OPINION

Fifteen years ago, then the Democrat-led government was forced to dissolve the House after it was humiliated by the Opposition in the parliament over abuses of power in the sor por kor 4-01 land scheme. Today, it wants to resurrect the same programme.

Barack Obama has a big speech coming up this Tuesday. For a lesson in how to reassure a jittery populace - and banking system - look to Depression-era leader FDR, says Harold Evans.

When Israelis look back on what caused the current conflict in Gaza, they point to their government's decision in September 2005 to leave the narrow "Philadelphi Route" that runs along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. More than Israel's disengagement from the Strip as a whole, the abandonment of this strategic area made full-scale war inevitable.

The semi-official Al-Ahram daily laid bare the dilemma at the root of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's position in an editorial last week: "Israel's loathsome crime with Hamas assistance," reads the headline.

The Bangkok gubernatorial race is normally the most fascinating of Thai elections. When it takes place at the most unusual time it is supposed to deliver even greater excitement and a flamboyant winner. Yesterday, therefore, was an anti-climactic letdown.

Dual crises over the Gaza conflict and gas supplies to Europe are proving to be a trial by fire for the European Union presidency of the Czech Republic, the first ex-Warsaw Pact country to be put in charge of EU business.

With minimum guards despite the rumour of a plot to ruin his face with acidic potions, PM Abhisit Vejjajiva went to see a film with his daughter on Tuesday evening. The movie was Kwamsuk Khong Kati (The Happines of Kati), the heavily-hyped adaptation of the SEA-Write Award novella written by the PM's sister, Ngarmpan Vejjajiva. As much as the book is adored, the film feels like the Milky Way: long, white and cold.

If voter turnout exceeds 70 per cent at tomorrow's Bangkok governor election, there could be a surprise outcome. If not, MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra of the ruling Democrat Party and the front-running candidate, is expected to win the governor's post by a margin of less than 100,000 votes.

Cuba is putting less emphasis on social spending and more on rewarding individual workers and cutting gratuities as it moves away from decades-old policies aimed at undermining individualism and promoting collectivism, even as it marks the 50th anniversary of the revolution.

We need a longer break. All of us. This realisation came at the end of a liaison with a friend who complained in his e-mail about not being used to the present political calm. After all that has happened, I replied, every one of us deserves peace.