Kokang, Myanmar
Crackdown creates refugees: In a surprise attack, Myanmar government troops overwhelmed an ethnic Kokang rebel group last week, breaking a 20-year cease-fire. The small rebel force was routed, and the fighting sparked an exodus of some 30,000 people, who fled to neighboring China. The crackdown marked the second time in three months that Myanmar’s military junta has vanquished an ethnic rebel group; in June, it defeated an ethnic Karen insurgency. Analysts say the junta is trying to consolidate control of the country ahead of elections scheduled for next year. The last time the country had elections, in 1990, the pro-democracy party of Aung San Suu Kyi won, but the junta refused to honor the results.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Spiderman scales tower: The French climber known as Spiderman finally made it to the top of one of the world’s tallest buildings this week, before being arrested for trespassing. Alain Robert had tried twice before, in 1997 and 2007, to climb the 88-story Tower Two of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, but he was arrested both times at the 60th floor. “He climbed using his bare hands and reached the top very fast as no security personnel noticed him or stopped him,” said Ee Wee Kiat, a cameraman who filmed the ascent. Robert has also scaled the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge without any ropes or safety equipment.
Tehran
Let’s talk: Iran is ready to hold talks with world powers—including, for the first time, the U.S.—about its nuclear programs, the country’s top nuclear negotiator said this week. Saeed Jalili said Iran has a new “package of proposals” and will open talks “in order to ease common concerns in the international arena.” The offer comes just ahead of a mid-September deadline to agree to talks or face harsher international sanctions. Iran is enriching uranium in violation of U.N. sanctions, although it has slowed the program’s pace in recent months.
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Prince attacked: An al Qaida suicide bomber blew himself up in the office of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef last week, in the first known al Qaida attack on the Saudi royal family. The prince, who is the head of anti-terrorism in the country, was not seriously injured. The bomber had phoned the prince days earlier to make an appointment, saying he was a repentant militant willing to give information about al Qaida. Authorities said he stumbled just short of his target and fell, detonating the device. Prince Mohammed has led an intense crackdown on militants over the past year, achieving so much success that the Saudi branch of al Qaida was forced to relocate to neighboring Yemen. Part of his strategy has been to encourage militants to defect.
Jerusalem
Olmert indicted: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been charged with corruption in the scandal that led to his resignation last year. Prosecutors alleged that when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem, in the 1990s, he routinely accepted money from groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center for travel expenses that had already been paid for—either by the government or by another organization. Then, they charge, he used the extra money—nearly $100,000—for his personal vacations. Olmert said through a spokesman that he would “prove his innocence in court.”
Tripoli, Libya
Forty years of Qaddafi: Libya held weeklong festivities to mark the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Muammar al-Qaddafi to power. Events included circus acts, sound and light shows, and an air show. Qaddafi invited dozens of heads of state to his party, but virtually all Western leaders turned him down. The guest of honor was Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, who like Qaddafi is known for his anti-American rhetoric. Qaddafi has never taken a formal leadership post. The official Libyan press refers to him as “Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,” or the pithier “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution.”
