Nasser Nasser / AP

An mural in Cairo depicts ousted president Hosni Mubarak, right, and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, left, with Arabic that reads "before the revolution, let them be amused, after the revolution, let them be paralyzed."

CAIRO, Egypt — Liberals and other opponents of the Islamist government in Egypt have called for the military to resume control of the country if its dire economy continues to worsen amid ongoing political turmoil.

On Tuesday, a coalition of leftist and liberal parties known as the National Salvation Front announced it would boycott upcoming parliamentary elections, claiming President Mohammed Morsi is driving through an Islamist agenda and breaking a promise to govern on behalf of all Egyptians.

Without the NSF’s participation, many fear Islamist parties led by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the more conservative Salafist parties will sweep the elections and dominate the House of Representatives. This would give them near complete control of the executive and legislative branches of government.

Amid the political strife, Egypt’s economy is on the brink of economic collapse —  the government announced earlier this month it had run out of money to continue to pay for fuel subsidies.

Former United Nations nuclear agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who now leads the moderate Dustour party, was recently quoted by Foreign Policy magazine as saying that if “Egypt is on the brink of default [on its international debts], if law and order is absent, [the army] has a national duty to intervene.”

"I am sure they are as worried as everyone else. You cannot exclude that the army will intervene to restore law and order," he told reporters.

'Act of deception'
Referring to the forthcoming election, ElBaradei also said he would "not be part of an act of deception" in a message on Twitter. 

"Absence of law & order, due process & cascade of Fatwas & 'legal' investigations vs opposition fast tracks Egypt towards a Kafkaesque state," he wrote in another tweet.

Slideshow: Egypt's revolution and the fall of Mubarak

Ahmed Youssef / EPA

Eighteen days of popular protest culminated in the downfall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011.

Launch slideshow

While liberals supported the revolution against former strongman Hosni Mubarak, some now see the idea of a military regime as a lesser of two evils if the alternative is the country's collapse.

Opposition newspapers, including el-Dostoor and el-Masry el-Youm, have highlighted the failures of Morsi's government with several pundits suggesting the military may have to intervene if the situation continues to deteriorate.

And on Monday, dozens of people rallied in Cairo at the tomb of former President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamist soldiers in 1981, to demand the military reassume control of the country and remove the Muslim Brotherhood from power.

The demonstration may have been relatively small, but the call for a return to military rule has created waves of anxiety across the country.

In the past few weeks, Morsi and his office have constantly sought to reassure the public that there is no tension between him and the military.

The president has denied local press reports that he was on the verge of sacking his defense minister.

Abir Abdullah / EPA, file

An Egyptian works in a factory in Cairo on Feb. 18. The IMF has refused the country's requests for a loan, citing the need for economic reforms.

But the military has fueled some of the tension by issuing warnings of collapse and statements of tacit disapproval of the current political stalemate.

Even the dates of the parliamentary election — to be held over three months — have been cause for controversy.

The date of the first round of voting originally fell on Easter weekend. In a country with nearly a 10 percent Christian population, the dates seemed at best bizarre, at worst offensive. The presidency quickly retracted the election announcement and declared new dates.

Fragile
Islamist parties have dismissed the opposition’s election boycott, saying because they can’t win at the ballot box, they are boycotting the process and thus are jeopardizing Egypt’s fragile democracy.

All this adds to the pressure on its equally fragile economy.

Egypt has been desperately seeking to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund, which would give it a cash injection that would only Band Aid the problem, not solve it.  

So far, the IMF has refused, citing the need for economic reforms. But the government has struggled to get the political backing it needs to take such drastic steps as cutting subsidies that could trigger broad street protests among those who would be affected the most.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the country experienced one of its worst tourist accidents on Tuesday when 19 people were killed when a hot air balloon caught fire.

The accident near the ancient city of Luxor raised fears that the country’s decimated tourism industry would be dealt another blow because of increased concerns about safety standards as well as the security of foreigners visiting Egypt.

In a country once beaming with hope and optimism, where its revolution was celebrated for its unity, a newly divided and tumultuous reality has now firmly taken root.

Related:

Meet Omar, the face of Egypt's 'unfinished revolution'

Egypt could 'collapse,' army chief warns as violence continues

Egyptians fear decades of Muslim Brotherhood rule, warn Morsi is no friend of US

Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press via AP

The household penny jar may soon become a thing of the past in Canada.

TORONTO — Canada has begun phasing out its penny, the nuisance one-cent coin that clutters dressers and costs more than its one-cent value to produce.

The Royal Canadian Mint on Monday officially ended its distribution of pennies to financial institutions.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced last year they were a nuisance and had outlived their purpose.

While some may still use pennies, the government has issued guidelines urging store owners to start rounding prices to the nearest nickel for cash transactions.

Electronic purchases will still be billed to the nearest cent.

The government has said the cost of the penny exceeds its monetary value. Production is $11 million a year.

The coins, which feature two maple leaves and Queen Elizabeth II in profile, will remain legal tender until they eventually disappear from circulation.

'Nothing a penny will buy'
Opposition New Democrat Member of Parliament Pat Martin gave a poetic goodbye to the penny in Parliament on Monday.

"There's nothing a penny will buy any more, not a gum ball or small piece of candy," Martin said. "Note the penny is a nuisance. It costs too much to make. They clutter our change purse and they don't circulate."

“They build up in piles in old cookie jars under our beds and in our desk drawers. You can't give them away. They cost more than what they're worth. It's time to put them all out to pasture, put them out to the curb. No, the penny is useless, but there is one thing I'd say, I hope they don't start treating old MPs this way."

Google is marking the passing of the penny with a dedicated doodle on its Canadian home page.

