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The article presents information on the growing concern over the increasing terrorist activities in Iraq. The insurgents in Iraq have perfected new ways of war by using improvised explosive devices (IED) that can be made by using inexpensive gadgets like garage-door openers and disposable phones. Concerns are expressed over the increasing number of death toll of the U.S. soldiers by IEDs.

The article focuses on the degrading quality of Chinese goods which are now dominating a major portion of the world market. It reports that poor management and enforcement of law, corruption along with lack of consumer awareness, is helping these unethical practices to flourish posing serious threats to consumer's health. Also reported are the difficulties and harassment faced by those who try to raise a voice. Problems in taking counter measures are discussed.

The article focuses on nuclear tests that were conducted by North Korea. The size of North Korea's test was low, that is, half a kiloton. It is feared that North Korea may help other nuclear-minded regimes such as Iran to develop nuclear weapons. North Korean Premier Kim Jong Il was not happy with the comments of U.S. President George W. Bush about him.

The article presents information on the political unrest in China. With the expulsion of Chen Liangyu of the Shanghai Communist Party, the friction between him and the President of China Hu Jintao, has increased. Hu attacked Chen in an anticorruption drive. Due to suspected involvement in a pensionfund scandal, Chen has been removed from all his party posts. The economic policy of China has also witnessed clashes between Hu and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiahao.

Ahmad Chalabi who was known as freedom fighter may go down as one of the great con men of history. When Iraqi police, guarded by the U.S. GIs, burst into the home and offices of Ahmad Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress, looking for evidence of kidnapping, embezzlement, torture and theft, the men who run the Pentagon were left asking some uncomfortable questions. According to intelligence officials, Chalabi is under investigation by the U.S. for leaking damaging secrets to the government of Iran.

It's not easy to get a member of the U.S. Congress to stop talking. Much less a room full of them. But as a small group of legislators watched the images flash by in a small, darkened hearing room in the Rayburn Building last week, a sickened silence descended. There were 1,800 slides and several videos and the show went on for three hours. The nightmarish images showed U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib Prison forcing Iraqis to masturbate. The images also show soldiers sexually assaulting Iraqis with chemical light sticks. INSET: WHAT THE RULES SAY.

Janis Karpinski, an officer in the U.S. army, says she warned her superiors from the first about the ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners. As commander of the Army Reserve's 800th Military Police Brigade, she oversaw guards at U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, including those at Saddam Hussein's former torture center at Abu Ghurayb. The trouble was that she didn't have enough troops or resources to do the job right, and the men at the top ignored her complaints. She said, "They just wanted it to go away."

Chinese officials are scouring the globe for the energy they need to keep the economy humming. Indonesia has been a playground for several Western oil companies. Earlier this year some pin-striped American oil executives in Washington D.C., were startled to hear Indonesia's visiting Minister of Energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro chide them about losing out to Chinese companies in his country's oil and gas scene. This year China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest oil importer—trailing only the United States—and it's looking everywhere for the energy resources it needs to feed its feverish economic pace.

Iraq is almost under control, as of April 27, 2004. The men in charge are trying to pretend so, anyway. But after weeks of bloodshed, "control" is a slippery term. When the worst of the violence ended, a total of 90 U.S. and Coalition fighters were dead. Iranian mediators and moderate Iraqi clerics were still haggling with aides of the renegade cleric Moqtada al-Sadr over the terms for an end to his uprising. U.S. Marines were no closer to subduing the city of Fallujah, despite the deaths of several hundred Iraqis there.

U.S. forces have long known that Moqtada al-Sadr was trouble, but failed to act. Angry members of Iraq's Shiite majority, whipped into a frenzy by the baby-faced radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, were rising up by the thousands in armed revolt in Baghdad and in cities across the south. Across Iraq, Coalition troops had suffered 49 deaths, 47 of them Americans, in one of the deadliest weeks since the invasion. American Occupiers took hope from the fact that the al-Sadr rebellion had not erupted into a full-fledged Shiite revolt.

Iraq has become a strategic battle-ground in the war on terror, even if it wasn't so before. Proponents of the invasion like Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy Defense secretary, argue that a democratic Iraq would be a catalyst, spreading reform throughout the Mideast by showing democracy's benefits. But if the attempt fails, it could further destabilize the entire region. Already Iraq has become like Afghanistan in the 1980s, a rallying cry for Islamic militants around the world. Although the number of foreign militants who have actually been captured in Iraq remains relatively small — perhaps 150 from a total of roughly 12,000 detainees — the U.S. military claims that jihadis have swarmed in from 27 countries.

