SOWETO, South Africa — When Mduduzi Maphindikazi Mathe took charge of Bhukulani Secondary School in Soweto, the sprawling township south of Johannesburg, the dilapidated school was on the verge of being shut down. The buildings had no window panes or doors, and the classrooms were sparsely equipped with broken chalkboards and too few desks. “It was terrible,” said Mathe. “This school was a mess.”

KAMPALA, Uganda — The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which calls for the death penalty in some cases, suffered a serious setback when a government committee advised that it be withdrawn from parliament. The fate of the controversial legislation hangs in the balance with powerful forces both for and against the bill. The legislation provoked an international uproar when it was proposed to parliament in October 2009. In addition to executions, it threatens long jail terms to anyone, including family members, who does not report homosexuals to the police.

BOSTON — The American reaction to Faisal Shahzad’s failed attempt at a car bombing in Times Square was: Pakistan again? Why do so many of terrorism’s hydra-heads originate in Pakistan? Pakistan answered that Shahzad had, after all, spent decades in America and had become an American citizen. So was he radicalized solely in Waziristan’s training camps? Or were the seeds of his radicalization planted here in the United States?