Wild Beasts

A Nepalese tiger that killed 100 people in the last 10 months was finally tracked down and shot. The 220-pound man-eater sometimes hid under the roofs of local houses, pouncing on anyone who ventured out. Its victims included infants, children playing and adults working in the fields.

Weather

Typhoon Linda, the most destructive storm to hit Southeast Asia this century, swept over Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in early November. Linda killed hundreds of people in flash floods and damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings.

Heavy rains pounded Ethiopia in mid-November, causing massive flooding in southern Somalia, and wiping out the recently harvested staple crop, sorghum. More than 200,000 people lost their homes to a new "inland sea" covering 60 square miles.

Technology

A New Jersey company, Sensar Inc., is preparing to offer eye-scanning technology to ATM manufacturers to replace passwords and PIN numbers. Since the iris is unique to everyone—more so than fingerprints—the technology is more accurate than other systems. In about two seconds, the system compares the user's iris with a scan provided by the customer, and if the two fail to match, the ATM will not work. Eyeglasses and contact lenses do not interfere with the process.

Media

In 1996 the average American spent 1,600 hours watching TV and 300 hours listening to music. However, Americans spent only 100 hours reading books.

Marine Disease

In Texas a new wave of red tide has reached toxic levels in Corpus Christi Bay where hundreds of dead fish have washed up along the beach. Red tide, an algae that in high concentrations is fatal to fish, is always present. Scientists are not sure what causes the algae to bloom to toxic levels and attack piscine nervous systems.

European Union

Europe stepped closer to creating a new security arrangement when the Western European Union (WEU), a military forum for NATO's European members, agreed to work more closely with the EU. They agreed that the WEU should function as a bridge between NATO and the EU, with a rotating presidency of both the WEU and the EU being held simultaneously by one nation. Germany will be the first to hold the two presidencies, beginning in January of 1998.

Economics

Intelligence Digest reports that Japan's financial situation is "spookily similar" to America's condition during the Great Crash of 1929. A Japanese systemic financial collapse would lead Japan to repatriate multiple billions of dollars of assets currently underpinning American and European markets.

Middle East

On November 13, Yassir Arafat announced that the Palestinians will declare statehood in 1999 regardless of Israel's agreement. According to the Oslo agreement, Israel and the Palestinian Authority have until May of 1999 to agree on the nature of the Palestinian entity, including provisions for statehood in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

According to Jayne's Intelligence Review, Iran is only four months away from complete nuclear capability unless Western nations block the transfer of highly-enriched uranium to Iran.