FP roundup 10/8

Americas
Two Americans and a Japanese scientist won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded Friday.
The Galapagos islands' booming tourist economy is attracting illegal migrants.
Tracy Wilkinson looks at the implications of the recent drug slaying of a Mexican mayor for the Los Angeles Times.

Asia
A U.S. federal judge ordered the release of 17 Uighurs who have been held at the Guantánamo Bay prison since 2002. China seems eager to have them.
The brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, accused Sunday of involvement in heroin trafficking, reportedly met with ex-Taliban leaders in Riyadh last month.
At least two people died and more than 350 were reportedly injured in yesterday's riots in Thailand.

Middle East and Africa
The United States is "close" to reaching a security arrangement with Iraq, according to the State Department.
An ally of former South African President Thabo Mbeki is threatening to splinter the ruling party, the African National Congress.
Zimbabwe's power-sharing arrangement is "close to disintegrating," Time reports.

Europe and the Caucasus
Russia has begun pulling out of its "buffer zone" around South Ossetia, or so it claims.
Russian strategic bombers made contact with Japanese fighter jets.
Germany's cabinet agreed to send an additional 1,000 troops to Afghanistan.

Today's Agenda
Maldives is holding a historic presidential election.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is in Europe for a series of meetings with defense ministers.
The IMF introduces Chapter 8 of its latest World Economic Outlook.
Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks at the 2008 annual meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army.