JUDICIAL INTEGRITY: The lawyers are planning a long march for June 10 to back demands that fired judges be rehired, but the issue is inflaming partisan politics
Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s party will join lawyers in street protests next month to press for the restoration of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf, a spokesman said yesterday, a move that could further strain the unraveling coalition government.

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India’s foreign minister travels to Pakistan this week for his first meeting with leaders of a new civilian government and to review a peace process that has been in the doldrums for more than a year.

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When residents of this poor, Cambodian village need something built, they call on the Lightmans.

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INTELLIGENCE FORCES IN ACTION: A duo of Indian and Nepalese supplying logistics to Afghan police had gone missine on April 21 while traveling along the border with Iran
Afghan intelligence officials freed early yesterday an Indian and a Nepalese national kidnapped a month ago by unknown militants in western Afghanistan, security officials said.

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Hidden behind a stack of pornographic video discs, Yangon street vendor Mg Zaw has even more sought-after contraband: Footage of the destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis, which cut a deadly path through Myanmar’s heartland two weeks ago.

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Tropical storm Halong battered the northern Philippines yesterday with powerful winds triggering floods and landslides and displacing about 6,000 people, relief officials said.

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BAD TASTE: A news report that the Australian military sprayed the toxic defoliant in rainforest about 100m from a town’s water supply has local residents worried
The government of Queensland State said yesterday that it would investigate claims that chemical weapons such as Agent Orange were tested in the 1960s.

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Eight Chinese in their early 20s made their way up a winding mountain road, stopping at each new quake-ravaged peasant home to help the injured. They said they were doing it for China.

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CHALLENGE: The country’s ruling coalition called for Hezbollah to put down its weapons to end a political crisis that sparked violence two weeks ago, killing 67
Feuding Lebanese factions holding the highest-level talks yet in their country’s 18-month political crisis traded accusations yesterday and a government official said almost no progress has been made in discussions between the US-backed government and Hezbollah-led opposition.

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INTEREST-BEARING LOANS: Instead of getting money to prepare for climate change in the form of direct grants, London wants poor countries to repay the so-called help
Britain’s £800 million (US$1.56 million) international project to help the poorest countries in the world adapt to climate change was under fire on Friday after it emerged that almost all the money offered by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will have to be repaid with interest.

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No women made it to Kuwait’s legislature as voters in the Gulf Arab state ushered back in many Islamist and tribal politicians from the previous house, which could mean further stagnation in economic reform.

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A spokesman for Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga yesterday poured scorn on attempts by right-wing activists to discredit US presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama through his Kenyan heritage.

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Pirates on Saturday hijacked a Jordanian-flagged cargo ship off Somalia, the latest in a series of pirate attacks in the area this year, a Kenyan maritime official said.

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STRONGHOLD: Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said that 1,068 people have been detained over the past week, but 94 were cleared and have since been released
Nearly 1,000 people have been detained in a sweep to break al-Qaeda in Iraq’s sway in Iraq’s third largest city, Mosul, but many of the fighters have fled to nearby areas, where troops are hunting for them, Iraqi officials said.

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TARGETED: US officials said that three Mexican police commanders have crossed into the US to request asylum, saying they fear for their lives
Drug cartels are sending a brutal message to police and soldiers in cities across Mexico: Join us or die.

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Cuba’s gay community celebrated unprecedented openness — and high-ranking political alliances — with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on Saturday.

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Venezuela issued an official protest to Colombia on Saturday denouncing an alleged cross-border incident involving Colombian soldiers, amid tensions between the neighboring countries.

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‘HIGH-GRADE BLOCKAGE’: Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate, was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F. Kennedy
Senator Edward Kennedy, the lone surviving son in a famed political family who helped define national Democratic Party politics, suffered a seizure at his Cape Cod home on Saturday and was recovering in good spirits at a Boston hospital.

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■ THAILAND

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