World

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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

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

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.