World

The West Bank’s Bobby Sands

1 | ISRAEL

Khader Adnan, a Palestinian imprisoned by Israeli authorities without charges, ended a 66-day hunger strike after Israel agreed to release him by April. Adnan, who is linked to the extremist militant group Islamic Jihad, was detained Dec. 17 under a law dating back to the era of the British mandate that Israel has invoked over the years to hold thousands of Palestinians. As Adnan’s health waned, protests erupted across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and inmates in other Israeli detention centers started copycat hunger strikes. Observers likened Adnan’s fast to that of Irish Republican Army fighter Bobby Sands, who died in a British prison in 1981 on the 66th day of a hunger strike. Though Sands quickly became an international cause clbre and in the midst of his strike was even elected to the British Parliament (he never took his seat), Adnan, 33, attracted media attention only as he neared death. The deal to release him relieves mounting pressure on Israel to review its detention laws. It also brings into stark relief the relative inefficacy of the Palestinian leadership, divided between the more secular Fatah faction in the West Bank and the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. While Adnan withered away in jail, popular outrage turned against not only Israel but also the two Palestinian camps, whose members were preoccupied with jostling for leadership of the widely discredited Palestinian Authority.

Iran Becomes Even More Isolated

2 | IRAN

A team of negotiators from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) left Iran, claiming Tehran had denied its request to inspect a sensitive military base. While the IAEA maintains cameras at and regularly monitors a number of declared Iranian nuclear facilities, the site at Parchin, southeast of Tehran, has remained off-limits. The Iranians insist their nuclear program is pursuing only peaceful uses of atomic energy and that they have no intention of developing nuclear weapons. But those avowals fall on deaf ears in the West, particularly in the U.S., where lawmakers and diplomats have spent months raising international pressure on Iran through sanctions and saber rattling. A unilateral Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities also remains a possibility. Such an act would destabilize a part of the world that holds well over half of the planet’s oil reserves.

Saleh Steps Down

3 | YEMEN

After ruling over this fractious country for three decades, President Ali Abdullah Saleh became the fourth casualty of the Arab Spring. A rubber-stamp election confirmed Vice President Abdel Rabbo Mansour Hadi as his successor as part of a regionally negotiated transition plan intended to usher in a multiparty democracy over the next two years. Violence still marred balloting, with some opposition groups calling for a boycott of the vote.

ZIMBABWE

‘I have died many times. That’s where I have beaten Christ.’

ROBERT MUGABE, President of Zimbabwe, joking on his 88th birthday about long-standing reports of his ill health and insisting he is “fit as a fiddle.” The strongman plans to call elections this year despite warnings by pro-democracy activists that the country is not yet ready for free and fair voting

A Shot Fired in Anger

4 | AFGHANISTAN

An Afghan protester aims his slingshot at the gates of the U.S. air base at Bagram after reports emerged that NATO coalition troops at the base had burned copies of the Koran that were suspected of carrying coded messages written by prisoners held there. The alleged desecration kicked off days of unrest around the country. At least seven Afghans died in clashes with local and U.S. security forces.

Who Are America’s Bad Guys?

5 | U.S.

When asked to name their country’s greatest enemy, almost a third of Americans say Iran, according to a recent Gallup poll. That number roughly matches public sentiment in the U.S. toward Saddam Hussein’s Iraq at around the time of the 2003 invasion. In recent months, some figures in the U.S. media as well as hawks in Washington have called for direct action to contain or eliminate the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. China, a rising global superpower with a rapidly expanding military, is the runner-up to Iran on the list of adversaries.

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

Countries Americans consider to be a threat

IRAQ

IRAN

NORTH KOREA

CHINA

AFGHANISTAN

SOURCE: GALLUP

SWEDEN

61 DAYS

Time one Swedish man allegedly spent trapped in his car, buried in a snowdrift. To survive, he claims to have eaten snow and gone into a state of hibernation

A Rescue–at a Cost

6 | GREECE

E.U. leaders approved a second bailout for debt-ridden, nearly bankrupt Greece. But the relief funds–some $170 billion–come at a steep price for many Greeks, with lawmakers in Athens compelled to pass a new round of austerity measures that will likely cut into pensions and slash the country’s minimum wage. Critics say E.U.- and IMF-imposed austerity hampers Greek economic growth, which limits the nation’s ability to recover from the debt crisis.