RIGHTS: Burma Getting a Lot of Attention in United States

For a country barred by law from doing business with U.S. companies, Burma is receiving a lot of attention in the United States these days.

POLITICS-BRAZIL: Approval of Gov’t Down – Economy to Blame

The honeymoon is over between the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and public opinion in Brazil, and the reasons are economic, according to the latest opinion polls.

TAIWAN-CHINA: Reunification Goal Fast Becoming Fiction

Beijing still preaches brotherhood and cultural kinship with ''Taiwanese compatriots'' whom it calls the fellow descendants of the Yellow Emperor, but the emergence of an assertive Taiwanese identity is making the idea of re-unification between China and Taiwan an obsolete remnant of a bygone era.

POLITICS-SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Moderate Islam Stands Tall

The likelihood of Malaysia going in the direction of countries known for their intolerant strand of Islam - such as Saudi Arabia - has just been stopped in its tracks by ballots, not bombs and bullets, at the weekend's polls.

POLITICS-IRAQ: A Year Later, More Turmoil Ahead

One year after U.S. President George W Bush ordered the start of a three-week ground-and-air assault that toppled three decades of Saddam Hussein's tyrannical regime, Iraq is still in turmoil and with little certainty in sight.

POLITICS: Pakistan Courts Resentment as it Seeks Tribal Militants

Pakistan is grappling with local resistance as it presses tribesmen along the Afghan border to hand over people accused of harbouring foreign militants, in an effort that coincides with a major U.S. offensive aimed at nabbing al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.

POLITICS: For U.S. Hawks, Madrid 2004=Munich 1938

For neo-conservative and other right-wing U.S. hawks, Madrid has suddenly become Munich in 1938 and Spain's Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

POLITICS: For U.S. Hawks, Madrid 2004 = Munich 1938

For neo-conservative and other right-wing U.S. hawks, Madrid has suddenly become Munich in 1938 and Spain's Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

POLITICS-EUROPE: Spain Tilts the Power Balance

The Socialist triumph in Spain last Sunday has transformed the balance of power within Europe in favour of France and Germany, who have been pleading for a common foreign policy independent of the United States.

HAITI: Class Hatred and the Hijacking of Aristide

Some observers have described the Feb. 29 putsch against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as a Bush administration plot while many others label Washington's policy as an indirect one, such as "malign" or "wilful" neglect or "estranged engagement".

HAITI: Class Hatred and the Hijacking of Aristide

Some observers have described the Feb. 29 putsch against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as a Bush administration plot while many others label Washington's policy as an indirect one, such as "malign" or "wilful" neglect or "estranged engagement".

SOUTH PACIFIC: Media Faces Threats amid New Regulation

Politicians across the small island nations of the Pacific have begun to target local media organisations for criticism and new regulation, signs that press freedom gained in recent years could be curtailed.

POLITICS: Bush Terror War Suffers Body Blow in Spain

It was just last week, on the eve of the bloodiest act of terrorism in Europe's modern history, that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet warned that the U.S. administration's optimistic rhetoric on winning the ''war on terrorism'' was premature.

SPAIN: Terrorism, Lies and Elections

Within just four days, terrorism radically changed the direction of the general elections that took place Sunday in Spain, and tested the public's tolerance of concealment and manipulation of information in the investigation effort.

SPAIN: Terrorism, Lies and Elections

Within just four days, terrorism radically changed the direction of the general elections that took place Sunday in Spain, and tested the public's tolerance of concealment and manipulation of information in the investigation effort.

POLITICS: Deft Chinese Diplomacy Reflects Asian Dynamism

China denounces U.S. trade policy as protectionist one day after the Bush Administration threatens to take Beijing to the World Trade Organisation for coddling its semiconductor industry.

SPAIN: As Nation Mourns Bomb Victims, Socialists Score Surprise Win

The Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) scored a surprise landslide victory in Sunday's general elections in Spain, contrary to all previous opinion polls, which said the governing Popular Party (PP) would win.
      The train blasts Thursday that left a death toll of 200 in Madrid, for which Islamic terrorist groups have claimed responsibility, were brutal reminders for Spanish voters that Prime Minister José María Aznar gave unconditional support to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.

SPAIN: As Nation Mourns Bomb Victims, Socialists Score Surprise Win

The Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) scored a surprise landslide victory in Sunday's general elections in Spain, contrary to all previous opinion polls, which said the governing Popular Party (PP) would win.

SPAIN: Question of Who Was Responsible for Attacks Will Influence Elections

The outcome of Spain's elections Sunday will be influenced by the question of who was responsible for the brutal terror attacks that left 200 dead and more than 1,400 wounded Thursday in Madrid.

SPAIN: Question of Who Was Responsible for Attacks Will Influence Elections

The outcome of Spain's elections Sunday will be influenced by the question of who was responsible for the brutal terror attacks that left 200 dead and more than 1,400 wounded Thursday in Madrid.

POLITICS-U.S.: True Reactionaries

As U.S. troops prepared to invade Iraq one year ago, the foreign-policy elite's issue of the day was whether the United States had become so dominant that it could and should be compared to the British Empire of a century ago, and accept its responsibilities accordingly.