The week at a glance ... International

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

Out of my way: Moscow drivers have had enough of “blue lights”—the cars that sport rooftop flashing lights that allow their drivers to break traffic laws. Just like police cars or ambulances, blue-light cars may go the wrong way on one-way streets, ignore speed limits, and run red lights. Technically, only a few hundred officials are authorized to have the blue lights, but thousands of wealthy businessmen somehow have obtained them. Now, a citizens’ group called the Committee to Protect Drivers’ Rights is urging all drivers to attach blue plastic buckets to their car roofs to simulate the lights. “We want to make laughingstocks out of the people who use blue lights,” said committee head Alexei Dozorov.

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Wave of bombings: Iraqi officials blamed the Sunni insurgent group al Qaida in Iraq for a series of apparently coordinated attacks across the country this week that killed more than 100 people and wounded hundreds more in a single day. Many of the roadside bombings, car bombs, and shootings in nine cities targeted security forces. The attacks came as the nation still awaits conclusive results from the March elections. The Shiite coalition of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is two seats behind the largely secular Iraqiya bloc, but that could change after a recount of Baghdad votes is complete. Shiite politicians said the attacks were intended to discredit the government’s security forces. “They want to inflame sectarian violence again,” said Shiite politician Ali al-Allaq.

Canadian freed: A Canadian woman held against her will in Saudi Arabia by her Indian father for nearly three years finally left the country this week. In 2007, when Nazia Quazi visited her father, who works in Riyadh, he confiscated her passport because he disapproved of her fiancé. Under Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system, Quazi couldn’t leave her father’s house without his consent. She appealed to the Canadian Embassy, but it took consular officials until now to persuade her father to let her go. “Women have rights in Islam,” said Shahla Khan Salter, head of Muslims for Progressive Values Ottawa. “Those rights are being abrogated and taken away by a very narrow reading of the scriptures.”

Hangman shortage: India will bring an executioner out of retirement to hang the only Mumbai attacker who was captured alive. Ajmal Amir Kasab, 22, was sentenced to death by hanging last week for participating in the 2008 slaughter of at least 173 people at hotels, hospitals, and other locations in India’s largest city. But because India does not have a single working hangman, officials were not sure how or when the sentence would be carried out. Few people want to learn the profession, which demands skill but pays less than $5 per hanging. But this week, at least one retired hangman offered to do the deed. “It’s about the satisfaction I will get from hanging a terrorist like Kasab,” said Mammu Singh.

Dynasties triumph: Benigno Aquino III won the Philippines’ presidential election this week in a landslide, a comeback for the Aquino dynasty. Known as Noynoy, Aquino owes much of his popularity to fond memories of his mother, Corazon Aquino, who was president from 1986 to 1992 and died last August. She got her start in politics after the death of her husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., who was assassinated in 1983 when he returned from exile to lead opposition to dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Meanwhile, the Marcos dynasty also did well in the elections. Marcos’ elderly widow, Imelda—famous the world over for her thousands of shoes—won a congressional seat, while their daughter won a governorship and their son captured a senate seat.

‘Death to gays’ bill to be scrapped: After a global outcry, Ugandan lawmakers have recommended dropping a bill that would have punished homosexual behavior with death. A commission created by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ruled this week that just about every clause of the bill was unconstitutional. The measure would also have required Ugandans to report anybody they suspected of being gay. It was backed by Ugandan evangelical churches, some of which have been supported and partially financed by U.S. churches.

Boy survives crash: A 10-year-old Dutch boy was the sole survivor when an Afriqiyah Airways plane crashed in Tripoli this week, claiming the lives of 103 passengers and crew. The Airbus 330, which had originated in South Africa and was headed to London, was attempting to land for a stopover in the Libyan capital when it crashed just short of the runway, leaving a field of debris. The cause of the crash was unknown, but Libyan authorities said they did not suspect terrorism. The president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, said the survival of the boy, who was hospitalized in good condition, was “truly a miracle.” The crash is the second-worst involving an Airbus 330, after the Air France crash off the Brazilian coast last year that killed all 228 people on board.