World

(2 of 2)

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

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

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.