NEPAL: Fuel Fiasco Illuminates Revolution’s Rifts

Chanting members of the Maoist student union swarmed onto the streets of Nepal's capital Saturday to protest fuel price hikes - but had to cut short the demonstration when they ran out of kerosene to fuel their homemade torches.

AFGHANISTAN: Can NATO Win Against Taliban Insurgents?

Two weeks ago, NATO took over command of insurgency-plagued southern Afghanistan from the United States, and the top general warned that he will "strike ruthlessly" against Taliban rebels when necessary.

COLOMBIA: US Supervision of Paramilitary Demobilisation Becomes Evident

Just a few days into Colombian President Álvaro Uribe's second term in office, the close U.S. supervision of his government's negotiations for the demobilisation of the ultra-rightwing paramilitary militias became evident.

CHILE: Paraguayan Dictator’s Death Revives Debate on Pinochet

The death of former Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner has revived debate in Chile as to how the government and the army will react when former dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) dies.

CUBA: Will History Absolve Fidel Castro?

While socialist flags have been steadily disappearing from the world stage and Cuban President Fidel Castro has stepped aside, at least temporarily, anti-imperialist sentiment is likely to remain the Cuban regime's main source of internal cohesion and international influence.

INDIA: Has al-Qaeda Landed?

As tens of thousands of policemen in India fan out to guard 'sensitive' sites and installations in preparation for Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday, a climate of anxiety and fear has descended over the country.

MIDEAST: Will Israel Defy the U.N. Again?

A cartoon in a U.S. news magazine many moons ago showed a Palestinian family huddled together in a refugee camp, as U.S.-supplied Israeli fighter jets kept bombarding the makeshift shelters in an orgy of destruction.

MIDEAST: Veteran Policy-Makers Fear Disaster in U.S. Course

Alarms are definitely on the rise here... And it's not just because the British police arrested 21 people who were allegedly plotting to bomb up to 10 jetliners between London and the United States in mid-flight over the Atlantic Ocean. Although that probably didn't help.

MIDEAST: Veteran Policy-Makers Fear Disaster in U.S. Course

Alarms are definitely on the rise here.

POLITICS: U.S. Gets as Much as it Gives to the U.N.

The United States, which pays 22 percent of the U.N.'s regular annual budget of 1.8 billion dollars, has arrogantly demanded a dominant voice in management and administration - primarily because it is the biggest single financial contributor to the world body.

MIDEAST: Was Israel’s Aim to Clear Path for US War on Iran?

Israel has argued that the war against Hezbollah's rocket arsenal was a defensive response to the Shiite organisation's threat to Israeli security, but the evidence points to a much more ambitious objective - the weakening of Iran's deterrent to an attack on its nuclear sites.

AFGHANISTAN: Drought, Poppy Profits Cause Wheat Shortage

Millions of Afghans are facing hunger because of a food shortage that the government and aid agencies say is because of a prolonged dry spell in the country.

MIDEAST: U.S. Watches Dreams of Transformation Dissolve

Entering the fourth week of war between Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and Israel, the George W. Bush administration's ambitions to transform the Arab Middle East into a pro-Western, more democratic region are fading fast.

MIDEAST: U.S. Watches Dreams of Transformation Dissolve

Entering the fourth week of war between Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and Israel, the George W. Bush administration's ambitions to transform the Arab Middle East into a pro-Western, more democratic region are fading fast.

ANGOLA: Peace in Cabinda, the Enclave Between the Two Congos

Tuesday's signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for Peace and Reconciliation in Cabinda marks the end of 45 years of violence afflicting this Angolan province, the richest in the country because of its oil, gold, diamonds, phosphate, uranium, potassium and exotic woods.

POLITICS-US: Immigration Debate Splinters Conservatives

Leading conservatives recently sent an open letter to U.S. President George W. Bush and congressional leaders stating that "enforcement first" measures should be central to any immigration policy reform.

MIDEAST: No Early End to Conflict in Sight

With U.S. and European leaders unable to agree on the conditions for a ceasefire, the Israeli cabinet authorising the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists, and Hezbollah still firing dozens of rockets into Israel every day, an end to hostilities did not look near as Israel's offensive against the Shia organisation in Lebanon entered its 16th day Friday.

MIDEAST: No Early End to Conflict in Sight

With U.S. and European leaders unable to agree on the conditions for a ceasefire, the Israeli cabinet authorising the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists, and Hezbollah still firing dozens of rockets into Israel every day, an end to hostilities did not look near as Israel's offensive against the Shia organisation in Lebanon entered its 16th day Friday.

AFGHANISTAN: Peace Offensive Must Follow Military Campaign

The regrouping of hundreds of Taliban in village after village in the trouble-prone southern provinces seems to coincide with the poppy harvest calendar in Afghanistan.

POLITICS: Damascus Now Seen As Pivotal in Mideast Crisis

Mocked just months ago as a fool and a lightweight compared to his legendarily shrewd father, Syrian President Bashar Assad appears increasingly to have become the "go-to guy" in resolving the two-week-old war between Hezbollah and Israel.

POLITICS: US Now a Bystander in Iraq’s Sectarian War

The United States has been reduced to the role of passive bystander as a new stage of sectarian civil war has begun in Iraq, marked by military units with heavy weaponry carrying out mass killings.