Jerusalem
Premier to resign: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, dogged for months by corruption allegations, said this week that he would resign his post in September. Olmert’s announcement came a day after his centrist party, Kadima, scheduled a leadership vote—a signal that many in the party wanted Olmert to go. He has been under investigation on charges that he took bribes from an American businessman in the 1990s, during his stints as Jerusalem’s mayor and as trade minister. “I am proud to be the prime minister of a country that investigates its prime ministers,” Olmert said in his resignation announcement, which also reiterated his claims of innocence. Olmert’s resignation will put Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinians on hold until the fall at the earliest, after his successor as party leader forms a new governing coalition or national elections are held.
South Waziristan, Pakistan
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U.S. hits al Qaida cell: A U.S. missile strike on a compound in northwestern Pakistan this week killed a top al Qaida weapons expert and five others, officials said. The victims reportedly included Abu Khabab al-Masri, the terror group’s top explosives trainer and its point man in the effort to make biological and chemical weapons. The attack came as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was visiting Washington, where he met with President Bush. The two did not directly address the unilateral U.S. strike during a joint press conference, but Gilani later told CNN he considered it a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. “There should be more cooperation on the intelligence side,” he said. “When there is a credible and actionable information given to us, we will hit ourselves.”
Bangalore, India
Islamists attack: Islamic militants set off more than a dozen crude bombs in two major Indian cities this week, leaving at least 45 dead in Ahmedabad and another two dead in Bangalore. Nearly 200 people were wounded. In a long e-mail sent to media outlets just minutes before some of the explosions, the little-known Indian Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the attacks. “In the name of Allah, the Indian Mujahedeen strike again!” the group said. “Do whatever you can, within five minutes from now, feel the terror of death!” The Mujahedeen is believed to be a coalition of militant Islamic groups seeking to fuel discord between India’s Hindu majority and its Muslim minority.
Manila
Airplane mystery: A Boeing 747 safely made an emergency landing in the Philippines last week after a hole the size of a car opened in the side of the plane. Passengers on the Qantas Airways flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne said they heard a loud boom and then the cabin lost pressure. Investigators now suspect that an oxygen cylinder may have exploded, something that has never happened before on a passenger airplane. “If it turns out that is the cause of the accident, obviously that will be a key part of the investigation—working out why a bottle would suddenly give way,” said Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson. The Australian-based Qantas is famous for its safety record; it has never had a fatal crash.
Canberra, Australia
Refugees not jailed: The Australian government has ended the previous administration’s practice of jailing all asylum seekers while their claims are investigated. Human-rights groups had criticized the policy of warehousing asylum seekers, including children, in rural jails, sometimes for years. Amnesty International called the reform a “welcome step forward” that would bring Australia’s system “into line with other Western democracies.” Earlier this year, the government ended a policy of intercepting “boat people” at sea and sending them to detention centers on small Pacific islands. “This isn’t about a mass opening of the gates,” said Immigration Minister Chris Evans. “This is about a more humane treatment of asylum seekers.”
