mark the day by climbing the pyramid and installing a Star of David on its apex.   Authorities bowed to public pressure and took the unprecedented step of closing the Great Pyramid in order to discourage angry protests against the spiritual pilgrims. 

Amidst tight security, the rest of Giza’s wonders, two smaller pyramids and the Sphinx, were still open to tourists.  Small groups of Westerners still meandered around the plateau despite the closure of the Great Pyramid – many seeking spiritual renewal.

‘Energetic significance of the date’
Carmel Glenane, an author and spiritual teacher, brought 10 students with her to make up a group of eleven.  They believe 11-11-11, or three times two, is the number of lovers and balance. 

Glenane flew in from Australia to receive the energy of the pyramids.  She says she wasn’t disappointed at being denied entry to the biggest of them. 

“We are not here for a single experience. We are here to have a group experience. We came here because it is 11-11-11, because of the energetic significance of the date.  It is the balance of masculine and feminine being harmonized in the heart’s center,” said Glenane. “To focus on one aspect is missing the whole point. It is a journey to the heart… It’s opening up to the new Egypt, the new heart of Egypt.”  

Charlene Gubash / NBC News

A group of 11 spiritual tourists from Australia who came to visit Egypt's pyramids for 11-11-11.

Spiritual tourism to Egypt’s antiquities is a niche sector that has existed for decades, with New Age adherents once paying hundreds of dollars to spend the night in the King’s Chamber. That privilege was curtailed long ago, but believers still come.

Leela Cosgrove, an Australian marketing consultant, comes to the site for more than an energy boost; she said she has doubled her income by consulting for businesses that sell spiritual goods and services, in addition to her to her normal marketing jobs. “It’s been very good for business. Since bringing in the spiritual side, I have gone from making 250,000 to 500,000 Australian dollars ($186,000 to $373,000).” 

One of her clients, martial arts school owner, Adriana Lazos, said she came to the pyramids on 11-11-11 to “get the energies” and bring them back to Australia.

Skeptical residents
Some residents, hawking fake Pharaonic statues in front of the Sphinx, were skeptical.

“They closed the Pyramid because 15,000 people were supposed to come here today to worship inside,” said Mohamed Ali. “They still came, but in small groups.  All of them that are wearing white are Jewish,” he added, gesturing darkly toward three tourists clad in white cotton slacks and shirts.

Amr Nabil / AP

A souvenir vendor is seen near the Sphinx at the Giza Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt on Friday. Egypt's antiquities authority closed the largest of the Giza pyramids Friday following rumors that groups would try to hold spiritual ceremonies on the site at 11:11 on Nov. 11, 2011.

One of them was a Brazilian tour guide and spiritual leader who would only give her nickname, Antarielle. She said she has conducted 18 Germany-to-Egypt tours over the years.  “This is a special date.  It’s a special place and this is the place to be.” 

But, she said her visit was marred by what she called “aggressive behavior.”

“We wanted to sit and meditate [outside the Great Pyramid] but they told us to go off.  There are thousands of people here for this purpose.  They have been told they shouldn’t allow anyone in white to sit anywhere because they will destroy the dignity of Islam.  But we managed to meditate in right front of the pyramid anyway,” Antarielle noted proudly.  

I asked what religion they were.  “I am a spiritualist,” said Antarielle. “I am a Christian,” said her friend. “Nudist,” joked a third. 

The tour guide reasoned that Egypt should be more welcoming to spiritual pilgrims, especially since tourism, Egypt’s main foreign currency resource, has plummeted since the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak. She said her 12-day tour costs $3,412 and includes hotels, food and travel within the country – so she said it adds a lot to the local economy.  
 
However, when I returned to the vendor, Ali, with the information that the group wasn’t Jewish, he just shook his head.  “If they came here for meditation, they are Jews.  We don’t want those who pray to do it by the pyramids.” His colleague nodded in agreement. “Only God knows what religion they are.” 
 
Still, some tourists were blissfully unaware of the controversial shutdown and the numerological meaning of the day.  Elizabeth Rospo from Nova Scotia almost missed seeing the pyramids.  She was on cruise and had only one day to catch the Egyptian Museum and the pyramids area.

“The guide was in constant contact with his office. They were worried about a protest but it never happened.  It didn’t affect our stay at all,” she said.

By Claudio Lavanga, NBC News producer

ROME — Saturday could be the last day of Silvio Berlusconi's time as prime minister of Italy, and the first day of the rest of his life as one of the richest retirees on earth — or a convict.

On paper, the 74-year-old Berlusconi could retire gracefully. As a businessman, he has amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune through his television, editorial and property empires, and he is spoiled for choice for his retirement home.

Charles Platiau / Reuters, file

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrives for the second day of the G20 Summit in Cannes on Nov. 4.

He could move back to his beloved Villa San Martino, a former monastery turned into lavish residence in the outskirts of Milan, and escape the harsh winters of the northern Italian city by relaxing in the stunning Villa Certosa, his summer residence on the island of Sardinia.

There, he could spend days admiring nature, the fireworks from the fake volcano he had built in his gardens to entertain his guests, and finally indulge in the presence of the many topless women who were photographed at the villa during his premiership — without having to apologize for it.

But Silvio Berlusconi is not a man who likes to rest. He admits he doesn’t sleep longer than three hours a night, and in the past two decades he has proved he possesses an enviable stamina for a man his age.

Should he feel restless, he could always watch a game of his beloved A.C. Milan, the top Italian soccer team he owns, or organize one of his infamous 'bunga bunga' parties, allegedly his favorite after-dinner pastime, without worrying about the public sentiment over it.

But there is another, less pleasant alternative: He could spend the rest of his life in prison.

'Ruby the heart-stealer'
Berlusconi is still a defendant in three different trials. He is being charged with corruption, abuse of office, and famously for having slept with a 17-year old prostitute dubbed “Ruby the heart-stealer.”

