The World

Correction Appended: May 28, 2008

1 | South Africa Unfriendly Neighbors

More than 40 people were killed and thousands left homeless as a wave of anti-immigrant violence swept through the shantytowns around Johannesburg. President Thabo Mbeki was eventually compelled to send troops to quell vengeful mobs that rampaged against migrants from neighboring nations, whom they blame for everything from a rash of robberies to taking away jobs in a nation racked by high unemployment. Despite astoundingly high rates of violent crime in South Africa (mob violence aside, some 52 people are murdered every 24 hours), many Zimbabweans in particular have poured into the country to escape their own nation's economic and political collapse.

2 | Iraq U.S. Soldier Desecrates Koran

The response was rapid and the apologies numerous following the revelation that an American soldier had used a copy of the Koran for target practice, riddling the Islamic holy book with 14 bullets at a target range near Baghdad on May 9. Within days, top military brass held a ceremony apologizing for the incident and expressed their regret to Iraqi officials; President Bush called Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki personally to apologize. The Army said the soldier, who remains unnamed, was quickly disciplined and removed from Iraq. Meanwhile, Baghdad officials called for harsher punishment.

3 | Washington A Populist Play on Oil

Facing record gas prices, President Bush reluctantly signed a bill to halt the deposit of 70,000 barrels of oil per day into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a two-month buffer of crude last tapped to offset disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina. The amount of extra oil is relatively tiny--the world produces close to 75 million bbl. per day--meaning the move will have little impact on prices. Still, the measure sailed through Congress with overwhelming support.

TAPPING THE STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE [This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine.] Gulf War 1990-91 21 million bbl. Katrina 2005 21 million bbl. Currently available 703 million bbl.

4 | Colombia A Blow to FARC

A top commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) surrendered on May 18--a boon to President Alvaro Uribe. Nelly Avila Morena--who went by the nom de guerre Karina--said FARC, which has been trying to overthrow the government for some 40 years, has been "decimated." The group now includes about 9,000 rebels, compared with an estimated 17,500 in 2002. Two of its most senior officials were killed in March. Morena's surrender is seen as a major blow to the organization's morale.

5 | France Look Who's Talking

Jimmy Carter isn't the only former official to reach out to militant group Hamas, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006. France's former ambassador to Iraq, Yves Aubin de La Messuziere, confirmed that he had met with the group's leaders last month to discuss a possible resolution to the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "We must be able to talk if we want to play a role," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a Paris-based radio station on May 19. Hamas claims it's had similar contact with other European countries, despite U.S. attempts to isolate the group. "We don't believe [such discussions are] helpful to the process of bringing peace to the region," a U.S. State Department spokesman said.

6 | Burma AID TRICKLES IN More than two weeks after Cyclone Nargis left an estimated 134,000 dead or missing and 2.5 million homeless, Burma's ruling junta bowed to international pressure and agreed to accept substantial foreign aid, as long as it's funneled through ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asia Nations. The U.S. and U.N. have landed supply planes in the city of Rangoon but have not been able to directly reach the delta, hindering the much needed large-scale disbursement of aid.

7 | Mexico Lawless Days

Guillermo Prieto Quintana, police chief of the Mexican border town Ciudad Juarez, resigned in the face of a large increase in violence against law-enforcement officers during President Felipe Calderon's continuing crackdown on drug cartels. Out of 22 senior Ciudad Juarez officials named on a cartel death list, seven have been killed and three wounded; except for one, the rest have quit.

8 | Philadelphia Cops Condemned

Four police officers will be fired and four more disciplined for their role in the brutal May 5 beating of three shooting suspects, captured on tape by a news helicopter. Among 19 officers identified in the footage, seven are accused of using excessive force, and a sergeant was demoted for failing to intervene. The speedy response by newly appointed police commissioner Charles H. Ramsey was praised by local NAACP leadership, which also criticized the Rev. Al Sharpton's involvement in the controversy. Sharpton had called the incident "worse than Rodney King." A criminal investigation continues.

9 | Lebanon A Deal at Last

After an 18-month stalemate punctuated by recent violence, Lebanon's political factions reached a power-sharing deal that will install army General Michel Suleiman as President. The pact also grants significant new powers to militant group Hizballah, which drew criticism from Osama bin Laden in a recent audiotape for lacking the strength to battle Israel.

10 | San Angelo, Texas Custody Chaos

Individual hearings began for more than 460 children taken from a polygamist sect accused of sexual abuse. The custody case, considered the largest in U.S. history, is expected to cost more than $1.5 million a month in housing and medical fees; two teens have given birth in the state's care, although both turned out to be over the age of consent. Officials say they hope to reunite the families but not before parents attend psychological counseling and parenting classes. Lawyers for the parents argue that such plans fail to resolve whether the children will be able to return to the group's compound and what to do about visitations, which are nearly impossible because siblings have been scattered across Texas. Results of DNA tests to determine the sect's complicated family relationships are expected in June.

+1 | Australia A Kangaroo from Space

You don't have to go Down Under to see a kangaroo--just orbit Earth once or twice. A 105-ft.-long (32 m) white cardboard image of the beloved marsupial was photographed by satellites on May 20 as part of a multicountry project to study the albedo effect, the amount of sunlight that reflects off Earth's surface. Scientists are gathering data to raise awareness of how the whiteness of the polar ice caps, currently shrinking because of global warming, helps deflect heat from the sun and keep the planet cool.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly put the number of available barrels of oil in the strategic oil reserve at 703 billion.