A FAMILY AFFAIR: In the first of a dozen corruption cases against the family of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his wife and brother were sentenced to prison
The wife of deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion yesterday, the first conviction against his family since he was toppled in a 2006 coup.

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WELL-TRIED TACTIC? : Officials accused the protesters of often trying to get more money for their land even after all parties had already agreed to the selling price
She may be a former schoolteacher from a poor, Dalit family, but Kumari Mayawati, India’s Dalit queen and prime minister-in-waiting, wants people to know she is born to rule.

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UNINHABITED ROCKS: Japan downplayed the US decision to redesignate the islands as South Korean territory, saying officials didn’t see any reason to ‘react excessively’
Seoul yesterday applauded a US decision to relist South Korea as owners of a group of tiny islands, amid a simmering dispute with Japan over claims to the territory.

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A rebellious New Zealand Maori tribe entered into negotiations with the government yesterday in a bid to gain autonomy over its land.

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It’s a cycle India has seen repeated 13 times in nearly three years: Bombs are planted where they can kill as many people as possible. Investigations follow, memories fade and months later, bombs explode in another city.

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STILL IN CHARGE: The court case was the latest battleground between the pious Muslims who run Turkey's government and the military-backed secular establishment
Turkey's top court narrowly voted against disbanding the ruling party over accusations it is plotting to impose Islamic rule, but the judges cut off millions of dollars in state aid to a party locked in a power struggle with the secular elite.

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WAR CRIMES: The former Serb leader said he would defend himself, but wanted to see the new indictment the prosecutors were preparing before entering a plea
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic appeared at the UN's Yugoslav war crimes tribunal for the first time yesterday to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

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BLOOD MONEY: Libya is set to pay claims from the Lockerbie bombing and to those killed and injured in an attack on a Berlin disco
Libya would pay hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate US victims of terrorism under a tentative agreement that hinges on action by the US Congress, sources familiar with the accord said on Wednesday.

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The UN Security Council voted on Wednesday to end its eight-year-long peacekeeping mission between Eritrea and Ethiopia, a failure the UN chief has warned could lead to a new war between the Horn of Africa neighbors.

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Iran yesterday rejected any deadline to give a final response to a package drawn up by world powers seeking to end the nuclear crisis and said there should be more negotiations to reach a deal.

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ENDLESS BATTLE: Brigadier General Brian Keller said the US was not sure what the diversion of fighters meant. Meanwhile, a police station near Mosul was bombed
The leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq and several of his top lieutenants have recently left Iraq for Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

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MORE MUSCLE: The bill would impose the toughest lead standards in the world and give the Consumer Product Safety Commission more money and authority
Alarmed by a year of recalls involving millions of tainted toys, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to ban lead and other dangerous chemicals from items such as jewelry and rubber ducks that could end up in the mouths of children.

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Mexicans working in other countries are sending less money home, threatening businesses, stalling construction and choking cash flow to hamlets where as much as half the population works in the US.

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US President George W. Bush approved an order on Wednesday that rewrites the rules governing spying by the US intelligence agencies, both in the US and abroad, and strengthens the authority of the national intelligence director, according to a US official and government documents.

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A former driver for Osama bin Laden denied on Wednesday that he had sworn an oath of loyalty to the al-Qaeda leader, contradicting potentially damaging testimony from a US Defense Department interrogator.

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The paparazzi keep taking their shots, but not always the kind they’re after. Lately it’s a jab from a star’s bodyguard — or his surfer pals — or the metallic pinch of handcuffs slapped on for lingering too long. And more push-back may be coming.

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