APPLE'S board of directors

A new government was formed in KOSOVO. Parliament elected Hashim Thaci to serve a second term as prime minister, despite allegations linking him to a murder and organ-harvesting scandal after the Kosovo war in 1999.



Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND'S second-largest city, was devastated by an earthquake and several aftershocks. Scores of people died and hundreds were missing in New Zealand's worst natural disaster for 80 years. Damages were estimated at $6 billion. John Key, the prime minister, said it could turn out to be the country's "darkest day".



An online campaign urged people in Beijing and a dozen other cities in CHINA to heed the example of the "jasmine revolution" sweeping the Arab world and to converge in public places to call for political and economic rights. Very few civilians turned up, but police were out in droves and censors banned the word "jasmine" from China's microblogs. Activists reported that a number of their leaders were arrested ahead of the protests.



AFGHANISTAN suffered several suicide-bombings. The most lethal attack killed at least 38 people queuing at a bank in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Others killed dozens in four other cities. Meanwhile, it was alleged that a NATO-led operation had resulted in the deaths of 64 civilians in Kunar province. An outgoing UN official said that security is "at its lowest point" in Afghanistan since 2001.



The governments of THAILAND and CAMBODIA agreed to let the Association of South-East Asian Nations send military observers to a disputed area along their border. A recent exchange of fire around the Preah Vihear temple killed at least eight people. The observers will all be Indonesians.



Nearly 2.7m civil servants set out around INDIA to conduct the world's second-largest census. For the first time the census-takers will ask which of three sexes--male, female or "other"--the subject belongs to, and record how many Indians have electricity, toilets and permanent dwellings. Caste will also be tallied, in a separate survey.



SHANGHAI announced a one-dog policy, based along the lines of China's one-child law. Owners of the city's many unlicensed pooches insisted the local authorities were hounding them.



The political strife in Libya caused OIL PRICES to soar. Brent crude traded at well above $115 a barrel in London and West Texas Intermediate at around $100 in New York. Investors turned to precious metals as a haven, helping to push up the price of SILVER to a 31-year high.



In Cote d'Ivoire the internationally recognised winner of November's disputed presidential election extended a ban he has imposed on COCOA exports from his country, in an effort to make the incumbent president stand aside. Cocoa stocks are piling up in ports, increasing the chance of the beans decaying. There was more violence in the west African country this week.



APPLE'S board of directors was challenged by investors at the annual general meeting to reveal the succession plan it has drawn up to replace Steve Jobs should the chief executive not return from medical leave. In a vote shareholders backed the board, which argues that disclosing the plan now would onl
berita bola
Airport Transportation