Penza, Russia
Cult holdouts are out of their hole: The last nine members of a doomsday cult that had been hiding in a cave awaiting the end of the world emerged this week after six months. Back in November, 35 men and women retreated into the hideout and threatened to blow themselves up if authorities attempted to remove them. Most abandoned their vigil in March and April, but the last holdouts didn’t give up until two of them died. “We could smell the stench through the ventilation holes,” said a local official. “As we pulled out the dead bodies, we suggested the others leave. They agreed.” The leader of the cult, known as Father Pyotr, was hospitalized last month after beating himself over the head with a wooden stick in an apparent suicide attempt.
Baghdad
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Furor over Koran shooting: Top U.S. officials in Iraq apologized this week after a soldier used a Koran for target practice. Iraqi police discovered the desecrated holy book earlier this month in the town of Radwaniya, near Baghdad. “In the most humble manner, I look in your eyes today and I say, Please forgive me and my soldiers,” Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond told Iraqi leaders. Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said an apology was insufficient, and that the unidentified soldier must face “the most severe punishment.” The Army said the soldier had been disciplined and removed from Iraq.
Singapore
Myanmar bends on aid: Under intense international pressure, Myanmar this week agreed to allow a limited number of foreign aid workers to help victims of the massive cyclone that struck earlier this month. At an emergency meeting in Singapore of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, representatives of Myanmar’s military junta said teams from the region could begin to visit certain areas of the country. Relief officials said Myanmar had accepted only 20 percent of the aid its people needs, and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned that if the junta failed to open its doors, it would be guilty of “crimes against humanity.” At least 130,000 people are dead or missing and 2.5 million are in desperate need of help.
Canberra, Australia
Killing kangaroos: The Australian government this week began killing 400 kangaroos in a population-control effort that generated a storm of protest. Arguing that hundreds of the animals would starve to death this winter if they were not humanely culled, authorities herded kangaroos into an abandoned military base, shot them with tranquilizer darts, and administered lethal injections. Protesters said the kangaroos should have been relocated to a more hospitable locale—a plan the government said would have cost more than $3 million. “You don’t see Americans killing the bald eagle, or the Chinese slaughtering the panda, or New Zealanders butchering the kiwi,” said a spokesman for the group Animal Liberation ACT. “We are the only country that kills our national emblem.”
Johannesburg
Mobs target immigrants: Hundreds of poor black South Africans turned on their even poorer immigrant neighbors last week, killing at least 22 people and driving many more from their homes. Shouting “Who are you? Where are you from?” the mobs shot, stabbed, beat, and burned their victims to death. Immigrants, mostly from Zimbabwe, have become scapegoats for South Africa’s 23 percent unemployment rate and skyrocketing food prices, because locals see them as competition for scarce resources. Police arrested more than 200 people but have been unable to quell the violence. “We should be the last people to have this problem of having a negative attitude toward our brothers and sisters who come from outside,” said Jacob Zuma, president of the African National Congress.
Harare, Zimbabwe
Assassination plot? The government of embattled President Robert Mugabe this week denied charges that it was plotting to assassinate the main opposition leader. The accusation was made by supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai, who abruptly canceled plans to return to Zimbabwe from South Africa to compete in a runoff election. Tsvangirai’s aides said he’d been on his way to the airport in Johannesburg when he received information that Mugabe’s military had arranged for 18 snipers to gun him down. “We cannot understand how we can even begin to consider an election at this stage,” said a spokesman for Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai has survived three assassination attempts, including a bid to throw him from a 10th-floor window. The runoff election remains scheduled for June 27.
