World

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Following the bloody repression of civilian protests in several cities, the E.U. placed sanctions on 13 high-ranking officials in the regime of President Bashar Assad. These include Assad's younger brother Maher, who heads the feared Presidential Guard, as well as other prominent family members and allies directly implicated in a crackdown that has led to hundreds or perhaps thousands of deaths. The sanctions impose travel bans on the officials and freeze their assets in the E.U. but so far appear to have done little to stem the Assad regime's onslaught against dissidents. Security forces shelled the city of Homs and continued to seal off the battered border town of Dara'a and the port city of Baniyas, where, according to rights groups, hundreds of dissidents were penned for days in an open-air soccer stadium. The government says it is fighting armed Islamists, but many ordinary Syrians are exasperated with their lack of political freedoms as well as the cronyism that has come to define the regime.

The Army Takes Out the Trash

ITALY

Fury and embarrassment over as much as 4,100 tons of rotting waste on the streets of Naples (above) prompted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to send in troops to clean up the mess. This is the second time since 2008 that such an intervention has been necessary in the southern city, where a combination of poor infrastructure, sclerotic bureaucracy and the shadowy influence of the Camorra Mafia over local politics has spawned the bizarre garbage crisis.

Iran Goes Nuclear, Starts Up a Power Plant

IRAN

The Bushehr nuclear plant began operations May 8, an alarming landmark for Western nations that believe Tehran aims to make weapons. But within Iran, nuclear politics has taken a backseat to domestic infighting: the plant came to life as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparred with Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei over Cabinet appointments. Open dissent against Khamenei is rare, but the President seems to have survived.

The Bushehr plant's sputtering history

1974

Construction begins with the help of German contractors and French scientists

1979

After the fall of the Shah during the Islamic revolution, the project is halted

1980-88

During the Iran-Iraq war, the plant site is damaged and much of the equipment looted

JUNE 2010

A computer virus, Stuxnet, hits Iran's uranium-enrichment site, impeding the program several times

AUGUST 2010

At a press event, Iran begins loading fuel sent from Russia, which took over the venture in the '90s

Floods, Landslides Follow Epic Rains

COLOMBIA