The currency museum at Canada's central bank has already taken steps to preserve the penny's place in Canadian culture. A mural consisting of nearly 16,000 one-cent pieces has been assembled at the museum to commemorate the coin's history, said assistant curator Raewyn Passmore.

New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden and others have also dropped the penny.

The U.S. Treasury Department has said the Obama administration has looked at possibly using cheaper materials to make the penny, which is now made of zinc.

Two bills calling for the end of the U.S. penny, introduced in 2002 and 2006 by Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe, failed to advance in the House of Representatives.

The U.S. zinc lobby has been a major opponent to suggestions that the penny be eliminated.

LONDON -- Irresponsible lending and intimidating debt collectors are pushing thousands of people in Britain into depression and suicide, a report said Wednesday. Separate data showed more people are taking their own lives.

Many, already struggling with the economic slowdown, wage freezes and benefit cuts, were overwhelmed by tactics used by some money lenders, including persistent phone calls and threatening letters, the report by researchers at England's University of Brighton found. 

"Debt clients frequently feel humiliated, disconnected and entrapped, with the process of debt collection having a clear impact on people's mental health," the report said. 

"The government must take urgent action to tackle the problem of irresponsible lending and intimidatory collection tactics which has left thousands of people trapped in a spiral of debt and at risk of depression and even suicide," it said. 

Separately, figures from the Office for National Statistics released on Tuesday showed a "significant" rise in suicides in 2012. 

The Brighton report, launched on Wednesday by British parliamentarian Molly Meacher, said there were cases of individuals not eating properly and asking their young children for money to tide them over. 

One individual who owed money described the effect of his wife's credit card lapsing. 

"I was very close to calling the doctor to her because she is that close to breaking because of ... these continual phone calls," the man was quoted as saying.

The total number of suicides in the U.K. hit 6,045 in 2011, a 7.8 percent increase over 2010 with deaths among men accounting for the largest proportion, according to figures from the national statistics office.

A total of 4,552 men took their own lives in 2011 compared with 1,493 women.

British mental health charity SANE said the downturn in Britain, which is struggling to maintain economic growth, was behind a "significant" rise in the number of suicides, reflecting a trend seen in other Western countries.

"These figures ... reveal the profound human consequences of the economic downturn, in which unemployment, debt and the relationship breakdowns that often follow can push people who may be already vulnerable to take their own lives," said Marjorie Wallace, SANE's chief executive.

Suicide rates in the United States have also risen more steeply in recent years.

"It is also worrying that the group most at risk should be middle-aged men, who are not usually perceived to be at risk," said Wallace, commenting on the statistics office figures.

Among men aged between 45 and 59 years old, the suicide rate increased significantly between 2007 and 2011 to 22.2 deaths per 100,000 people, the statistics office said. 

Laurent Gillieron / EPA

A worker makes the last preparations Monday before the opening of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Ban Ki-moon, other world leaders and business people will meet.

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says his top hopes for 2013 are to reach a new agreement on climate change and to urgently end the increasingly deadly and divisive war in Syria.

The U.N. chief told The Associated Press that he's also hoping for progress in getting the global economy humming again, restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, promoting political solutions in Mali, Congo and the Central African Republic, and providing energy, food and water to all people.

Ban laid out this ambitious wish list in an interview before heading to the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, saying he plans to take "the uncommon opportunity" of being with some 2,500 government, business and civil society leaders in the Swiss ski resort to exchange frank views on these issues.

"The world is now experiencing unprecedented challenges," Ban said.

"Climate change is fast happening — much, much faster than one would have expected," he said. "Climate and ecosystems are under growing strain."

Ban spoke before President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address Monday, put a similar emphasis on tackling climate change in his second term.

'Mobilize the political will'
Two-decade-old U.N. climate talks have so-far failed in their goal of reducing the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that a vast majority of scientists says are warming the planet.

In December, a U.N. climate conference in Doha, Qatar, agreed to extend the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that limits the greenhouse gas output of some rich countries, and affirmed a previous decision to adopt a new global climate pact by 2015.

"I will do my best to mobilize the political will and resources so that the member states can agree to a new legally binding global agreement on climate change," Ban said.

Ban urged progress in getting nations and people to use the world's limited resources without waste and in ways to ensure their replacement, so that all people will have enough to eat and drink and there will be electricity for their homes — and have energy to spare to promote economic growth.

"We have to have sustainable development," he said. "That's our number one priority together with climate change."

Momentum for fighting climate change has stalled amid recessions, financial meltdown and government debt crises of the past five years.

"At the same time, we need to see some economic dynamism," Ban said. "The world is still suffering, struggling to overcome its economic crisis."

The forum at Davos, opening Wednesday, focuses this year on how to ensure a more sturdy economic recovery that can withstand the kind of shocks the past few years have wrought.

Among the world leaders he may rub elbows with at Davos are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The secretary-general expressed hope that the major powers will be able to revitalize growth, which will help developing countries meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals to combat poverty by the target date of 2015.

The goals include cutting extreme poverty by half, ensuring a primary school education for every child, reducing maternal and infant mortality, and halting and reversing the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

On the political front, Ban said he is deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Syria where the conflict will soon be entering its third year.

"I believe that world leaders must address this issue with a top priority and a sense of urgency. We cannot go on like this," he said. "More than 60,000 people have been killed, and if the situation continues like this way, we will have to see more and more death, more and more people who are fleeing Syria."

The secretary-general said he is also mobilizing U.N. envoys and others to try to make progress on the Mideast peace process; in Mali, where a French-led military operation is fighting Islamist extremists; the deteriorating political situation in Congo where M23 rebels have gained ground; and in the Central African Republic where rebels recently signed a peace agreement with the president.

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