Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Standoff ends: Assisted by French troops and air cover, forces of President Alassane Ouattara stormed the presidential palace this week and arrested Laurent Gbagbo, the former president whose refusal to relinquish power had sparked a brief civil war. Gbagbo lost his re-election bid last November to Ouattara but refused to step down. Sporadic clashes between the two sides broke out into warfare earlier this month, and at least 800 people were killed. Gbagbo, a Christian, was supported by the largely Christian south, while Ouattara, a Muslim, drew support from the Muslim north and from the descendents of immigrants from Burkina Faso; both sides are accused of atrocities. “Our country has just turned a painful page of its history,” Ouattara said. “I therefore call upon all my compatriots who might be seized by a feeling of vengeance to abstain from any act of reprisal or violence.”
Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt
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Mubarak hospitalized: Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had a heart attack and collapsed this week while being questioned on corruption allegations. Mubarak, 82, has been at his Red Sea villa since he was deposed in a popular uprising in February. Last week, tens of thousands of people gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to urge the army to move more quickly in prosecuting him for alleged embezzlement of public funds. Egypt is rife with rumors that Mubarak stole millions or even billions of dollars in state funds, a charge he denies. In an audiotape played on television last week, Mubarak said he was “pained” by the allegations, saying he had always “striven for the sake of Egypt and its sons in war and in peace.”
Islamabad, Pakistan
Fed up with the CIA: Pakistani officials threatened this week to expel unapproved CIA agents and limit CIA drone strikes, in continuing fallout over the January killings of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor. The killings sparked large anti-American protests across Pakistan and harmed the CIA’s relationship with the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service. “We need to know who is in Pakistan doing what, and that the CIA won’t go behind our back,” an unnamed Pakistani official told The Washington Post. “There has to be a greater sharing of information, in terms of what the CIA wants and is doing.” The CIA’s station in Islamabad is one of the agency’s largest, with hundreds of operatives and contractors.
Jakarta
Not safe for work: A conservative Indonesian lawmaker resigned this week after he was caught on camera watching porn on his computer during a parliamentary session. Arifinto, who like most Indonesians goes by one name, is a member of the Prosperous Justice Party, which calls for a central role for Islam in public life. He was the leading force behind Indonesia’s extremely strict anti-porn law, under which a leading pop star was sentenced to jail when his homemade sex tapes were put on the Internet. Arifinto initially tried to argue that he had clicked on a spam link by accident, but then admitted his guilt and resigned.
Fukushima, Japan
As bad as Chernobyl: Japan raised the severity rating of its nuclear crisis to the highest level this week, matching that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Officials said the stricken Fukushima nuclear station, which has been spewing radiation ever since it was hit by the March earthquake and tsunami, could end up releasing more contamination than Chernobyl. The leaks won’t be stopped in “a few days or weeks,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. Meanwhile, the debris washed out to sea by the tsunami has created massive floating islands, one of them 70 miles long, made up of smashed houses, cars, and trees. The debris islands are expected to hit Hawaii within a year, and the West Coast of the U.S. in three.
Canberra, Australia
Off-putting branding: Australia has unveiled new cigarette packaging designed to frighten people away from smoking. Under a draft law being considered by Parliament, all cigarette packs would be olive-green and carry large warnings and disgusting pictures of diseased lungs or cancerous mouths. The brand name would be printed in a small, uniform font devoid of any logo. “We want to make sure that the glamour that might have been attached to smoking in the past is dead and gone,” Health Minister Nicola Roxon said. “Cigarette packs will now only show the death and disease that can come from smoking.” If the law passes as expected, the cigarette industry says it will sue for brand infringement.
