World

Four Essential Facts About China’s Eco-Mess

Thousands of pigs were found dead in rivers supplying Shanghai’s water, a grisly discovery that has drawn attention again to China’s toxic pollution, which contributes to some 700,000 deaths each year. Here are some points of concern:

Waste

Tai Lake–a massive basin that holds China’s third largest body of freshwater, providing water for 30 million people–has been classified as a major natural disaster by Beijing after decades of toxic contamination.

Lead

The soil and water around Tianying, a Dickensian manufacturing center in northeastern China, have been poisoned by lead runoff. Locally grown wheat carries 24 times the permissible level of lead, a known neurotoxin.

Soot

Once fertile farmland in Linfen, China’s coal center, is dotted with mines that spew thick plumes of choking smoke.

Sulfur dioxide

Concentrations of airborne particulate in Urumqi–a major transport and cultural hub of 3 million people in northwestern China–consistently measure 10 times the level that the U.S. deems safe.

POLL

HOW DOES THE U.S. VIEW THE REST OF THE WORLD?

A survey asked Americans whether they looked favorably on other countries

91%

CANADA

88%

BRITAIN

20%

LIBYA

14%

PAKISTAN

12%

NORTH KOREA

9%

IRAN

SOURCE: GALLUP

Why Kenya’s Election Shows a Defiant Africa

The election as Kenya’s President of Uhuru Kenyatta, indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, represents a defiant mood of self-assertion in Africa. Ten years of dramatic economic growth and a growing political maturity have coincided with economic meltdown and political dysfunction in the West. As a result, Africans increasingly find both the reason and the authority to challenge Western intervention, whether it comes in the form of foreign diplomats, foreign aid workers, foreign correspondents or, especially, foreign judgments on human rights.

The ICC, based in the Hague, is a particular focus of African anger. The court accuses Kenyatta of being one of three Kenyans who orchestrated a spate of bloody tribal violence that followed the previous election in 2007–08 and in which some 1,200 people died. But the ICC’s focus on Africa–nearly all its investigations concern Africans–have earned it accusations of bias. And its premise for intervention–that it is needed to help those who cannot help themselves–comes across as patronizing and provokes fury.

The Kenyan election also highlights how the West–for so long focused on Africa as a place of war, famine and disaster–has failed to recognize an emerging continent that demands sovereign control over its affairs. After the election, the U.S., Britain and others congratulated Kenya on a peaceful vote but found themselves unable to mention the victor by name. Accused of terrible crimes, a wealthy elitist who inherited his political power, and a proponent of an election manifesto notable mainly for its hallucinatory optimism, Kenyatta is hardly an ideal President. But many in the region feel that’s Kenya’s problem, not the West’s. As Kenyatta himself said in his victory speech, “The Africa star is shining brightly, and the destiny of Africa is now in our hands.”

Perry, TIME’s Africa bureau chief, is based in Cape Town

An Empty Nest

PAKISTAN

Azra, a 68-year-old Christian, looks at the body of her pet bird, which died March 9 when a Muslim mob, incensed by a blasphemy rumor, attacked the Christian enclave of Badami Bagh in the city of Lahore. While homes like Azra’s and other property were destroyed, residents escaped in time, and there were no casualties. The incident triggered Christian protests across Pakistan, which in recent months has seen an escalation of violence aimed at minority sects.

3

FALKLAND ISLANDS

Residents who voted no in a referendum on whether the archipelago claimed by Argentina should stay in the U.K.; 1,513 voted yes

Flashback

North Korea’s most outlandish remarks

After earning new U.N. sanctions and attempting to scrap the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, the Hermit Kingdom did what it does best: threaten wildly. Here are the North’s five best jabs

March 2001

North Korea threatened “thousandfold revenge” on the U.S. for a “black-hearted intention” to scuttle its peace dialogue with South Korea

July 2009

After then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said North Korea was just seeking attention with its taunts, Pyongyang shot back with this nugget: “Her words suggest that she is by no means intelligent.”

July 2010

North Korea promised a “retaliatory sacred war” after being blamed for the sinking of a South Korean ship, which killed 46 sailors

April 2012

The North said it would reduce Seoul “to ashes” as tensions between the two countries escalated yet again

February 2013

During a debate at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, a North Korean diplomat said of South Korea, “A newborn puppy knows no fear of a tiger.”

INDIA

‘It is not a suicide case. It is a conspiracy and murder.’

A.P. Singh, lawyer for Ram Singh–one of the six men on trial for the December gang rape of a medical student on a New Delhi bus–after his client purportedly hanged himself in his jail cell on March 11. The suspect’s family, including his mother (right), insists foul play was involved. The gang rape, which led to the death of the 23-year-old victim, sparked protests across India

Trending in

TREASURE

Researchers say a crystal found in a British shipwreck may actually be a Viking sunstone, a mythical navigational guide

MUSIC

“Gangnam Style” singer Psy announced in a YouTube video that his follow-up single will be released in English on April 13

WEAPONS

Three dolphins trained by Ukraine’s military to attack enemy swimmers fled into the Black Sea with pistols and knives attached

HEALTH

Sixty-three diners were sickened in one week with the norovirus after eating at Copenhagen’s Noma, voted the world’s top restaurant by Restaurant magazine