World

Not Again: Terror in the Maximum City

INDIA

The coastal metropolis of Mumbai was rocked by three apparently coordinated bomb blasts, shaking a city that’s still recovering from the audacious 2008 terrorist strikes that killed 164 people. The death toll, at the time of writing, was 21, with over 120 others injured. Mumbai, a city teeming with divisions of class, creed and ethnicity, is no stranger to violence. In the immediate aftermath of the bombings, authorities refrained from pointing the finger at Pakistan, home to anti-Indian militant groups.

World by the Numbers

[The following text appears within a map. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual map.]

41,000

BOLIVIA

Llamas and alpacas left without food following the worst snowstorm in 20 years

$24 billion

BRAZIL

Estimated cost of a proposed bullet train between São Paulo and Rio; the government is unable to find any bidders for the project

13

TANZANIA

Eritrean soccer players thought to be seeking asylum after disappearing during a tournament

1.3 million

CHINA

Websites shut down in the past year. A state-funded study claimed it had nothing to do with censorship

669

EGYPT

Top police officers fired as part of a nationwide cleanup of the unpopular force

Meet the Heavy Hand of the Law

MALAYSIA

The biggest demonstrations in nearly five years were dispersed with truncheons and water cannons. Police shut down much of Kuala Lumpur after 20,000 protesters calling for electoral reforms refused to leave the streets. Though it is a multiparty democracy, Malaysia has been governed by the same ruling coalition for 54 years, and critics complain of corruption and a lack of political freedoms.

Number of Somali refugees in Kenya

2000 137,376

2011 500,000*

*PROJECTED

Drought Leads to Disaster

KENYA

What aid agencies already describe as the world’s most acute humanitarian crisis has become more grave. Approximately 450,000 Somalis have fled the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years, overwhelming camps across the border in Kenya. With roughly 1,400 refugees arriving daily, the Dadaab refugee camp–the world’s largest–is housing more than four times its intended capacity.

A Leaning Tower About To Collapse

ITALY

Worries over the euro-zone debt crisis spread from Greece to Italy as rising bond yields and Italian political infighting over proposed budget cuts triggered fears of yet another financial meltdown in a troubled European country. Italy has the third largest economy in the euro zone. A domestic financial crisis in Italy would pose a far greater threat to the health of the E.U. than anything happening in Greece.

Amid Havoc and War, a Nation Is Born

SOUTH SUDAN

A man waves the flag of South Sudan, standing in a crowd of tens of thousands gathered in the capital city, Juba. The fledgling republic achieved formal independence July 9 after a bloody, decades-long struggle for freedom from Khartoum. Tensions with its neighbor to the north, as well as a local culture of violence, mean South Sudan faces a difficult road to stability.

ON TIME.COM

‘It is our duty to prevent soldiers from risking their health just for the sake of a quick adventure.’

HEINRICH HIMMLER, SS chief; a new book discloses how top Nazi officials sanctioned the distribution of sex dolls to German soldiers in World War II to keep them from sleeping with prostitutes

No, Bashar, They Can’t All Get Along

SYRIA

Most of the opposition boycotted the government’s latest attempt to stage a “national dialogue,” dismissing it as yet another meager carrot in the face of the regime’s outsize stick. Pro-regime vigilantes also attacked a number of Western embassies. Protests against the regime of Bashar Assad have ground on for four months despite brutal security crackdowns.

U.S. Plays Tough with Testy Ally

PAKISTAN

In the latest sign of a deterioration in relations, the Obama Administration said it was withholding $800 million in aid to Pakistan’s military, more than a third of its promised annual outlay. The U.S. is frustrated by what it sees as Pakistan’s lack of cooperation in efforts to curb terrorism. The May raid of Osama bin Laden’s hideout inflamed public opinion in both countries. Pakistani generals now claim they don’t want U.S. cash.

What U.S. military aid has provided Pakistan in the past

COBRA HELICOPTER REFURBISHMENT AND SUPPORT $53.5 MILLION

HARRIS MILITARY RADIOS $231.1 MILLION

F-16 UPDATES $476.4 MILLION

REFURBISHMENT OF PAKISTANI FRIGATE P.N.S. ALAMGIR $58.8 MILLION

SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE