Globe Trot: Burma puts democracy to the test in Sunday elections

BURMA: On Sunday, Burma, also called Myanmar, is set to hold its first contested election in 25 years. Even before votes were cast, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi said she will lead the country in a role “above the president” if her party wins.

HAITI: Election officials kept voters waiting, but late Thursday announced a run-off will be held next month between presidential frontrunners Jovenel Moise, the 37-year-old banana plantation owner, and 53-year-old Jude Celestin, the former head of Haiti’s government construction agency.

JORDAN: Torrential rainfall has left widespread flooding in the capital, Amman, causing worries about the many refugees from Iraq and Syria living in camps in Jordan.

ISRAEL: As President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepare to meet next week, the White House is sounding almost conciliatory, downsizing its goals in the Middle East with one year remaining in Obama’s term.

IRAQ: In a divided Iraq, Mariamana school in Kirkuk has Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen students sitting together in classrooms over Islamic and Christian education textbooks. It’s the work of the Chaldean Church’s former Archbishop Louis Sako.

MIGRANTS: Finland may return Afghan migrants to their country over security concerns. Amid the worst refugee crisis since World War II, WORLD’s cover story this week focuses on the ongoing tension between security and compassion: When it comes to taking in migrants from terror-ridden countries, who is my neighbor?