Should he be found guilty of all charges, he could potentially spend more than 15 years in prison, and say goodbye to 'bunga bunga'.

And yet Berlusconi might not be losing any of those three hours of sleep over it.

While in office, his government lowered the statute of limitations, effectively the expiration date for legal proceedings, prompting suspicions that it was yet another attempt to save himself from his legal woes. And it might have worked.

One of the most damaging accusations, that of having bribed British tax lawyer David Mills to lie under oath in two previous corruption trials against him, will fall under the new statute of limitations in January 2012, potentially sparing Berlusconi the embarrassment and prison term that would come with a guilty verdict.

Another case — in which he and other executives are accused of buying U.S. movie rights at inflated prices via two offshore companies under his control — will expire in 2014, which is probably too soon for the famously slow legal Italian system to prove his guilt.

Another masterstroke by Berlusconi during his time in office was the attempt in 2010 to introduce a law that granted immunity to top government officials, including himself.

That law was overturned by Italy’s constitutional court in 2011, but it still bought some precious time for the embattled premier.

Too busy for court
So what will change from Saturday, when he is expected to step down?

His biggest problem will be trying to delay further trial proceeding by using the last card in his hand: Claiming he was too busy with institutional commitments to attend court hearings, the famous “legitimate impediment.”

This will no doubt speed up the three trials that he has so far managed to dodge.

And yet, rather than worrying about his own future, Berlusconi has proved that in the last few days in parliament that he is worried more about his sons and daughters.

He introduced in one bill, which was drawn to tackle Italy’s economic crisis, a new inheritance law that allows him to choose how to spread his wealth after his death.

He is believed to want to favor the offspring of his first marriage over the sons and daughters he had with his estranged second wife, Veronica Lario, who left him in 2009 claiming she could “no longer be with a man who consorts with minors.”

It is a worthy final act for a prime minister who has been accused throughout his career of caring more about his interests than those of the nation.

It is believed that while Rome burned, the emperor Nero played a string instrument called a Lyre. In the case of the colorful Silvio Berlusconi, most Italians feel they were played by him while they watched their country fall into ruin.

BEIJING – As the deadline approaches for paying a whopping tax bill of $2.4 million, Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has collected nearly half that amount from supporters across China.

“I’m very surprised,” said the 54-year old Ai in his studio in northeastern Beijing.  “I never really [wanted] people to donate anything to us.”

Last Tuesday, the authorities presented the bill to his company, known as Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd, and issued a deadline of November 15.  Fake, which is registered in the name of Ai’s wife, manages the artist’s affairs.  The government is seeking the back taxes and fines based on tax evasion charges they made earlier this year against Ai during his 81-day detention in an undisclosed location.

Ai immediately turned to his apparent favorite medium of expression these days, the Internet, to solicit donations from followers. 

An unorthodox way of fundraising
While the artist said he has the means to find the money himself to pay the tax bill, he wanted to bring attention to how the government is treating him.  Ai’s family and supporters have maintained that the tax evasion charges come as retaliation for his constant attacks on the Chinese central government.

Ai has said he considers the donations a “loan” and intends to pay everyone back.  

The donations have come in many shapes and sizes.  Roughly 25,000 people have sent in donations by Alipay (a Chinese version of PayPal), money orders, and cash–wrapped around fruit or folded as paper planes thrown over the garden wall into his compound.

Eric Baculinao

Ai Weiwei gives journalists the latest tally of donations that have been streaming in since last week.

“Society should be more tolerant,” said Zhao Yangping, a retired engineer living in Beijing.  We found her leaving the studio, where she had just donated some money on behalf of relatives from overseas who wanted to show their support for Ai.  “Why should the government be so nervous?  He deserves more freedom.  The government is too harsh on him, too sensitive.”

The government maintains otherwise.

In the state-run newspaper, The Global Times, an editorial questioned whether Ai’s unorthodox response was legal, “Since he's borrowing from the public, it at least looks like illegal fund-raising.”

It also looks like people – even if still a small fraction given the size of China's population – are taking a stand in the battle between Ai and the government.  "It is obviously…about that,” Ai said.  “It’s about how people vote with very [limited] possibilities….  We use our money to vote.  It’s our ticket.”

Collateral damage?
Despite initial reports stating that he was unsure yet about whether to pay the fine and back taxes, Ai confirmed to NBC News he would do so by next Tuesday.

“I think we have to,” he said.  “If you don’t pay, then you violate another law….  And it’s not me now, they are not aiming at me.  The tax company said it’s not you.  It’s the company.  In the company, there are several people [who are] innocent.”

Nonetheless, innocent people are affected by Ai’s activism.

On the day NBC News visited Ai, a young woman was waiting to confer with him about a predicament.

Wu Hongfei, a writer-journalist whose main passion she says is singing for her rock band, Happy Avenue, had just learned a concert for a birthday party this weekend had been cancelled.

“The authorities told Yugong Yishan [a public concert venue] that they cannot hold the performance,” she said.  Managers at the club were not given any explanation, according to Wu, but she reckoned it had to do with their decision to give out sunflower seeds to ticket buyers as “a special birthday gift” from Wu to her audience.

Harmless or odd as it might seem, the gesture could be interpreted by authorities as an overt show of support for Ai. 

“Sunflower Seeds” is the name of a major installation Ai mounted late last year at the Tate Modern, a prestigious museum in London.  It was still on display in April, when the artist was detained in Beijing, and drew even more widespread attention as a result of his arrest.

Wu has already had one other concert shut down by local officials—again no reason was given although she suspects it’s because of her association with Ai.

“This is irrational.  We’re not even that close friends.  I don’t bother the government.  I don’t even understand politics,” she said.  “If I can’t perform, then what can I do?  I really love my band.”

