POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Cry the Beloved Country 10 Years Later

Ten years after she was elected as Sri Lanka's first woman president, Chandrika Kumaratunga presides over a nation unable to escape the curse of being burdened by self-inflicted wounds.

MIDEAST: The Future Hangs on This Moment

Just one moment in that jostling crowd under undisciplined Palestinian security forces at the funeral of Yasser Arafat was enough to pick up on huge problems for resumption of a peace process in the Middle East.

POLITICS: Sri Lanka Military Commitment Not in India’s Interests

While India is ready to enter into a 'defence cooperation agreement' with Sri Lanka, it is wary of being drawn into any military involvement in the island nation's two decades-old civil war that has seen violent strife between ethnic Tamils and the Sinhalese majority - leaving over 60,000 dead on both sides.

POLITICS-U.S.: Springtime for Spooks?

The biggest source of speculation about President George W Bush's foreign policy in a second term is if it will continue on the same aggressive trajectory that marked the first or whether, chastened by Iraq, it will be more restrained over the next four years.

U.S.-IRAQ: ‘Phantom Fury’ Poised to Become Phantom Victory

With Monday's launch of 'Operation Phantom Fury' to regain control of the key insurgent-dominated Sunni city of Fallujah, the administration of U.S. President George W Bush appears to be moving toward another ''phantom victory'' in its broader quest to achieve a stable, pro-western Iraq.

U.S.-IRAQ: ‘Phantom Fury’ Poised to Become Phantom Victory

With Monday's launch of 'Operation Phantom Fury' to regain control of the key insurgent-dominated Sunni city of Fallujah, the administration of U.S. President George W Bush appears to be moving toward another ''phantom victory'' in its broader quest to achieve a stable, pro-western Iraq.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Struggle to Find Leadership

The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah is struggling to organise itself in the absence of veteran leader Yasser Arafat. His duties have been divided between Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas. But the old leader may throw a wrench into a smooth succession by having named a chosen successor at the last moment.

U.S. ELECTION: New Bush Foreign Policy Posture Unlikely

Earnest hopes that U.S. President George W Bush will be prepared to seriously ''reach out'' to U.S. friends and allies overseas to make his foreign policy less aggressive and unilateral in his second term are likely to be earnestly disappointed.

U.S. ELECTION: New Bush Foreign Policy Posture Unlikely

Earnest hopes that U.S. President George W Bush will be prepared to seriously ''reach out'' to U.S. friends and allies overseas to make his foreign policy less aggressive and unilateral in his second term are likely to be earnestly disappointed.

U.S. ELECTION: Bush, Republican Right, Extend Mandate

Despite starting a war with no discernible end and plunging the federal budget into record deficits, U.S. President George W Bush and right-wing Republicans have scored a significant, if narrow, electoral victory that consolidates their control over an increasingly polarised nation.

U.S. ELECTION: Now Blair Will Try to Follow

The re-election of U.S. President George W. Bush comes as a clear signal for parliamentary elections in Britain around the middle of next year.

U.S. ELECTION: The Test for the West

It is the future unity of the ''West'' that, more than any other basic factor in contemporary global affairs, is most at stake in Tuesday's presidential elections.

U.S. ELECTION: The Test for the West

It is the future unity of the ''West'' that, more than any other basic factor in contemporary global affairs, is most at stake in Tuesday's presidential elections.

POLITICS: Regional Muslim Solidarity Puts Thailand in Tough Spot

The aftermath of last week's carnage in south Thailand is beginning to take its toll on the Thai government in the midst of vitriolic criticism from regional neighbours of Bangkok's policies towards its Muslim minority.

ELECTION-U.S.: Halloween Tidings from the ‘War on Terror’

U.S. President George W Bush is fortunate indeed that so much of the electorate has already made up its mind on its vote next Tuesday, because this week's news from the ''war on terrorism'' has been unrelentingly bad.

POLITICS-U.S.: Halloween Tidings from the ‘War on Terror’

U.S. President George W Bush is fortunate indeed that so much of the electorate has already made up its mind on its vote next Tuesday, because this week's news from the ''war on terrorism'' has been unrelentingly bad.

U.S. ELECTION: U.N. Chief’s Remarks Irritate White House

Trygve Lie of Norway, the first U.N. secretary-general, described his job as ''the most impossible on earth.''

U.S. ELECTION: Republican Desertions Could Cost Bush

While the vast majority of Democrats who voted for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in 2000 are now lining up behind Senator John Kerry, Republicans unhappy with President George W Bush are having a much harder time deciding what to do next Tuesday.

U.S. ELECTION: Africa Barely on the Candidates’ Radars

With U.S. voters anxiously contemplating the body count arising from the United States' deployment in Iraq - as well as the associated threat of terrorism - it was probably to be expected that Africa would get little "face time" in the presidential election.

U.S. ELECTION: Africa Barely on the Candidates’ Radars

With U.S. voters anxiously contemplating the body count arising from the United States' deployment in Iraq - as well as the associated threat of terrorism - it was probably to be expected that Africa would get little "face time" in the presidential election.

POLITICS: India’s Burma Policy Tempered by Pragmatism

Burma's military junta may be anathema to supporters of democracy but India believes that the generals hold the key to development of its troubled north-east and ties with the South-east Asian country could augur well for bilateral trade.