The World

• Share

1 | Tehran

Playing Hide-And-Seek

Officials with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have negotiated an Oct. 25 inspection of Iran's recently revealed uranium-enrichment plant under construction outside Qum. The plant, which Tehran insists will be used for civilian purposes, has heightened fears that Iran is hiding facilities that would give it greater capacity to potentially build nuclear weapons. Skeptics say delaying the inspection until the end of the month would give Iran time to cover up its activities. "One has to be somewhat suspicious," Washington's IAEA representative said Oct. 5 on Capitol Hill.

2 | Islamabad

Blast Targets Aid Workers

A suicide bomber disguised as a soldier walked into the fortified headquarters of the U.N. Food Program in Pakistan by asking to use the bathroom and set off an explosion that killed five people. The latest in a string of attacks against foreign aid workers in the region, the Oct. 5 bombing was particularly disquieting given the ease with which the perpetrator infiltrated the heavily protected compound, just steps from President Asif Ali Zardari's residence. A Taliban spokesman confirmed that the group was responsible for the incident, the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since April. In the aftermath, the U.N. said it would temporarily shutter all its Pakistan offices, which provide aid to many of the estimated 2 million people displaced by fighting in the Swat Valley.

3 | New York

Preemies' Troubling Toll

Nearly 13 million babies worldwide are born prematurely each year--10% of total births--and a million die as a result, according to a March of Dimes report. Using World Health Organization data, the group found that 85% of premature births occur in Africa and Asia. The U.S. preterm rate, meanwhile, has jumped 36% in the past 25 years.

Preterm birthrate, by region

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

11.9%

AFRICA

10.6%

NORTH AMERICA

9.1%

ASIA

8.1%

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

6.4%

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

6.2%

EUROPE

SOURCE: MARCH OF DIMES

4 | Brussels

Pilots Protest Long Hours

Airplane workers demonstrated at 22 European airports on Oct. 5 to call travelers' attention to their grueling shifts, which they say are hazardous to passenger safety. Backed by the European Cockpit Association, which represents some 38,000 pilots and crew members, protesters handed out some 100,000 fake boarding passes containing warnings about fatigue and arguments against the current E.U. laws, which hold that flight personnel can stay airborne for up to 14 hr. per day and 11 hr. 45 min. overnight. A 2003 study found that the risk of accidents for pilots who had been working 13 hr. or more was 5½ times the risk for all pilots.

5 | Dublin

Irish Ayes Have the E.U. Smiling