The world at a glance . . . International

Tbilisi, Georgia

Attempted coup? The Georgian army has put down a mutiny that government officials claim was part of an attempted coup funded by Russia. Georgian forces surrounded the base where a tank battalion mutinied, and officials arrested a former special forces commander. Suspicions about Russian involvement were heightened because Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said just last week that NATO exercises in Georgia, which began this week, were “an open provocation” that would bring “negative consequences.” Still, the Georgian Interior Ministry acknowledged that other than the timing, it had no concrete evidence connecting Russia to the mutiny. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war last summer over a breakaway Georgian province.

Bilge, Turkey

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Blood feud massacre: At least 44 people, including six children, were slaughtered this week during an engagement ceremony in southeastern Turkey. Police believe the attack was part of a blood feud. An eyewitness said masked attackers burst into the house where the party was taking place, forced members of the bride’s and groom’s families into one room, and opened fire with machine guns and grenades. Eight people, all from the same village as the victims, were arrested. The attackers reportedly wanted the girl married to one of them, as payment for the alleged rape of one of their women. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Turkish villagers to put an end to such feuding. “No kind of tradition can justify this killing,” he said. “No conscience can justify this kind of pain.”

Kathmandu, Nepal

Maoist resigns: Nepal’s first Maoist prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, resigned this week, raising fears that the peace agreement that ended a bloody Maoist insurgency could collapse. Prachanda had tried to fire the army chief for refusing to integrate former Maoist rebels into the army, but President Ram Baran Yadav overruled him, a move Prachanda called “unconstitutional and undemocratic.” Supporters of the president released a video, taken just after the 2006 peace pact, showing Prachanda telling his guerrillas that he planned to take over the army and complete the Maoist revolution once he was in government. Prachanda insisted this week that he would not restart the war. “I remain committed to the ongoing peace process,” he said.

Baghdad

Shiites target Sunnis: Iraqi forces arrested a commander of the Sunni Awakening Councils this week as part of a crackdown against the U.S.-allied militias. The councils are made up of former Sunni insurgents who teamed up with U.S. forces to fight al Qaida in Iraq. Under the deal with the U.S., they were supposed to be immune from prosecution for their earlier insurgent activities. But the Iraqi government, which now has authority over the Sunni militias, has not been honoring that deal. “We don’t have a real government, we just have political parties,” said Raad Ali, an Awakenings leader. “The truth is, they are trying to destroy us.”

Jerusalem

Netanyahu talks peace: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached out to Palestinians this week, offering to “resume peace negotiations without any delay, without any preconditions.” Speaking by satellite from Israel to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference, Netanyahu said he wanted to talk to the Palestinians “the sooner the better.” The suggestion appeared to be a reversal for the hawkish Netanyahu, but Palestinian officials were skeptical. They said the stipulation of no preconditions could mean that Israel intended to renege on concessions it had made under the previous administration of Ehud Olmert. And they noted that Netanyahu remains opposed to Palestinian statehood. “Netanyahu is only playing with words,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Nairobi, Kenya

Protestors withhold sex: Hundreds of Kenyan women abstained from sex for a week to protest the bickering of their nation’s political leaders. President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, political rivals who both claimed to have won last year’s presidential election, have been feuding since they formed a coalition government to end post-election violence. Odinga’s wife, Ida, said she supported the campaign to withhold sex, which was organized by an umbrella group of Kenyan women’s organizations. “I will not get into what my husband thinks,” she said, “but I hope the publicity from this campaign will raise awareness on those issues.”