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

[The following text appears within a map. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual map.]

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

Officials claimed gunmen serving the notorious Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel, burst into a ranch house in a province in Guatemala’s lawless north and killed 27 people, 25 of whom were beheaded. A state of siege was declared in the province, El Petén, a drug- and human-trafficking hotbed. The slaughter was a stark sign of the reach and scale of a drug war that has spilled over into much of Central America. Murder rates in the region are among the highest in the world.

Central America’s Northern Triangle is one of the world’s deadliest places

HOMICIDE RATES PER 100,000 PEOPLE

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Mexico 14*

Honduras 77

Guatemala 42

El Salvador 65

Russia 14*

South Africa 37*

U.S. 5*

*2008 DATA; ALL OTHER DATA FROM 2010

SOURCES: U.N. OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME; COMISION DE DERECHOS HUMANOS DE HONDURAS 2000–2009; DIRECCION NACIONAL DE INVESTIGACIONES DE HONDURAS 2010; POLICIA NACIONAL CIVIL DE GUATEMALA; INSTITUTO DE MEDICINA LEGAL

The Queen Visits the Republic

Ireland

Although she has made hundreds of trips in her 59 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth’s four-day visit to Ireland was a first for her and for any reigning British monarch in Ireland’s independent history. An unprecedented police presence and two bomb threats preceded her arrival. On her first day, the Queen placed a wreath in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance to honor Irish rebels who died fighting for freedom from Britain. Over the howls of antiroyalist protesters nearby, she was welcomed with a rendition of “God Save the Queen.”

The Thin White Line

U.S.

The space shuttle Endeavour embarked on its final journey, a mission to the International Space Station to deliver a $2 billion magnetic device that will help scientists further explore the mystery of the universe’s formation. This amateur picture of the skyrocketing shuttle (left) was snapped using a cell-phone camera aboard a passenger flight bound for Palm Beach, Fla.

ICC Calls for Gaddafi’s Arrest

LIBYA

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, requested warrants for Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and Libya’s intelligence chief, alleging the trio directed strikes against unarmed civilians that constitute crimes against humanity. But the court can proceed only if Libyans eventually arrest Gaddafi and hand him over. Libya, like the U.S., does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction. The call for Gaddafi’s arrest may lead the embattled dictator to hunker down even further as NATO and rebel forces chip away at his hold on power. Loyalists remained stubborn in the face of increased NATO air strikes in and around Tripoli. One hit Gaddafi’s compound hours after the warrant request.