World

Fall of an Eastern Patriarch

1 | EGYPT

Thousands of Christian worshippers and prominent members of Egyptian society, including officials of powerful Islamist political parties, filled Cairo’s St. Mark’s Cathedral and surrounding streets for the funeral of Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community. Shenouda died on March 17 at 88 after presiding for more than four decades over the largest Christian community in the Middle East–roughly 6 million Egyptians. A controversial and conservative leader, he upheld the church’s strict antidivorce policy and initially strove to keep Christian youth out of Tahrir Square during last year’s successful uprising against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. Shenouda enjoyed widespread popularity, and his death comes at a critical time for Egypt’s Copts. Sectarian violence–typically involving disputes over conversion, church building or interfaith romance–has increased since the uprising, sparked in part by the rise of extremist Islamist factions. Mubarak’s regime tended to exploit religious tensions, and there are signs Egypt’s interim rulers are doing the same. Whoever succeeds Shenouda will have to be approved by the ruling junta.

SPAIN

234

Goals scored for F.C. Barcelona by soccer superstar Lionel Messi, breaking the storied club’s record on March 20 and cementing his legend as one of the sport’s greatest players

An End to Violence?

2 | SYRIA

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan pressed the embattled government of Syrian President Bashar Assad to accept a peace plan that would impose an immediate cease-fire between Assad’s forces and rebels, deliver humanitarian aid to Syria’s beleaguered people and force the government into dialogue with the opposition. The plan won the endorsement of the U.N. Security Council, including Russia and China, who had blocked tough resolutions in the past. But Assad held firm, shelling suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

ISRAEL

‘Dear Mother, Good news today.’

ALBERT EINSTEIN, legendary physicist, in a 1919 postcard to his mother telling her that his general theory of relativity had been proved. The dispatch, along with many other personal papers, can now be accessed online via the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

A Killer Shocks a Nation

3 | FRANCE

In the southern city of Toulouse, police besieged the home of a lone gunman allegedly behind three separate attacks that led to seven deaths and ignited a wave of fear and anguish across France. The suspect, identified as Mohammed Merah, of Algerian descent, is believed to be the scooter-riding man who gunned down a teacher, his two sons and another child at a Jewish school and, in two earlier attacks, fatally shot three ethnic-Arab French soldiers. Police say 24-year-old Merah claimed ties to al-Qaeda and is known to have trained for a time at extremist camps in Pakistan’s Waziristan tribal area. Merah reportedly told police he carried out his assault on the Jewish school as “revenge” for slain Palestinian children and his murder of the soldiers as payback for France’s role in foreign interventions in the Middle East and North Africa. The attacks brought to a halt the French presidential-election campaign and united the country in mourning.

A Tale of Two Misdeeds

4 | AFGHANISTAN

As details emerged about a U.S. soldier’s horrific slaughter of 16 slumbering Afghan civilians, many Americans were repelled. The massacre was dubbed an Afghan My Lai, and U.S. officials in Afghanistan braced for a repeat of the nationwide riots that killed over three dozen people, including four Americans, in the wake of the February burning of Korans at a U.S. base. Yet even as Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at what he called “satanic acts that will never be forgiven by apologies,” the anticipated uprising never materialized. The disparity in reaction has mystified many. Why would a nation revolt over the inadvertent burning of Korans by U.S. forces yet treat with relative indifference a calculated massacre by a U.S. serviceman?

The answer can be found in how widespread lethal violence has become in Afghanistan. To Afghans, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales’ alleged murderous rampage is little different from the allied air strikes that have accidentally targeted wedding parties, schools and children herding sheep. The Taliban have also made acts of violence–floggings, beheadings, hangings–commonplace. “If we protested for each killing, then we would have protests two times every day,” says religious leader Abdul Rahim Shah Ghaa.

Attacks on the Koran, though, whether accidental, as in February, or deliberate, as when a Florida pastor burned a Koran a year ago, are relatively rare. And Afghans want to keep it that way. “It’s our red line,” says university student Basir Abdul. “If we don’t protest the burning of the Koran today, tomorrow the foreigners will enter our houses and rape our women.” In a country riven by tribal loyalties, Islam transcends ethnic identity. It’s the one thing all Afghans can agree on. “Of course we condemn [the massacre],” says Shah Ghaa. “But it was only 16 people. Even if it were 1,000 people, it wouldn’t compare to harming one word of the Koran.” In a country where death stalks freely, defending the afterlife becomes paramount.

–ARYN BAKER, WITH WALID FAZLY/KABUL

Rebels and Mutineers

5 | MALI

Elements of the army mutinied in the capital, Bamako, storming state-TV headquarters. There has been anger in the ranks over the government’s handling of a rebellion in the north, which has led to dozens of deaths and displaced 200,000 people. Soldiers have complained of shoddy equipment, a glaring problem given that the rebels have arms from the looted arsenals of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Armies Cache In

6 | SWEDEN

The lion’s share of global arms exports goes to modernizing militaries in Asia, according to Stockholm-based think tank SIPRI, which monitors defense spending. India accounts for a tenth of total purchases, outpacing China, whose stockpiles have also grown through increased domestic production.

TOP SUPPLIERS

30%

U.S.

24%

RUSSIA

9%

GERMANY

TOP IMPORTERS

5%

PAKISTAN

6%

S. KOREA

10%

INDIA

FOR MORE BY ARYN BAKER, GO TO GLOBALSPIN.BLOGS.TIME.COM