The Prime Minister who epitomized Israel’s warrior past is dead – 100,000 protesters defy a ban on a rally in Spain – Bangkok braces for more trouble.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is dead after an eight-year coma.  He had been in a vegetative state since suffering a stroke in 2006.  He leaves a complicated legacy as one of Israel’s most influential leaders:  Remembered as a warrior and lauded for military victories by many Israelis, Sharon is admired among Israelis for his service in the Battle for Jerusalem and War of Independence as well as several military campaigns since.

But Sharon is reviled as butcher by Palestinians and Human Rights activists.  Sharon led the 1953 Qibya bombings in which 69 Arab civilians were killed in retaliation for the deaths of three Israelis; ordered the plowing over of Palestinian homes in refugee camps to make way for Israeli military vehicles; went back on peace deals and encouraged Israeli settlers to take more and more Palestinian lands.  But the worst atrocity happened as Israeli troops sent into Lebanon by Sharon in 1982 stood by as Christian militias slaughtered Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told a cheering audience in a fiery speech that “the Palestinian people won’t kneel” and won't drop demands to establish a capital in east Jerusalem.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he refuses to negotiate the issue of Jerusalem.  Meanwhile, Israel announced plans to build 1,400 new homes in the occupied parts of Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem.

More than 100,000 people marched in the Northern Spanish city of Bilbao, in support of jailed Basque militants, but also in defiance of the government, which had tried to ban the rally.  Basque separatist political parties billed the event as a march for “human rights, understanding and peace”.  They want jailed Basque militants to be moved to prisons closer to their families.

Lucy the Beagle now only knows how to steal chicken nuggets from the toaster oven, but she also moves kitchen chairs around to let her climb on to the counter.

At least one person was killed after category five cyclone battered Tonga's northern Ha'apai islands.  The storm named “Ian” caused extensive damage in the form of damaged and destroyed homes and public buildings, ripping roofs from churches, and downing trees.  Power is out to many customers.

A 10-hour fire has destroyed much of an ancient Tibetan town in Dukezong in southwest China’s Shangri-La County. The picturesque town with cobbled streets dates back 1,300 years and is popular with tourists.  China’s state media didn’t release a casualty county, although it’s known that scores of people had to be evacuated from the hundreds of wooden houses that burned.

At least seven people were hurt when unidentified gunmen fired on anti-Democracy protesters in Bangkok.  The conservative opposition is gathering 100,000 people to try, try again to shut down the Thai capital on Monday, in protest of the Democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.  The protesters want to replace it with an unelected ruling panel of “good people”.  The army chief is concerned about further violence, and insisting that there will not be a coup.

The UN Security Council is urging South Sudan President Salva Kiir to release political prisoners to help bring an end to the bitter conflict there.  Rebel leader Riek Machar wants 11 people freed before agreeing to peace.  But he appears to be losing his leverage, after his forces ceded the town of Bentiu to government forces last week.  South Sudan troops are mobilizing to dislodge the rebels from their last stronghold.