United States”It is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, would be the right thing to do,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday. Calling for the complete repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that has restricted homosexual men and women from serving openly in the military, Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, according to The New York Times, will spend the next year working with the Pentagon and Congress to enact the change.

Mexico

After the fatal shooting of 16 people at a birthday party in Cuidad Juarez on Sunday, victims’ families are demanding that President Felipe Calderon do more to combat ever-increasing drug violence across Mexico. Although the victims’ families deny their sons’ involvement in the city’s drug network, other sources, including a man suspected of assisting the gunmen as a lookout, suggest the boys were seen as rivals of the powerful Juarez cartel. According to Reuters, violence between competing traffickers has claimed 17,000 lives since 2006. Meanwhile, the Mexican Senate contends that Calderon’s increased military presence throughout the country’s drug epicenters has done little to stop the violence.

Ethiopia

African leaders blocked Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi from pursuing another term as chairman of the African Union in this year’s summit in the Ethiopian capital. Using his farewell address to promote his vision for a “United States of Africa,” Gaddafi ceded his position to Malawi’s leader Bingu wa Mutharika, who was next in line. While the 53-nation committee maintained a need to honor the charter dictating the yearly rotation of the chairmanship, Al-Jazeera reports there was a mood of general apprehension surrounding Gaddafi’s bid for another term. The AU’s main objectives under Mr. Mutharika will be to prevent a divided Sudan, promote children’s health and technological development, and plan the repatriation of Haitian refugees.

Taiwan

Relations between the U.S. and China went from sour to curdled this week when the U.S. approved a $6.4 billion arms sale to China’s former territory Taiwan, the BBC reported. With literally over 1,000 Chinese missiles pointed at strategic locations across the island state, Taiwan has looked to the United States as its biggest ally since the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. According to a U.S. State Department report on Saturday to the BBC, the deal was struck to improve “security and stability” between China and its breakaway territory. Following the disagreement over Google China’s rejection of PRC censorship policies, analysts for Reuters expect the weapons deal to further decrease China’s diplomatic transparency on major military, economic, and human rights issues.