The World

1 | Washington

Next Up, Immigration?

On March 21, the same day the House passed its health care reform bill, tens of thousands of activists and supporters took to the Washington Mall, eager to spark action on what they hope will be the next big issue in the nation's capital: immigration reform. The crowd of mostly Latino immigrants, who arrived on more than 700 buses from 30 states, waved American flags and chanted "Yes, we can!" in both Spanish and English. President Obama addressed the crowd in a taped video message, but many demonstrators called for him to do more if he is to live up to his campaign promise to overhaul the immigration system. Speaking to the 10.8 million illegal immigrants nationwide and their confederates, Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez said, "We've been patient long enough."

2 | China

Trouble for Rio Tinto

The Shanghai trial of four Rio Tinto executives charged with bribery and commercial espionage concluded on March 24. The Shanghai-based employees of the British-Australian mining company, who were arrested in July, confessed to accepting bribes from Chinese steel companies during negotiations over iron-ore prices. With a verdict expected within weeks, they face up to 15 years in prison. Though Rio Tinto will seek to continue to collaborate with Chinese companies, the high-profile case has shed light on the worsening environment for foreign corporations in China.

3 | Russia

Putin Protests Disappoint

A nationwide "Day of Anger" that agitators had hyped for weeks proved to be marked less by ire than by indifference. Organizers, miffed at the sputtering economy and rising prices, had hoped tens of thousands would show on March 20 to call for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign. But demonstrators in some cities numbered only in the hundreds. The state media, meanwhile, largely ignored the protests. The Kremlin was unmoved.

4 | Ireland

Bishop Resigns

On March 24, four days after the Vatican released a papal letter concerning the problem of sexual abuse in the Irish Church, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee. The 73-year-old clergyman, who became head of the diocese of Cloyne in 1987 and previously served as personal secretary to three Popes in the 1970s and '80s, had been under pressure for some time to step down because of his mishandling of abuse complaints that date back to the 1990s.

5 | Qatar

Countries Reject Animal-Protection Proposals

The international community rejected U.S.-led efforts to expand protections for a number of endangered and threatened species at a meeting of the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Of the roughly 40 proposals on the agenda, the most contentious dealt with a prized fish. Japan, which imports nearly 80% of bluefin tuna for use in sushi and sashimi, fought hard against a proposed trade ban. Conservationists warned against prioritizing economic interests over the survival of an entire species.

Major CITES decisions: winners and losers

Bluefin tuna

A proposed trade ban was rejected despite the depletion of much of the world's bluefin stock

Elephant