Read more reports in Behind the Wall on Ai Weiwei

The show goes on in New York, minus detained Chinse artist

SLIDESHOW of Ai Weiwei's work

AP Photo/Evrim Aydin, Anatolia

Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Van, eastern Turkey, late Wednesday.

By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent

LONDON – The pictures and video of the collapsed Bamyan Hotel in Van, Turkey, where at least eight were killed overnight by a 5.7 magnitude earthquake, were particularly eerie for me.

The victims were mostly the rescuers and journalists covering the aftermath of a previous, deadlier 7.2 magnitude quake that struck on Oct. 23 dozens of miles away. Worse – they had been told they’d be safe there.

As sniffer dogs and frantic first responders found and dug out at least 26 survivors – one died later in the hospital – I flashed back to September, 1985.

We were a group of about a dozen NBC News personnel who had just arrived in Mexico City to cover the destruction left by a massive 8.1 earthquake. Hundreds of buildings had collapsed, and thousands of people were killed. But we felt relatively secure on the 14th floor of the five-Star Marriott Hotel. We’d been assured that the building was “earthquake proof” and had only suffered “minor damage.”

And that’s just what the Bamyan Hotel staff had said to journalists after Turkey’s initial Oct. 23 quake that toppled at least 2,000 buildings and killed some 600 people.

“There’s no structural damage here,” one Turkish journalist said he had been told.

It sounded so familiar.

Ali Ihsan Ozturk / Andolu Agency via EPA

Rescue workers try to salvage people from a collapsed building after an earthquake in Van, eastern of Turkey, on Thursday. Click on the photo to see a complete slideshow.

Minutes into our first meeting to talk about the next day’s coverage, the floor started to shake. We all fell silent. Looking up, a hanging lamp banged against the ceiling as it swayed in 180-degree arcs. Someone said, “Uh oh.” Someone else stifled a scream. Then we felt the whole building begin to sway. It didn’t feel like it would stop. I didn’t believe it would stop. It was like a huge rollercoaster you have lost trust in. We were going to die. 

But it did stop – and then began to sway backwards. More screams. And then sounds I can still hear – tons of screeching metal. And then more screams.

I ran – we ran – down what seemed like endless flights of stairs, yelling as much to myself as to the others, “Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic!!”

Amazingly, we got to what we thought was the ground floor and burst through the door. But it wasn’t the ground floor – we had rushed out onto the second-floor mezzanine garden. It was nighttime, but, silhouetted against the sky, I could see the outline of the hotel tower as it continued swaying.

More screeching metal. And then the realization came that we had to go back into the hotel, find the stairs in the dark, and get out to the street.

Which, with our hearts in our mouths, we did.

The Marriott survived that 7.8 aftershock. The staff who had said it was safe were – just barely – correct.
But none of us that September night dared go back into the building to grab any personal belongings.

This was years before it became standard for news teams to travel with tents, flashlights, water bottles and ponchos when covering an earthquake story – especially in a large metropolis like Mexico City. We were hardly prepared at all.

Hours later, and still very shaken, we checked into the Camino Real. It had one major thing going for it – it was only two or three stories tall.

Looking at the images of devastation in Van, it was obvious that the standards used in building the Mexico City Marriott were not applied. The Bamyan didn’t stand a chance against the 5.7 aftershock. Turkish government officials have complained for years about the rickety state of Turkey’s hotels and other buildings. But builders still cut corners. Some reporters staying at the Bamyan said they’d seen “small cracks” after October’s massive quake.

“I could easily put my hand through the cracks in the walls,” laughed NBC News cameraman Dave Moodie in the typical gallows style of a hardened journalist. Moodie had stayed at the Bamyan for a week while covering the worst-hit town, Ercis.

It is, of course, no laughing matter. He was shocked to see the hotel on TV this morning, flattened like a pancake.

And I will never forget those minutes in that Mexico Marriott – to this day I HATE to stay in any hotel room above the second floor.

Jim Maceda is an NBC News correspondent based in London. 

By Tazeen Ahmad, NBC News correspondent  

NBC News correspondent Tazeen Ahmad is also a reporter for Dispatches, an award-winning investigative news program on Britain’s Channel 4.  She wrote the following piece for msnbc.com after she and a team of journalists spent a year researching and producing “Britain’s Sex Gangs,” a program broadcast in the U.K.  
 
LONDON - Abby sat in the back of the car twisting her fingers nervously. She pushed her bangs out of her eyes but her hands quickly returned to her lap, clasped tightly together. Her chipped pink nail polish served as a reminder that these are the hands of a schoolgirl – a schoolgirl living a nightmare.

For the last two years, Abby had been repeatedly raped by men far older than she is. She was 13 years old the first time it happened.    

“It went on from 7 o'clock, when it started getting dark, to roughly 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning,” she said.

Abby smiled, but the smile never reached her pretty hazel eyes. On this drizzly Friday afternoon, she showed us the places in the northern English city of Leeds her rapists had taken her: fast-food restaurants, hotels, alleyways.

We pulled up outside a children’s playground. Abby was brought here by someone she thought was her friend and then was raped by 20 different men. It was the same park she played in with her sisters. She said being here again made her feel sick.

Abby isn’t alone. The British government estimates that as many as 10,000 children in the U.K. may be victims of sexual exploitation by gangs, and fears the number could be much higher.

'Gang-grooming'
The crime has been dubbed “on-street grooming” or “gang-grooming” and refers to actions taken by men to befriend young girls, sometimes as young as 11, using a combination of charm, coercion and blackmail to gain their trust and lower their inhibitions before they sexually exploit them. After the target is “groomed,” the girls are passed on to other men to be raped and gang-raped.

Over the past four years, 14 gang-grooming cases have come to court across the country and 46 men have been convicted.

The problem is feared to be so widespread that Sue Berelowitz, Britain’s Deputy Children’s Commissioner, announced the start of a two-year inquiry into the problem in October of this year.

