Are coups still being done anywhere?
Well yes, in Africa, there've been a few in the past year in Guinea, Madagascar and Mauritania.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently announced a cessation in benefits to several of these states as punishment for their illegal and unconstitutional transition in power.

Guinea, situated in West Africa just north of major 90s troublespots Sierra Leone and Liberia, is in a particularly precarious state, after infighting among coup leaders earlier this month, resulted in the coup leader to be shot and seriously wounded.

Southern Sudan, one of the world's most underdeveloped areas, will hold a referendum in 2011 to decide if it will break away from Sudan to form a new nation. This is significant because this is the culmination of long-time tensions between the North and South, with (at the risk of simplifying the state of affairs) the former's people being mostly Arabic-speaking and Muslim, and the latter being mostly non-Muslim. The area has experienced heavy violence and severe humanitarian troubles, raising fears from some who feel this is part of a plot to undermine the fragile peace in the region and intensify conflicts amongst the people in the South with each other.

The South fought a bitter and devastating war with the Sudanese government that lasted over 20 years (from the early eighties to 2005) and killed over a million people. The two sides signed an agreement that has continued till the present, but with one of the conditions being a referendum for secession. It will be tough if the referendum actually succeeds, given the humanitarian problems and violence, so any fledgling South Sudan state will have its work cut out.

Dubai's debt extension request, basically an admission that they can't pay up their debts now, really put a scare on the world and showed just how badly this former global darling has fallen. While the global economy has seemed to have overcome this shock, Dubai's troubles are likely to continue further. Its ruler, with his great, extravagant vision, still seems defiant. Some also believe that this may be the first in a series of national and corporate debt crises worldwide.