Mourners carry the body of Lebanese Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmad Abdel Wahed wrapped in the Lebanese flag (top), the Lebanese Future Movement flag (L)and the old Syrian flag (R) adopted by the anti-Syrian regime movement, as the funeral convoy arrives to Amar al-Bakawat at the entrance of his hometown of al-Bireh, north of the capital Beirut on May 21, 2012
Spillover – Lebanon’s Daily Star reports on escalating violence inside the country after soldiers shot dead a prominent anti-Bashar al-Assad Muslim preacher Sunday. “The gravity of the incident… prompted leaders on both sides of the political divide to call for calm and restraint to prevent the country from sliding into sectarian strife as a result of a spillover of the 15-month-old uprising in neighboring Syria,” it says.
Rough Justice – The South China Morning Post reports Wang Lijun, the former Chongqing police chief whose flight to a U.S. consulate in February sparked China’s worst political crisis in decades, will be tried for treason as early as next month, according to sources briefed on the case. Meanwhile, the New York Times writes that key allies of former Chongqing Mayor Bo Xilai are “now being detained as central suspects or witnesses in the Chinese government’s broad investigation into Bo’s use of power.”
Medal-Free Bravery – Following the demonstrations outside this weekend’s NATO summit in Chicago, the Guardian describes the “moving protest” of former servicemen and women throwing their medals from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars away, many with apologies, out of a “mixture of sadness, shame, anger, and pride, of trauma, sorrow, and pain” stemming from their experiences in battle. The piece argues that the NATO leaders should have been “forced” to watch this protest.
Divisive Figure – The Washington Post profiles Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal and a rising force in Indian politics whom Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met this month on a special visit to Kolkata. “She spent her life fighting communists but is the biggest obstacle to economic liberalization in India today. She is the leader of a small regional party but wields more power than the prime minister,” it says.
Silent Racism – After reports that 400 children had died in less than four months while being treated at a Kashmiri hospital, the Pakistani English-language paper The Nation argues that the deaths are an “example of racism” inflicted upon “innocent Kashmiri people” by the Indian government and the “indifference” and “guilty silence” of the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, which the paper says is more eager to “please” India than address these problems.
Presidential Profiles – Ahead of Egypt’s upcoming presidential elections, The Washington Post profiles the main candidates in the race, including Amr Moussa, the former head of the Arab League and foreign minister under former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak; the “strongman” Ahmed Shafiq, a former military commander; the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Mohammed Morsi; and Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, who is described as having “liberal views and Islamic credentials.”