Moscow
Islamist death threat: In a chilling 12-minute video posted last weekend on a rebel website, Russia’s most wanted Islamist militant vowed to make 2011 “a year of blood and tears” for Russians. Doku Umarov, the self-styled leader of the “Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus,” said terrorist attacks aimed at securing independence for the region were a legitimate response to the “lawlessness” of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his “pack of dogs.” Russian authorities are often criticized by human-rights groups for employing brutal tactics against separatists. In the undated video, Umarov is flanked by two men, one of whom, he says, is embarking on a “special operation” to Moscow. Russian intelligence sources identified the man as Magomed Yevloyev, the prime suspect in last month’s suicide bombing at a Moscow airport, which killed 36 people.
Osaka, Japan
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Sumo scandal: Japan’s prime minister called a sumo-match-fixing scandal a “betrayal of the people” this week as the 2,000-year-old sport struggled to stem mounting damage. Sumo has been consumed by scandal in recent years, including allegations of drugs, fighting in nightclubs, and violent bullying of apprentices. The latest disgrace follows a police investigation into sumo wrestlers who gambled illegally on other sports. Evidence obtained in that investigation indicated that sumo matches had frequently been fixed. Three wrestlers have admitted throwing matches, and 11 more are implicated. The allegations have led to the cancellation of the 15-day grand tournament that was due to take place in Osaka next month—the first such cancellation since 1946.
Kabul
Christian convert under death threat: A Christian who was arrested nine months ago told The New York Times this week that he was beaten and raped in jail and remains under a prospective death sentence in accord with fundamentalist sharia law. Sayed Mussa, 46, hasn’t seen his wife and six children since they fled Afghanistan, fearing for their lives, some months ago. Though Afghanistan’s 2004 constitution guarantees the free exercise of faith, under some interpretations of sharia, leaving Islam is punishable by death. Mussa was arrested after a television broadcast on Christian converts stoked the anger and fear of fundamentalist Muslims; U.S. officials have been unable to secure his release. He says he wants to be freed or tried. “Staying here,” he said of jail, “is like dying every minute.”
Tehran
U.S. hikers’ trial begins: The trial began this week of three young Americans accused of spying by Iran after they strayed across Iran’s border in 2009. At a closed hearing, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer pleaded not guilty to espionage and trespassing, according to Iranian state media. Bauer’s fiancée, Sarah Shourd, who was released on $500,000 bail on medical grounds in September, has not returned to face trial. Observers, including the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, were barred from the proceedings. The defendants’ lawyer did not see them before the hearing. Espionage is punishable by death in Iran, although President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged the court to dispense “maximum leniency” in the case. The U.S. has called on Iran to release the hikers.
Baghdad
Al-Maliki won’t run again: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said last week that he would not seek reelection after his current term expires, in 2014. Only a day before, al-Maliki, who is permitted to be reelected under the Iraqi constitution, said he would halve his government pay, which is believed to be more than $300,000 a year. Fatah al-Sheikh, a member of the Iraqiya political bloc, a rival to al-Maliki’s party, said al-Maliki was responding to protests sweeping Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Jordan. Al-Maliki “saw what is going on in the Arab streets, and he knows the Iraqi street is not satisfied with what he has given them,” al-Sheikh said. A spokesman for the prime minister said the protests hadn’t influenced al-Maliki. “What the prime minister has done is about the democratic process,” he said.
Baghdad
Hussein monument restored: Without fanfare—or even acknowledgement—an enormous martial statue erected by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is being restored. The work, one of the largest public monuments ever built, is known as the Victory Arch. It depicts giant crossed swords gripped by hands modeled on Hussein’s. At its 1989 dedication, Hussein rode a white horse beneath the swords, which reputedly had been forged from weapons of Iraqi soldiers who had died fighting Iran. In interviews with The New York Times, several Iraqi lawmakers were dismayed to hear that the Victory Arch, which was partially dismantled in 2007, was being refurbished. Others, however, were pleased. “I am glad it is being restored,” said Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi-born architect in Cambridge, Mass. “It is vulgar, but vulgar in an unspeakably horrible, terrible—and therefore unique—way.”
Malakal, Sudan
U.N. patrols after deadly clash: United Nations peacekeepers in armored personnel carriers this week moved into the region where troops from North and South Sudan battled after South Sudan’s vote to secede and declare independence. More than 50 soldiers were killed and 85 wounded in the fight last week. South Sudan’s independence referendum in January concluded two decades of civil war that left 2 million dead and millions more displaced. But tensions remain high. A gunman walked past minimal security this week and shot South Sudan’s rural development minister, Jimmy Lemi Milla, and a bodyguard in Milla’s government office. The killing may not have been politically motivated, but an army spokesman acknowledged that the violence was “not a good sign” of security. South Sudan is scheduled to become officially independent on July 9.
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