1 | Washington
ACORN Falls from Favor
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has drawn conservatives' ire ever since allegations of voter-registration fraud dogged the group in the 2008 election. So when an activist posing as an aspiring politician taped ACORN workers advising him on how to launder money from a brothel to fund his campaign, the knives came out. The scandal--along with recent charges that Florida staffers had falsified voter forms--has been a blow to the group, which works on behalf of low- and middle-income families. The U.S. Census Bureau dropped ACORN as a partner in the 2010 population count, and the Senate voted to strip it of $1.6 million in grants. ACORN said it will stop advising new clients pending an independent review.
2 | Somalia
Mission Accomplished
A raid by U.S. special forces has taken out a man believed to be one of al-Qaeda's top operatives in East Africa. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a 28-year-old Kenyan, was killed along with several others when helicopter gunships fired on his convoy in southern Somalia. A member of the nation's al-Shabaab insurgency, Nabhan was linked to the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and was wanted for a 2002 attack on a seaside hotel in Kenya and a failed plot to blow up an Israeli airliner. Somali militants have vowed retaliation for his death.
3 | Germany
Far Away, a Place like Home
European astronomers hailed a landmark discovery: a planet outside our solar system that's solid and rocky like Earth. After months of observation, scientists confirmed Corot-7b is not a giant gas ball like Jupiter--a finding that heartened experts who believe potential alien life would require a firm surface. The planet, some 500 light-years away, is similar in size to Earth. One key difference: Corot-7b's proximity to its sun raises its daytime surface temperature to a balmy 3600°F.
4 | Afghanistan
More Rights for Detainees
For the first time, some 600 prisoners held at Afghanistan's Bagram air base will be able to challenge their indefinite detention before a military review board. The change comes after months of protests within the prison's walls over a string of reported abuses--including the 2002 deaths of two inmates at the hands of U.S. troops. The International Red Cross praised the policy change, although other human-rights advocates argued that the new guidelines do not go far enough. Detainees are currently not allowed to meet with lawyers or have access to the charges against them. Under the new rules, a military official will be assigned to examine the evidence in each case every six months.
5 | Indonesia
Legal Stoning
Just weeks before moderate lawmakers take over Indonesia's conservative Aceh province, hard-line legislators have pushed through a number of Shari'a-inspired punishments--such as whippings for homosexuality, public lashings for pedophilia and rape, and death by stoning for adultery. Critics say the laws violate international treaties, but overturning them could prove difficult: while some officials voiced concerns, no one voted against the measures.
6 | Caracas
Nuclear Boost