The World

1 | Pakistan Terrorists Target Lahore, Again In an early-morning attack near police and intelligence-agency offices in the eastern city of Lahore, suspected Taliban militants detonated a van rigged with explosives, killing at least 30 people and wounding hundreds more. It’s the latest of several strikes targeting the city in recent months, including a daring daylight ambush of the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in March. Citing the escalating war against Islamic militants in Pakistan’s northern regions, officials called the attack an “attempt to subvert the army’s brave and courageous operation and the government’s resolve to defeat terrorists.” Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the country’s Taliban insurgency, had recently threatened retaliation for ongoing military action in the Taliban-occupied Swat Valley. Three suspects were taken into custody.

2 | Moscow From Russia With Love After years of courting the U.S. utilities market, Russia inked its first commercial deal to supply low-enriched uranium to nuclear reactors in Missouri, Texas and California. The $1 billion contract with three U.S. companies is expected to provide electricity for nearly 15 million homes beginning in 2014. Under an existing nonproliferation agreement, Russia provides fuel for half of the U.S.’s nuclear reactors, using uranium converted from dismantled Cold War–era nuclear weapons. But the new pact marks the first time the country will be able to sell so-called virgin uranium to the U.S.

3 | California Proposition 8 Upheld In a setback for supporters of gay marriage, California’s Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that Proposition 8, the statewide same-sex-marriage ban passed in November 2008, is constitutional. But the court unanimously held that the 18,000 couples who were married before the ban remain legally married. Gay-rights advocates may push to repeal Prop 8 next year.

[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]

Seriously delinquent mortgages in 2008

600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000

Q1 – Q4

• Subprime • Prime • Alt-A

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY)

4 | Washington Foreclosure’s Next Wave As unemployment threatens to hit double digits, economists say the U.S. is entering a troubling new phase of the foreclosure crisis. Job losses are leading more homeowners with prime loans–the lowest-risk category–to default. According to the Treasury Department, prime-loan delinquencies jumped 115% in 2008; some 1.5 million homes could be affected.

5 | Ireland More for Abuse Victims A massive, chilling report documenting 85 years of child abuse in Ireland’s now defunct church-run orphanages and reform schools has prompted the government to demand that the 18 Catholic orders named in the report increase their victims’-compensation funds nearly eightfold, to $1.4 billion. Several orders agreed to work with the government, including the Christian Brothers, which managed a large number of the institutions implicated in the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse’s study, and accepted a possible unspecified increase. The commission’s five-volume report, which took nine years to complete, identifies more than 800 alleged abusers–including nuns, priests and monks–and includes statements from 1,090 people who suffered beatings, neglect and sexual abuse.

6 | Bangladesh NO SHELTER FROM THE STORM With winds gusting at 70 m.p.h. (about 115 kph), Cyclone Aila tore through parts of coastal Bangladesh and eastern India on May 26, killing roughly 200 people and forcing 500,000 to seek refuge in shelters and on rooftops to escape rising floodwaters. The death toll is expected to increase as rescue workers gain access to more isolated areas. Low-lying Bangladesh is regularly gutted by cyclones in the spring and fall, which precede and follow its monsoon season. Aila also hit Sundarbans, a mangrove forest on the India-Bangladesh border that shelters endangered royal Bengal tigers–some of which have also been stranded by the waters.

7 | Maryland Mouse DNA Decoded In a breakthrough 10 years in the making, an international team of scientists has finished sequencing just the second complete mammalian genome: that of the mouse. The findings will help researchers better distinguish between mouse and human DNA–which are about 75% alike–and promote more targeted experiments on human illness.

8 | Washington Pollution and Politics On May 21, the American Clean Energy and Security Act–also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill, after its Democratic authors–passed through a House committee. If approved, the 1,000-page bill would institute the nation’s first federal cap-and-trade system for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

• The steadily tightening cap would slash emissions 83% below 2005 levels by 2050.

• By 2020, all electric utilities would be required to produce up to 15% of their power using renewable sources and greatly improve energy efficiency.

• Of the tradable carbon credits, 15% would be auctioned off, the rest donated to businesses like cement and steel plants to soften the bill’s economic impact.

[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]

U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions in 2007 by economic sector, in billions of metric tons

Electric power 2.45

Transportation 2.0

Industry 1.39

Agriculture .5

Commercial .41

Residential .36

SOURCE: EPA

9 | Beirut Did Hizballah Kill Hariri? Lebanese Shi’ite paramilitary group Hizballah is believed to have orchestrated the 2005 bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri (pictured), according to a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel. The report, which cites an unnamed source linked to the U.N. tribunal investigating the assassination, was published two weeks before Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, in which Hizballah and its allies will face off against a Western-backed coalition. Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah has dismissed the allegations as an “American-Israeli scheme” to incite political turmoil and sabotage the election.

10 | Mexico The Drug War Hits Town Hall Authorities are targeting corrupt officials plaguing Mexico’s bloody struggle against drug gangs. In a string of raids on May 26, security forces arrested 10 mayors, a judge and 16 others believed to have ties to narcos. The sweeps took place in the western state of Michoacán, home to La Familia, a fast-growing cartel. More than 7,000 people have died in Mexico’s drug war since 2008.

* | What They’re NOT Eating in Belgium: A U.N. expert suggested last year that one way to combat climate change is to go vegetarian. The Flemish city of Ghent has responded by calling for schools to serve meat-free meals on Thursdays, which it has designated as noncompulsory “veggie days.” Activist Tobias Leenaert hopes the campaign will inspire “a critical mass of enlightened citizens.”