The newly formed Child Sexual Exploitation – Gangs and Groups Inquiry will investigate the scope and scale of the issue so that police and local law enforcement have accurate data – beyond just anecdotal evidence – to help protect future victims.

One aspect of the issue that has gotten a lot of media attention in the U.K. is the race of the victims and perpetrators. There have been high-profile arrests of men of Pakistani descent who abused white girls.

But Berelowitz emphasized that unfortunately this is a widespread problem. "It would also be wrong for anyone to conclude or assert that this is an issue for one particular ethnic community," Berelowitz told the BBC.

Lord Nazir Ahmed, a leading politician of Pakistani descent, and many other members of the British-Pakistani community, have condemned the crimes and emphasized that an entire ethnic group should not be criticized for the actions of a few.  “We have to find a way where we don’t associate the entire [Pakistani] community [with this], we have to put it into context,” Ahmed said.

Tazeen Ahmad talks to Shakeel Aziz, right, a youth worker in the north of England who uses religion to deter men from getting involved with gangs that groom young girls for sex.

Vicious pattern
On-street grooming follows a pattern. Girls aged between 11 and 14 are most vulnerable and are often targeted by someone close to their own age, sometimes a younger brother or friend of the older men.

The location is usually innocuous – school gates, shopping centers, arcades. It can start with a car pulling up, young guys with charm and good looks engaging a girl in banter. Then cell phone numbers are exchanged and a friendship begins.

The men then work for several months to make the girls believe the friendship is genuine, the relationship meaningful.

“They are investing time and money in girls they target,” said Cat Tatman from Crop, a charity that supports the parents of sexually exploited children.

Once the girls have been won over the exploitation can really begin, she said.

The venues for the next stage vary. Sometimes the girls and their new acquaintances meet in parks and parking lots, often in cheap apartments and hotels – places known in gang circles as “party houses” where the girls are invited to come to “chill."

“It seems like a fun place to go,” Tatman said. “But there is very little of a party going on; often you are the only girl and it’s all men there.”

“Basically, you are the party,” she said.

Chloe, another former victim, met her attackers when she was just 12.  The boys she befriended first were just a couple of years older.

Over several months she was introduced to an ever-growing group of men in northern England, many of them older.  As a young schoolgirl she enjoyed hanging around cool, older guys with cars and fun places to go, and accepted the gifts of alcohol and cigarettes they offered her.

After a year, one of the men turned on her. 

“He got me on the floor and was ripping my clothes off.  There was a man holding my feet, a man holding my arms and trying to put his penis in my mouth,” Chloe said.  “He was on top of me raping me and other men were stood watching and laughing.”

This was the first of many such horrific incidents for Chloe. Over the coming months she was raped and sexually assaulted by groups of men almost daily after school in parks, cars, apartments and public alleyways. When she refused to go and meet them, they threatened to gang-rape her mother. On one occasion when Chloe decided not to comply, she said her attackers raped her anally to teach her a lesson.

Men talk to Tazeen Ahmad about what motivates men who groom young girls.

Scared silent
I wondered why Chloe and other victims don’t go straight to the police. Tatman from Crop explained that the perpetrators traumatize and terrify their victims and are thus able to manipulate them.

“If you’re a child exploited for two years, you believe they are like gods, you believe that the police can’t stop them, you believe that no one can,” she says.

And where are the victims’ parents in all this? 

Keith and Teresa are a professional working couple. Their daughter was sexually exploited for two years from the age of 12. They seem smart and worldly-wise, concerned and devoted. They tell me these qualities were useless when faced with a powerful and sophisticated grooming process.

“They turned her against us, painting us as horrible people who didn’t understand her, whose life’s mission was to prevent her from having fun,” Teresa said. The men coached their daughter to lie effectively and hide the horror of her secret life for many months.

Even though their daughter escaped and is now recovering, Keith and Teresa are still under terrible strain.

Why do they do it?

In the course of our investigation, we found two young men in the city of Sheffield, in central England, who claimed to know gangs that groomed girls.

The men, in their late teens, sipped soft drinks as they explained in blunt terms what motivated the men they knew. I had narrowed it down to three things – kudos from their peers, easy sex and money.

They responded that money was the key ingredient for the men they knew, as many of the girls were being pimped, or sold, to others in the circle.

“A girl could have sex for 30 pounds ($48),” one told me. “Then there’s another one that could go for 10 pounds ($16).”

Seems like an awfully small sum for such a horrific deed.

The British government’s new study hopes to delve deeper into why these men could commit such depravity and how to prevent it in the future. Their initial findings are expected to be published next summer, with a final report by September 2013. 

Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi leave Ciampino Airport in Rome in this June 10, 2009 file photograph.

By Claudio Lavanga, NBC News Producer

ROME – “Sic transit gloria mundi” is a Latin phrase that means "Thus passes the glory of the world.”
 
It is the phrase Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi used to describe the death of Col. Moammar Gadhafi, the late Libyan leader who once was a personal friend and political ally.  
 
Ironically, Italians are now using this Latinism on social networks like Twitter and Facebook to wave Berlusconi goodbye a day after he announced he will resign once both houses of parliament approve financial reforms.
 
It is a final epitaph for a prime minister whose government has been dead in the water for months. 
 
Italians woke up on Wednesday morning to the real prospect that, after 17 years, the curtain may finally go down on Berlusconi’s political roadshow. And they had plenty of opinions on his allegedly imminent exit. 

“The champagne is in the fridge, but we'll wait for the day he goes for real before we open it,” Torchia added.
 
She, as others, suspected the prime minister, who has broken his promises in the past, is just buying time to pave the way for the future of his party and will go on his own terms.

"I don't believe he will leave. He is too attached to his throne. I'll believe it when I see it,” said
Cristian Maceri, another Roman.

