The new prime minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, and his finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis (above left), toured Europe in search of debt relief and support against austerity. Mr Varoufakis floated a plan to replace Greek debt with bonds linked to GDP growth. For the most part, they met a dusty response; the European Central Bank stopped taking Greek government bonds as collateral. Markets were volatile but seemed hopeful that a deal would eventually be done. See article.
America and Europe prepared a new peace initiative to present to the Russians to end the war in eastern Ukraine, amid heavy fighting and more military and civilian deaths. Earlier, the pro-Russian rebel leader said he would expand his force to 100,000 men. More Russian equipment and, according to NATO, troops poured across the border. See article.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague rejected claims by both Croatia and Serbia that the other was guilty of genocide during their wars of 1991-95, when some 20,000 people were killed.
Italy’s parliament picked a new president, Sergio Mattarella, a former judge. He was the candidate of Matteo Renzi, the prime minister. By securing his choice quickly, Mr Renzi improved his chances of pushing through his reforms. See article.
Tightening the net
China stepped up controls over the internet. It is now requiring users of blogs and chat rooms to register their real names with internet providers and they must promise to avoid attacking the political system. Censors have also been trying to restrict access to “virtual private networks”, which are often used to circumvent the blocking of politically sensitive websites. See article.
Myanmar accused a senior UN official of interfering in its affairs after she had raised concerns about discrimination against members of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The Rohingya are stateless and have been the target of attacks by members of Myanmar’s Buddhist majority.
The coalition government in Australia suffered a resounding defeat in state elections in Queensland. The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, denied that she is planning to oust the prime minister, Tony Abbott, whose popularity has slumped, by mounting a challenge for the leadership of the Liberal Party.
Barbaric State
Islamic State militants broadcast their beheading of a Japanese journalist and murder of a Jordanian fighter pilot, whom they burnt alive in a cage. Jordanians, hitherto ambivalent about the bombing of Sunni jihadists, turned against the movement strongly, welcoming King Abdullah’s continued participation in the American-led coalition as well as his execution of two jailed militants in revenge. See article.
Egypt’s president deported an Australian journalist who had reported for Al Jazeera, ending his incarceration of 400 days for broadcasting “false” news. Meanwhile, Egypt’s courts jailed 230 people for anti-government activity, including a liberal activist, Ahmed Douma, who was sentenced to life in prison.
Houthi rebels who have overrun the capital of Yemen, Sana’a, refused to release the country’s president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and his cabinet from house arrest until a deal is reached on integrating the rebels into the regular army. They said that without a deal, “a revolutionary leadership” under their command would take full control. 
Forces from Chad and Cameroon backed by French planes fought their most serious battle since entering north-eastern Nigeria to suppress Boko Haram, a jihadist group. They claimed to have killed 250 militants and “wiped out” their bases near the border with Cameroon. But the fighting spilled into Cameroon, with Boko Haram reportedly killing at least 70 people in the town of Fotokol.
Petro dollars
Maria das Graças Foster, the chief executive of Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, resigned amid a corruption scandal centred on claims that Petrobras solicited billions of dollars in payments from construction companies, some of which were funnelled to political parties. These include the Workers’ Party, which is led by Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president. The lower house of Brazil’s Congress has elected as its Speaker Eduardo Cunha, who has often clashed with Ms Rousseff. See article.
In Argentina it emerged that Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor who was found dead in January, had drafted a warrant for the arrest of the president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Mr Nisman had accused the president of obstructing the investigation of the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994. The arrest warrant was found in a rubbish bin in his home.
Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, ordered an investigation into conflict-of-interest allegations against him, his wife and the finance minister, Luis Videgaray. Mr Peña also backed a constitutional reform to create a set of interlocking institutions to fight corruption. See article.
Pope Francis declared that Óscar Romero, an archbishop from El Salvador who was shot dead while celebrating mass in 1980, was a martyr. This opens the way to his beatification. Earlier popes had regarded the archbishop, who was an exponent of “liberation theology”, as a Marxist.
Budget gambit
Barack Obama presented a $4 trillion budget that he said is intended “to replace mindless austerity with smart investments”. It includes plans to increase capital-gains tax for top earners from 23.8% to 28%, various levies on business and expanded tax credits for the less well-off. The Republicans who control Congress will not pass it. See article.
Just a few weeks after confounding the pundits by declaring that he was seriously interested in running for president again, Mitt Romney announced that, upon reflection and a great deal of data-crunching, he was not going to enter the race after all.
Harper Lee said she was “humbled and amazed” that her second novel would be published, 55 years after “To Kill a Mockingbird”. The new book, “Go Set a Watchman”, acts as a sequel, featuring Scout Finch as an adult woman. Ms Lee had written it prior to penning her seminal work, but the manuscript was lost for decades. She says the work is “a pretty decent effort”.