The article focuses on various secret documents of Iraqi intelligence Service revealed after the capture of Iraq by the U.S. Like the Nazis and all good totalitarians, Saddam Hussein's Baathist henchmen kept records. More than 200 cassette tapes, videos and passports, photographs and negatives, compact discs and floppy disks, as well as a fat binder thick with documents addressed to the director general of the Iraqi intelligence service were ceased. Among the documents there was no assassination plots against U.S. President George W. Bush or links to Al Qaeda or hidden locations of chemical or biological weapons. But the tapes and documents, as well as other Baath Party papers now coming to light, do offer fascinating evidence of the ways Saddam ruled by torture and terror. One former prisoner he talked to, Anwar Abdul Razak, remembers when a surgeon kissed him on each cheek, said he was sorry and cut his ears off. No one is sure how many men were mutilated during that particular spasm of terror, but from May 17 to 19, 1994, all the available surgeons worked shifts at all of Basra's major hospitals, lopping off ears. Among the documents are receipts for enforcing Saddam's reign of terror: payments to party members for catching Army deserters, to policemen for arresting political dissidents, to informants for betraying their neighbors.

Iraq's Shiite majority, long oppressed by Saddam, may finally get the chance to rule. The guys with Hizbullah headbands may be a dangerous sign. There is no law in Baghdad. The closest thing to central authority is inside Saddam General Hospital, the only major medical center in Baghdad that has not been stripped virtually bare by looters. Residents now call it Revolution City Hospital, from the district's pre-Saddam name. When the bombing began on March 20, 2003 the hospital's staff begged a prominent local religious leader for his protection. In the weeks that followed, Sheik Khadim and his armed followers kept guard. At first their priority was to protect the facilities from the ruthless Saddam Fedayeen, the militia that was commandeering mosques, clinics and other civilian sanctuaries.

This article focuses on the weapons used in the war between Iraq and the U.S. led coalition forces in 2003. In the first gulf war, score card of U.S. tanks Abrams against Russian-built Iraqi tanks was, approximately measured, 1,245 to zero. But like a great mythic warrior, the Abrams has an Achilles' heel. So far in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the American military has lost two Abrams tanks. Two is not a large number, and the Coalition forces have at least 650 tanks in Iraq with more on the way. But U.S. officials are worried about the skill or at least the fanaticism of the guerrilla fighters who sneaked up on the tanks driving a jeep, under cover of a sandstorm. More worrisome are the type and the source of the weapon apparently employed, a Russian-made Kornet antitank missile. The Iraqis have secretly bought as many as a thousand ofthese lightweight, very powerful, easy-to-use weapons. INSETS: The Sand and the Fury;Who Do You Trust?;'Now We Have America';More Than Toy Soldiers

This article focuses on a newspaper correspondent's experience of the 2003 Gulf conflict in Iraq. Iraqi troops were torching the moats of oil that Saddam Hussein had built there. The streets were mostly empty, except for groups of Iraqi soldiers digging trenches and bunkers for a last stand against the Americans. The July 14 Bridge was strewn with bits of shrapnel and the remains of the huge military complex that once stood at its southern end. A palace on the other side appeared intact, but a water main or hydrant had burst in front of it, turning the street into a lake. The city felt virtually empty when the bombing began. Every day for weeks the roads had carried a steady rush of cars and trucks piled high with suitcases, home appliances and rolled-up carpets, all headed for safer places.

Focuses on the warlords in Afghanistan. Account of Abdul Haq Was, spymaster during the 1980s; Role of Haq on the United States-Taliban war; Progress on the Taliban war; Effort of the Central Intelligence Agency on capturing Afghanistan warlords; Characteristics of Afghanistan people. INSETS: A Curious Cast of Characters.;The Enemy Below..

Reports that a Chinese jet fighter collided with a United States spy aircraft on April 1, 2001. Background on the incident; Background on Chinese fighter pilot Wang Wei; Impact on China-U.S. relations; Errors committed by Chinese and U.S. government leaders.

Presents information on the relations between the United States and China as of June 1999. Reaction from Chinese students and workers to the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; How leaders in both countries have begun to trade accusations of espionage; China's leaders struggling to maintain control of the country as nationalism and social strife rise.

Presents the author's comments on mistakes made by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in regard to its bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Buildings that have been bombed by accident such as the Chinese embassy in Belgrade; Reasons NATO began bombing Yugoslavia; Effect the bombings have had on the exodus of ethnic Albanians from the country; What NATO has to do in order to ensure its future. INSET: In China, Fury and Fallout, by Michael Hirsh et al.

Reports on the August 7, 1998 terrorist bombing of United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Witness reports of the bomb impact in both situations; Destruction caused by the bombs; Death tolls; The relief efforts; Efforts to determine motive and responsibility for the attacks; Investigation of Saudi financier Osama bin Laden. INSETS: Sudden impacts: The unlikely targets;Targeting Americans abroad.

