Moscow
Is Snowden stuck? Fugitive NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden remained holed up in Moscow’s airport this week after bolting from Hong Kong. The open-government group WikiLeaks said one of its lawyers was with him. The U.S. asked Russia to extradite Snowden, who has been charged with treason for leaking details of a vast U.S. surveillance program. But Russia and the U.S. have no extradition treaty, and President Vladimir Putin said that since Snowden was in the airport’s transit lounge, rather than on Russian territory proper, he wasn’t Russia’s concern. “I prefer not to deal with these issues,” he said. “It’s like shearing a baby pig; there’s a lot of squealing but not a lot of wool.” Ecuador, meanwhile, said it had received Snowden’s asylum request and would take “a few months” to consider it.
Nanga Parbat, Pakistan
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Taliban kills climbers: The Pakistani Taliban has killed nine foreign climbers—including one American—and a local guide at a Himalayan base camp in Pakistan. Militants stormed into a hotel at the camp, held the staff hostage, and gunned down the entire climbing party as they slept. A Taliban spokesman said the attack was in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike last month that killed Waliur Rehman, the group’s second-in-command. “Through this killing we gave a message to the international community to ask the U.S. to stop drone strikes,” the group said. The attack is expected to further hurt Pakistan’s already suffering tourism industry. Nanga Parbat is the world’s ninth-tallest mountain.
Qatar
Emir abdicates: Qatar’s dynamic leader, who propelled the tiny oil and gas state to a position of great influence in the Arab world, has ceded power to his son. Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, 61, has named his fourth son, Sheik Tamim, 33, emir in his place. Over his 18 years in power, Sheik Hamad grew the economy from $8 billion to $174 billion by developing natural gas production; his citizens now have a per capita income of more than $100,000. He also secured his country as the home of the region’s biggest U.S. military base and started the Arab world’s most influential satellite channel, Al Jazeera. In recent years, he has been a vocal and financial supporter of the Arab Spring revolutions and has promised parliamentary elections in Qatar by the end of the year.
Damascus, Syria
U.S. already helping: U.S. special operations troops and CIA agents have been secretly training Syrian rebels for months, the Los Angeles Times reported. Sources said rebels have been visiting U.S. bases in Jordan and Turkey in small groups since November, to get trained in using anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry. “Those from the CIA, we would sit and talk with them during breaks from training and afterward, they would try to get information on the situation inside Syria,” said one rebel commander. The White House refused to confirm the story, but did say the U.S. was providing “substantial assistance” to the rebels.
Luxor, Egypt
Hard-liner quits: Egyptian protesters scored a win this week, forcing the resignation of the hard-line Islamist governor of Luxor. Adel el-Khayat is a member of Gamaa al-Islamiya, an Islamist group that massacred dozens of tourists in Luxor in 1997. His appointment last week by President Mohammed Mursi sparked violent demonstrations, and the tourism minister resigned in protest. Khayat was taken aback by the opposition and quickly stepped down. “We will not accept that one drop of blood be spilled because of a position that I did not personally aspire to at any time,” he said. Luxor, home to 3,500-year-old temples, pharaohs’ tombs, and monuments, is dependent on tourism, and locals feared a hard-line governor would ban the mixing of the sexes and the sale of alcohol.
Canberra, Australia
Female PM ousted: Kevin Rudd returned as Australian prime minister this week, ousting Julia Gillard in a party vote similar to the one in which she toppled him three years ago. Reinstating Rudd as prime minister is Labor’s attempt to woo back voters, as polls suggest the party will lose badly in the September election. Gillard, Australia’s first female prime minister, faced intense opposition throughout her tenure, but pushed through several social reforms, including greater funding for education and health care for the disabled. But her introduction of a carbon tax hurt her with voters. Gillard said she was quitting politics but was proud of her legacy. “It will be easier for the next woman,” she said, “and the woman after that and the woman after that.”
