Bangkok battles
1 Thailand Samak Sundaravej, the prime minister, imposed a state of
emergency in Bangkok after battles between government supporters and
opponents. The Bangkok Post said he ordered the military onto the streets to
“bring the country back to peace”. One man was killed and over 40 injured.
The state of emergency, set to last until November 30, gave the army the
authority to prohibit public gatherings of more than five people. The
confrontations followed a revolt by demonstrators, who have staged a sit-in
at the prime minister’s offices to protest against Samak, whom they believe
to be corrupt. In yet another blow, the foreign minister also resigned.
House for € 1
2 Italy Vittorio Sgarbi, an eccentric Sicilian mayor, is selling houses
for € 1 in an attempt to revitalise the historic town centre of Salemi. An
earthquake almost destroyed many of the properties in 1968 and the only
condition for the bargain price is that owners must restore the houses to
their former condition in two years. Sgarbi told the Italian newspaper
Corriere della Sera: “We’re thinking of people who have the sensibility and
economic resources to embark on this adventure.”
The scheme was the brainchild of Olivero Toscani, Salemi’s councillor for
creativity. “These houses are like a heart pierced by a thorn,” he said.
“They are dangerous but they also represent a patrimony that is slowly
dissolving away.”
Vlad the saviour
3 Russia Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, rescued a TV crew from an
attack by a Siberian tiger when he shot it with a tranquilliser gun, said a
presenter on Rossiya Television. Russia’s state-run station showed footage
of Putin’s visit to the far east of the country, the home of the rare Ussuri
tiger, and claimed that he sedated a female cat, pictured right, after it
escaped and was about to attack staff.
“Vladimir Putin not only managed to see the giant predator up close but also
saved our crew too,” the presenter said. Putin was shown helping to measure
the animal and placing a tracking collar around its neck before patting its
cheek and claiming, “She’ll remember us.”
Sunni success
4 Iraq The American military handed control of Anbar province, once a
safe haven for Sunni insurgents, back to Iraqis, Al Sabah newspaper
reported. Anbar, Iraq’s largest province, began its transformation in 2006
when Sunnis turned against Al-Qaeda and joined forces with the Americans,
forming so-called “awakening councils”. Anbar, in western Iraq, is the 11th
of 18 provinces to have been passed to the Iraqis.
The Wall Street Journal hailed the handover. “In danger of being defeated in
Iraq in 2006 the US has demonstrated that it has the national will to fight
a longer war,” said the paper, adding that the handover was a “tribute to
the hundreds of Americans who have fought and died in places like Fallujah,
Ramadi and Hit over these last five years”.
Mengele escape
5 Israel Israeli secret agents discovered the hiding place of Josef
Mengele, a Nazi doctor who carried out experiments on prisoners in
Auschwitz, but allowed him to get away, a former Israeli intelligence agent
has revealed.
Rafi Eitan, 81, who headed the 1960 operation to capture Adolf Eichmann in
Buenos Aires, told The Jerusalem Post that Mengele, who was also in the
city, was able to escape as the agents did not wish to risk losing Eichmann
to capture him. “Had we gone for both of them at the same time, we would
have lost them both,” he said.
By the time the agents returned to Argentina Eichmann’s capture had been
announced and Mengele had vanished. Mengele escaped to Paraguay and later to
Brazil, where he died in 1979.
Tycoon charged
6 Egypt A wealthy businessman has been arrested and charged with
ordering the killing of a Lebanese pop singer according to Egypt’s Daily
News. Suzanne Tamim, 31, was found with her throat cut in a luxury apartment
in Dubai last July.
Hisham Talaat Mustafa, who owns Egypt’s largest property company and is a
member of the ruling National Democratic party, is alleged to have paid a
hit man more than £1m to carry out the killing. Speculation about Mustafa’s
involvement increased after Egyptian newspapers were banned from reporting
the case.
Gun rampage
7 America A drugs offender released from jail less than a month ago
went on the rampage in the state of Washington, in the northwest, leaving
six people dead and four wounded. Isaac Zamora, 28, was being held on
suspicion of murder and attempted murder after shooting a sheriff’s deputy
and five others along an 18-mile route.
The Seattle Times reported that family and friends had described Zamora as
“deeply troubled”. He is being held on bail of $5m (£2.8m).
Kim defies US
8 North Korea The government of Kim Jong-il has started to reassemble
its nuclear facility at Yongbyon, according to South Korean reports.
Pyongyang had begun to dismantle it last November in exchange for economic
aid and political concessions but last month announced that it planned to
suspend the operation after the United States failed to remove it from the
“axis of evil” terrorism blacklist.
The US State Department sought to downplay the move but the South Korean daily
the Korea Herald took a more cautious view saying that the actions “raise
concerns that a new period of nuclear crisis may be looming”.
Cheney in talks
9 Georgia Dick Cheney, the American vice-president, attacked Russia for
invading Georgia when he arrived for talks with President Mikhail
Saakashvili in Tbilisi. He said: “Russia’s actions have cast grave doubt on
its intentions and reliability as an international partner, not just in
Georgia but across this region.”
The trip coincided with the announcement of at least $1 billion in aid to help
rebuild Georgia. Cheney is pointedly not visiting Russia on a tour of the
three former Soviet republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine.
Gustav questions
10 America Hurricane Gustav struck the Gulf coast killing eight,
cutting off electricity to 1.4m households and causing an estimated $6-$10
billion of damage. The low death toll and small amount of flooding left many
residents questioning whether it had been necessary to evacuate 2m people
from New Orleans. However, the precautions were defended by officials.
Michael Chertoff, secretary for homeland security, said: “The reason you are
not seeing a dramatic series of rescues is because we had an efficient
evacuation.”
The precautions for Gustav have been compared favourably to the heavily
criticised response to Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,600
people and caused $41 billion of damage in 2005.
