1. Afghan protests

    Afghan protests against the burning of a Quran* in the United States entered a third day with demonstrations in the south and east on Sunday, while the Taliban called on people to rise up.

    The desecration* at a small U.S. church has outraged* Muslims worldwide, and in Afghanistan many of the demonstrations have turned into deadly riots. Protests in the north and south in recent days have killed 20 people, including seven foreign U.N. employees.

    2. Obama’s re-election bid

    U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday formally announced his 2012 re-election bid, saying the country needed “to protect the progress” it had made.

    “Today, we are filing papers to launch our 2012 campaign,” Obama said in a statement.

    He explained that as his administration and supporters across the country “fight to protect the progress we’ve made — and make more — we also need to begin mobilizing for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest.”

    3. Cricket diplomacy

    India rejoiced* last Wednesday after defeating Pakistan in the cricket World Cup, a sporting event charged with geopolitics*. The prime ministers of the nuclear-armed neighbors had sought to improve relations by sitting together in the grandstands.

    With the two rival cricket teams battling it out at a stadium in the northern Indian city of Mohali, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani chose the game’s venue to discuss ways to cement* their nations’ diplomatic dialogue.

    4. Japan nuclear plant

    Workers were pumping more than 3 million gallons of contaminated* water from Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear power complex into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, freeing storage space for even more highly radioactive* water that has hampered* efforts to stabilize the plant’s reactors.

    5. 9/11 suspects

    Yielding to political opposition*, the Obama administration gave up on Monday on trying avowed* 9/11 mastermind* Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged henchmen* in a civilian federal court in New York and will prosecute them instead before military commissions*.

    The families of those killed in the September 11 attacks have waited almost a decade for justice, and “it must not be delayed any longer,” Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference at the Justice Department.

    6. U.N. plane crashes

    A United Nations plane crashed while trying to land at the airport in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, on Monday, killing 32 people, U.N. officials said. One person aboard survived.

    “We can confirm only one survivor out of the 33 people on board the plane,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York. The world body earlier said Congolese and foreign nationals were on board the plane.

    7. Haiti election

    Singer and political outsider Michel Martelly is the winner of Haiti’s presidential election, beating former first lady Mirlande Manigat, according to official preliminary results, a senior electoral council official said on Monday.

    “Martelly won,” the official at the Provisional Electoral Council, who asked not to be named, told reporters.

    (SD-Agencies)