Unexpected elements is all about finding the surprising science angles to

everyday news. That's unexpected elements from the BBC World Service. Find it

wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the global news podcast from the BBC

World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and at 13 hours GMT on Friday the first of

September, these are our main stories. Tax in Chinawatt, Thailand's former

Prime Minister, jailed for corruption, has had his sentence massively reduced. Hong Kong

batons down the hatches as Typhoon Sour approaches. I'm very worried because

this typhoon is a super typhoon. We can see that the eye of the typhoon will pass

very close to Hong Kong. And how the human race nearly got wiped out 900,000

years ago. Also in this podcast, prisons and Ecuador have become the scene of murder,

kidnapping and car bombs. So what's going on? He only just returned from exile days ago.

Now, Thailand's former Prime Minister, Tax in Chinawatt, has had his eight-year jail term

slashed to one year. The country's most famous politician spent 15 years in self-imposed

exile before returning home to face jail. He'd been convicted of abuse of power and corruption.

Mr. Taxin appealed for a royal pardon only yesterday, so has a deal been struck? A question

for our South East Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, who's in Thailand.

I think it probably does, although no one's going to admit that. You know, he wouldn't

have come back if he hadn't negotiated a deal beforehand. He might well have hoped

possibly for a complete pardon. This arrangement, I think, is a very appropriate compromise.

There are many people still very critical of Mr. Taxin who feel that he genuinely did

abuse his power. He said in the past that these convictions were politically motivated.

Of course, he was ousted by coup and the convictions were imposed in his absence, but

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