World - The Christian Science Monitor

Campo de Florido, Cuba - In the past year, Nereida Rodriguez Rivero says she has been punched in the mouth, almost thrown from a moving bus, and stabbed on the street in her otherwise sleepy rural hometown.

Dakar, Senegal - To most casual observers of Scrabble, the game is a pastime. But in Senegal, typically better known for the Dakar Rally, it is a sport. And it's taken very seriously – especially this week, as the country plays host to the 37th Francophone Scrabble World Championships.

Lahore, Pakistan - The Pakistani government, elected in February with great hopes of restoring stability, is not just struggling to deal with a Taliban insurgency, a judicial crisis, and an internally fractured coalition.

La Demajagua, Cuba - Carlos Serpa Maceira's ramshackle home on the outskirts of a rural town on an island that once served as a prison for Fidel Castro is not easy to find. And that's how he likes it.

BERLIN - Expectations for a huge Barak Obama crowd of 100,000 people in Berlin missed the mark.

New Delhi - India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, scored one of the biggest victories of his political career when he won a knife-edge confidence vote in parliament Tuesday. But the triumph comes with strings that may weaken his government's prospects in upcoming general elections, expected to occur by May 2009.

Ramallah, West Bank - US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama visited Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, seeking to send signals of support to both sides of the conflict.

Cairo, Egypt - Since June, Egypt's government and Islamist opposition parties have been trading barbs over a new law designed to protect the rights of children. Reforms instituted by the law touch on issues ranging from children's legal status to personal health issues.

John Parke Wright wants to provide Florida's best restaurants with the finest steaks around, and he wants to do it from a ranch in Cuba.

What changes might a new US administration make to its Cuba policy?

Havana - A handful of Cubans are taking turns doing bicep curls and pedaling on stationary bikes. At first glance, there's nothing extraordinary about this nameless gym in the basement of a Havana apartment complex.

New Delhi - – Amid uproarious scenes, India's government avoided collapse Tuesday when it won a perilously close vote of confidence in parliament. The win means India can now focus on pushing through a much-vaunted, long-delayed nuclear deal with the United States.

Jerusalem - Just hours before US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was due to arrive in Jerusalem, a Palestinian went on a bulldozer rampage in downtown Jerusalem – just down the road from the legendary King David Hotel, where Senator Obama is to stay.

Paris - The arrest in Belgrade of Radovan Karadzic, political mastermind of the Bosnian genocide, is a clear indication of new Serb president Boris Tadic's intent to integrate his state with Europe, stabilizing an isolated and difficult country and a fragile region, experts say.

VARANASI, INDIA - Most mornings, as the sun steals over the Ganges, Veer Bhadra Mishra takes a dip in India's holiest river. As high priest of a Hindu temple, it is his solemn duty. But as a scientist, the ritual is profoundly discomforting.

As the final power chords of the song fade out, Sushe Lie leans into her microphone and begins her usual on-air patter: the name of the singer, what's up next on the station, and the latest gossip from the tabloids.

Bangkok, Thailand - Senior security officials from Thailand and Cambodia failed Monday to defuse a border dispute centered on a 10th-century temple that has seen hundreds of troops mobilized on both sides and claims by Cambodia of incursions by Thai soldiers.

Baghdad - Following criticism from Republican presidential candidate John McCain that his rival had not spent enough time in Iraq, Democratic candidate Barack Obama made his second trip to Iraq Monday, meeting with American military commanders and upper-level Iraqi officials.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Several copies of Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" are prominently displayed in Jarir Bookstore here. They have not moved in weeks.

WASHINGTON - When Barack Obama stops in Jerusalem and Ramallah this week – as part of an overseas trip designed to reassure the American electorate about the presumptive Democratic nominee's national security credentials – he'll be wading into the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Kabul, Afghanistan - – Hopes and fears among Afghans clashed during the weekend visit of presumptive US Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, who has vowed to send more US troops to Afghanistan if elected.

ATHENS - Sprinklers still keep the grass at Greece's Olympic softball stadium green. But four years after the 2004 Games, it sits unused in the middle of a vast, empty parking lot, patrolled by police vehicles.

Cairo - Just as Persian Gulf cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi were becoming synonymous with excess and success, the Gulf boom is in danger of going bust.

Madrid - More than 500 years after Spain's golden age of tolerance among Jews, Christians, and Muslims came to a definitive end, leaders of those faiths – as well as of Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism – are meeting at a royal palace on Madrid's outskirts in a bid to boost interreligious understanding.

Nahariya, Israel - For Israelis, their Second Lebanon War, fought in summer 2006, came to a close only on Thursday, when the two soldiers whose capture became the cause for launching the conflict were laid to rest before their families and the eyes of a solemn nation.

Butare, Rwanda - Sandra Uwimbabazi knows runways – she's modeled for years – but she stumbled on a recent Saturday here.

Dap Dior, Senegal - D'dieme Faye's muscular arms pump energetically as she pounds millet for her family's lunch with an over-sized mortar and pestle.

Al Wathba, United Arab Emirates - The parrot met an unfortunate end. "It's a bit embarrassing," said Ronel Smuts, manager of the Abu Dhabi Wildlife Center here, suppressing a smile at the curious ways of fate. "Someone left [the parrot's] cage door open, and he got out and flew toward Zulu, the lion.... The parrot became a midmorning snack, and Zulu had a blue feather sticking out of his mouth."