World

Power Struggle Pushes Country Toward Civil War

Ivory Coast An interminable political deadlock teetered toward outright civil war as gun battles raged between troops loyal to incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and supporters of his opponent, Alassane Ouattara. According to the U.N., Ouattara was the winner of the November presidential election. But Gbagbo, who has ruled Ivory Coast for almost a decade, refused to recognize the results, an act that plunged the country into crisis. Businesses in the commercial capital, Abidjan, are shuttered, and the global price of cocoa (of which Ivory Coast is the world’s biggest exporter) has risen to a 32-year high. Reports are mounting of gangs of young Gbagbo supporters intimidating foreigners, local journalists and U.N. officials, while Gbagbo’s troops and antigovernment militias clashed in Abidjan’s environs, leaving dozens dead. Diplomats fear the conflict may escalate. Around 100,000 Ivorians have been displaced by the fighting so far.

World by the Numbers

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929 U.S.

New area code planned for New York City–its seventh–as the city continues to run out of phone numbers

$380 million EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Price of a yacht reportedly ordered by the son of the country’s dictator; it’s almost three times what Guinea spends on education and health

150 NEW ZEALAND

Estimated age in years of a time capsule found in the city of Christchurch after it was hit by a devastating 6.3 earthquake

2,080 ft. JAPAN

Final height of a transmission tower under construction in Tokyo; it will be the tallest broadcast tower in the world

$3.8 million QATAR

Value of a diamond-studded purse, the world’s most expensive, at an exhibition in Doha

Irish Voters Boot Out The Old Guard, But Its Successors Have Much to Do

IRELAND

The Fianna Fail party, which has dominated Irish politics for the better part of a century, suffered a historic defeat at the polls Feb. 25. Its victorious opponents, Fine Gael, in coalition with Labour, swept in atop a wave of public fury at a government that presided over the catastrophic 2008 collapse of Ireland’s economy. The country faces a high unemployment rate and crippling national debt.

Sarkozy Reshuffles His Cabinet. Can the New Ministers Rescue a Government Under Pressure?

FRANCE

President Nicolas Sarkozy made new appointments in several key Cabinet positions–his fourth such shake-up in a year. The most significant change: the axing of scandal-tarnished Foreign Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie (below), who had been in her position for only three months. Alliot-Marie’s ties to prominent businessmen and political figures in Tunisia sparked controversy when protests gripped the North African nation and eventually unseated the long-ruling dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Reports that Alliot-Marie privately backed Ben Ali to stay in power, contrary to public opinion in both countries, fueled widespread criticism of the Sarkozy government.

The Kids Are Not All Right

NEW YORK

The U.N. agency UNICEF released its annual State of the World’s Children report, focusing in 2011 on the plight of the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents (those ages 10 to 19), 88% of whom live in the developing world. According to the report, almost half of those old enough for secondary school are not able to attend, while tens of millions live without adequate health care and nutrition. UNICEF called for greater aid and investment in education, in part to stave off a looming jobs crisis in poorer countries.

Adolescent population in 2009 by region, in millions

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INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES 118

EASTERN EUROPE AND FORMER SOVIET STATES 58

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 185

NORTH AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST 84

SOUTH ASIA 335

EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC 329

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN 108

Unemployment rates, color-coded by region

NORTH AFRICA

MIDDLE EAST

WORLD

SOURCE: UNICEF

Christian Politician’s Murder A Sign of a Growing Assault on Liberals

PAKISTAN

Gunmen killed Shahbaz Bhatti, the country’s Minister for Minorities and the sole Christian member of Pakistan’s Cabinet, on his way to work in Islamabad. The assailants, whose identities remain unclear, allegedly left behind pamphlets decrying Pakistani liberals like Bhatti who criticize the country’s archaic antiblasphemy laws. Another outspoken opponent of Islamist orthodoxy, Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, was assassinated two months ago by his bodyguard. His death was celebrated by Islamists.

Thousands Struggle To Flee War-Torn Libya

TUNISIA

Along the border with Libya, aid groups describe desperate scenes of masses of people trying to escape the violence and chaos that grip Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. Many of those people are impoverished foreign migrant workers. Relief agencies warn of a looming refugee crisis.

Foreign Journalists Beaten During Communist Party Crackdown

CHINA

One week after police quashed small protests by dissidents across the country–or what one state-run Chinese newspaper deemed acts of performance art–calls on the Internet for a new round of demonstrations proved unsuccessful. Uniformed and plainclothes officers were deployed in force to likely demonstration sites and kept a tight lid on any sign of dissent. Officers in Beijing beat several journalists from foreign news organizations, including Bloomberg and the BBC, who were trying to cover the potential protests and the Communist Party’s response. The anonymous calls for protests, inspired by pro-democracy uprisings in the Arab world, exposed Beijing’s jitteriness at being faced with any direct challenge to its authority. Observers could only marvel at the brutal swiftness of the state’s response.