The World

1 | Washington The Supreme Court Steps In On the Death Penalty Troy Davis, a Georgia man sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of an off-duty cop, has long maintained his innocence. In the first decision of its kind in nearly 50 years, the U.S. Supreme Court is giving him a chance to prove it. The court ordered a federal judge in Georgia to hear new evidence in the case, including the fact that seven of nine key witnesses have recanted their original testimony. The ruling highlighted the Justices' divergent views on death-row appeals: "The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death clearly provides an adequate justification" for a new hearing, wrote John Paul Stevens. "This Court has never held," dissented Antonin Scalia, "that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent."

2 | Israel Deceptive DNA Making one person's blood and saliva appear to have been taken from someone else is so simple, Israeli scientists found, that a biology student could do it. In a startling experiment, the researchers faked DNA using multiple techniques. In one, they replaced the DNA in a blood sample with that of another person, collected from hair or saliva. In another, they drew on DNA profiles in law-enforcement databases to construct a sample without obtaining any real DNA from a person. Their findings may undercut the viability of genetic evidence in the courtroom.

3 | Tokyo Out of the Woods? Japanese officials reported some unusual news about the nation's economy: it's growing. Japan posted annualized second-quarter GDP growth of 3.7%, marking its first expansion in more than a year and indicating a possible end to its recession. Along with positive news from Europe, the results fueled hope that a global recovery may be near (though the U.S. continues to lag). They may also cushion the thumping expected for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Aug. 30 elections.

[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]

Second-quarter GDP growth (annualized)

France 1.4%

Germany 1.3%

Japan 3.7%

U.S. -1%

4 | Tehran A Tap on the Glass Ceiling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to nominate three female Cabinet members--Iran's first in more than 30 years--in a move widely viewed as an attempt to burnish his image with women amid continuing turmoil over his June re-election. The nominees include two political hard-liners: gynecologist Marzieh Vahid Dastgerdi as Health Minister and Fatemeh Ajorlu as Welfare Minister.