The Latin American economy is expected to contract this year as countries face losses from declining exports, tourism and remittances. But while some world leaders have become political casualties of the economic crisis, blogger Thiago de Aragão writes that in most Latin American countries, people seem to sift apart economic and political issues.

On Thursday, the government of Pakistan sent paramilitary troops to a northwest district that was recently taken over by the Taliban. Michael Krepon of the Henry L. Stimson Center discusses the Taliban's growing influence and increasing concerns about the Pakistani government's ability to control the militants.

Michael Wahid Hanna of the Century Foundation discusses what effect the reported arrest of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Sunni insurgency in Iraq, will have on Iraq's stability.

Watch the show from Wednesday, April 22: Israel shifts focus to Iran, French factory workers lose jobs, elections and rugby in South Africa and Turkish soap operas.

South Africa held national parliamentary elections on Wednesday. The ruling African National Congress is widely expected to emerge victorious, but analysts say the ANC will struggle to win the two-thirds majority that it has won in the past, with new challengers set to make a strong showing.