Fujimori, Pirates, and More

• Former President of Peru Alberto Fujimori served from 1990 to 2000, and was the first person of East Asian descent to lead a non-Asian state. In late 2000, in the face of mounting scandal and growing instability, he left Peru to attend a summit in Brunei and then continued on to Japan, from where he resigned by fax. He has since been indicted on corruption charges, but Fujimori has long claimed he will return to Peru in triumph. That was put on hold yesterday when he arrived in Chile and was promptly arrested, and is about to be extradited to Peru—foes and supporters alike want him to return, just not for the same reason.

• Two of Saddam’s defending lawyers were shot; one is injured and one is dead.

• The attack on a luxury cruise liner by Somali pirates is prominent evidence of a trend. A few years ago, the Malaca Straits saw the highest incidence of pirate attacks. In the past year, things have died down—but piracy off the Somali coast is getting worse. Pirates have nothing more than motorboats, RPGs, and insincerity:

The most alarming rise in attacks was off the eastern and north-eastern coast of Somalia, where attacks shot up from one in 2004 to 19 in 2005. In one incident, the report says, a vessel was lured closer to the shore by pirates who set off distress flares.

• Australian police have thwarted a potentially major terrorist attack, arresting 16 people in two raids. Police shot and wounded a man who opened fire on them during raids.

• Japan has resumed whaling with earnest, and again, the media takes no prisoners. Best headline goes to New Zealand’s One News: Japan whaling fleet on Minke plunder. (Be against whaling if you like, it’s all a distraction from the vast overfishing of fish, not whales, that is the real environmental issue of the day. And as for the ban on hunting whales, nothing makes people want to eat this relatively untasty meat than being told they can’t eat it by a bunch of self-righteous outsiders.)