POLITICS-NEPAL: Maoist Conflict Sends Country Adrift

More than 1,500 people dead, over 250 disappeared, and thousands more rendered homeless in trying to flee ravaged villages. These are not the final casualty figures in the wake of a natural disaster, but the toll of the Maoist conflict in Nepal since the collapse of the last ceasefire in August 2003.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Maoist Conflict Sends Country Adrift

More than 1,500 people dead, over 250 disappeared, and thousands more rendered homeless in trying to flee ravaged villages. These are not the final casualty figures in the wake of a natural disaster, but the toll of the Maoist conflict in Nepal since the collapse of the last ceasefire in August 2003.

IRAQ: CIA Chief Clueless on Neo-Con Intelligence Channel

Was Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet really the last person in Washington to find out that both the president and vice president were being fed phoney or ''sexed up'' intelligence about pre-war Iraq by a Pentagon office staffed by ideologically driven neo-conservatives?

POLITICS-U.S.: Conservatives Use Oil to Keep Heat on Mideast

With threats of a Venezuelan oil blockade helping to push petroleum prices higher, neo-conservative politicians and analysts continue to insist the biggest threat to U.S. energy supplies is Washington's reliance on Middle East oil.

U.S.-IRAN: Ad Hoc Detente to Continue Despite Conservative Sweep

Despite the sweeping victory of staunchly anti-U.S. conservatives in Iran's elections last month, analysts here believe the tentative detente between the two countries that began late last year will continue at least through the November U.S. elections.

IRAQ: Delay in Signing of Constitution, Violence Make a Bad Week

It has not been a good week for Iraq.

BURMA: Divisions within Military May Delay Dialogue Process

Amid signs that significant change in Burma may emerge in the next few weeks, divisions within the military leadership over the dialogue process could delay any efforts to move the country toward democracy.

POLITICS-U.S.: Democrats Keen as Fight for Presidency Begins

Almost exactly eight months before the Nov. 2, 2004 elections, Democrats across the United States are unusually optimistic they will evict Republican President George W. Bush and retake the White House in January 2005.

POLITICS: The Commonwealth Mask Slips a Little

The Commonwealth dedicates itself to freedom next week. But the Commonwealth grew out of the British Empire which had brought denial of freedom. That clash surfaces as a museum in Britain invites people to recall the Empire as it celebrates the Commonwealth.

POLITICS: The Commonwealth Mask Slips a Little

The mask over the origins of the Commonwealth is off, or at least it will be next week.

TRADE: U.S. Sets First Piece of Mideast Trade ‘Mosaic’ in Morocco

Building on a spree of "free" trade deals across the world, the United States has announced an agreement with Morocco that it says could be used as a model for the proposed U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA).

POLITICS-IRAN: Propaganda, the Media Mob, and Retreating Reformists

Last month's elections, in which Conservatives declared a resounding victory and reformist politicians failed to pull off a nationwide boycott of the polls, remind some Iranians of propaganda's power.

MEDIA: ‘Le Plus Ca Change’ – NY Times Hit for WMD Gullibility

If Walter Lippman, perhaps the most influential U.S. press critic and foreign-policy columnist of the 20th century, were alive today, chances are he would shake his head knowingly and mutter something like, "La plus ca change, la plus c'est la meme chose''. (''The more things change, the more they remain the same''.)

RELIGION-INDIA: Muslims Seek Integration into Secular Mainstream

India's minority Muslims are in a new mood of reconciliation with majority Hindus and there are clear signs that large or influential sections are ready to integrate into a truly secular national mainstream as set out in the country's Constitution.

GLOBALISATION: If These Two Could Agree

If the presidents of Finland and Tanzania could agree what globalisation should mean, then activists must be right to be hopeful about the rest of the globe.

ASIA: Amid Bird Flu, Questions Linger on Global Alert System

Although countries hit by bird flu appear to be more open with reports about the lethal virus, a concern that took wing at the outbreak of the disease - the weakness in current global systems for alerting the world to new viruses - remains relevant.

IRAQ: Chalabi, Garner Provide New Clues to War

For those still puzzling over the whys and wherefores of Washington's invasion of Iraq 11 months ago, major new, but curiously unnoticed, clues were offered this week by two central players in the events leading up to the war.

TRADE: Protectionism Reigns as India, U.S. Face Elections

The spat between India and the United States about which country should liberalise more and faster on sensitive items like agriculture and offshore services can only worsen until the world's two largest democracies have their elections safely behind them.

TRADE: Protectionism Reigns as India, U.S. Face Elections

The spat between India and the United States about which country should liberalise more and faster on sensitive items like agriculture and offshore services can only worsen until the world's two largest democracies have their elections safely behind them.

HAITI: U.S. Scrambles for Policy as Contenders Raise Stakes

After three years of malign neglect, the administration of President George W. Bush is scrambling to come up with a coherent policy to halt rising violence and chaos in Haiti that could still provoke a major exodus of desperate boat people seeking refuge in Florida.

ECONOMY-U.S.: Job Creation Tough Work for Bush

The wealth gap between the rich and poor and the sluggish job market in the United State are looming as major problems for President George W. Bush as he campaigns for another term in office, analysts here say.