The World

6 minute read
Harriet Barovick, Laura Fitzpatrick, Alexandra Silver, Claire Suddath, Alyssa Fetini, Frances Romero, Kristi Oloffson and Kayla Webley

1 | Seoul

NoKo Blamed for Sinking Ship

It seems no longer to be a question of whether North Korea sank a South Korean warship on March 26–ripping it in half with a torpedo and killing 46 sailors–but rather what the punishment should be for a potential act of war. On May 19, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan asserted what had long been suspected: It was “obvious” North Korea sank the Cheonan , he said. Now the South and its allies must walk a fine line. While some say Seoul needs to respond forcefully, others caution against provoking the nuclear North. Seoul is expected to ask the U.N. Security Council for tightened sanctions on Pyongyang, which the U.S. has indicated it will support. It is unclear what China will do, however, given its status as North Korea’s biggest trading partner.

2 | Washington

Supreme Court Decisions

Yes

In U.S. v. Comstock, the court ruled May 17 that inmates deemed “sexually dangerous” can be held in federal prison indefinitely–even after they have served their original sentence.

No

In Graham v. Florida, the Justices decided that juvenile criminals–especially those not on trial for murder–cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole. To do so, the court ruled, qualifies as “cruel and unusual” punishment.

3 | Kabul

Insurgents Step Up Attacks

Taliban militants shot grenades and missiles at the heavily fortified Bagram air base on May 19, killing an American contractor and wounding nine service members. The attack on the key U.S. military outpost came one day after a suicide bomber destroyed an American convoy in Kabul, killing six NATO soldiers. The strikes suggest that the Taliban are delivering on a promise made in early May to undertake an offensive against NATO forces and Afghan officials.

4 | Iraq

Recount Ends, Changes Little

More than two months after Iraq’s parliamentary elections, a manual recount of some 2.5 million votes in Baghdad province maintained the status quo. Former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s Sunni-backed bloc kept its two-seat lead over that of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who had called for the recount, charging fraud. But the future is still uncertain, as neither bloc has a majority. Al-Maliki’s recent alliance with another Shi’ite coalition tilts the balance of power in his favor, but a new government has yet to be formed, and the question of who will become Prime Minister remains unanswered.

5 | Iran

Nuclear Fuel Swap, Sanctions

Just one day after Iran brokered a nuclear fuel swap deal with Brazil and Turkey on May 17 (it has agreed to send its enriched uranium abroad in return for fuel rods for a medical-research reactor), the U.S., China, Russia and European allies agreed to draft a U.N. resolution for tighter sanctions against the country. Officials from those countries claim the sanctions, which include a strengthened arms embargo, are a reaction to Iran’s continued refusal to suspend its uranium-enrichment program. Iran dismissed the resolution, saying the sanctions were unlikely to pass the U.N. Security Council, and that even if they did, they would not compel Iran to cooperate with international inspectors.

6 | China

ON GUARD

The latest in a string of brutal stabbings occurred on May 19 when a group of knife-wielding men injured 13 students at a vocational college in Hainan province. Earlier in the week, a man hacked a woman to death and wounded five others at a market before jumping to his death. Across China, five assaults in two months have left at least 15 children dead and dozens more hurt, leading Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to acknowledge a “need to solve the deeper reasons behind this issue.” Security has increased at schools, and some students are learning self-defense techniques.

7 | Illinois

ADHD Linked To Pesticides

A new study published in the journal Pediatrics concluded that an association exists between exposure to pesticides and increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. The study, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, determined that children with high levels of a particular type of pesticide in their urine were more likely to have ADHD than those with undetectable levels.

8 | Mexico

Powerful Politician Disappears

Kidnappings are unsettlingly routine in Mexico, but Diego Fernández de Cevallos’ disappearance on May 14 has riveted the nation. If found to have been abducted by the country’s powerful drug cartels, Fernández–a power player in the ruling National Action Party–could be their highest-profile victim yet. Just days after Fernández’s bloodied SUV was found, President Felipe Calderón visited the U.S., in part to seek further aid from lawmakers in his fight against the drug lords, which has claimed 23,000 lives since he took office in 2006.

9 | Morocco

New Fossil Find

The discovery of a new fossil site suggests that organisms like those from the famous Burgess Shale fossil bed in Canada didn’t suddenly die out 500 million years ago as was thought. In a new Nature article, researchers explain that specimens found near Morocco’s Atlas Mountains include an array of sponges, worms and mollusks typical of the Burgess Shale fauna. The find adds 20 million years to the Burgess Shale timeline.

10 | Gulf of Mexico

The Oil Is Coming! Maybe

Despite BP’s amped-up efforts to siphon oil from the ocean well that has been leaking up to an estimated 70,000 bbl. a day–or 14 times the original estimate–since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig sank on April 22, experts fear the oil will soon make its way to the Gulf Stream’s Loop Current. That would propel it over to the Florida Keys, into the Atlantic Ocean and up the East Coast.

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

Where the current might take the oil

SITE OF SPILL

EXTENT OF SLICK

LOOP CURRENT

* | What They’re Discovering in Indonesia: Proving once again that nature is the gift that keeps on giving, scientists announced the discovery of several new species of animals in New Guinea’s Foja Mountains–including a large (and friendly) woolly rat, a tree frog with a nose that inflates, a multicolored imperial pigeon and the world’s teeniest wallaby. The critters were first observed on a 2008 trip to the region, which is known as the Lost World because it is virtually untouched by humans.

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