The week at a glance...International

Tunis, Tunisia

Opposition leader slain: The assassination of Tunisia’s main opposition leader ignited a wave of anger against the ruling Islamists in the country that started the Arab Spring. Chokri Belaid, leader of a coalition of leftist parties and a vocal critic of the Islamist government, was shot dead outside his home. The ruling Ennahda party immediately denounced the killing as an act of terrorism by those who want to undermine the revolution. “They want a bloodbath, but they won’t succeed,” said Ennahda head Rached Ghannouchi. But demonstrators set Ennahda offices on fire in several cities, and protesters massed in Sidi Bouzid, the city where the self-immolation of a protester in 2010 led to the overthrow of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the first Arab dictator to fall in the Arab Spring.

Cairo

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Closer to Iran: In a step toward a historic reconciliation, the Iranian president has visited Egypt for the first time in decades. The two countries haven’t had diplomatic relations since 1979, when Iran underwent its Islamic Revolution and Egypt made peace with Israel. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for a strategic alliance and said he could “offer a big credit line to the Egyptian brothers.” The Egyptians downplayed the significance of the visit, saying Ahmadinejad was present primarily for a summit of Islamic nations rather than bilateral talks. At one event, clerics accused Iran of interfering in Arab countries, and a Syrian protester threw a shoe at Ahmadinejad.

Mogadishu, Somalia

Jailed after rape: A Somali court has jailed a woman for one year for reporting that security officials raped her. A journalist who interviewed her was also given a year in prison, even though he never published the story. The woman reported the rape, which allegedly occurred in August, last month and was promptly arrested for “offending state institutions.” Neither the woman nor the journalist was allowed to call witnesses. Al Jazeera and Somali television have recently carried reports on a rise in rapes in Mogadishu carried out by men in police uniforms. The conviction of the journalist seems to be an attempt to quash such reporting.

Damascus, Syria

Fury over Israeli strikes: Syria accused Israel of trying to destabilize it after a series of Israeli airstrikes last week. U.S. officials said the strikes destroyed a convoy of weapons bound for Israel’s sworn enemy Hezbollah in Lebanon, while Syria said they also damaged a “scientific research center”—believed by independent analysts to be the country’s main lab working on biological and chemical weapons. “This aggression exposes the real role being undertaken by Israel in collaboration with hostile external powers and their tools on the Syrian land,” said President Bashar al-Assad. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak didn’t exactly admit responsibility but said, “We don’t think that it should be allowable to bring advanced weapon systems into Lebanon.”

Gannan, China

Stop the burnings: Chinese courts have convicted eight Tibetans for encouraging self-immolation protests against Beijing’s rule over Tibet. One of the eight, a monk, was given a suspended death sentence, while the others got long prison terms. Nearly 100 Tibetan monks, nuns, and laypeople have set themselves on fire since 2009 to protest the lack of religious freedom. “The Chinese government appears to be expending considerable resources on prosecuting and criminalizing immolations,” said Sophie Richardson, China director for Human Rights Watch, “but not on understanding or ameliorating the concerns that appear to be driving them.”

Pyongyang, North Korea

Video game propaganda: North Korea’s latest propaganda onslaught against the U.S. was a video of Manhattan under attack that was lifted out of the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The video showed a man dreaming of the great advances North Korea’s rocket program will someday make. It ended with firebombs raining down on New York to the strains of a Muzak version of the anti-hunger ballad “We Are the World,” as the narrator said, “The headquarters of evil, which has had a habit of using force and unilateralism and committing wars of aggression, is going up in flames it itself has ignited.” YouTube removed the video after game-maker Activision complained of copyright infringement.