JUBA, Southern Sudan — For 22 years alcohol was one of the casualties of the civil war in Sudan. In 1983, the Muslim-dominated government in Khartoum decreed Shariah law and a rebellion was launched in the south, a region of where people follow Christian and traditional beliefs. In the long-running war, the people of the southern region were protesting the marginalization and neglect of their area by the Arab north. The southerners demanded the freedom to choose how to live and govern themselves. And to determine what they could drink.

BOSTON — Detroit is an easy target for anyone looking to skewer the city as some kind of Motown-meets-Mogadishu. The story is, of course, an old one.

DUBLIN, Ireland — In the middle of its worst-ever financial crisis, Ireland has found an unlikely new hero, who has secured that status partly by facing down one of the country’s most popular business tycoons. The latest national icon is Matthew Elderfield, an Englishman recruited last year from Bermuda, where he was financial watchdog, to become Ireland’s Financial Regulator. His mission could be defined as ending Ireland’s crony capitalism — otherwise known as “light-touch” regulation.