Tana de Zulueta, a journalist and a former member of the Italian parliament, was also extremely doubtful that Berlusconi was truly motivated to do what was best for the country.

“He is just buying time in the relentless drive to take care of his businesses before he goes. He wants to stuff the reforms with laws that would help his companies and himself and make sure that one of his men becomes prime minister next,” said Zulueta. “The markets have seen this clearly, they don't believe he's going to go anytime soon."

The world markets did tumble in early trading on Wednesday amid fears that Italy’s debt woes could push Europe’s third largest economy to the brink. 
 
Others didn’t waste time to post sarcastic depictions of the prime minister online, such as the poster of “Dimission Impossible,” in which Berlusconi’s face is placed over Tom Cruise’s in a classic Mission Impossible movie pose.
 
Even Berlusconi would find this funny and appropriate, because there is no doubt that his was an action-packed political career, and he has always liked to be seen as some sort of hero that would carry Italy into the next century.  
 
Instead, Italy is quickly heading back to the dark ages of economic instability, and his star power is fading quicker than Arnold Schwarzenegger when it became clear that he was better at fighting indestructible robots than California’s economic downfalls.

Time up
“The show is over,” a receptionist at the Albergo Nazionale Hotel next to the Lower House of Parliament said on Wednesday. And his might be much more than a metaphor.
 
Berlusconi has been without a doubt the ultimate showman of Italian politics. He managed to use his flamboyant personality to convince millions of Italians that he was one of them: A self-made man with no shame to admit a taste for beautiful women, funny jokes and a disregard for the law.  
 
Among the many nicknames he was given, one was “The Great Communicator,” and for a good reason. He managed to turn from a rich businessman into prime minister in a matter of months, by using his private television network and editorial empire to promote his candidacy and his political ideas.
 
Looking back at one of his first political TV ads back in 1994 one can see why Italians were taken by him. He was the image of a polished politician – complete with a reassuring aura created by professional lighting technicians and a white smile that could have been used for a toothpaste advertisement – he looked straight at them, in the comfort of their own houses.

Compared to the boring, dusty image of “same old, same old” politicians, his image at the time was an instant winner. That kept him in power for 17 long years.
 
Berlusconi’s remarkable story is now in the closing credits. But they will last at least a few days if not weeks because just like every other silver screen hero, Berlusconi won’t go down without one last fight.

EN ROUTE BACK TO BEIJING -- We like to lament the state of Chinese television.  It's pretty awful.

But then there's Hunan TV.  With its hit reality TV shows, it's possibly the nation's most popular broadcaster and reaches millions of viewers.

And just based on this one video, one can see why.

A bunch of Chinese senior citizens doing a cover of "Bad Romance."  Yes, the one by Lady Gaga.

Some things need no words.

K.M. Chaudary / AP

A Pakistani vendor looks at his decorated camels while he waits for customers at a livestock market set up for the Eid-al-Adha festival in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday.

By Amna Nawaz, NBC News Correspondent

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan –  Last week, a flyer was slipped under my door.

Advertising “Eid Services,” it offered “joint sacrifices” available during the upcoming Eid al-Adha celebration, and encouraged people to organize their neighbors and family into groups to purchase animals together for sacrifice.

It was new to me, but a reflection of the economic hardship facing Pakistan today. 

I spent my summers growing up in Pakistan. When our family visit coincided with one of the two Eid holidays each year, we observed the occasion in the same way millions of Muslims do across the world – by buying and having an animal sacrificed. 

My grandmother would have a goat brought to the house and tied up in the yard, and my sisters and I would marvel at the new “pet.” We would name it, feed it, and even take pictures with it. And then, sometime before dinner, we would be called back into the house and the goat would mysteriously disappear. We would go on to learn later in life that our Eid meals came courtesy of that goat, and that a certain portion every year was also donated to the needy, as is custom.

The practice of animal sacrifice, of course, is derived from the story of Abraham (Ibrahim, in Islam) and his willingness to sacrifice his son as a sign of obedience to God.  And though it’s not a requirement in Islam, those who can afford to purchase an animal for sacrifice – a goat, sheep, cow, or camel – are encouraged to do so.

But this year in Pakistan, that practice has been become more difficult for many to observe.

Major inflation
Inflation here currently sits at 11.5 percent. The price of transportation and goods has risen dramatically in the last few years, and so has the price of animals – nearly double in parts of the country, according to some reports.

Vendors in an animal market on the outskirts of Islamabad told us a goat they could sell last year for 6,000 rupees ($70), they now must sell for 12,000 ($140) to make a profit. And that’s the low end of the scale. Larger goats this year sell for anywhere from 20,000 to 25,000 rupees ($230 to $290). The starting price for cows in this market is 100,000 rupees (over $1,100).

That flyer slipped under my door is a sign of the times here in Pakistan. To balance their financial burdens with their religious duties, more and more families are now engaging in the newly-developed market and increasingly popular practice of cost-sharing their sacrificial animals.

Religious organizations, NGOs, local religious leaders, and enterprising teams like the one distributing flyers in my neighborhood are offering packages in which people book in advance a certain percentage of an animal. The middlemen are then responsible for selecting the animal, buying the animal, butchering the animal, and distributing the meat to the purchaser and the needy.

Fareed Khan / AP

A man walks home with his son after offering the Eid-al-Adha prayers in Karachi, Pakistan on Monday.

One such operation we visited in Islamabad had dozens of people filing in and out all day to pick up their pre-paid meat all of which was blessed and sacrificed in strict adherence to Islamic tradition by a team of butchers on site. The local religious leader in charge said he had 28 cows and over a dozen goats to get through that day. 

For Pakistanis already struggling to afford everyday items like food and gas, in a country currently ranked fourth from the bottom in a recent prosperity study by a London-based research group, celebrating this Eid holiday has been difficult.

