The week at a glance...International

Tyumen, Russia

Plane crash: Human error may be to blame in a deadly crash this week in Siberia. The UTair ATR 72-200, manufactured 21 years ago in Russia, crashed shortly after taking off from Tyumen in western Siberia, killing 31 of the 43 people on board. The plane got only about 700 feet off the ground before veering sharply and hitting the ground with both engines still working. Officials were still investigating the cause of the crash, but they said it appeared that the plane had not been properly de-iced before takeoff. Russia had one of the world’s worst air-traffic safety records last year, with an accident rate almost three times the world average.

Damascus, Syria

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Regime defies peace promises: Syria claimed this week that it had begun cooperating with the U.N. peace plan by pulling back troops from the cities—but rebels said the regime’s troops had instead escalated the assaults on Hama and Homs. Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Friends of Syria group of nations in Turkey this week, Arab nations pledged $100 million to pay salaries to rebel fighters, and the U.S. agreed to supply communications equipment. Russia, Syria’s ally, strongly protested such support, saying it would undermine the peace plan that U.N. envoy Kofi Annan recently persuaded Syria to accept. Diplomats from other countries doubt that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad intends to honor the agreement, which requires full troop withdrawal by next week, as he’s broken his word repeatedly since the conflict began last year.

Mogadishu, Somalia

Suicide bomber: An Islamist militant blew herself up at Somalia’s newly reopened national theater this week, killing at least 10 people, including the country’s top two sports officials. The attack came during a speech by Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali at a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the launch of Somalia’s national TV station. Al-Shabab, the militant Islamist group linked to al Qaida, claimed responsibility. An offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union, al-Shabab still controls much of the countryside, but was ousted from the capital last year by Somali government and African Union troops. “This is the last breaths of a dying horse,” said Ali, “so now hopefully they will be eliminated from the face of the earth.”

Mumbai, India

U.S. bounty: The U.S. government has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of the Pakistani militant believed to have masterminded the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is the founding member of the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Ten members of his group went on a three-day shooting and bombing spree in India’s financial hub in November 2008, attacking hotels, a train station, and a Jewish cultural center, and killing 166 people, including six Americans. The only surviving attacker told investigators that Saeed had engineered the plot. After the attacks, Pakistani authorities held Saeed under house arrest for six months, but the country’s Supreme Court ordered him released, citing a lack of evidence. He now lives openly in Lahore, Pakistan, and even appears on TV talk shows.

Yangon, Myanmar

Suu Kyi in parliament: After spending almost two decades as a political prisoner, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is now in the Myanmar parliament. Suu Kyi won a by-election this week in a historic vote that saw her party take most of the 45 seats that were up for grabs in the 664-seat parliament. It was the latest step toward democracy by the ruling junta, which ran the country as a closed society for some 50 years. Over the past year, the junta has released political prisoners and eased election restrictions, but it controls almost all of the parliament, and it’s unclear how much influence it will allow Suu Kyi to have. Still, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “It is heartening to be reminded that even the most repressive regimes can reform and even the most closed societies can open.”

Canberra, Australia

Americans wanted: U.S. construction workers looking for jobs can find them in Australia. The Australian government said this week that it would streamline regulations to make it easier for skilled Americans to travel to Australia on temporary work visas. Australia has a shortage of workers with the skills necessary for certain mining and infrastructure projects. But it is reluctant to train locals to do the jobs because the projects will peak within three to five years, leading to widespread layoffs. “This is a real win-win for both of our nations,” said Jeffrey Bleich, the U.S. ambassador to Australia.