World

As of April 12, 21 nations had signed the Organisation of American States' (OAS) first regional convention to fight bribery and corruption. An editorial in the Washington Post praised the treaty, which the US and Canada had still not signed: "... For

South African President Nelson Mandela surprised and disappointed many supporters when, after returning from a trip to Germany to woo foreign investors on May 24, he declared: "Privatisation is the fundamental policy of the ANC, and

Amnesty International has called on the US government to ban the use and export of a remote-controlled electro-shock stun belt for prisoners that has just been introduced. AI said the belt appeared to be designed to degrade and torture prisoners "at

A secular "United Front" government has been installed following inconclusive national elections last month. No one party received a majority in the elections to the eleventh Lok Sabha (parliament). The right-wing

Japan and US military strategyOSAKA — The post-Cold War US military strategy shifted sharply from one aimed at the Soviet Union to one focusing on regional conflicts. This strategy of the Bush administration (which was

A May 25 announcement by the Netherlands Justice Ministry of a plan to arbitrarily deport more than 4000 Iranian asylum seekers by declaring Iran a "safe" country has received an angry response from the Council of Iranian

MOSCOW — Boris Yeltsin might with justice claim to have pulled off the near-impossible when he took first place in the presidential elections on June 16. Granted, he went nowhere near matching his easy first-round victory of

The long-running legal battle between BHP, majority owner of the Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) gold and copper mine in PNG's remote western highlands, and local land-holders, whose livelihoods have been severely affected by the 100,000

South African gays scored a coup when their country became the first to guarantee their rights in its constitution. Now they are gearing for a bigger fight: to change conservative attitudes. South Africa scored a world first by adopting a

Unionists form Labor Party [This week's Letter from the US is a guest column by Caroline Lund, who attended the founding convention of the Labor Party. She is a member of the United Autoworkers union and of the socialist organisation

The 65-year-old US Plant Patent Act (PPA) has not succeeded in its purported aims of encouraging plant breeding or contributing to genetic diversity, according to a report by the Rural Advancement Fund International. RAFI felt that an examination of

The Papua New Guinea government is openly preparing a major military offensive against strongholds of the pro-independence Bougainville Revolutionary Army in the island's central and southern regions. Port Moresby has told villagers