Strikes paralyse France
Protests against government plans to reform pensions and education are becoming increasingly militant, writes David Tresilian from Paris

The great white lie
Unable to produce evidence of Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" the Bush administration is scrambling to cover up its tracks, reports Anayat Durrani from Washington

Talibanising Pakistan?
Turmoil is erupting over President Musharraf's broadened powers and the Shari'a bill, Iffat Idris reports from Islamabad

Rounding up the Arabs
The revised form of the Patriot Act relegates civil liberties to the dustbin of history, writes Negar Azimi

The 'black hole' of Chechnya
The Chechen civil war is corrupting the Russian state, writes Shohdy Naguib from Moscow

A genocide foretold
Ominous signs indicate that the 1994 Rwandan tragedy may be replayed in Congo, writes Faiza Rady

Globalisation and its discontents
Two decades of neoliberal policies have pauperised the South, writes M Shahid Alam

East Timor -- year one
The world's youngest state is experiencing growing pains. Damien Kingsbury writes from Dili