Eighteen months ago, tycoon-turned-politician Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide election victory and became a rising star on the regional stage. Today, he is out of a job after a coup d’etat and considering life in exile.

Israel’s internal security service chief warned today that as many as 200 Jewish settlers want to see Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dead because of his plan to dismantle settlements in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.