Focuses on United States President Bill Clinton's summit with China's leaderJiang Zemin in June 1998. Issues between the US and China; Weapons proliferation as a crucial bilateral issue; Background information on the relationship between China and the US; The changing political and social structure of China; Why both leaders must learn to work together. INSETS: Coutship dance;China by the numbers: Portrait of a nation.

Focuses on the end of Indonesian President Suharto's 32 years of rule. Impact of price hikes prompted by the collapse of Indonesia's bubble economy on the development of the protest movement that brought down Suharto; The army's support of student protests; Detailed chronology of events; INSETS: A revolt that began with the price of rice;Fall of the father of development.

Reports on the riots in Indonesia in May of 1998 brought about by the country's economic crisis. Calls for President Suharto to step down; Students from the Trisakti University shot while retreating back through the schools gates after protesting; Crisis seen mainly as a revolt of the young and poor; Looters dying in fires set by other looters in a department store; Anger directed at Suharto and ethnic Chinese.

Reports on the reaction of the United States government and other world leaders to India's nuclear bomb testing at the Pokharan test site in May of 1998. US intelligence organizations failing to notice the preparations for the tests; Rivalry between India and Pakistan and the likelihood that it will become an arms race; Anger from US government officials at India's deception; Economic pressure applied to India. INSET: The world's expanding nuclear club.

Focuses on the April 1998 death of Pol Pot, the Cambodian leader of the Khmer Rouge who is blamed for the death of more than one million of his countrymen. Reported circumstances of his death; Possibility that his death was not a natural one; Disappointment that he would not be tried for his crimes; Statement by United States officials of their intention of pursuing justice for Cambodian killers. INSET: The life and times of a tyrant.

Focuses on the diplomatic mission of Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) to Iraq. The preparations for his negotiations with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein; The influence of the United States in shaping the accord that averted the war; Saddam's agreement to give the UN weapons inspection team unlimited access to palaces and other sites; The expectation that he will renege on the pact.

Looks at the crisis in United States and United Nations (UN) relations with Iraq as of February 24, 1998. Possibility that UN Secretary General Khofi Annan's agreement with Saddam Hussein will avert a war; What the deal would have to include; Possibility that the crisis might recur even with a deal; First test of President Clinton's foreign policy team of Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen and policy adviser Sandy Berger. INSET: Thunder in the desert.

Looks at the questionable relationship between the United States and Russia in the light of the crisis in the Persian Gulf. Yevgeny Primakov's encouragement of Saddam Hussein to think he can get away with defying the United Nations; Report of a Russian deal to sell biological warfare equipment to Iraq; Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev's attack on US Secretary of Defense William Cohen; Background of the relationship between Iraq and Russia. INSET: Blackest nights in Iraq.

Provides information concerning the handling of Iraq by the United States and Russia in December 1997. Russian investment in the lifting of sanctions against Iraq, in light of its $7 billion debt to Russia; US President Bill Clinton's stand for sanctions and surveillance of Iraq's chemical weapon capability; The United Nations involvement; US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's relationship with Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov; The balance of power between the countries.

Presents information on the goals of China's President Jiang Zemin for his October 1997 trip to the United States. Offering an image of a Modern China; Possible signing of the accord on bilateral nuclear cooperation; Jiang's preparations for his trip; Sites he plans to visit; Concerns over upstaging by protests; Dodging critics of China's human-rights record to be Jiang's toughest challenge. INSET: Almost made in America, by Qian Ning..

Focuses on the large number of Shanghainese appointed to be officials in Hong Kong following its reversion back to the Chinese in July 1997. The appointment of C. H. Tung as the first Chinese chief executive of Hong Kong; Biographical information on Tung; The appointment of Anson Chan as Hong Kong's Chief Secretary; The significance of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's connections with Shanghai.

Investigates what China wants from the United States in 1997. The realization by China that the US has state-of-the-art defense technology but China does not; Speculation by China that America is a potential rival in the 21st century; How China is purchasing the technologies it needs from US companies, despite the embargo to sell weapons to China. INSET: The undoing of a deal, by Michel Laris..

Focuses on the scandal surrounding Jerry Stuchiner, official for the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The US Justice Department's investigation of Stuchiner since his transfer from Hong Kong to Honduras in 1994; Allegations that Stuchiner and his cohorts were planning to sell passports to Chinese immigrants trying to get into the United States illegally; History of Stuchiner's career with the INS.

Investigates whether Madeleine Albright has what it takes to be the United States secretary of state. Background information on her immigration from Czechoslovakia Personal details; Her appointment to the United Nations in 1992 by President Bill Clinton; The United States' relationship with China as her top agenda. INSETS: Your mom's on the floor with the senator, kids, by Anne...;The world of Madeleine Albright..

