Abuja, Nigeria: After months of general unrest following the hospitalization of Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua in a Saudi clinic, members of the Nigerian National Assembly voted this week to promote vice president Goodluck Jonathan to the position of acting president. According to the BBC, the motion to elect Jonathan was seen by top politicians as ‘necessary stance’ for negotiating with militants in the oil-soaked Niger Delta. However, some feel as though Jonathan’s promotion is unconstitutional, given that Yar’Adua never made a written declaration of his resignation, announcing it instead on a personal broadcast for the BBC. Constitutional or not, the Nigerian military stood by Jonathan, making the prospect of a coup unlikely.

Athens, Greece: Civil servants belonging to Greece’s largest union (ADEDY) amassed in the streets of Athens this week, joining in protest against proposed tax increases and wage freezes meant to curb the country’s growing national debt. Causing the euro to dip to its lowest point against the dollar in eight months, the Greek deficit is fast becoming a problem with continental implications. However, unlike other eastern European countries who have relied on the IMF to bail them out in the past, Greece, as a member of the eurozone, will have to rely on the EU for budgetary aid. According to Reuters, Athens will have to borrow up to 53 billion euros this year to keep its socialized wage system afloat.

Houston, Texas: Arson is suspected as the cause behind a series of church burnings over the past five weeks in southeastern Texas, investigators reported to the New York Times. Noting the peculiar coordination of the burnings, with fires starting within minutes of each other in separate communities, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives have concluded that this is the work of multiple arsonists. Targeting multiple denominations, including Baptist, Methodist, and Christian Scientist, the arsonists’ motives remain unclear. “To people here its just an incomprehensible and unconscionable act,” said Mayor Randy Daniels to the NYT. His town, Athens, was among the first to be targeted, losing two Baptist churches in early January.

Caracas, Venezuela: In the midst of its worst drought in a century, the largely hydroelectric dependent Venezuela has announced that it is now facing an “electricity emergency,” the BBC reported. In order to tackle the problem, President Hugo Chavez has signed a decree imposing limits on energy consumption, including discount incentives for those who can decrease their usage. Critics of Chavez blame the emergency his lack of investment in infrastructure. So far, Chavez has sunk $1 billion into solving the problem.