There is international condemnation against the Syrian government this morning as it carries out an attack against the city of Hama, the symbolic center of the anti-government opposition. The United Nations Security Council, which includes Syrian allies like Russia, issued its first condemnation of the violence. Critics say the statement opens the door to a possible Libya-style intervention. The BBC's Jim Muir reports from Beirut, Lebannon. He says almost no information has come out of Hama this morning.

The humanitarian situation in Syria is deteriorating as the government continues to crackdown on protesters. Dera'a has been cutoff by troops and tanks for more than two weeks, with dozens killed and hundreds arrested, according to BBC correspondent, Jim Muir. He says that the government says the situation in that city is back to normal; however, it still has not allowed U.N. relief missions into the country. Diplomats at the United Nations say international pressure has caused Syria to drop its plans to run for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

There has been continued fighting in Damascus, Syria and tanks and soldiers have been deployed. Security forces have also continued efforts to crush anti-government protests in the central city of Homs, Deraa and the coastal town of Baniyas. Foreign journalists are not allowed to enter Syria, but witnesses report on terrible violence. The BBC's Jim Muir is in Beirut monitoring the events in Syria. "What's escalating is the ferocity of the government's crackdown," says Muir, but there's no sign of them stopping.

Monday saw 14,000 refugees cross the border from Libya into Tunisia and refugees are still streaming into the country. Local officials are overwhelmed by the sheer number of people arriving across the border, where just having enough supplies is a challenge.

Protesters have vowed to take to the streets of Tripoli, despite threats of a violent crackdown by pro-government mercenaries. Security forces are reportedly surrounding mosques throughout Tripoli and tanks and checkpoints line the roads. The BBC's Jim Muir is on the Libyan border. He says it's challenging to know exactly what is going on in the capital, but witnesses have told him that there have been gun shots in Tripoli.

This is the seventh edition of Wave of Change, a special podcast from The Takeaway, covering the mass protests in Egypt and the consequences for the wider Arab world, hosted by John Hockenberry with Celeste Headlee.

In this episode, we get the latest from Cairo, where anti-government protesters have been buoyed; a "face in the crowd" interview with protester Ahmed el Gaddar, who, at 30 years old, has lived his entire life under the Mubarak regime; Tarik Yousef, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of "Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East," on the disconnect between Egyptian youth and their leaders; and, in an excerpt from this morning's Takeaway, former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim on what lessons Southeast Asia's Muslim democracies can offer Egypt.

The BBC's Jim Muir is in Cairo with the latest from the protests. He says the mood in Tahrir Square has improved since violence has susbsided. Journalists have been attacked and detained, but the situation is less tense on today's "day of departure."

Militants believed to be associated with the Islamic State of Iraq, a fundamentalist group associated with Al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, attacked the Iraqi stock exchange yesterday then fled to a nearby church where they took nearly 100 hostages in what would become one of the worst bloodbaths in recent history. At least 52 hostages and Iraqi policemen were killed, many of whom died when a militant blew himself up. Five militants were also slain, and fifty people were wounded.

An Iraqi court has sentenced Tareq Aziz, the diplomatic face of Saddam Hussein's Baathist government, to death. The former deputy prime minister and foreign minister was convicted of persecution against members of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's religious Shiite Dawa Party during Saddam's regime. Aziz was already serving prison sentences for crimes against humanity and the forced displacement of Kurds in northern Iraq. Jim Muir, the BBC's Baghdad correspondent, reports live from Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in Iran today as he struggles to keep his job after the dead-locked March election. The BBC's Baghdad correspondent, Jim Muir, analyzes what this visit by Iraq's head of state to a traditional rival means at this time of uncertainty.

Today in Iraq 325 members of the new Iraqi parliament are sworn in. But more than three months after elections that established no clear party of power, the governmental body has yet to elect a speaker, and though they've been sworn in, the members have yet to institute the new government fully into power. Is this a sign of political stability or instability? We speak with the BBC's Baghdad correspondent Jim Muir, who gives us a closer look at the proceedings.  

On Monday, Vice President Joseph Biden disclosed that a joint mission between Iraqi and U.S. military forces resulted in the death of two top al-Qaida officials outside of Tikrit. 

A non-profit website called WikiLeaks has released footage of an incident in Iraq from July, 2007 that shows the death of two employees of Reuters News Agency at the hands of American troops. 

The BBC's Jim Muir reports from Baghdad and tells us what Iraqi's think of the WikiLeaks video; this morning's headlines.

The votes are still being counted this morning after Iraq's national election yesterday, and results aren't expected until later this week. One of the key areas of voting in the country was the oil rich northern region of Kurdistan. Thanks to the area's oil reserves, the Kurds have exercised a significant amount of influence and power in Iraq's politics in recent years, often acting as a cohesive block. We're joined by Jim Muir, a BBC correspondent in Baghdad, who tells us more about the general election and the unique role Kurds are playing.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Malaki claims that 90 percent of the terrorists in his country enter through neighboring Syria. BBC Baghdad correspondent Jim Muir just spent five days embedded with U.S. troops along the Iraq/Syria border without seeing evidence to back up the P.M.'s claim.

In a move to show that Washington is normalizing its relationship with Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is coming to the White House today. The two leaders have plenty to talk about: Iraq's security, continuing ethnic tensions and, of course, oil. Al-Maliki's trip comes just three weeks after the U. S. military withdrew from Iraqi cities after years of occupation. Violence has been increasing across Iraq. The Takeaway talks to Jim Muir, the BBC's Baghdad correspondent, and Alyssa Rubin, the former New York Times Baghdad bureau chief who has just left Iraq.

Yesterday a roadside bomb killed an American serviceman north of Baghdad. And on Friday, five U.S. soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which is the largest number of U.S. troops to die in a single incident in many months. In the midst of the tentative peace that has been become almost normal in Iraq, these bombings are violent reminders that Iraq is still a treacherous place. In the wake of this violent display, is President Obama's timetable for American withdrawal still realistic? Joining The Takeaway is David Phillips, a former member of the State Department’s “Future of Iraq” project and now at the Atlantic Council and Jim Muir from the BBC joins us from Baghdad, Iraq.

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush went to court today. He's charged with assaulting a foreign leader and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years, but he was greeted as a hero by supporters in the courtroom. The trial was almost immediately adjourned until March while the court sought the government's clarification on a point of order. For more on the man whose shoe was heard around the world, the BBC's Jim Muir joins us.

Lebanon's prime minister is condemning rocket attacks on Israel and has called for investigations by both the army and the United Nations. This has not stopped Lebanese guerrillas from firing a second barrage of rockets into northern Israel, striking a nursing home and injuring two people. Israel responded with artillery fire. The attacks threaten to open a northern front in Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. Jim Muir is covering this story from Beirut for our partner, the BBC, and he joins us now live.