One father at the animal market, who brought his 10 and 8-year-old sons for the first time to help him select their purchase, shrugged his shoulders when I asked if he could afford to spend the 8,000 rupees ($93) he had allocated for this Eid, nearly double from last year.

“I spent money coming here,” he said. “I will spend money getting home. I will spend money on food. I will spend money on new clothes for my children. And I have to spend money on this. What can I do? It is Eid. It is my duty.”

Andy Eckardt/ NBC News

Restaurant worker Christos Mentissidis discusses the Greek economic crisis in Athens.

by Andy Eckardt, NBC News Producer 

ATHENS – Greece’s recent financial and political crisis has led to tension between once friendly European neighbors.

Many Greeks blame the German government, as the major economic force of the European Union, for the radical austerity measures that threaten to cause a decade of misery for many Greeks.

The tone hasn’t been helped by some graphic depictions – such as a poster seen around Athens depicting Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in a full Nazi outfit.

"Almost every German tourist who visits our restaurant these days asks me whether the Greeks hate Germany," Christos Mentissidis said Sunday as he set up tables and cleaned the floors at the Greek Taverna, a tourist-frequented restaurant in the heart of Athens.
"I immediately tell them that only a minority complain about Germany and other rich EU countries. But, it hurts to see what kind of image is painted of Greece in this crisis, here and abroad."

For Mentissidis, 50, the differences are personal – he spent nearly 20 years living in Germany, where he worked as a taxi driver, at a security company, at Lufthansa Cargo and in several jobs in Greek and German restaurants. Perhaps more significantly, he has a son who was born and raised in Germany and still lives there.

"Both countries are home for me," Mentissidis said. "But the love for the country where I was born was a little stronger in the end.”

He returned to Athens in 2006, but said he was immediately disillusioned by the corruption and byzantine bureaucracy of his homeland – and now is even contemplating going back to Germany. 

"Corruption, tax evasion and the whole pension plan structure are just some of the burdening problems here. Nothing is secure in Greece."

The recent upheaval has also had a direct effect on Mentissidis’ bottom line because his job is at a restaurant that appeals to tourists.

"This year started great for us,” he said. “In May, tourism really picked up and we were quite busy, with lots of foreigners visiting our restaurant. But then the first violent demonstrations happened and pictures of burning cars and masked protesters … were sent around the world and suddenly, we saw a decline in business of more than 40 percent.”

However, that doesn’t mean Germans have stopped going to Greece – it remains a popular beach destination and statics show there was actually a 6.5 percent rise in Greek tourism this past summer – supported by a jump in the number of German visitors especially to the Greek islands.

Mentissidis is not alone. As private businesses suffer, tax revenues shrink, meaning the Greek government cannot pay salaries and pensions to more than 2.5 million people.

Andy Eckardt, NBC News

An English-language newspaper seen in Athens on Sunday blares the headline:

"Economically, it was a great mistake to come back to Greece and I am very worried about the future," he said.

Bluer skies
It’s a different story for his 26-year-old son, Themistoklis, back in Germany. 

"When my father returned to Greece, I strongly considered going with him, but I am so happy now that I stayed here. There is no future for young people in Greece," said Themistoklis, 26, during a recent interview in Ruesselsheim, a town close to Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital. 

While Greece's unemployment rate currently hovers above 16 percent, with the jobless rate among 15-24 year olds soaring to 42 percent, Themistoklis has a job as a machine operator at a big pharmaceutical company in Frankfurt.

There are, however, constant reminders of the plight of his ancestral country.

"Every time people in Germany hear that I am Greek, there is no other topic than the [economic] crisis and I often have to justify things when I hear negative remarks about my country," he said.

The young man and his Greek girlfriend say that the "unnecessary tensions" are often caused by adverse depictions in the German media and, on the Greek side, by references to the 1941-45 Nazi occupation of Greece.

The situation was not helped when Greek Prime Minister Papandreou announced last week that he planned to hold a referendum on the European bailout measures (a decision that was later reversed).  

"Take the euro away from the Greeks!" was a headline on Germany's mass-circulation tabloid BILD after Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy raised the prospect of Greece’s exit from the Eurozone for the first time.

"We've had enough!" BILD wrote in the article, signaling growing exasperation in Europe's largest economy. "We're spending hundreds of billions of euros to save the Greeks and now a referendum there should make clear whether they want to make savings at all. Now we want our own referendum: No more billions for the Greeks, Greece out of the euro!" the article wrote.

But that would be a worst-case scenario as far as Christos is concerned.

"Despite all the criticism I am still very proud to be Greek, but the last thing we want is a return to our old drachma currency," said Christos.

But he’s not dismissing a return to his old stomping ground. "With all the chaos here, I am strongly thinking about going back to Germany, where I would rather take up a low-paid taxi driver job than approach retirement age in a country that lacks a real system.”

NBC News’ Andy Eckardt is based in Mainz, Germany, but is currently on assignment in Greece.

Giorgio Cosulich / Getty Images Contributor

A demonstrator holds a banner which depicts Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with the slogan 'Throw the shoe to Silvio' during an 'Occupy' protest on Oct.15, 2011 in Rome, Italy.

By NBC News’ Claudio Lavanga

ROME – Just as the ancient Roman senators turned against the Emperor Caesar on the eve of his assassination in 44 B.C., Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi seems to be heading for a similar, yet bloodless, backstabbing in his own government that could lead to a swift downfall of his political empire.

Under pressure from European leaders tired of hearing empty promises, thousands of Italians protesting (sometimes violently) against his austerity measures, a fierce political opposition looking for a chance to make a fatal blow and the voiced concerns of Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano over his ability to pass reforms, an embattled Berlusconi is quickly being abandoned by his allies.

