World

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Although President Obama's five-day trip to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador was largely overshadowed by events in Libya, Obama used the Arab world's ongoing unrest as an opportunity to praise the growth of democracy in Latin America. In a speech in Santiago, he described the struggle of Chile and other nations in the region to overcome years of military rule and dictatorships as "a guide for people around the world" seeking greater freedoms. Obama also sought to strengthen ties with South America's growing economies in an era when the U.S.'s long-standing trade hegemony in the region is being challenged. In 2009, China surpassed the U.S. as the biggest importer of Brazilian goods, and in 2010 it invested about $65 billion in projects throughout Latin America.

Another Abu Ghraib in The Making

AFGHANISTAN

The German magazine Der Spiegel published three explicit photographs that show U.S. soldiers, members of a self-designated "Kill Team," celebrating the deaths of Afghan civilians. In one, Specialist Jeremy Morlock is grinning as he lifts the head of a blood-streaked body. Morlock and four other soldiers have been charged with murdering three Afghan civilians. He pleaded guilty March 23. U.S. officials issued an apology, calling the images "repugnant." A senior NATO official warned that the photos could be more damning than those taken in 2004 at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and worsen tensions between the two nations.

A Painful Reckoning

BAHRAIN

The island kingdom's Sunni monarchy ratcheted up its counteroffensive against protesters demanding political reform, the bulk of whom are from Bahrain's majority Shi'ite population. At roadblocks, vigilantes allegedly attacked suspected dissidents, and authorities in the capital, Manama, bulldozed the Pearl Monument, the main rallying point.

Cornered and Betrayed, an Autocrat Circles the Wagons

YEMEN

Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for more than 32 years, clung grimly to power in the face of widespread protests and the defection of key allies. Weeks of upheaval and calls for Saleh's resignation--his opponents accuse the Yemeni President of stifling political freedoms and enabling a culture of rampant corruption--led to a bloody showdown on March 18, with security forces killing at least 50 protesters in the capital, Sana'a. The massacre prompted a number of Yemen's diplomats overseas to declare their allegiance to the opposition. At home, Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, Saleh's half brother who had for years been his right-hand man, announced he was breaking ranks and taking his troops with him--a defection that will further splinter the military. Saleh's offer to leave in 2013 at the end of his current term was rejected. Many want him gone now. Instead, he declared a state of emergency and warned that Yemen was on the brink of civil war.

DEATH AND TERRORISM: FLASH POINTS DURING SALEH'S 32 YEARS IN CHARGE

1978

RISE TO POWER

A colonel in the army, Saleh becomes President of notoriously fractious North Yemen after the assassination of his predecessor.

1990

UNIFICATION

The collapse of the U.S.S.R. compels South Yemen, a Soviet proxy, to merge with the North, with Saleh as President.