The World

10 ESSENTIAL STORIES

By Harriet Barovick, Ishaan Tharoor, Alexandra Silver, Claire Suddath, Frances Romero, Kayla Webley and Nate Rawlings Monday, July 26, 2010

    • 1 | Washington

    A Mysterious Reappearance

    Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who disappeared during a June 2009 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, resurfaced on July 12 when he walked into the Pakistani embassy in Washington and asked to be sent home. He departed for Iran two days later. Amiri's whereabouts in the past year are in dispute: Iran believes he was abducted, while Washington claims he was in the U.S. voluntarily and provided key intelligence exposing Tehran's alleged attempt to develop nuclear weapons. Amiri has inconsistently supported both countries' stories. On July 14, however, a video aired on Iranian TV in which he claimed to have been kidnapped by Saudi and U.S. forces.

    2 | The Hague

    Genocide Charges

    The International Criminal Court issued its first-ever genocide charges on July 12, with an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. He was indicted on three counts of genocide perpetrated against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Darfur. The court had previously issued a warrant for al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    3 | New York City

    FCC Indecency Policy Rejected

    A federal appeals court struck down a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) policy that barred the use of "fleeting expletives" in television broadcasts. The policy, which the three-judge panel called "unconstitutionally vague," was instituted following incidents like Bono's use of the F word in 2003 during a live broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards. Under the policy, networks were subject to fines of up to $325,000 for each offense. The FCC will likely either draft clearer boundaries for on-air profanity or submit an appeal to the Supreme Court.

    4 | India

    New Poverty Index Unveiled

    The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, in conjunction with the U.N., has revealed a new measure of global poverty, which concludes that eight Indian states account for more poor people than the 26 poorest African nations combined. The Multidimensional Poverty Index assesses a "range of deprivations that a household may suffer," including a lack of education, health care and empowerment.

    5 | Spain

    A March for Autonomy

    On the eve of Spain's World Cup victory, more than 1 million people took to the streets of Barcelona to call for greater freedoms for the Catalan region. The march came one day after a constitutional court declared that there was no legal basis for Catalonia--one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities, which have their own flags, cultures and, in some cases, languages--to recognize itself as a nation.

    Percentage of people in Spain whose primary language is not Spanish

    CATALAN 17%

    GALICIAN 7%

    BASQUE 2%

    6 | Tokyo

    GRIDLOCK ALERT

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