On Thursday, two members of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party left his ranks to join the opposition. Four more asked him to resign for the sake of Italy’s future, after he has appeared incapable of introducing reforms aimed at calming market speculation, reducing the budget deficit, kick-starting growth and fixing Italy’s enormous sovereign debt.

With a razor-thin majority in the lower house of parliament, every parliamentarian’s vote counts.

Six of them could mean survival or defeat for Berlusconi.

Given Berlusconi’s political survival skills, it’s impossible to predict what might happen.

"You would need a crystal ball to figure out what's coming next,” said Giovanni Orsina, a political analyst and professor of European studies at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, during a phone interview with NBC on Friday. “But the impression is talking about Berlusconi is like talking about a terminally ill patient. You don't know how long he's got: One day, one week, even one month maybe.”

Orsina pointed out the Berlusconi is so unpopular now, he can’t rely on his old supporters. “One thing seems to be certain: Every time parliament will be called to vote, could be the last day for Berlusconi as prime minister. Because his majority is so reduced, now he has no guarantees."

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addresses a news conference with Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti at the G-20 Summit in Cannes on Friday.

More of the usual political merry-go-round?
And yet this could just be the latest round of blackmailing that opposition leaders like Antonio Di Pietro, founder of the Italy of Values party, say has become a regular part of daily Italian politics. He and other members of the opposition accuse Berlusconi of repaying the support of disgruntled members of his governing coalition with promotions, funds and favors.

“The selling, buying and blackmailing of politicians is part of a criminal plan that Berlusconi is using to preserve the majority in parliament,” Di Pietro said in October. “It’s like being in a pigsty, where parliamentarians don’t answer to the electorate anymore, and instead they sell their vote to the highest bidder.”

But it’s impossible to know whether the “rebels” among Berlusconi’s allies are trying to save Italy or themselves. When approached by a journalist on Thursday evening, one of the four remaining would-be defectors, Giorgio Straquadanio, threatened him verbally and later smashed the cameraman’s spotlight on the pavement.

The doling out of political favors by the government is one of the many problems that have prevented Italy’s lower house of parliament from reaching the standards of stability, seriousness and political honesty seen elsewhere in Europe.

Italy’s democracy is relatively new. Since it became a parliamentarian republic in 1946, Italy’s political system has been a merry-go-round of politicians who have gravitated in and around parliament, swapping seats but never leaving the carousel. This has created a stagnant political culture in which elected parliamentarians stop answering to the electorate the moment they step into one of the two houses of parliament, where they often use their voting power as a token that can be traded to buy their way into privileges and more power.

The fragmented party system hasn’t helped create order either. Small parties are born almost  daily, usually founded by spin-off politicians who want to grab a piece of the political limelight, only to be engulfed by one of the two ruling coalitions, the center-left and the center-right.

Although the political scene is dominated by the center-right People of Freedom Party and the center-left Democratic Party, the Italian parliament is a galaxy of raising and falling political stars that threaten the equilibrium of the whole political system.   

Marco Secchi / Getty Images Contributor

Protesters pass near the Colosseum during an 'Occupy' protest on Oct.15, 2011 in Rome, Italy. Protesters set fire to a government building, torched cars and smashed bank windows in Rome in the worst violence of the worldwide demonstrations against financial mismanagement and government cutbacks.

The latest political stars, the four members of the coalition who have threatened to defect, could well lead Berlusconi into a black hole he will never be able to re-emerge from.

Just one vote could spell the end
At the last vote of confidence, one of many the prime minister has had to endure since he was re-elected in 2008, he won with 316 votes. That’s the exact number he needs to hold an absolute majority in Parliament, meaning that even one vote, one single backstabber, one disgruntled sniper, could bring him down the next time he is called to convince the parliament, as well as millions of Italians and worried European leaders, that he still has the numbers to get his tough austerity measures approved.

That day will come soon. He has already announced that he will ask for yet another vote of confidence sometimes in the middle of November.

Even for a master businessman and negotiator like Berlusconi, there might be not enough time to strike deals with the defecting ranks among his coalition partners.

Knives are already out. The die might be cast already. 

By Ian Williams, NBC News Correspondent

PHNOM TAMAO, Cambodia – "I really thought he would never make it," said Nick Marx, stroking Chhouk's trunk with a sense of pride and affection.

"He was seriously injured. He was extremely young, emaciated and very, very sick."

Chhouk, a bull elephant now 5 years old, was found in the Cambodian jungle in 2007, alone and close to death, his left front foot mangled by a poacher's trap.

Marx, the Director of Wildlife Rescue and Care at the Wildlife Alliance, a conservation group, was one of the first to the scene, nursing Chhouk in the jungle for a week.

"I stayed with him, slept beside him, hand-fed him everything he ate.”

Chhouk was taken to the Cambodian government's Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center, outside Phnom Penh, and nursed back to health.

"The damage was severe," Marx says. "He's lost six to eight inches of his leg."

A baby elephant gets a new leg: Conservationists didn't think that Chhouk would survive after having a foot ripped apart by a trap in Cambodia, but thanks to a prosthetic limb, the pachyderm is thriving.

Marx turned to experts at the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics, who'd learned their skills during the terrible conflicts (and landmine legacy) that once afflicted this part of Asia. They'd never tried anything on this scale before.

"It's a kind of plastic resin. The inside is quite soft, and the outside is very hard," Marx told me, as Chhouk's keepers removed the artificial foot for its daily cleaning, a procedure that the young elephant has now gotten used to, lifting his leg into a small
compartment for the keepers to work on.

Though now his keepers have to exercise more care. Chhouk's entering the equivalent of jumbo adolescence. He's getting a bit of attitude. "We've certainly got to be more cautious," said Marx, who can read the elephant's mood better than anybody.

Then he was into the forest with Lucky, an older elephant that seems to have adopted the youngster. On the narrow path, then playing in a small lake, he seemed comfortable and confident.

