Seventeen members of parliament from Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia visited the U.S. last week as part of a parliamentary exchange program to study legislative operations, including committee work, the appropriations process and congressional oversight.

The nine-day exchange, hosted by NDI in cooperation with the Institute for Representative Government, brought the MPs to Washington, DC, and Richmond, VA.

Violent protests rocked Bosnia-Herzegovina in early February—the worst since the war ended in 1996. They started in the industrial city of Tuzla—hit by sudden job losses over factory closures—and quickly spread to the capital, Sarajevo, as well as other cities. Thousands of people demonstrated against government inaction over longstanding—and growing—levels of unemployment, corruption and poverty. According to the World Bank, youth unemployment nearly tops 60 percent.