1. Former dictator back

    Former Haitian dictator* Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier made a surprise return from exile* to his Caribbean homeland on Sunday, saying he wanted to help in the rebuilding of his earthquake-hit nation.

    It was the first time that Duvalier — who is now 59 but was once the world’s youngest head of state at 19 — had returned to Haiti since he was forced out in 1986 by a popular uprising* and U.S. pressure.

    2. Cargo seized by pirates

    Somali pirates have seized a South Korean ship in the Arabian Sea, two months after an oil supertanker belonging to the same firm was freed after seven months in captivity*.

    A Foreign Ministry statement issued late Saturday said the Cabinet had met to discuss how to deal with the hijacking* of the 11,500-ton Samho Jewelry, seized while carrying chemicals to Sri Lanka from the United Arab Emirates.

   

    3. Indian stampede

    A stampede* of pilgrims* returning from one of India’s most popular Hindu festivals killed at least 102 people and injured 44 others, officials said on Saturday.

    The stampede was set off on Friday night when a group of pilgrims in a jeep drove into a crowd of worshippers walking along a narrow forest path as they returned from the hilltop Sabarimala shrine* in the state of Kerala in southern India.

    4. Brazil flood

    Brazil on Saturday declared three days of national mourning* for at least 610 people killed near Rio de Janeiro last week in the country’s worst flood disaster on record.

    Workers transporting bodies said they feared the overall death toll could top 1,000 as rescuers reached outlying* villages.

    5. Plane crash report

    The cause of the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski has been attributed* by the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) to the crew’s refusal to divert* to another airport under pressure to avoid upsetting the president.

    IAC chairwoman Tatyana Anodina last Wednesday outlined* the findings of the Russian investigators’ final report into last April’s crash near Smolensk, which killed all 96 people on board including Kaczynski and many of Poland’s leaders.

   

    6. Giffords condition improves

    The husband of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords says his wife’s condition has improved so much that she has been able to smile and give him a neck rub.

    The interaction* with astronaut Mark Kelly is new signs of Giffords’ impressive progress in recovering from a gunshot wound to the head at a political event in Tucson, Arizona, on January 8.

   

    7. Australia’s floods

    Australia’s flood crisis would likely be the most expensive natural disaster it has ever had, the country’s treasurer said on Monday.

    “It looks like this is possibly going to be, in economic terms, the largest natural disaster in our history,” Wayne Swan, who is also deputy prime minister, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

    Since December, two-thirds of Queensland has been hit by flooding that has left more than 25 people dead and scores of others missing.

    (SD-Agencies)