A bad week for ...
Yingluck Shinawatra
The pressure had been building for weeks, and on Thursday the new Thai prime minister admitted it had become too much. 'We have been doing everything we can, but this is a big national crisis,' a shaken-looking Yingluck said. 'I'm begging for mercy from the media here.' A day later, the floodgates opened, allowing water through Bangkok's canals and putting the capital at real risk from flooding.
Wang Lihong
The activist lost her appeal against her nine-month jail sentence on Thursday in Beijing. Wang, 56, was accused of creating a disturbance when she helped lead a protest on behalf of three bloggers accused of slander. Her supporters say the charges against her were fabricated to punish her for her wider activism online, and that they underscore the government's worries about internet-empowered social activists.
Michael Woodford
The former Olympus chief executive, sacked on October 14 by the giant Japanese camera and electronics company, told Reuters on Thursday he had sought protection from British police after telling British fraud investigators Olympus had paid US$687 million to two advisory firms in acquiring British medical equipment maker Gyrus in 2008 for US$2.2 billion.
