Not even a huge warehouse fire, which destroyed many floats and costumes last month, could keep Rio from going ape over its annual Carnaval parade, the thundering pre-Lenten bacchanal of samba and sensuality. Brazil, which will host a visit from President Obama this month, had extra reasons to revel this year: Its first female President, Dilma Rousseff, recently took office. And just before Carnaval started, officials announced that the country's economy had roared out of the recession with 7.5% growth in 2010 to become the world's seventh largest. The Portela dancers, the samba group worst hit by the warehouse fire, seemed emblematic of Brazil's resilience. — Tim PadgettUeslei Marcelino / Reuters
2/27/11: Blessed
They've been to hollywood, the Great Wall and the Eiffel Tower since their rescue last October. But given the rebirth that Chile's 33 hero miners say they experienced after emerging from their 70-day entrapment underground, it was fitting that Israel invited them to the Holy Land. Some of the men who made the trip dipped themselves in the Dead Sea's mineral-rich mud. —Tim PadgettDavid Buimovitch / AFP / Getty Images
2/22/11: Trapped
The quake hit Christchurch, New Zealand, like a sledgehammer, buckling roads, toppling spires, flooding streets. Some workers trapped in high-rises had to be rescued with cranes; others shimmied out windows or were pulled from the rubble below. — Nancy GibbsSimon Baker / Reuters
2/10/11: The Arabian Sea
The Lakshadweep Islands lie in the Arabian Sea, off the coast of India, near Mumbai. What pirate fantasies a person could spin there among the coral reefs, swaying palms and sugary beaches. Lately, that fantasy has become grim reality, as Somali pirates search ever more distant waters for vulnerable vessels. With an international naval task force patrolling the sea off the Horn of Africa, the pirates have extended their range as far southn as Madagascar and as far east as the islands off India. This band of suspected pirates was captured Feb. 10 and loaded onto an Indian coast guard vessel. Not a "Yo ho ho" to be heard —but as long as Somalia is in chaos, there will be no shortage of buccaneers. — David von DrehlePunit Paranjpe / AFP / Getty Images
