The World

10 ESSENTIAL STORIES

By Harriet Barovick, Alexandra Silver, Claire Suddath, Frances Romero, Kristi Oloffson, Kayla Webley and Nate Rawlings Monday, July 05, 2010

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    Former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos won Colombia's June 20 presidential election with a staggering 69% of the vote, giving him a clear mandate to continue the work of his predecessor and political mentor, Alvaro Uribe. Under President Uribe, Santos oversaw several counterinsurgency campaigns against the FARC rebel group and the nation's drug traffickers. The election was marked with considerably less violence than previous votes. Santos takes office on Aug. 7.

    * | Who They're Sentencing in Rotterdam: What is said to have been modern Europe's first piracy trial ended on June 17, when a Dutch court sentenced five Somali men to five years in prison. The quintet was convicted of trying to hijack a Dutch Antilles--flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden in 2009. "Piracy is a serious crime that must be powerfully resisted," said Judge Jan Willem Klein Wolterink. Last year, pirates attempted more than 200 attacks off the Somali coast, and suspected pirates are in custody in several countries. In May, a Somali pirate pleaded guilty to hijacking and kidnapping in a Manhattan federal court.

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