World

Palestinians Try for Their Own Arab Spring

Israel

Palestinians clashed with Israel Defense Forces on Israel's borders with Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank. Ten protesters died and more than 100 were wounded in southern Lebanon, while troops killed four protesters who breached the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights. The May 15 protests marked the annual commemoration of the Nakbah, or catastrophe, the Palestinian term for the 1948 creation of Israel and subsequent flight of many Palestinians from their homes. Some 4.8 million Palestinians now have refugee status, according to the U.N. The spectacle of mass civil disobedience mimics the uprisings of the Arab Spring and is further indication that the prospect of a negotiated peace has fizzled out.

World by the Numbers

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62% U.S.

Proportion of Americans in a poll who believe it's wrong to celebrate any person's death, even that of Osama bin Laden

3,500 EGYPT

Estimated age, in years, of a mummy found to have cardiac disease--the world's first known heart patient

20 CYPRUS

Jail sentence, in months, for three men who pilfered the remains of Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos

34 CHINA

Age of Ming Ming, the world's oldest panda, who died of kidney failure while in captivity

28,000 GERMANY

Jews during World War II whose deaths took place under the watch of John Demjanjuk, now 91, a former Nazi guard recently sentenced in Munich to five years in prison

Communists Swept Aside by Voters

India

The world's longest-serving democratically elected Communist Party was defeated in local elections in West Bengal, a state whose population, at 91 million, is larger than that of Germany. Critics say 34 years of Communist rule led to the decline of what was once India's manufacturing heart. But hope of a revival was tempered by the fact that the state's new leader, Mamata Banerjee, is hardly a friend to business: she led protests that nixed a car factory, the state's biggest industrial project in years.

Bad Blood Between Frenemies

PAKISTAN

NATO aircraft patrolling the rugged Afghan border exchanged fire with Pakistani soldiers after apparently straying into Pakistani airspace. Though no one was killed, the firefight added yet more strain to the U.S.-Pakistani relationship, as both sides eyed each other with distrust in the wake of the Navy SEALs raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. Politicians in Washington reiterated calls for aid to be withdrawn from Pakistan, while Islamabad bristled at the U.S.'s continued infringement of Pakistani sovereignty. A fence-mending diplomatic mission led by Senator John Kerry returned with one tangible success: Pakistan has agreed to hand back the remains of the secret stealth helicopter used in the raid.

The Drug War Moves South

GUATEMALA