Johannesburg
President forced out: South African President Thabo Mbeki said this week he would bow to his party’s demands and resign. The African National Congress asked for Mbeki’s resignation after a judge found evidence that Mbeki had interfered in a corruption case against his rival within the party, Jacob Zuma. A caretaker president will preside until next year’s presidential election, which Zuma is expected to win easily. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he was deeply disturbed by the resignation and implied that the ouster of Mbeki looked like a personal vendetta engineered by Zuma. “The way of retribution leads to a banana republic,” Tutu said. Zuma has been repeatedly charged with corruption, fraud, and other crimes, but has never been convicted.
Gilf al-Kebir, Egypt
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Tourists kidnapped: Masked bandits this week kidnapped 19 tourists on a desert safari in a remote area of Egypt near the Sudanese and Libyan borders. The kidnappers have reportedly asked for ransom of up to $10 million for the five Italians, five Germans, one Romanian, and eight Egyptians. The tourists were heading to Gilf al-Kebir, which boasts caves containing prehistoric paintings made famous in the 1996 film The English Patient. The German government was negotiating for the captives’ release. Egypt’s tourism industry has often been targeted by extremists. In the 1990s, Islamic militants frequently bombed tourist sites, killing hundreds.
Beijing
Milk scandal worsens: The head of China’s product quality agency resigned this week in the wake of a widening scandal over tainted baby formula. More than 50,000 babies have now been sickened by milk powder laced with the industrial chemical melamine; four have died. Dairies across China had been using the chemical, which causes kidney stones in infants, to boost their milk’s protein measurements in chemical tests. In an attempt to mollify furious parents, China’s Communist government took the unusual step of admitting government wrongdoing. “Some officials have ignored public opinion and turned a blind eye to people’s hardships,” said President Hu Jintao. Still, the Propaganda Department ordered Chinese media to tone down coverage of the scandal, and discussions of it on the Web have been deleted.
Pyongyang, North Korea
Nuclear reprocessor restarting: North Korea this week began restoring some of the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon to a functioning state, saying the U.S. has failed to live up to a disarmament deal. The U.S. had agreed to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in exchange for the dismantling of Yongbyon, but has not yet done so because North Korea has not allowed inspectors full access to nuclear sites. This week, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it no longer cared whether the country was on the terrorist list. Analysts speculated that the poor health of dictator Kim Jong Il, who reportedly had a stroke in August, may be giving hard-liners a freer hand.
Tokyo
Colorful new leader: Japan’s ruling party this week picked dapper former Foreign Minister Taro Aso as the nation’s new prime minister. Aso, 68, a former Olympic skeet shooter, is known for his love of manga comics as well as his tough stance toward China. He is the third Liberal Democratic Party prime minister in just two years; his predecessor, Yasuo Fukuda, quit abruptly two weeks ago, just a year after his own predecessor did the same. Aso may not have long to govern either. He is required to call an election sometime within the next year, and with Japan’s economy nearing a recession, the opposition Democratic Party has been gaining popularity.
Yangon, Myanmar
Prisoner freed: Myanmar’s ruling junta freed its longest-held political prisoner this week as part of a general amnesty granted thousands of prisoners. Journalist Win Tin, who had been imprisoned for 19 years, was a close aide to Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner currently under house arrest. He helped her found the National League for Democracy opposition party in 1988. Asked how it felt to be out of prison, Win Tin said, “I will be happy only when all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are released.” The general amnesty was apparently intended to ward off demonstrations as the one-year anniversary of the Buddhist monk uprising approaches. Dozens of people were killed last September when the army fired on peaceful protesters led by monks.
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