SENDING A MESSAGE? : Deposed prime minister Khaleda Zia was also ordered to appear before a court by Aug. 26 over tax evasion allegations
Bangladesh arrested former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on extortion charges yesterday, setting off an angry showdown with her supporters that saw police open fire with rubber bullets and tear gas.

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Less water flows down China's two biggest rivers now than 40 years ago because global warming is drying up the wetlands that feed them, a state news agency reported yesterday, citing Chinese scientists.

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China announced yesterday that 95 Chinese Communist Party officials had been punished, mostly just with warnings, for involvement in a shocking slave labor scandal.

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PAPERWORK: A court released Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef on bail on terrorism charges yesterday only for Canberra to cancel his work visa and take him into custody
The Australian government stopped an Indian doctor from being released on bail on terrorism charges linked to British car bombings by canceling his visa yesterday and ordering him into an immigration detention center.

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A EU arms embargo against Myanmar is under threat from an Indian project to sell attack helicopters to the military regime, Amnesty International said in a report published yesterday.

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Pakistani investigators were hunting yesterday for links between a surge of violence in the northwest and an assault on a mosque in the capital as the death toll from two suicide bomb attacks on Sunday rose to 45.

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OPEN ALTERNATIVES: The MILF has denied the beheadings, but the military may prepare for a no-holds-barred assault on the Islamic militants
The Philippine military yesterday warned it could launch an "all-out war" against Islamic militants if they did not surrender those behind an ambush last week in which 14 marines were killed, including 10 who were beheaded.

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Left-wing Philippine lawmakers filed a bill yesterday calling for the repeal of a landmark anti-terror law that came into force over the weekend, calling the new legislation a "recipe for authoritarian rule."

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HIDEOUT: Lebanese troops bombarded the militant stronghold as representatives wrapped up meetings in France
Two Lebanese soldiers were killed yesterday as the army continued to make advances in its eight-week-old battle to crush Islamists besieged in a refugee camp.

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A NATION IN CRISIS: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's bid to curb runaway inflation by decree has resulted in a countrywide run on consumer products
Zimbabweans are shopping like there's no tomorrow. With police patroling the aisles of Harare's electrical shops to enforce massive government-ordered price cuts, the widescreen TVs were the first things to go, for as little as ?20 (US$41). Across the country, shoes, clothes, toiletries and different kinds of food were all swept from the shelves as a nation with the world's fastest shrinking economy gorged itself on one last spending spree.

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LACKING LEADERSHIP: The African National Congress has battled to replace post-apartheid heroes such as Albert Luthuli, Oliver Thambo and, of course, Nelson Mandela
Former South African president Nelson Mandela celebrates his 89th birthday tomorrow, at a time when the ruling party he once led is besieged by a fierce succession battle and the racial unity he so painstakingly forged during his presidency now appears to be on the verge of unraveling altogether.

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Paris put the wheels in motion for more eco-friendly transport on Sunday when more than 10,000 gleaming grey bicycles went up for rental at hundreds of stations across the city.

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Iceland is the leader in a league table judging the European country best able to give citizens a long and happy life. Estonia ranked last in the 30-nation survey, while the UK lurked below Romania, at No. 21 in the chart.

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POWDER KEG: At least 180 people were wounded in Kirkuk, a city that has always been considered volatile with its rich ethnic tapestry of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen
A suicide bomber slaughtered at least 71 people and wounded scores more as he slammed his booby-trapped car into a Kurdish political office in Iraq's northern oil city of Kirkuk yesterday.

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MORE TIME: Britain's independent reviewer of counterterrorism legislation said the28-day limit on keeping terrorism suspects was too short, and many police agree
Britain's senior adviser on anti-terrorism legislation said yesterday that he favors allowing police to hold suspects longer than the current 28-day limit.

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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Sunday tried to quash the view that Britain would cool its relationship with the US in the wake of two speeches by government ministers close to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

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A donation that the Twins Days festival is getting from the estate of two frugal bachelor farmers is enough to make some people do a double-take: as much as US$5 million.

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Attorneys for the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles and hundreds of people sexually abused by priests were to appear in court on Monday to file a US$660 million settlement, the biggest in US history.

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■ AFGHANISTAN
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