Ayodhya, India
Holy site partitioned: India’s Supreme Court ruled last week that Hindus and Muslims must share the disputed holy site in Ayodhya, a decision both sides plan to appeal. Conflict over the site sparked deadly riots in 1992, when Hindu extremists tore down a 16th-century mosque built on a site that Hindus claim as the birthplace of the god Ram. Indian leaders, fearing violence would again break out after the verdict, deployed some 200,000 police across Uttar Pradesh province. But there were no riots. “India has moved on, young people have moved on,” said Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. Hindus have been given control of two-thirds of the site, Muslims one-third.
Delhi
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Lame Games: India drew international jeers this week for its bumbling Commonwealth Games. Since no ticket booths had been erected, the stands remained largely empty for the first few days of competition. Bureaucratic mix-ups prevented athletes from checking in to their quarters; when they finally did, many found the rooms filthy. The collapse of a pedestrian bridge at one stadium prompted some athletes to depart for home, fearing for their safety. Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organizing committee, was booed at the opening ceremony. He then proceeded to refer to Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles, as “Princess Diana.” The Games are held every four years for the 71 countries and territories in the British Commonwealth.
Torkham, Pakistan
NATO tankers attacked: The Pakistani Taliban this week blew up dozens of oil tanker trucks carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Tankers have been sitting ducks since the Pakistanis shut the Khyber Pass border crossing last week to protest NATO airstrikes in Pakistan that killed three Pakistani soldiers. The mishap has sparked an angry backlash against NATO among Pakistani politicians and media. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen apologized this week for the deaths and asked Pakistan to reopen the border crossing “as soon as possible.” The Foreign Ministry said it would comply “after public anger over the NATO strikes eases.”
Tehran
‘Spies’ captured: Iran said this week that it has arrested an unspecified number of “nuclear spies” involved in a Western plot to spread a notorious computer worm. The Stuxnet worm has infected 30,000 industrial computers across Iran, and some analysts speculate the target is a centrifuge plant in Natanz, where uranium is being enriched. “Western states are trying to stop Iran’s nuclear activities by embarking on psychological warfare,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast. But he said they had not succeeded. While some computers used by workers at the Bushehr nuclear power plant were infected, he said, delays at the plant were caused not by the worm but by a minor containment leak.
Tel Aviv, Israel
Nobel laureate booted: Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, defying a 10-year ban on entering Israel, was expelled after arriving at the airport in Tel Aviv last week. Maguire was banned four months ago after she accompanied a Turkish aid flotilla that tried to break Israel’s Gaza blockade. Israeli commandos boarded the flotilla ships and killed nine pro-Palestinian activists. Maguire, 66, won the Nobel in 1976 for her work in Northern Ireland; since then she has become an outspoken critic of Israel, which she calls an “apartheid state.” She had flown to Israel to attend a meeting of peace activists.
Abuja, Nigeria
Guerrilla leader nabbed: The exiled leader of a Niger Delta guerrilla group has been arrested and charged with organizing a car bombing that killed 12 people in Abuja last week. Henry Okah, who commands a splinter faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, was arrested by South African police in Johannesburg. Unlike most members of MEND, which has waged a violent campaign for local control of oil profits, Okah did not accept a government amnesty last year. The car bombing, during a celebration of 50 years of independence from Britain, was the first attack by Nigerian militants in the capital.