"It's changed his life," says Marx. "From being a tired little chap who slept a lot when he went on his walks, he's now lively and energetic. He never stops.”

He's now on his fourth prosthetic leg, because of heavy wear, but also because Chhouk is growing up fast.

He's become the best known resident – and a symbol of resilience – at Phnom Tamao, which is maintained by the Wildlife Alliance and supported by the Sea World and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund. The rescue center now houses more than 1,000 animals, ranging from elephants to tigers, gibbons, bears and birds, many of which, like Chhouk, arrived close to death.

"We've rescued so many animals from the illegal wildlife trade – an incredibly cruel business. All of them would be dead without us," says Marx.

Ian Williams/ NBC News

The elephant Chhouk lefts his prosthetic
leg at the conservation camp in Cambodia.

Where possible, animals once healthy are returned to the wild.

When we think about organized crime, the first thing that comes to mind tends to be drugs, or perhaps arms smuggling or human trafficking. Yet the illegal wildlife trade is thought to be the biggest illicit global business after drugs. It’s estimated to be worth between $5 billion and $20 billion annually.

"It's decimating the world's forests," says Marx.                        

Asia has become a center for the trade. China is the biggest market for endangered and protected animals, destined for the cooking pot or for folk medicine. The United States is reckoned to be the second largest market, though the demand there is largely for exotic pets.

There are thought to be 300 to 500 elephants left in the wild in Cambodia, threatened by poaching and a loss of habitat. Youngsters like Chhouk are prized by entertainment venues which often keep them in appalling conditions.

Chhouk will never be able to return to the wild, but can at least now live a reasonably full life in the rescue center, where his story serves as inspiration, but also a warning – raising awareness of the terrible threats to the region's wildlife.

Related links:
www.wildlifealliance.org

www.swbg-conservationfund.org 

Eric Gaillard / Reuters

French police patrol in the bay of Cannes ahead of the start of the G-20 summit on Wednesday.

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Correspondent

CANNES, France – When a colleague heard that the G-20 economic summit was going to be held in Cannes, his reaction was not unlike that of many others I know: “Are they that tone-deaf?”

Cannes, after all, with its tony hotels, celebrity-studded film festival, and a beach filled with a bevy of beauties, conjures up both New and Old World high society and glamour.  The image of government leaders – even with sleeves rolled up – working to fix the world economic crisis in a place synonymous with wealth and luxury suggests that heads of state are far more out of touch with the on-the-ground realities of everyday folk.

But after conversations with members of the local community, Cannes isn’t quite what it seems. Or what it might have seemed once long ago.

"We're all suffering economically," said Yvette Leibovici, a local resident. "We're affected just like everybody else."

Leibovici once ran her own property business with seven to eight employees.  She had to let go of her staff and is now just an employee herself at a real estate agency that specializes in short-term rentals. 

She and a colleague said tourism – one of two industries that underpin the Cannes economy – had definitely slowed during the past season and there had been fewer holiday-goers in town.

The most recent tourism data available shows that in 2009 the city of Cannes welcomed 1.8 million visitors. While more recent tourism statistics for Cannes were not readily available (despite a visit to the Tourism office at the G-20 Media Center), statistics for the larger region indicate that growth has been slow.  Hotel bookings for the greater region of the south of France, which includes the French Riviera, saw only a 0.1 per cent increase in August (peak holiday season) this year compared to August 2010.

Vincent Kessler / Reuters

An anti-G20 demonstrator wearing a mask portraying France's President Nicolas Sarkozy takes part in a protest against globalization on a beach in Nice, southeastern France, near Cannes, on Wednesday.

Losses in revenue have been offset, however, by the other critical industry: a reasonably healthy stream of large-scale conferences, including the G-20.  Just Wednesday morning, in fact, Leibovici said she had fielded calls from three different clients about renting properties.

But as with many small European cities, Cannes and its 70,000 people are caught in the middle of changing economic tides.

Leibovici, whose family dates back six generations in Cannes, said life had become harder for residents in the face of growing costs – in particular, real estate prices that are being driven sky-high by buyers and investors coming in from overseas.

Young French people especially are hard hit, continued Leibovici, in part because they can’t afford to buy their own homes and also because there are no long-term job prospects.  "The young don't want to stay here, and they don't want to come here.”

The city instead attracts the old, she said, likening it to a retirement destination.

“The prestige of Cannes has diminished,” continued Leibovici.

No downturn for the wealthy
Diminished, of course, is a relative term.

"It's been a very good year," said Sander Smids, a florist who moved to Cannes from the Netherlands 25 years ago. "Most of my clients are very well-off," he said, showing us an order for 2,000 euros ($2,760) worth of roses that had just been ordered by a customer who hails from the Middle East.

Michel Euler / AP

A view of the Croisette, with the Palais des Festivals at center in Cannes, France where the G-20 summit is taking place.

Some of his clients are hotels, said Smids, but most are private individuals, often Russian or Middle Eastern.  And they make up the “international” money that keeps afloat businesses catering to the high-end market.

Smids’ overflowing shop is in the center of Cannes, but he said owners of neighboring small retailers had complained that it was getting harder to stay in business just serving the local community.

On Wednesday, a day ahead of the G-20 summit talks, the street housing the florist was eerily lifeless since the French authorities had sealed off the neighborhood for security reasons. Only a handful of businesses were open, including the florist, perhaps optimistic that that G-20 delegates and journalists would make up for the dearth of foot traffic.

Nevertheless, Smids said, "The G-20 is good.”

"I may be losing a week's business," he continued. "But maybe this [coverage of the G-20 in the press] will bring back the name of Cannes."

And just in case anyone doubted the local spirit, cafe owner Sophie Espereno shrugged off the suggestion her hometown had lost any of its luster.

"Cannes will always be Cannes," she said.

With additional reporting by NBC News’ Nancy Ing.