Islamabad, Pakistan
Cricket, Islamic-style: Islamabad’s Islamic seminaries held their first cricket tournament last week in an effort to portray the schools as part of mainstream Pakistani life. Since madrasa students are taught to wear robes and reject worldly pursuits such as sports, letting them play cricket in a formal tournament, dressed in white uniforms, is seen as revolutionary. Still, in a nod to piety, spectators were forbidden to clap when goals were scored, and no cheering—except for Islamic slogans—was allowed. Madrasas have a reputation as incubators of Islamic extremism. Last year, the Lal Masjid mosque in the capital was taken over by militant madrasa students who kidnapped and beat local residents.
Tehran
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Nuclear program proceeding: Iran said this week it is tripling its capacity to enrich uranium, in direct violation of the U.N. Security Council. In a speech on Iran’s “National Nuclear Day,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said workers had begun installing 6,000 centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment complex. The facility already has 3,000 working centrifuges. Western countries condemned the escalation. “Today’s announcement reflects the Iranian leadership’s continuing violation of international obligations and refusal to address international concerns,” said Greg Schulte, U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran says it plans to use enriched uranium to generate electricity; most of the rest of the world fears it intends to make a bomb.
Nairobi, Kenya
Peace plan falls apart: Riots broke out in Kenya this week after the opposition pulled out of political talks with the government of President Mwai Kibaki. A spokesman for opposition leader Raila Odinga said his party was frustrated with Kibaki’s failure to make good on his promise to give the opposition key Cabinet positions. The tw Keo factions signed a power-sharing agreement in February, ending weeks of bloodshed by tribes clashing over a disputed presidential election, which both men claimed to have won. News of the stalled talks sparked rioting in a Nairobi slum, where residents burned tires and threw rocks at police, shouting, “No Cabinet, no peace!”
Delhi
New Deal for poor: India has expanded an ambitious plan to hire the nation’s desperately poor as laborers on public-works projects. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which began covering the entire country last week, will provide tens of millions of people with 100 days per year of minimum-wage work, such as digging ditches or building roads. The idea is to give the rural poor jobs in their own communities, so they will not flood the cities seeking work—or commit suicide because of debt. Every year, some 10,000 Indian farmers kill themselves because they cannot pay off their loans. The minimum wage in India is $1.50 a day; the program is expected to cost about $4 billion a year.
Lhasa, China
Tibetans get re-educated: The Chinese government has ordered Tibetan monks, bureaucrats, and students to attend classes on the benefits of Chinese rule and the treason of the Dalai Lama. The “patriotic education” is intended to bring a halt to the protests against the Chinese occupation that have rocked Tibet in recent weeks. China blames the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader, for instigating the protests, a charge the Nobel Peace Prize winner denies. Riots in Lhasa last month were sparked by anger at demands that monks denounce the Dalai Lama. “Re-education is nothing but an attempt at brainwashing,” said Chukora Tsering Agloe of the India-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy. China has occupied Tibet since 1950.
Sydney
Gang attacks school: Five Australian teens terrorized a Sydney high school this week, beating students and a teacher with baseball bats and machetes. The five boys, ages 14 to 16, came from another school and were apparently looking for a particular student. A teacher and two students were hospitalized, but their injuries were not considered serious. This was the latest in a series of attacks by gangs of mostly black youths from the Pacific Islands. The gangs openly try to emulate American “gangsta” culture, posing with guns and knives in photos on their websites. They have been blamed for a series of armed robberies in Sydney.
