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Beijing
China's Justice Minister, Gao Changli, left his post amid reports that he is under investigation for corruption. Chinese authorities said he left because of "health problems," which are commonly cited when officials are removed from their posts for misbehavior or because they have fallen out of favor. Authorities refused to confirm or deny rumors that Gao was being detained and questioned over allegations that he misused public property and funds. As part of a drive against corruption in the highest ranks of the Communist Party, dozens of senior officials have been charged and several executed.
Pyongyang
In the sixth such appeal since 1995, when chronic food shortages first triggered what the U.N. World Food Program has called a cycle of severe hunger in North Korea, the wfp is asking for more than 800,000 tons of food to be donated to the impoverished and isolated nation. Crop shortfalls caused by a series of natural disasters have devastated North Korea's collective agricultural system, killing an estimated 2 million citizens. The situation is so dire that many people have resorted to eating a mixture of twigs, bark and leaves, which provides little nutrition and can lead to complications like internal bleeding.
Tokyo
Construction firm Kajima Corp. agreed to pay Chinese laborers forced to work as slaves at its Hanaoka mine during World War II. Of the 986 workers brought from China to work at the site, more than 400 had died by the end of 1945. While not admitting legal responsibility, the firm will set up a $4.6 million fund, to be distributed through the Chinese Red Cross to survivors and their families. It is the first time that a compensation package has covered all the original victims or their surviving relatives and not just the 11 plaintiffs to the action, who brought the suit in 1995. The case may affect dozens of similar lawsuits.
Washington
Figures released by the U.S. Commerce Department showed a sharply slowing economy. The government reported an annual growth rate of just 2.4% in the third quarter of the year, compared to more than 5% in the previous quarter. Defying market expectations, personal income fell by .2% and consumer spending rose a mere .2% in October. The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose to its highest level in more than two years, indicating that the recent low unemployment rate of less than 4% was increasing. The slowdown is the result of the government's attempt at cooling America's red-hot economy through a series of interest rate rises.
Santiago
A Chilean judge ordered that former dictator General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte be placed under house arrest and stand trial on kidnapping and murder charges for offenses committed during his 17-year rule. Pinochet returned to Chile in March after more than a year under house arrest in Britain, where he fought extradition attempts by the Spanish government. He was allowed to go home only after British officials ruled he was unfit to stand trial. In a recent taped address on the occasion of his 85th birthday, Pinochet stated that he accepted "all the facts that they say the army and the armed forces did." He may still escape trial, though, if medical tests ordered a month ago find that he is insane or suffering from dementia.
São Paulo
A police commander accused of ordering the killing of 111 inmates at the Carandiru Detention Center in 1992 will face trial. Ubiratan Guimaraes, who is accused of murder, was the commanding officer of a squad that entered the prison to quell a riot at Latin America's biggest jail. An investigation found that many of the prisoners were shot at close range. If Guimaraes is found guilty, he could face a sentence of between 50 and 1,400 years. It would also open the way for another 100-plus members of the police force, some of whom are still on active duty, to be prosecuted. Human rights activists say that the trial is already a landmark in the fight to reverse a history of impunity for Brazilian officials accused of brutality.