The World

10 ESSENTIAL STORIES

By Harriet Barovick, Ishaan Tharoor, Alexandra Silver, Claire Suddath, Frances Romero, Kayla Webley and Josh Sanburn Monday, Dec. 13, 2010

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    AVERAGE SALARY

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

    $81,258

    $50,462

    AVERAGE BENEFITS

    $41,791

    $10,589

    SOURCE: BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

    6 | Switzerland

    Deporting Foreign Criminals

    Despite opposition from some politicians and human-rights groups, Swiss voters approved a proposal to deport foreign criminals who commit serious crimes ranging from rape to abuse of the welfare system. While the controversial referendum, sponsored by the conservative Swiss People's Party, passed with 53% of the vote, the new law could conflict with international agreements. Foreigners make up more than 20% of Switzerland's population.

    7 | Egypt

    Ruling Party Wins Big

    President Hosni Mubarak's party won an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats in Egypt's first round of elections, reducing the opposition Muslim Brotherhood's tally to zero from its 2005 total of 88 seats. Some foreign observers complained of voter intimidation, arrests and polling irregularities. While opposition candidates could still be elected in the Dec. 5 runoffs, the results shore up the political base of the ailing 82-year-old Mubarak ahead of presidential elections in 2011. He has ruled since 1981.

    8 | Washington

    The TSA and the Terrorist List

    On Nov. 30, TSA officials formally assumed the responsibility for checking the names of airline passengers against those on the U.S.'s terrorist watch list--a task that has been performed by individual airlines since the list's 2001 creation. The streamlined process requires travelers to provide their gender, birth date and full legal name, theoretically allowing for increased scrutiny.

    9 | Oregon

    Teen 'Groomed' for Attack?

    Defense attorneys for Mohamed Osman Mohamud, the Somali-born teen who was arrested for allegedly trying to detonate a car bomb at a Christmas-tree lighting in Portland, Ore., say their client may have been entrapped by an FBI sting operation that armed him with fake explosives. Two days after his arrest, the mosque where he occasionally worshipped was set on fire by arsonists.

    10 | Brazil

    FRACAS IN THE FAVELA

    "We will win this war," declared President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after 2,600 police officers and paratroopers stormed and seized a drug stronghold in two Rio de Janeiro slums. Under increasing pressure to crack down on violent crime ahead of the 2014 World Cup, officials hailed the offensive even though fewer than half of the 600 suspected drug traffickers in the area were detained.

    * | What They're

    Disputing In France:

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