LOMA LA LATA, Argentina — In a desertlike stretch of scrub grass and red buttes, oil companies are punching holes in the ground in search of what might be one of the biggest recent discoveries in the Americas: enough gas and oil to make a country known for beef and the tango an important energy player.

CAIRO — The initial round of Egypt’s first free presidential election in modern history has delivered a stark choice for next month’s runoff: a conservative Islamist vs. a former air force commander with deep ties to the man whose ouster precipitated this week’s vote.

BEIJING — Faced with political turmoil at the top, a slowing economy, and a young and wired population restless for change, China’s Communist rulers appear to have dusted off a time-tested tactic: blaming foreigners for the country’s problems.

TIANJIN, China — Few temples to conspicuous consumption are as quirky as the Florentia Village, a sprawling "authentic Italian luxury outlet center" on the outskirts of China’s northern city of Tianjin that boasts its own ersatz Colosseum.

Iran is expanding the capacity of its controversial underground nuclear facility, a U.N. report said Friday, as its leaders move to increase production of a more purified form of enriched uranium in defiance of Western demands for a freeze.

JENIN, West Bank — A high drama unfolding recently in the jacaranda-draped hills of this city features some of its most prominent characters: a crime-fighting governor who perished as he hunted his attackers and a famed ex-militant swept up in an ensuing crackdown. But uncomfortably for Palestinian officials, the cast also appears to include senior members of the elite Palestinian security forces, who are now suspected of acting on the wrong side of the law.

BEIJING — The brother of blind activist Chen Guangcheng has fled his village in northeastern China, evading a security clampdown to seek help from lawyers for his son, who has been detained in a case that has become a rallying point among rights activists.

BERLIN — Supporters of major new measures to ease Europe’s economic crisis confronted a sinking realization Thursday: Their best chances for success might come only if the situation worsens.

A French demand that the 17 countries that use the euro currency back one another’s borrowing has won new supporters in recent days, but it has been met with full-throated resistance from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose thrifty taxpayers would bear the biggest burden of any plan.

Thursday night’s Howard Theatre concert — one of only six stops on a mini-tour of the United States — was a rare stateside performance by Babasonicos. The Argentine rock band, which co-headlined Puerto Rico’s Indie Fest with psychedelic rockers MGMT last month, is accustomed to playing huge, sold-out venues in Latin America, and the audience of about 200 was treated to a (relatively) intimate show.