Two Iranian diplomats stationed in Europe defected this past week – Farzad Farhangian in Brussels and Hossein Alizadeh in Finland – in protest to last year’s contested presidential election. Meanwhile, the US has imposed new sanctions on Iran, and Green Movement members have continued to demonstrate against the government. Learn more about these and other issues in this episode of The Week in Green, an ongoing series from Iran comprised largely of footage shot on cell phones and small cameras and smuggled out of the country.

If you were in Iran this past week and wanted to use the internet, most likely you had some problems. In the run-up to al-Quds day, the Iranian government slowed internet speeds, making sights like Yahoo, Facebook and Goggle virtually inaccessible. Learn about this and other issues in the latest episode of The Week in Review, an ongoing series from Iran comprised largely of footage shot on cell phones and small cameras and smuggled out of the country.

From initiating the Bushehr nuclear power plant to unveiling a new surface-to-surface missile, Iran has been defiantly flexing its muscles in the face of international sanctions. Meanwhile, the government has continued cracking down on political dissidents and even introduced tougher laws on advertisements about house pets. Learn more about these and other issues in The Week in Review, an ongoing series about Iran’s Green Movement, comprised largely of footage shot on cell phones and small cameras and smuggled out of the country.

In the past week, there have been signs of rifts among Iran’s ruling elite. In particular, Iran’s Supreme Ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Ayatollah Komeini said Iran will not sit down for talks with the US until sanctions are lifted, directly contradicting President Ahmadinejad. Learn more about this and other Green Movement issues in this episode of “The Week in Green.”

With international sanctions mounting and oil sales falling, Iran plans to switch its reserve currencies from dollars and Euros to the Iranian Rial. Iran’s first vice president said the country would no longer trade oil in these “filthy” currencies. Along with a hunger strike, religious persecution and more evidence about 2009′s rigs presidential election, this episode of “The Week in Green” charts Iran’s political unrest.

Fasting political prisoners, street protests, a ban on music – these are just some of the stories happening in this week in Iran. This episode of “The Week in Green” examines Iran’s political tensions and the Green Movement’s continuing activities.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has seen its share of problems, and they’re not over yet. Despite the presence of the largest UN mission in the world, the shaky Congolese government has been unable to quell the activities of the various paramilitary and militia groups in the countryside. Correspondent Rajneesh Bandari reports from North Kivu Province.

Despite calls from the Obama administration and other members of the international community, Israeli settlers continue to occupy parts of the West Bank, in violation of the Geneva Convention and Israeli law. For the Palestinians, this means continual harassment, pressure, and intimidation as settlers attempt to force them from their homes. And the ongoing power struggle within the Palestinian government isn’t helping things, either.

To the apparent consternation of the Israeli government, the issue of the settlements has been brought front and center, and it’s not something that will be settled soon, nor easily. Episode 4 of “Political Graffiti” examines the problem from the ground level.

We’ve been listening to the candidates tell us what they what they promise to do. At the end of the long campaign season we tracked down someone to tell us what they HAVE to do.

We’ve been listening to the candidates tell us what they what they promise to do.  We tracked down someone to tell us what they HAVE to do.