NEW DELHI - Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan have returned in earnest to the negotiation table after a break that witnessed a parliamentary election and path-breaking political changes in India. On May 28, they wrapped up the first round of talks to be held in six...
Crisis in Asia
Foreign ministers attending the Asia Regional Forum hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in Jakarta, this week agreed on the need for political reform in Burma and a diplomatic solution to the crisis on the Korean peninsula. Forum...
Casualties in Iraq Anne Wicks: Please include those soldiers who have committed suicide while in Iraq and those who committed suicide as a result of PTSD once they returned to the United States. Thank you. Mike Ewens: We do. I believe that there have only been two...
Palestinians Walled In, and Walled Out
JERUSALEM - The security wall Israel is building around Jerusalem is raising concerns among Palestinians about their future and where they belong. The wall is firming up Israeli control in areas it occupied after the 1967 war. Up until then Israel had more or less...
Iraq: A Failure Without Borders
How are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan going? Perhaps the best way to answer that question is to look at what is happening in Saudi Arabia. Until about a year ago, Saudi Arabia was one of the safest countries on earth. Crime was rare, and everyone, including...
In Defense of Piracy
Come payday a crew of us head toward Chengdu's Computer City and stroll past a riot of electronics and dance groups touting their goods to techno beats. Underemployed and bored locals gather with migrant workers and stare at the computers and dancers. We continue on...
Islamic Democrats
Somebody ought to tell President George Bush something he obviously doesn't know. He keeps talking about wanting democracy in the Middle East and reform in general as an antidote to extremism. What apparently his staff members have not told him, probably because they...
Saddam Could Call CIA in His Defense
LONDON - Evidence offered by a top CIA man could confirm the testimony given by Saddam Hussein at the opening of his trial in Baghdad Thursday that he knew of the Halabja massacre only from the newspapers. Thousands were reported killed in the gassing of Iraqi Kurds...
The Herod Doctrine
You remember how King Herod of Judea dealt with a suspected threat to his rule, dont you? According to Matthew, three Magi Persian priests showed up in Jerusalem, and told Herod they had seen a "sign in the heavens" signifying the birth in...
A Deluge of Bad Advice and Statistics
The cliché about bad news "it never rains but it pours" was in full view the week of June 20. And the forecast is for more of the same for the foreseeable future. The proverbial torrents in question were the documents and statistics made public by the...


