Fidel Castro stepped down as president of Cuba on Tuesday, ending an almost 50 year rule of the country. Castro, 81, has been ailing for some time, having never fully recovered from emergency surgery in 2006 to treat an acute infection in his colon. Many expect Castro’s brother, Raul Castro, to be named president when the National Assembly convenes this coming Sunday.

Serbian demonstrators attacked the United States Embassy in Belgrade on Thursday, four days after Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. The mob burned portions of the Embassy, ostensibly in protest to the United States’ public statements of support for Kosovo’s independence. Kosovo’s statement of independence culminated a seventeen-year self-determination movement to break free of Serbia, which regards Kosovo as its medieval heartland.

A deal has nearly been reached between Kenya’s rival political parties to end the turmoil that has engulfed the country for nearly two months, officials said on Thursday. Among other things, the government would agree to create a prime minister position, a key demand from the opposition party. Kenya has experienced widespread chaos since the controversial re-election of incumbent leader Mwai Kibaki last December, whose victory many claim occurred due to vote rigging.

Rev. James E. Orange, an activist in the Civil Rights Movement and aide to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died Saturday in Atlanta at age 65. His arrest in Perry County, Ala. is viewed as one of the inciting events for the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. Orange was present at the assassination of Dr. King, standing below the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis when the fatal attack occurred.