Moscow
‘Putin is a thief’: At least 100,000 people marched in the Moscow rain this week to protest the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Vladimir Putin. Since Putin’s May inauguration, when a mass of demonstrators claimed he had stolen the election, Putin has been cracking down on protest. Last week, the Duma raised fines for unauthorized demonstrations to about the average annual salary. This week, masked police burst into the homes of seven top opposition leaders, confiscating computers and cellphones and ordering them in for questioning. “It’s obvious they are as frightened of us as they are of fire,” opposition leader Boris Nemtsov told the rally. “They are scared of the people’s protest.”
Damascus, Syria
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Civil war: Syria is now in a “large-scale” civil war, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said this week, as reports mounted that both sides were arming. Hervé Ladsous said the U.N. peacekeeping force of 300 monitors had “definitely no peace to observe.” Russia, a key supporter of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, sent a new shipment of attack helicopters that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said would “escalate the conflict quite dramatically.” She dismissed as “patently untrue” Russia’s assurances that all supplies were unrelated to the brutal, bloody crackdown on the yearlong uprising. Opposition forces, meanwhile, have been getting anti-tank missiles from Turkey, as well as financial support from some Arab countries.
Baghdad
Shiites slaughtered: More than 70 people were killed during a Shiite religious festival this week when insurgent bombers struck worshippers at four locations across Baghdad. “A group of pilgrims were walking and passed by a tent offering food and drinks when suddenly a car exploded near them,” said Wathiq Muhana, a policeman. “People were running away covered with blood, and bodies were scattered on the ground.” It was the latest in a series of bombings targeting Shiites since U.S. troops left Iraq last December. Another attack in the Shiite city of Hilla killed 22 people outside a restaurant frequented by police.
Sittwe, Myanmar
Buddhists vs. Muslims: Ethnic and religious clashes killed at least 25 people and sent thousands fleeing their homes in western Myanmar this week. The violence began after an ethnic Rakhine Buddhist girl was raped and murdered, allegedly by three Rohingya Muslims. A Rakhine mob lynched 10 Rohingyas in retaliation, and then mobs on both sides began burning each other’s houses. Myanmar, a predominately Buddhist country, has a history of discrimination against many of its more than 100 minority ethnic and religious groups. The Rohingyas, who also live in neighboring Bangladesh and speak a Bengali dialect, are the worst off, as the government does not even recognize them as citizens.
Darwin, Australia
Vindicated: After 32 years, Australian authorities have finally conceded that Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton’s tale was true: A dingo took her baby. The 1980 disappearance of 9-week-old Azaria Chamberlain from a campsite near Ayers Rock riveted the nation. Few believed that a dingo would attack a human. Chamberlain-Creighton was sentenced to life in prison for murder, and her then husband, Michael Chamberlain, was named an accessory. The convictions were overturned in 1988, after the baby’s jacket was found near a dingo den. In later years, several dingo attacks on children were recorded, but it wasn’t until this week that the government ruled the baby’s death a dingo killing. “We’re relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga,” said Chamberlain-Creighton. Some of the many people who pilloried her in the press for years have apologized.
Southern Somalia
Camels for Obama: Islamist militants in Somalia are offering a tongue-in-cheek reward for information on the whereabouts of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Al-Shabab, an Islamist group linked to al Qaida, made the offer after the U.S. announced bounties of up to $7 million for al-Shabab commanders. “Whoever reveals the hideout of the idiot Obama will be rewarded with 10 camels, and whoever reveals the hideout of the old woman Hillary Clinton will be rewarded with 10 chickens and 10 roosters,” said senior al-Shabab official Fuad Muhammad Khalaf. The group controls much of Somalia but is under growing pressure from African Union and Ethiopian troops.
Nikumaroro, Kiribati
Seeking Earhart: Researchers are heading to the Pacific island of Nikumaroro in the hope of finding definitive proof that Amelia Earhart’s storied life ended there. Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, disappeared in 1937 during the last stage of a round-the-world flight. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery believes she and her navigator crashed near Nikumaroro and managed to survive on the island for some time. In nearly a dozen trips over the past two decades, the researchers have found tantalizing clues, including a 1930s-era jar of anti-freckle cream; Earhart hated her freckles. They also found charred bones of birds cooked over a campfire, in an area of the island thought to have been uninhabited at the time. The current expedition will use special sonar equipment to search a craggy offshore reef. “This time, we’ll be searching for debris from the aircraft,” said TIGHAR founder Richard Gillespie.
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