World

More Money Trouble for Greece

1 | GREECE

The euro zone faced fresh turmoil when Greek political leaders failed to form a government after nine days of tortured power-sharing talks. Parliamentary elections this month saw a big swing toward parties opposed to a deeply unpopular austerity program agreed to as part of a massive E.U.-IMF bailout. As coalition talks between the leftist, antiausterity Syriza bloc and the country’s two mainstream parties collapsed May 15, world markets plunged amid heightened fears of an imminent Greek exit from the 17-member single currency. Across Europe, leaders repeatedly warned Greece it could not renege on commitments to cut the public debt. In a matter of days, Greeks withdrew some 700 million euros (nearly $900 million) from banks, fearful that a return to their old currency, the drachma, would wipe out their savings. The debt-ridden country is headed for a month of uncertainty under a toothless caretaker government before another round of voting in mid-June. That contest should yield highly fragmented results once again, with Syriza expected to be the biggest winner.

Drug War Rages On

2 | MEXICO

Narcothugs dumped 49 mutilated and decapitated bodies in the middle of a highway 75 miles (120 km) south of the U.S. border. Officials suspect that the powerful and bloodthirsty Zetas cartel committed the crime; it’s likely that some victims were not rival narcos but migrant workers who couldn’t pay off Zetas extortionists. Drug-related violence in Mexico has claimed more than 50,000 lives since President Felipe Caldern launched his war on traffickers six years ago. Many pin the crisis on police corruption and the U.S.’s failed antidrug policies.

INDONESIA

‘She had better not dare spread her satanic faith in this country.’

SALIM ALATAS, leader of a hard-line Islamist group, protesting Lady Gaga’s upcoming concert in Jakarta; police denied the pop star a crucial permit, which may force organizers to cancel the show

E-Music Moguls

3 | CHINA

Even though most of its people don’t use the Web–let alone access iTunes–roughly 74% of China’s music sales are digital. Why? “There’s no major physical competition,” says Robert Andrews of PaidContent.org which released the report. Here’s how China and other top sellers fare.

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine.]

Grief of a Nation

4 | SYRIA

Relatives and friends gather around the body of a Syrian man allegedly slain by a government sniper in the village of al-Qusayr. Despite the presence of U.N. monitors, clashes between rebels and the forces of President Bashar Assad have intensified in recent weeks. Suspected jihadists detonated bombs in Damascus, injuring dozens, and Assad loyalists reportedly gunned down 20 mourners at a funeral in the north.

Trial and Trauma

5 | BOSNIA

The trial of notorious Bosnian-Serb warlord Ratko Mladic began at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Mladic, captured last May while living in obscurity in a small Serbian village, faces charges including genocide and ethnic cleansing during the brutal 1990s Balkan wars. His most infamous deed: spearheading the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which his fighters killed some 8,000 Muslim men and boys–the biggest such atrocity in Europe since World War II. The legacy of that slaughter, as well as Mladic’s devastating 43-month-long siege of Sarajevo, remains an open wound in the fledgling, ethnically fractious Bosnian state.

U.K.

$9.7 MILLION

Price of the Beau Sancy, one of the world’s oldest and most famous diamonds, which was recently sold at auction. The 35-carat gem was once pawned to finance Charles II’s fight for the English throne; later it crowned the first King of Prussia

Merkel’s Future Looks Murky

6 | GERMANY

The center-right Christian Democrats–the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel–lost considerable ground during recent elections in North Rhine–Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. In keeping with European political trends, voters chose the populist promises of the left-wing parties over appeals to fiscal discipline and a broader commitment to the European Union. Also troubling for Merkel: the new, renegade Pirate Party, which advocates transparency and Internet freedom, captured seats in a fourth successive German state assembly–a sure sign the political tides are changing.