World

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Thousands took part in a weeklong Caravan of Solace campaign in which activists traveled the country, holding rallies in cities to protest rampant drug-related violence and the government's inability to curb the cartels. Above, at a stop in Ciudad Juárez, campaigners mourn innocent women slain during the drug war.

Spat over Disputed Waters Escalates

VIETNAM

Tensions over the South China Sea, which is claimed in part by six countries, flared once more. Southeast Asian states have warily watched China, which considers the sea an integral part of its territory, build up its naval prowess and assert its claims aggressively in recent years. Not shrinking from the challenge, Vietnam's navy practiced live-fire exercises June 13--an act Beijing deemed provocative. The two countries dispute ownership of the Spratly and Paracel archipelagoes and have fought bloody engagements over them in the past. Anti-Chinese protests over the sea also took place in the Philippines.

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

CHINA

VIETNAM

MALAYSIA

PHILIPPINES

CHINA'S CLAIMED TERRITORIAL WATERS

BOUNDARIES SUGGESTED BY A U.N. CONVENTION

DISPUTED ISLANDS

SOURCE: U.N. CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA; CIA

Is Greece About to Go Bust?

GREECE

Mass protests and stiff political opposition met the government's attempt to push through a new round of austerity measures. The cuts--up to $40 billion worth--are necessary for debt-ridden Greece to get fresh loans from the International Monetary Fund. President George Papandreou offered to shake up his Cabinet and even resign if it would get the legislation passed. Failure to do so would plunge the entire euro zone into crisis.

Ghost of Darfur in the Borderlands

SUDAN

An agreement between northern and southern Sudan to demilitarize the boundary between them ahead of the South's formal independence in July did little to dampen worsening violence on the border. Northern forces bombed the province of South Kordofan; although it is part of northern Sudan, the province is home to ethnic groups sympathetic to the South. Some 140,000 people have fled the North's offensive in the border regions. Aid groups draw parallels to ethnic cleansing and displacements seen earlier in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.