Reports on the bombing aimed at Americans at the Khobar Towers Building 131 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Death toll; Saudi Arabia's need for American military protection; Economic and political challenges facing the Saudi government.

Presents an account from Su Tehtsun of missile attempts on Taiwan from China. Announcement from Beijing government; What will China's actions lead to; Tension between Washington and Beijing; Complaints from China; Vow from China leaders; Economic condition of Taiwan. INSET: Rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait..

Reports on the Moscow-based Russian mafia's takeover of a white-collar-crime underground that flourished for years in Soviet emigre communities. Forays into drug and nuclear smuggling; Electronic probing of United States banks, companies and securities firm; Vory v'zakone as the core of the Russian mafia; Factors contributing to the transformation. INSET: Some of the thousands of Soviet refugees.., by Mark Dennis..

Reports on the massive military operation launched by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) against the Bosnian Serbs. Agreement of the Bosnian Serbs to a negotiation in Geneva, Switzerland; Reason for the NATO's strategy; Diplomatic side of the Bill Clinton administration's plan.

Focuses on the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's efforts to track down Timothy McVeigh as the bomber of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Understanding of the basic truth about people who commit violent crimes; Theories about the case; McVeigh's extremists views. INSETS: Three strange friends, by Russell Watson, Martha Brant.;Piecing together the clues..

A spate of violence along their common border has even China, one of North Korea's last remaining friends, growing frustrated with the country's unpredictable behavior. Within the last two weeks a large number of Chinese soldiers have poured into the remote northeastern frontier bordering North Korea. Troops are preparing for another grim winter. For decades China has tolerated North Korea's erratic behavior, and even ignored Western warnings about a covert nuclear program. Even as the North Korean regime tries to blackmail the West in return for economic benefit, it continues to rely on imported food aid and fuel from China.

Focuses on the political leadership of China. Description of corruption practices among political leaders; Impact of corruption on the economy; Necessity of plans to deal with corruption among political leaders.

Discusses the implications of the summit between North and South Korea. Warm treatment given by Kim Jong Il to Kim Dae Jung in Pyongyang; Unspecified manner of unification; Omission of crucial military and economic issues between the two countries; Estimated cost of reunification; Cultural differences; Stakes for China and the United States.

Presents information on the reaction in China to the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in May of 1999. Nationalistic fervor; Protests from students and workers alike; Attacks on United States embassies in China; Attack upon the US Mission in Chengdu; American businesses targeted; How the Chinese media increased the anger by delaying news of a US apology; Political aspects.

Focuses on trade relations between the United States and China. Efforts to make a deal that would allow China to join the World Trade Organization; The question of whether China is a `developing nation'; Reaction of American businesses; China's Prime Minister Zhu Rongji launching a crackdown on the `gray market' in smuggling legitimate goods past customs; The issues of human rights in China and Chinese espionage; A scheduled April 1999 meeting between US President Bill Clinton and Zhu Rongji. INSET: Rising Impatience.

Reports on a rumor in China about rewards for babies born just past midnight on January 1, 2000. How the government is concerned that the trend will overwhelm delivery rooms in hospitals, crowd schools and further aggravate the country's population problems; Impact on China's `one child' policy; Media reports that women are having abortions so that they can try again for the so-called Century Baby; State media emphasizing the dangers of the trend.

Reports on improving ties between China and the United States and the possible impact on Japan. China promising to sign a United Nations human rights covenant; Washington's attitude towards future premier Zhu Rongji; Importance of the change in relations; Nature of relations between the US and Japan; China's moderation winning prestige in the Asian region; Reaction of congressmen in the US.

Reports that longstanding tensions between the ruling Serbians and the ethnic Albanian population exploded with Serbian paramilitary police reportedly shelling villages and killing villagers. Violence in the area of Kosovo occupied by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA); Actions of President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia; Reports from refugees; Impact of Milosevic's actions on bilateral concessions from the United States. INSET: A tough guy for a really tough job, by Melinda Liu.

Presents information on the summit between President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Jiang proving he could take on the American press; Agreements between the two overshadowed by the human-rights debate; Clinton's comments to Jiang; Protesters outside the White House; Jiang faring better outside of Washington D.C.

Reports on President Jiang Zemin's consolidation of power and efforts to improve China's economy. Jiang relinquishing state control over all but a few thousand companies; Deputy Prime Minister Zhu Rongji's efforts to make the economic reforms work; Dismissals and replacements on China's Party Congress.

Discusses the ongoing tension in the relationship between the United States and China. The secret offer of retargeted nuclear weapons; United States President Bill Clinton's changing attitudes about China; The work of US Secretary of State Warren Christopher; China's attempts to enter the World Trade Organization; Clinton's support of Taiwan; The United States policy of containment; How the Chinese view Bill Clinton; Leverage which Clinton can use.