Moscow
Protest camp busted: Riot police broke up an anti-Putin occupation of a Moscow park this week after some 15,000 people marched in support of it. The “Occupy Abay” camp, modeled on the U.S. “Occupy” movement and named for a poet whose statue graces the park, has been the center of protest since Vladimir Putin was inaugurated for a third presidential term this month. The occupiers were demanding a rerun of the election, which they say was rigged. Protesters had no permit for their mass march last weekend, but they skirted the law by keeping silent and carrying no banners, so there was no outward sign that they were anything but a huge crowd.
Tehran
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Oil sanctions bite: Iran’s oil depots are overflowing and its oil-laden tankers aimlessly roaming the seas as Western sanctions hamper its ability to find buyers. The sales ban, coupled with strict international banking sanctions, has slammed Iran’s economy. The rial has plummeted and inflation is skyrocketing, with consumers saying many goods have doubled or tripled in price. Unemployment among young people is up, and so are drug use and crime. “There is significant economic hardship that is hitting the lower rung of society and the Iranian middle class,” said Vali Nasr, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University.
Mount Salak, Indonesia
Russian jet wreckage found: Indonesian officials have found the black box of a new Russian jet that crashed into a mountain near Jakarta last week. All 45 people on board, mostly reporters and airline officials, were killed during the Superjet 100 exhibition flight. The crash appears to have been due to human error. Pilot Alexander Yablontsev radioed for permission to descend a half mile—rather than ascend, as is usual—to avoid bad weather, and air safety experts said he may have been showing off. Russian officials were hoping the Superjet 100 would restore credibility to their beleaguered air industry, which had the world’s worst safety record last year.
Melbourne
Olympian in mankini: After losing an ill-considered bet, Olympian Russell Mark may be carrying the Australian flag at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics this summer clad in a lime-green “mankini.” The 48-year-old trap shooter, who won a gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Games and a silver medal in Sydney four years later, promised to parade in public wearing a version of the over-the-shoulder, thong-style swimsuit made notorious in the movie Borat if his favorite Australian football team, Carlton, lost to underdogs St. Kilda. They lost by four points. “Oh, I must’ve been intoxicated,” he said. “Carlton promise so much and just deliver so little. It kills me.”
Haradhere, Somalia
EU bombs pirates: In a new tactic, European Union naval forces have made a bombing raid on a suspected pirate lair in Somalia. Attack helicopters based on ships struck a supply center near the town of Haradhere, long thought to be a pirate base. The EU has been frustrated in its attempts to control piracy at sea, with just nine ships and five patrol aircraft covering an area about one and a half times the size of Western Europe. Suspected Somali pirates hold at least 300 crew members and 15 vessels, including an oil tanker captured just last week.
Kampala, Uganda
Kony aide caught: Caesar Acellam, a top general of fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, was in the custody this week of Ugandan authorities, who said they would consider giving him amnesty in return for information on Kony’s movements. Acellam’s support for negotiating with the Ugandan government was believed to have led to a falling-out with Kony. Victims’ advocates and the U.N. want Acellam prosecuted for war crimes, including kidnapping children for use as soldiers or sex slaves. “I am encouraged by the capture of one of the worst perpetrators of child-rights violations,” said U.N. children’s welfare official Radhika Coomaraswamy, “and hope that the Ugandan authorities would not apply amnesty but instead bring him to justice.”
