TOP STORY: Officials say the Obama administration will restart military tribunals for some Guantanamo detainees, a process that the president suspended immediately after coming into office, calling them flawed. Around 20 of the 241 detainees at Guantanamo, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be tried under the system.
The administration stressed that the new tribunals will include expanded due process rights for detainees and that Obama had pushed for a revised tribunal system as a senator in 2006. Still, civil liberties groups, already disappointed by Obama's decision not to release photos of U.S. military detainee abuse, were disturbed by this latest decision. "I am afraid the stench of Guantanamo will remain," said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch.
Since Obama has ordered the prison at Guantanamo closed by 2010, the courts are now in a race against time to conclude the trials before the deadline, when they may have to be transported to the United States.
UNDER THE RADAR: Iraq has been bragging about the capture of its most high-profile detainee, al Qaeda leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, for weeks. Unfortunately, nobody is quite sure if it's actually him they have in custody.
Asia
- Pakistan's army says it is allowing civilians to flee before they assault the main town in the Swat Valley.
- Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been taken to prison for violating the terms of her house arrest over a mysterious visit from an American.
- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is pushing the IMF to delay a loan to Sri Lanka until a cease-fire is in place.
Europe
- The Eurozone contracted by 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
- Britain's junior justice minister has become the highest-profile casualty so far of the country's growing expense report scandal.
- Southern European officials are in Sochi to sign a new pipeline deal with Russia that will allow it to bypass Ukraine as a transit route.
Middle East
- The pope ended his controversial trip to the Holy Land with a forceful denunciation of the Holocaust.
- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is struggling to overcome a government crackdown.
- Settlements will be on the agenda at the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama next week.
Africa
- Mogadishu is facing a food shortage as fighting continues between al-Shabaab rebels and Somali government forces.
- Niger's Tuareg rebels have agreed to a temporary ceasefire.
- South Africa has reversed its decision and will allow the Dalai Lama to visit.
Americas
- GM is close to a deal with the United Auto Workers to cut labor costs.
- Migration from Mexico to the United States plummeted 25 percent last year.
- With the popularity of his wife -- the current president -- sagging, former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner is getting back into politics by running for a senate seat.
BRENNAN LINSLEY/AFP/Getty Images
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